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I figured today would be a great day to break up the vibe that the last

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podcasts have been putting out, which involves a lot of emotional, touchy,

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feely stuff by telling you guys about the first camping trip that I had in my trailer with Tanner.

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I obviously didn't share this as it was happening because I didn't want to give it away.

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In July, I had a string of shifts off for a wedding and I managed to get a couple extra

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days off and we agreed it would be great to take Tabby, my trailer, to a campsite and try camping in her.

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We were able to do that after the wedding. We went to a beautiful provincial park in Northern

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Saskatchewan called Narrow Hills. It's a site that I had noticed when we were passing through on our

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way to Saskatoon a few times and I had marked it off as a possibility. It was a big process with

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the contract to try to get days off in a row. I ended up swapping a bunch of day shifts for nights,

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which I was finding easier to do consecutively than a whole bunch of days, especially when you

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consider the difference in stimulation and expectations from day shifts versus nights.

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Being burned out, I definitely preferred this. So I worked seven nights in a row,

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but I ended up with eight glorious days off consecutively. Finally, I was able to make

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some plans and do some fun things. Having recently acquired Tabby, we were eager to try her out to see

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what she was made of, especially since neither one of us had camped in a trailer before. Tanner

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has a lot of experience with tent camping in various weather and conditions. I have maybe two

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times under my belt. Not that any of it was really enjoyable. The first one was 12 kilometers into a

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pretty rigorous hike after four hours of what felt like mountain goading in the rain, where I was

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utterly spent. The second was on the Colorado-Utah border when we went in May, where we ended up

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getting caught in a severe storm. And then at 4am when I went to pee, everything was covered in an

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inch of snow. I would probably give it another shot, but I've definitely learned a lot and am

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better prepared now. That's if I were to try tenting again. Though I will admit, I prefer

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more comfort at this point and I don't feel the need to act all tough about it. I love hiking

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and camping, but I don't think I need to be all extreme Patagonia about it to really enjoy it.

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I think that's allowed. Why would I make myself unnecessarily uncomfortable just to prove a point

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to people who don't even matter at the end of the day? It's what I like. It's what makes me happy

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and comfortable, and that's really all that matters. We opted to go somewhere close, having

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only two nights for it, which included packing for the trip, unpacking once we got back, and then

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unpacking when we got back. It was a pretty short turnaround to go back to work the following day

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for the both of us. Having previously been interested in what Narrow Hills Park had to offer,

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I'm always on the lookout for new adventures and new places, and when I looked up their campground,

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it offered electric hookups and was way cheaper than some of the more popular places in the area.

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I picked a site that seemed fairly easy to back into, had access to water and washrooms nearby.

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Tanner had insisted I should pick a spot I felt I could back into. Those websites, though,

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are so horrible, and they don't really depict what it looks like. We ended up stopping in on our

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way back to his place from the Saskatoon wedding, and it turned out to be a pretty good pick after

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all. I think I did pretty good for my first time, but I've still got lots to learn. We ended up being

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really lucky that we're both ADHD and scrambled. All the organization that I had done for the

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camping supplies we brought with us to the states on our three week road trip were all perfectly packed,

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organized, and prepared. They were neatly organized in Tupperware bins courtesy of my OCD,

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and since we had been so short on time, it really saved us. We just grabbed them and went.

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We ended up taking half the day to load up with other items and prep, though, so we were both

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pretty tired. We really try to make the most of our time together, and our rest-to-fun balance

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isn't always optimal as a result. It was about 3pm when we left his place. I backed up the truck,

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trying to maneuver, hooking her up on my own, since I knew I'd be doing it solo once I hit the road.

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It's nice that he was there to help, but I do believe going forward it's going to be manageable,

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at least I hope. On our way, we stopped at a gravel pit to practice backing up. It was

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interesting. It turns out I tend to overestimate how big I am and how much space I take up,

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which is exacerbated with the trailer attached. I managed to back in and out three times,

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using a very handy 75 point turn technique. There was plenty of overcorrection, overshooting,

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and I found it challenging, especially since it was a wide open space, hard to judge just how

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badly out of practice I am. I felt like having a reference point or somewhere to aim the trailer

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back into would have been a lot more helpful. On our arrival at the campsite, there was this

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Karen looking lady standing there watching us as we pulled in, and she just couldn't peel her eyes

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away. It just made me feel really icky and threw me off, and I was just too stubborn to even try.

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Screw this lady. I joked she probably couldn't back their rig in either, but yeah. Not my

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finest moment, so Tanner backed in for us. I also get super tired lately, and I don't have a lot

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of patience for much. I keep blaming the burnout, but at this point it's all I've got to work with,

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and I'm really just doing the best I can to make it work. I was really thankful he could see that,

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and he offered to do it. After that, it was gravy. Lowered the jacks, plugged it in, unpacked what

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we needed immediately, and the rest I tucked out of sight. We had a really delicious dinner,

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deer steak, foil potatoes, and a chicken Caesar salad that we made on our camp stove.

