Day 5 – Wausau to Lake Ahquabi State Park

What an amazing couple of days! I want to apologize for not writing. The last couple of nights I’ve been camping! Finally, I’m back in nature. Not that the Best Western of Omaha wasn’t swell and all, but I’ve been ready to wake up in the wilderness for long before this trip even began. Once my new trailer was in my possession my first destination was a campground. Before I get too far ahead of myself, let me catch you all up.

On Tuesday morning I woke up far earlier than my body would have liked. My unusual perkiness and anticipation for what the day held made up for any morning grump I’d usually feel. Even encountering a entitled parking job like this couldn’t kick me out of my good mood.

I got my coffee, ate a quick breakfast and got to the TC Teardrop headquarters right at 8am. Carol, Todd and Sam were there to greet me and introduce me to my beautiful trailer! I know this sounds so cliché, but it was love at first sight! She was perfect!

I had chosen her color to match my car so we’d be the perfect pair as we traveled the backroads of America together. The blue was simply a splash of color, mimicking a crisp clear sky or the blue of a snow melt fed river.

Sam, Carol and Todd’s son, was the builder of my rig, so he had the honors of walking me through everything he’d done. From the heated sleeping pad, to the dome lights, to the extra rugged tires, solar panel and battery.

No detail was spared.

Of course as all of these details were being described all that kept going through my head was, how will I drive with this? How will I park it? Am I in over my head? There goes all that anxiety again. Sam was amazing though. He gave me some pointers on how to park, reassured me that I could go my standard 80 miles an hour down the highway (or faster if I preferred) and probably wouldn’t even notice it was there. He also showed me how I could push it around when it wasn’t hitched to anything, reassuring me I wasn’t going to completely destroy the trailer, or my house, trying to get it into my garage.

With my newfound confidence I set out on my journey! No longer was I focused on getting someplace at a particular time. Now it was all about soaking up the beauty of America as I wound my way home.

I was getting on the road later than usual, so I suspected I’d be arriving at my next destination in the dark. I would, however, not be deterred. I was committed to camping in my new trailer assuming it was over 8 degrees (which was the temperature in Wausau).

As a born and bread Californian, I’ve realized something that had never occurred to me before. Up until this trip, I didn’t notice how much I judged my assessment of weather by how it appears through a window. In California, if it looks cold, it is cold. If it looks hot, it is hot. Almost never would it look hot and actually be freezing cold.

So driving through the golden rolling hills and farms of Iowa, sun high in the sky and not a cloud to see, from my assessment it was at least 70 degrees outside. The ponds weren’t iced over, there was no snow on the ground, the frost covering the cars that drove past could have easily come from Wisconsin. Based on my very astute observations, it wasn’t just warm outside, it was down right balmy!

So as I rolled into my campground at Lake Ahquabi, Iowa, imagine my surprise to find it freezing cold. Not just chilly, as one would expect in the darkened night, but sleep in a hat, scarf and down jacket freezing.  Of course, Dingo, with her built in fur coat was perfectly cozy.

I suspect that had my trailer not come with a heating pad, I probably would have frozen as solid as Dingo’s water bowl.

Just so it’s clear how cold I’m talking about:

Despite the seemingly apocalyptic cold, that next morning (Wednesday), Dingo and I woke to a beautiful scene. We were nestled beside a beautiful lake, just the two of us in a completely empty campground.

The sun had risen, burning off some of the chill, and all sorts of wild life had come to visit. Squirrels, deer, and birds that made sounds I’d never heard before, all welcomed us into their home.

With this beautiful serene backdrop, imitating a scene from the movie On Golden Pond, I made coffee and packed up the car. While I was reluctant to leave this place, I knew I needed to continue on. Shortly we were back on the road and off to our next destination.

This is where I end this part of the story. Check out the next installment where I make a radical route change!