The Lark

My parents were very new at this attaching a trailer with a camper to your hitch of your station wagon and go cross counties with it--but our family'sfirst roadtrip with "The Lark" was memorable because of this song and the backing-up of the toilet in this thing the second day of our mini-vacation . . .

She was unhitched from the station wagon and hooked-up to appropriate generator for our site and everything was working. We unpacked, placed the food in the now-perfect temperature fridgerator, stocked the cupboards then latched those shut, cleaned the bathroom, hung the towels, placed toiletries in latched cabinets, checked the running water, opened up all the mattresses and let those air, and decided to go up to the cabin and introduce ourselves. We locked up the 'little lark house for the weekend' and disappeared up the path, no-one ever remembered or probably knew to empty the refuse-usage tanks before hooking up to the water intake tubes.

We met some really nice people also with families and a trailer that served as their home for the weekend so dad was not alone in case something went wrong which he said would not. He could do this if he could sew up a person's wounded leg and make them walk again, this was a piece of cake ! Well no-one had baked a cake and dad really deserved one after battling what happened when we arrived back at the camper only two hours later.

After us kids got our fill of arcade games and shooting pool and swimming for awhile, we sat and had some snacks and listened to the jukebox. It had oldies and a few familiar tunes plus a few 'new releases'. Well in this small town, Joe Walsh Life's Been Good, makes the record for new release. I sure was feeling pretty good too as my family was getting along on a vacation. dad was away from the hospital, mom away from the city, us kids away from school--we were in the country getting ready to spend yet another glorious night in a camper. Our family said goodnights andheaded back to the site where lo and behold a surprise my dad was not prepared for awaited him . . .

The camper had shifted its place in the now-mud, because the tank exploded and regurgitated poo-poo water and excrement all over the yard and then some. My father was so embarressed and so mad that he reached for the tube that existed the back end of the camper and yanked as all this excess water from the tank gushed all over him leaving in a puddle of crap, literally. Only when he laughed did we burst out laughing, which was almost immediately when he realized what he had forgotten to do. The clamp was not fastened and the outatke was not drained properly before re-filling it. Pretty simple for even a surgeon, right? well not really.

A few high-pressure rinsing attempts and the outside was okay but the bathroom leaked into the common area and us kids or mom and dad would have to sleep outside. Those beddings and cushins and most of the carpeting between the bathroom and the kitchen/common area was soaked, and it was not producing a pleasant odor. I for one was not disappointed when told I might have to sleep on dryer ground away from where the water that backed up caused sludge and mud.

No problem as mom got into the station wagon with our sleeping bags and tarps, drove a few feet away from the mess and told dad if he wanted to sleep in the camper by himself, she would stay in the wagon while the girls, me and my sister either slept on soft grass or in the back of the station wagon. I chose the grass and before falling off to sleep, I could hear the ending of "Life's been Good (To Me)" from the cabin and decided even though we made a mess and cost the campground some money, I was in a fabulous position this song always puts me back to: NATURE !!