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We sat outside in our camp chairs, taking in the quiet starry night.

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Being so north, I curiously wondered if we'd get to see any lights. There was dusting,

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which I figured was the Milky Way, but suddenly Tanner pointed out the colors,

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and we got to sit together all cozy while we watched the northern lights. It was very romantic,

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and honestly it was something I'd been hoping to do with him for a long time. He says that they

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get brighter and more colorful, but hey, considering we seldom see them where I'm from, I was so happy

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to see it, and he got to be there with me. The first night went great. The air conditioning unit

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works well, a little too well, so we were pretty snugly. The bed is extremely comfortable, with no

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humidity or condensation buildup noted. However, the blinds are so dark, we didn't even notice it

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was 9 in the morning. I got up to pee, and I blinded both of us when I opened the door. I guess

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that's not a bad thing. I think meals was our favorite time. There's just something about camp

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food. Eggs, potato, toast, fruit. Fresh blueberries we had picked while on our way to the campsite.

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You guys, Northern Saskatchewan is where it's at for wild berries in season. I could have picked

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for hours. It rained in the morning, so we chilled, had a nap. In the afternoon, we went to the gem

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lakes. I really wanted to do this hike, which was a total of six kilometers that goes around each of

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the lakes. We brought fishing gear, but we didn't really stop to try that until later into our hike.

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By then, we were really hungry and tired. We didn't catch anything, though I did see a couple fish

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tempt us by jumping out of the lake. The hike itself was perfect. Beautiful scenery, lots of

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elevation change, which I love, and the trail is just really well groomed. There was a ton of spots

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to stop and chill. We stopped and had lunch that we packed, and it was just a really great afternoon.

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When we got back, we had a shower at the campground, which was actually really disgusting,

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and I think it'll be really nice to de-winterize the trailer and use my own personal shower in

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the future. There was band-aids and sand everywhere. I mean, what can you expect, but still, ew.

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We grabbed ice cream from the store, and then we made chicken and veggie skewers for dinner.

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We drank, relaxed in our chairs. Once the thunder and lightning started, though, we retreated inside.

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It started pouring rain. The sound on the roof of the trailer was soothing. I've never been a fan

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of rainstorms, but it really fit the vibe perfectly. The next morning, it was time to head out.

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I was sad. It was really great to be away from cell service, where it was fairly quiet and peaceful,

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where it seemed like time paused, and we could finally breathe for once. We ate breakfast and

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packed up. While I was emptying the trailer, two ladies from across the way approached me and asked

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if they could see the inside of the trailer. Of course, I showed them. They were impressed with

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the inside of the trailer and all of its features. I was very proud of myself. They both mentioned,

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we've been watching you guys pack up, and you guys are really efficient and have a really good system.

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I laughed and I said, this is our first time doing this. They were shocked. I was also really proud

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of this. We kept on talking, and while that was going on, Tanner backed up the truck onto the trailer

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and set it up. The one lady turned and said, did you just do that all by yourself in one shot?

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It was a great ego boost, and it made us feel like we really know what we were doing. Tanner has

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experience backing up and hooking up trailers before, but it helps that I have a really nice

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backup camera with indicators, so it basically does it for you. I can only imagine we'll do even

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better the more we do it. So we're starting off on the right foot. Sometimes OCD tendencies really

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pay off. On our way back to Tanner's, we stopped at the cabin at the lake and tried fishing with

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family members. We didn't catch anything, but it was still fun. We'd seen them fishing off the dock,

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and I told Tanner, hey, why don't we grab the rods and go? This moment is exactly what I wanted to

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fill my life with. Where you're on the road, you decide you want to do something last minute.

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You just change into something suitable and grab what you need out of the back of the truck and go.

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All of it is available to you on a whim. We even had a cooler with us that we quickly loaded with

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some drinks to enjoy in the sun. It was a very refreshing experience, but I was surprised to

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find myself even more exhausted after. I think taking time to rest when you're really exhausted

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and burned out just causes you to see how deep at which it's affecting you and how tired you really

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are. It's a survival mechanism just to be able to power through despite being utterly exhausted,

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and the moment you take a pause, it hits you like a brick wall. What did I learn from this experience?

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I learned that my truck guzzles diesel when hauling, which means more stops at gas stations for

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long-term travel. I now have a jerry can with me for emergencies. I learned it's going to be a lot

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more expensive than anticipated to do this, especially fuel-wise. I really don't understand

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how SUVs can haul trailers, even one like mine, and not need to fuel up every 200 kilometers.

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For all I know they do, I built up my confidence on setup and takedown, hooking and unhooking

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the trailer from the truck. A few things remain to iron out, but it's overall going to be manageable,

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and I'm less stressed at the thought of doing this alone. I'm really glad we got away. Relaxing

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with my best friend at the time was just what I needed. We're both looking forward to more

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camping experiences in the future. So what's next? Well, I need to learn to de-winterize the trailer,

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fill, empty the tanks, learn to back up like a champion, or at all at this point, and finish

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up my contract so I can head out and start my journey with my girl Tabby.