Always Pack Soup … That One Time When We Didn’t…

We were headed out on a quick two-nighter trip.  It was going to be easy!   The RV park was across the street from a major supermarket.  We wanted to get out of Dodge quickly after work so we decided we’d just buy groceries when we got there.  What could possibly go wrong with our plan?  This is the trip when we learned we should always pack a can of soup.

We were headed to Leavenworth, WA which is about two hours from our house.  I think we even left while it was light out, which isn’t always the case.  We may have even had some idea that we might be able to set up camp while it was light out.  Our trip plans included some hiking, visiting some friends, browsing the cute shops, and dining at some favorite lunch places.  We didn’t really need to pack a bunch of food, right?  I’m not sure we packed any food other than some ice cream and some dog food.  Sure, there were a few packets of oatmeal in the trailer, some spices, and some coffee, but we didn’t really pack anything of substance because we’d shop when we arrived.  Best laid plans….

Our truck was only about a year old.  We were driving on the downside of a mountain pass when we heard a huge pop and bang!  My husband pulled off to the side of the road.  As it turned out, we had blown out a tire on the truck.  With it being a new-ish truck and with a trailer attached, we decided it would be best to call AAA and get some professional help.

It was dark … very dark as a matter of fact!  My husband, “Mr. always prepared” was instructed by AAA to take the trailer off the hitch.  So, he set out about doing his work while I hung out with the dog inside the truck.  He, of course, had flares and set them out.  He loves flares!   He came back to the truck momentarily saying how dark it was and that he was wearing a dark colored jacket – a bad combination to be sure.   The dog has issues.   She doesn’t like it when the truck changes speed to a slower speed or stops when she doesn’t get to get out.  She began to fuss.   I turned around to comfort her when I noticed my husband’s hi-vis vest sitting on the back seat near the dog.  Duh!  The next time he came back to the truck, I handed him the vest.  This must have jogged his safety brain because he remembered we had some orange cones in the storage hatch of the trailer.  He put those out too.  Things were brightening up outside.  

After about an hour, the AAA guy showed up and gave him a hand with changing the tire.  As it turns out, having a AAA guy change your tire the first time out on a new-ish truck is a really good idea.  The instructions in the owner’s manual for how to get the spare out aren’t real clear.  The demonstration was a huge help.  Once the tire was changed, my husband, in all his high visibility, hitched the trailer back up and we were on our way.

Once we arrived at the RV park, we quickly set up the trailer and made a bee-line for the supermarket.  It was probably about 9 p.m.  We broke our own 8 O’clock rule (See my  8 O’Clock Rule Blog Post), but it wasn’t really our fault.  We were thinking up what we might like to cook up really fast for dinner.  A steak perhaps.  Maybe a pasta dish.   A nice salad on the side … it was going to be delicious!  

We got to the supermarket and low and behold, it was closed!  What supermarket closes at 9 p.m.?  Aren’t they all open until at least midnight?

Okay fine!  We’ll head to one of the many restaurants in Leavenworth – no problem.  Guess what – closed!  Yep!  It was still the “off season” for tourists.  Why stay open past 9 p.m.?  It probably isn’t cost-effective.   Ok fine!  We’ll drive through McDonalds.  No problem, right?  They have to be open!  We got all the way to the place where you place your order and the girl got on and said, “Um, we’re closed.  We had to close because our cash registers went down.”  Really?   How is it possible that there is no food available in the whole town after 9 p.m.?

We headed back to the trailer.  Surely, I’d have some emergency type food in the cupboards, right?  After all, we are Emergency Workers for our city on the Communications Team.  We have go-bags for goodness sake!  3 days – 3 ways… We had a whole go-trailer, right?  Wrong!  Our team leader would have been disgusted with our lack of preparedness!  Not only was our trailer not go-worthy, but neither of us had a go-bag!  The trailer had a can of diced tomatoes – not much you could do with that without anything to go with it.  There were no cans of soup, nothing but milk and juice in the fridge … basically nothing.  It was probably the worst food packing job we have ever done in the history of our RVing!  I ate a big bowl of ice cream.  I can’t remember what my husband ate.  

The next morning when I returned from walking the dog, I saw groceries on the counter!  There were eggs, sausage, biscuits, juice, and fruit!  There was coffee in the coffee pot.  I was a little surprised that my husband was up and had made it to the store and back while we were gone.  He told me he was hungry and highly motivated.

Now, we keep 2 cans of soup in the trailer at all times … for emergencies.  We haven’t had a food crisis since this time.   As I’ve said so many times, pretty much everything we’ve learned about RVing has been by making mistakes.  It was yet another mistake where we made a new rule.  “Always keep soup in the trailer.”

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