Sep 7 – Today did not include a National Monument, a hike through a moss-covered forest to a waterfall, or hours at the pool.  It started with the realization that our shoes and lounge chairs and “entry tarp” were completely exposed while it rained steadily all night.  We’re so used to needing the RV awning as shade against the hot sun, we didn’t even bother to open it when we arrived at our new campground in Fall City, WA, nestled in a grove of fir trees.  It didn’t occur to me that the awning would also be useful in the rain, until I was listening to the steady patter on the RV roof in the middle of the night, and thinking about my sneakers outside.   In our defense, we have been living in LA where rain is a freak occurrence, not something that happens two days in a row.

Which brings me to the next subject: laundry.  This is one of the things I was concerned about before starting on our adventure.   With a family of four plus two dogs, I was doing laundry every couple days at our house, in our fancy new washer and dryer, conveniently located next to the kitchen.  While the facilities have been varied so far, it has been manageable.  The best campground facilities hands down have been at Flying Flags in Buellton, CA – lots of high capacity, credit card-accepting machines (I’ve learned to hoard the quarters; you can’t get change everywhere), those rolling baskets to conveniently move clothes between machines, so your clean wet clothes are not falling on the dirty floor, and big tables for sorting and folding.  I would gladly do anyone else’s laundry in that place. (I should mention here that I actually like laundry, as far as household chores go.  And that Chris is doing all the driving of the 34-foot RV with towed Explorer, and taking care of essential things like “emptying the tanks”.)

I also wasn’t sure where we were going to keep the dirty laundry – the first couple weeks we made do with our regular plastic basket left on one of the dining table benches – but I found a great solution at Bed Bath & Beyond: a tall, sturdy fabric bag with handles, that is narrow enough to be kept in a corner of our bedroom, and then hauled over the shoulder once full (or, more accurately, overflowing).  I’m a little in love with that giant bag.

So today included:  four days worth of laundry, the first official day of homeschooling, and errands-and-lunch as a family.   Traveling around makes routine things like a Costco run, when we can find a Costco, full of unexpected regional surprises.  Three  things from our shopping list – rain jackets, socks, and slippers – were conveniently on display right at the entrance.  Tomorrow we’ll be back out for a hike, and a waterfall, and fully prepared with our warm Costco socks and rain jackets.