We should be pretty good at packing. In July, we packed our truck and trailer to go to our big festival in Evart. The first part of August, we packed truck and trailer to go to Gladwin’s Carriage Days where we camped. Now. at the end of August, we’re headed to our place in the Upper Peninsula for five days. We left home about two hours ago in our truck. (The trailer stayed home.) And in a month, October 3rd, we’ll pack BACK up and head to Florida.

Each adventure is different. For the festivals, we’re responsible for lots of extras. We feel like we’re bringing everything (including the kitchen sink.) Our supplies include: an E-Z-Up canopy, lots of folding chairs, and a multitude of items for the workshops.

But when it comes to “packing” when we’re using the trailer most everything (clothing, food, etc.) just goes in place. The closets are filled, bed made, medicine cabinet filled, kitchen stocked, and the refrigerator holds the stuff from our home refrigerator. Yes, packing takes some time, but with a trailer, we do it gradually over several weeks, and when we take off from Saginaw, the back seat of the truck is usually just loaded with boxes of programs which are distributed at the festival, so when we return home 10 to 12 days later, it’s empty.

Going to the U.P. is much more difficult. We have only the truck (back seat and covered truck bed) to hold stuff. Since we only go once a year and stay for about a week, John doesn’t leave tools up there. Our bedding gets hauled back and forth (including pillows). Canned goods go back and forth. (We’ve tried leaving stuff there, but everything freezes over the winter, and canned goods change consistency after being frozen.) The only stuff which stays in our place from year to year are the furnishings, some cleaning products, some paper products, and cookware. This time we’re even bring a TV set up there. Any paper products or staples (spices, etc) which are left behind get stored in a metal garbage can (only used for that purpose), so the mice can’t get into them.

John brings along a lawn mower and an air compressor (to blow out the water lines for the winter, when we’re ready to head home).

We’ve learned that mice can get in no matter how secure we make the place so we don’t risk leaving anything that would make a nest. Pillows are hauled back and forth, as well as sheets, blankets, towels, etc.

The truck is totally loaded (truck bed and the back seat)!

When we pack for Florida, in about a month, we hope to have a much lighter load than we have today as we head up north. Yes, there are some electronic items which go back and forth to Florida (printer and paper supplies), and some clothes, but except for a cooler, we don’t need to worry about food. Most everything is in place in the condo. We have ample bedding and linens waiting for our return. Favorite clothing items make the trip with us, but we could get by with what’s there. Those items should all fit in the back end of the truck. John’ll bring his bike on a carrier on the back. A full load, yes, but not like this time.

Our instruments (banjo, dulcimer(s), autoharp, sax, and my new marimbula), take up a lot of room in back seat both when heading to Florida and when we head to the U.P. And half of the back seat is reserved for Charlie, our cockatiel and his big cage. But we won’t feel like we used a shoe-horn to get it all in.

By October, when we pack for Florida, we should be pretty good at it.

To make it easier, I will start preparing for our October 3rd departure as soon as we get home next week.