It’s been an interesting first week on the road. I’ve had some really great moments and a few not so great moments. It’s all part of the road and the adventure but sometimes I do question my own sanity.
First, the good, and there’s lots of that. Quiet. I love that I can hear nothing at night. Or nothing but natural sounds. One night at Beauvais Lake all I could hear was one bullfrog croaking all night. It was calming. The very next night the whole band showed up, loons, frogs, crickets, other birds I don’t know. It was the most chaotic racket ever but so beautiful at the same time.
A few nights before as I was making my dinner, my door open, out of the corner of my eye I could see something that was moving in the campsite directly across from me. It was a massive moose, munching on the fresh sprigs on the branches. My camera and GoPro were uploading photos and video to my hard drives so I used my iPhone to capture her. She didn’t seem too worried about us being there. I went across to the neighbors camp and asked if they had seen the moose. When we looked were she was she was gone. Only to go walking down the road in front of us. It was amazing.
To get started I stayed a few nights in paid Provincial Park campgrounds. They had powered campsites but I found for the most part I didn’t need it. The solar kit is keeping me charged throughout the day and recharges the batteries of what I used the night before by 9am on a sunny day.
Once I got settled in each spot I could leave the trailer and go exploring. This is the goal as trying to search out all the spots I want to photograph while towing the trailer would almost be impossible and would consume much more fuel. It does require that I loop around each day, back to home base at night but that is a price I can deal with.
I’ve been getting lots of shots and video but have been running into challenges getting things online.
So with that in mind let’s start on the few rough spots this first week. The biggest being a mishap I had on Monday night. While trying to light my propane furnace the very first time I was fumbling with the dial and trying to get it lit. There was a small pocket of propane that when ignited pushed a small flame from the pilot hole and made a flash/pop. This automatically kicked my reflexes in gear send me jumping backwards. However, being crouched down on the floor between my furnace and the dinette divider. Well, I slammed my elbow into the divider with a lot of force. The problem being that it’s also the elbow with my small benign tumor on it. I haven’t felt pain that bad since my bad tooth that needed a root canal. The next day it seemed to almost back to normal but in the days since it’s been swollen and quite painful. If it doesn’t improve in the next few days I’ll be sourcing out a walkin clinic to get it checked again.
Two days after that I went to get up from my computer chair and hit my head on the padded front to my forward storage shelf. Not a big deal but it sent enough force downward to gnash my teeth together causing one of my top teeth to chip a lower one. Just a small chip, nothing damaging but enough that it’s annoying. It’s like the universe was trying to remind me that I no longer have a medical or dental plan.
Another small challenge has been finding fresh potable water outlets. A few of the campgrounds listed that it was available but the taps were turned off. Due to the fact that it’s still winter/early spring I understand that it’s because the pipes can still freeze. For now I’ve purchased a couple full 10 liter containers until things warm and open up.
So a few minor glitches but nothing to complain about. The freedom and time to explore and find the subjects I like to shoot is worth any discomforts either situational, natural and those self induced.
The only other hurdle I have to overcome is how to get my photos and videos that are edited on my iMac in the trailer uploaded when a lot of the time I have no internet connection aside from connecting through my cell plan. Part of the issue is the Apple/Mac resistance to allowing the sharing of files among devices without using the cloud. A small problem on my radar that I’ll be doing more work to solve soon.
That’s about all I have from my first week so far. Lots of video and photos to come so watch my other forms of social media and follow the YouTube channel. Thanks for reading friends,
Wayne
