The next trip with my trailer, and the second trip to be centered around a holiday this year, the trip to Sam A. Baker State Park! This trip was a memorable one...
Before I set out, I was having issues with my right eye. It became inflamed and needed to be treated with eye drops. In addition to that, I believed I was having issues with my steering wheel clock spring. What lead me to that conclusion? The airbag light would illuminate on the dashboard and fail to go out. Not the best thing to have fail on you when you might need it most! These were just the starters to the fun that would befall me...
Feeling confident in my abilities to not get into an accident while only being able to see, though not exclusively, from my left eye I set off on my 3 day weekend of fun! I arrived to camp without incident and got camp set up quickly.
It was at that point I realized I forgot some much needed eye care supplies so I ventured into town for a quick resupply. When attempting to leave the store and head back to camp, I had my first incident of the trip... the muffler of my truck, installed in 2016, decided to fall off hitting the ground leading edge first. As you might imagine, this created a horrible sound and forced me to stop in a vacant lot across the street from the store I just departed. Fortunately, I had some wire with me from the time I dropped the old muffler on Old Fall River Road in Rocky Mountain National Park in 2016. I wired the muffler back up, securing it as best I could, and departed for camp again. I was especially glad to have dropped rusty flakes of metal into my already inflamed eye. That should help it heal!
Back at camp, now dark, it was time to check out the new lights purchased for the interior of the Explorer trailer! After being more than a little disappointed in the factory interior lighting and how it had to be connected to a vehicle in order to actual be powered, I found a rather creative solution of my own!
These lights, fashioned to look like light switches, have their own self contained battery meaning they don't need to be hooked up to an external power source unlike the factory trailer light and, as you can see, they really put out some light! Sorry to say but the interior light included with the Explorer trailer just doesn't cut it. Since I also got these lights free (with an additional purchase), I certainly have no complaints!
The next day I decided to take my bike out for a ride having bothered to hook it to the back of the trailer just for the fun of it. The weather was only just a bit unpleasant being the end of August and beginning of September. It could have been worse for sure but it was nice to get some exercise on my bike for a change. After a good ride, it was time to just to kick back and enjoy the time at camp! For the evening, a good campfire was in order and some campground ice cream, the trick learned from the Mark Twain campout!
The final day of the trip would not be a simple pack and go. It rarely ever is! I figured I would try to squeeze in a hike before hitting the road. This turned out to be an unwise decision as I would soon learn. Rather than hike out to where I would have liked to go, I wound up talking to a complete stranger for hours... And not the kind of stranger you would want to be talking to ever. This guy was a complete nut job and I was ready to be rid of him the moment I met him. Sadly, his existence might be the one thing to keep me from returning to the park in the near future. I would fear meeting him again. Other than that, what little hiking I did was nice and then I booked it back to camp to pack and run in case the nut job decided to come and find me... Farewell Sam A Baker, I'll unfortunately not be back too soon thanks to one bad experience.
Span of 3 days; Approximately 7 hours and 35 minutes of cumulative driving; Approximately 384.4 miles; Approximately 30.31 gallons of gas used; Approximate average MPG 12.75; Approximately $69.28 spent on gas; Average fuel consumption rate 3.9969 gallons per hour.
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