Last time I left camp, I almost ran a kid off the road who was driving up too fast and not accounting for the fact that those roads are about a truck and a half wide. You have to slow down for the curves! But I was on the outside of the really steep part and dragging the trailer, so I just let him roll his tires up the bank on the inside and no harm done. I had nightmares about being run off and rolling down the mountain the whole rest of the way home though.

Of course, you know what I’m leading to, don’t you?

One corner away from the turnoff to camp, I met a truck coming downhill a little too fast. He zigged and I zagged, and the trailer, which was already a little inside the radius of the truck, grabbed the ditch with its wheels and yanked over hard to the right. Right into the side of the mountain. I was stopped within about six feet, but I had to yank it back out of there to assess the damage.

The poor guy stopped too, absolutely white-faced. “I had nowhere to go!” he kept saying (although he sort of did; we weren’t on the steep part.)

I think he was more terrified that I would start crying, but all of these sanity trips recently must have left me saner than usual, because I was remarkably level-headed. We looked it over and I started to take care of the sticking-out parts; got out the black tape and the pocket knife, and we went to taping. The awning arm was completely ripped off and hanging, so I had to secure that before I could roll at all.

It smashed in the front corner, breaking the support inside for my bed and cracking across the front. It smashed in the storage compartment which contained the tools I needed to unhitch. Smashed the door in but good; I had to get out both the tire iron and the rubber mallet to get that open. Scraped all the way down the side and pulled off the edge of the siding in the back. I pried and hammered and cussed, and it was a good thing nobody else was in camp. I got in, got my stuff, and left a note that I was OK and went hunting. I ran into Don coming back, so I turned around and we all had pie and commiserated.

The door only shuts (sort of) from the outside, because I have to pick up the awning and roll it over the door to hold it closed. That doesn’t work so well when I’m inside the trailer, so at night, I had to bungee it sort of shut and try to prop up cushions and towels to try to conserve my heat. It was a little chilly in there this morning!

It was sort of sickening, but really; it’s just stuff. I’m insured, and hey! Maybe now I can get that dry rot taken care of. And I did manage to keep the truck completely out of it, so I wasn’t a complete failure. $8,000 (once upon a time) trailer with dry rot sacrificed to save the $40K truck? Good call.

It’s going to be a pain in the ass, but not right away. I can turn the insurance in, but only with pictures. I left it up there for the week, both because I’m hunting again next weekend and I want to use it and because I have to take that awning completely off before I can put it on the road. The boys say they will help me; I knew they would. Good bunch of guys up there, but they’re part of the next story. Or possibly the one after that.