This past weekend my husband, Cecil and I took the RV to our first "Home on the Road" adventure. We picked (actually Cecil picked) a lake called Butler County State Lake. The campsites there were "primitive." For those of you who don't know, primitive camping means you cannot hook up to electricity or water. You must bring your own water via holding tanks and find another source for electricity. Our other source "should have been" our generator which had just been fixed Friday, the first day at the lake.
As one might expect, the generator did not work, and of course on a Friday, we would need to wait until Monday to have it worked on again. So, there we were, Cecil and and the 4 dogs "roughing it" so to speak without electricity. I really did not think it was so bad. The stove, which runs off of propane, worked, the water worked and was pumped via batteries, and the batteries also ran the lights. We did have to take cold showers, but I didn't think that was so bad. I've been camping without any amenities.
The lake was beautiful and very secluded. There was only one other campsite being used across the lake. There were only a handful of people fishing on boats. The dogs loved running around chasing whatever they could find. Sasha, our big Service Dog, splashed her way into the water every chance she got. Everybody seemed happy until Saturday morning.
Since we did not have electricity, we could not use the refrigerator. We decided to take Cecil's van, to all pack up and go to town to pick up a cooler and some food. After just a few minutes on the road, the van began to sputter and chug. I held my breath. Cecil is pretty hard on a vehicle and has a tendency, out of the goodness of his heart, to transport several people at a time in electric wheelchairs-- oye. We have had to repair so much on this van it is practically new (and of course not paid for yet). The last thing I want is another repair on his van.
We made it up and back from town and the van continued to sound awful. Cecil lifted the hood to see if he could figure out what was wrong. Cecil is no mechanic, but for some reason, we all feel we must "pop the hood" whenever a vehicle acts up. I know I do it, and I'm not sure if there are squirrels running on a wheel making the car go (well maybe I'm not that bad, but pretty bad!)--but for some reason I too stick my head under the hood and go "hmmmm" like I see something. Well this is one time looking under the hood paid off!
There were no squirrels under the hood running on a belt, but there was a condo under the hood! A condo that had been built in one night by mice (it might really be rats, but Cecil knew that would really freak me out). I could not believe what was under the hood. There were literally branches from trees, grass, moss, dog hair. I can not imagine how mice could get all that stuff up there ! It was amazing. Well I guess I would have appreciated the architecture more if I wasn't so worried about what permanent damage had been done to the van! I could just imagine the little mice (yes I will continue to imagine cute little mice, rather than nasty rats--sometimes denial is all we have to keep us sane) with pulleys, an assembly line of little mice workers passing moss down the line then hoisting them up via the pulley. I have to admit, I was truly in awe. There was enough debris to fill a trash bag!
Cecil cleaned up the mess. Something must have been chewed we concluded, because the van still chugged. Now, the only time I have ever heard of such a thing is on "Click and Clack" on Saturday mornings on NPR. I thought it was a joke when they talked about mice and rats building nests on the motors of cars. This city girl, had never really believed it possible, plus why would the little vermin do such a thing??? Cecil tells me, that "in the country" this is a common occurrence before winter comes--he also predicted that this will mean winter will come early this year (oh joy--I am not a winter fan--I need lots of sun light!). "Are we going to have to battle this all fall and winter?" Cecil assured me that we won't, this particular campsite was very close to brush and very rustic.
We popped the hood on my car, no condo. Apparently mice don't like Japanese cars--who knew? I guess I've never seen Mickey driving a foreign car... Anyway, Cecil told me to keep the hood open anyway just in case they got any ideas. He left his up as well. I got to thinking about this. Fred, our little dachshund, seemed very interested going under the van, but also the RV. This occurred to me Sunday, as we were packing up--certainly the RV would need to get the generator worked on again Monday. I mentioned to Cecil, maybe we should "pop the hood" on the RV--just in case. Apparently, the RV has no hood to pop--again, who knew? In order to get to the engine, you must take this little console looking thingy off inside the RV. So, to humor me, Cecil took the thingy off. And I'll be darn, it was an entire complex of townhouses under there! The were pieces of branches that actually looked like little logs! Plus several things we had lost, like a beer coozie
I was concerned, because there is no hood to keep popped up. Cecil suggested we only put part of the thingy back on (I guess I really should find out what it's actually called) and then maybe Fred, who had been so interested would keep poking his nose in there, thus scaring the mice. I will admit, at this point, my denial that they weren't rats was wearing a little thin. It would take "Mighty Mouse" to get those logs up there! Cecil kept assuring me, that mice are very strong. He started up the RV and there were no problems.
The next morning, we got up. Cecil looked under the console thingy, and in just a few hours they had constructed an entire town! He filled an entire big plastic bag full of their structures. Fred, had not earned his dog biscuits. He apparently slept through it all. Fortunately, the RV ran perfectly. Phew.
I expected this "lifestyle" would allow me opportunities to learn new things and experience new things. But, as usual, life has a way of throwing something at you, you could never imagine! Mice condos! Who knew?
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