Green Goddess Glamping: Tiny Trailer Rainy Day Tuesday

Between showers

Late at night the rain began, tapping out its falling beat on the roof of our tiny standy trailer, rattling its staccato rhythms on the camper's awning. First had come distant thunder, then forewarning sprinkles, and finally a steady rain without wind. It was a pleasing sound, without the wind a restful sound. Dawn was a gradual lightening of night to shadowy tones of gray.

Getting ready to finish my brunch. Surprising how much the toaster oven warmed the shelter.

Even though my wife and I had prepared for the storm before bed, the morning reality was a bit daunting--the prospect of a day in our tiny trailer while my wife worked online with her laptop, extra monitor, cellphone with hotspot, and signal booster . . . and me also fitting somehow into the same space. We had erected the Clam shelter outside but felt it might be too wet to really knuckle down to a day of electronic business. Since my wife Sandy is engaged in ongoing training for her son in the family business, she decided to drive the half hour to work in her office at home. Since I had books, my laptop, and lots of food, I decided to stay in camp and relax.

What to do on a rainy tiny trailer day? Besides read, write, and eat . . . and maybe take a nap.

Slow and easy, I decided . . . maybe even lazy! I wanted to cook a good breakfast that included home fries, but since I was hungry now, I put the cubed potatoes on to bake and ate a quick bowl of cereal to take off the edge. Setting up my tripod, I photographed camp during a break in the rain, enjoying setting the timer and then sprinting for a couple of selfies. Smile!

One-pot brunch

Then I cooked scrambled eggs with fresh tomato and added the potato last, once the eggs were dry enough to not make the potatoes soggy. A 10:30 brunch added wonderfully to my relaxed (lazy?) camp clean-up. Rain was going to begin again, and I wanted to keep camp as tidy and dry as possible.

Cozy for one, really cozy for two

If we don't don't have a "workload" of work, then a rainy day while camping can be a nice break, a call for some rest and quiet. A rainy day can feel cramped in a tiny trailer, especially if it is a "bed on wheels" kind of tiny trailer. We can experience cabin fever, even by ourselves, not to mention sharing a small, small space with another person--or another person and a pet or two.

Tiny trailer full-timer Becky Schade's blog Interstellar Orchard contains one article that lists five things to do to avoid going stir crazy in a teardrop. I'll pass them along, and if you like them, the link provides more detail about how she manages in her Hiker Trailer.

Choose locations with a view.
Have a comfortable space inside to sit and sleep.
Stay active.
Spend time outside.
Go on adventures away from the camper.

I'm not doing too well today spending time being active and adventurous. Oh, well . . . All work and no play may make Jack a dull boy; however, all play and no rest is what makes Tom a dull boy. Sandy and I do have some good future camping news. We received most of our deposit back for the Safari Condo Alto we ordered last September, having cancelled in early July. We also have a buyer for our current tiny camper (a lady just came to our door, knocked, and said she wanted to buy our trailer!). We aren't selling our wonderful camper now, though, and will still be camping this fall, having even reserved the campsite we're currently at for the last two weeks in October. Some late fall camping! I also plan to camp a couple of weeks in September at Iowa's Lake Rathbun, with Sandy coming up to camp on the weekends.

Sometimes it not a question of what you're going to do, even on a rainy day with precipitation limiting options. If it's a quiet, kick-backed day, then why not act in accord with the laws of nature and kick back? We have nothing to lose but our fatigue.