When Don the Baptist and J-Bird plan an adventure, the end result will be interesting at minimum. Maybe crazy. What will happen this time? Grizzly? Moose in the campsite? Now that would be cool.

DtB, who is now traveling to Zion National Park, and I spent a few days up at Priest Lake. The adventure started out with a crazy near disaster. A “backing up the camper disaster,” of course.The campsite sloped a bit towards the lake, and the asphalt pad was elevated on one side to make a level site. I successfully backed into the campsite on the first try.

However, we felt that the step to the camper was too close to the slope. So, I pulled out and attempted to back in again. Unfortunately, DtB and I got our signals crossed. Left should have been right, right should have been straight, forward could have been backward, straighten the wheels now!- many of you have been there before and you know what I am talking about.

Doesn’ look bad, but that tree was trouble and the camper wheels were off the pad, on the drop off side.

Sooooo, before long, the passenger-side camper wheels were off the pad, dangling the whole thing a bit over the edge. Just pull ahead and try again? Wrong. The camper, when it slipped a bit over the edge, became wedged between two trees. No way to go backward or forward. Stuck. Fortunately, the trees were not touching the camper.

Of course, I called my expensive RV emergency roadside service, guaranteed to help me ANYWHERE, only to find out they don’t come up that far north, into the boonies.

Dtb, who will knock on anyone’s door and who thinks outside the box, walked up to the camp host. Mel, the host, tells me DtB knocked and said with the utmost urgency, “We are in BIG trouble”. The two hustle down to the site and scratch their heads. Hmmmm, they said. Not sure what we can do. Don asks, “Can we chop down that tree blocking the front of the camper?”. Mel says, “the Forest Service won’t like that, $500 fine for even driving a nail into a tree.” He suggests getting in touch with a local tow truck service, and the two, fast buddies at this point, drive off to Priest Lake Village to find the guy. He is a few hours away, doing a job in Spokane but can get to us by 5 PM. The time is 3 PM. We can wait.The fancy road trip insurance told me they will pay the first $75.00 (cost $150)

Remember that I proudly boasted on many occasions that everything I own is in the van and camper? Well, it was interesting watching everything I own in danger of rolling down a hill, into the lake. Good thing I have the Gecko.

Dtb and Mel decide they want to do something while we wait. They get some of Mels’ 2x4s and prop up the camper, under the stabilizer jacks. They have a grand time designing these piles of wood (Lincoln Logs for grown men). Of course, we cannot do much else: no way forward, no way back, but they feel useful and possibly prevent the camper from listing more. I sit around drinking water and walking Tango, cracking a few jokes but mostly feeling a little green around the edges. We had not eaten lunch, so at 4 I pulled out my emergency bag (one burner stove, coffee, fuel, pans, cups, water, salt/pepper,  Mac and Cheese). We fueled up on good ole Kraft comfort food. With full bellies, Don and I decided we would, “Laugh about this someday.”

Around 6 PM, the tow truck saint arrives. We do not care at all that we have been waiting 3 hours. He quietly surveys the situation and decides his rescue plan. He hooks stuff up here and there, and then he pulls the camper sideways, one inch at a time. I am in the drivers’ seat at the same time, gently inching forward. Voila! Fifteen minutes later the camper is back on the pad. UNSCATHED. Inside, everything is fine. Nothing broken, almost nothing out of place. We pay him and are tempted to fall on our knees and worship at his feet, but we regain composure and offer profuse thanks instead.

Thanks to this adventure we are now famous! Around 8:30 PM Mel comes by with a convoy of two other trucks filled with the camp hosts at other Priest Lake campgrounds. They had been in a meeting and Mel told them all about our little adventure. They just had to come and see the goof balls who can’t back up straight. We laughed and joked about the whole thing and made some nice friends. We even visited them the next day up at their campground.

Lessons learned: don’t back into campsites with a dropoff on one side; don’t back into an RV pad with lots of trees along the edges; preplan and practice all signals to the driver; laugh at the situation; pray when all else fails; expect a great outcome.

The rest of the trip was awesome. We were happy to have the inevitable “blooper” over at the beginning of the trip. We did have one relatively minor mishap back at my “home pad”, when we locked ourselves out. Don’t tell anyone, but RVs are incredibly easy to break into. Don removed the screen with one gentle tap and then slithered right through the emergency window. The next day, Don left his credit card at the Breakfast House in Spokane Valley, but that paled in comparison to the dangling camper. A great trip, and we are planning the next one.

Highlights: kayaking, hiking the beach trail, yummy food cooked on the campfire. Gin Rummy tournaments (1-1). Cold water in the lake, sand between our toes. Bacon! Eggs! Camping fun.

Clear, clean, northern water!

We don’t look like these photos suggest! However, we couldn’t stop laughing; seemed to fit the” country bumpkins run their camper off the road theme.”

Before Priest Lake, we took a boat cruise around Lake CdA. Beautiful!!!!!

CdA from the cruise boat