This last winter was LOOOONNNGG!! Meaning it didn't want to end! We had what seemed to be more days below 0* than previous winters. And it just wouldn't warm up! Because we had such a long winter and because last year was a tough one for me and my family, we decided we needed some change in scenery. So like many people that live in the north, we decided to go south.
We purchased a motor home. Mapped out a route that would hopefully get us quickly to the coastline of Oregon so that we could then meander down the coast and into California. The motor home we found was perfect, if not old. It is an '86. In good condition too, except for the hot water heater that had a huge hole in it. Nothing some welding wouldn't fix. ($80) and a tune up ($150). And of course the gas mileage of 7mpg. Yep, perfect. I set to work inside, making sure it was all clean and packing it up.
We only had the motor home, which from here on out I will simply refer to as the "shasta" because that's what it is and it's quicker to type, for one week before we left on the trip. Two days before we left, the previous owner called my husband to tell him there "may" be a mouse in there. I had already cleaned the camper very well and packed it up and saw no sign of a mouse anywhere. But to be on the safe side, my sweet patient husband, knowing I would not ride quietly if there "may" be a mouse on board, bought some traps and set them in the dark recesses of the Shasta. The next day we found out that there was infact a mouse, but now dead. Whew!! Now we could take off with a sound mind!
We were a little slow on the take off but eventually got to my daughters house and dropped off the dogs, for which we were so thankful they were willing to babysit the furry kids for us. Hours later, not quite making our planned destination we stayed at a place called Coyote Run RV park. As my husband went into secure a spot for the night, my son and I were in the Shasta stretching our legs and he says to me, "Mom, I hear something. It's like a squeak". I got over to where he thinks he hears something and yep, there's alittle squeak. I mention that there was a mouse prior to us leaving but it was taken care of and just incase, the traps were left and still empty. So it was most likely the tree outside the Shasta rubbing on the side of it.
We set up in our spot, had dinner and settled down for some relaxation then bed time. As we start to nod off, I am informed by my son that there is a mouse running around in the roof, he could hear the scurrying. I listened and yes there was a scurrying sound. He pounds the roof and that mouse was not in the least bit scared because he just kept on scurrying around. I tried to ignore it. My son tried to ignore it. My husband was snoring. But it was so hard to ignore! One, it was right over my son's bed!! He was about 2 feet from the ceiling, which is hard to ignore. Then that mouse brought a friend. And that friend brought another. They were having a ripping party in our Shasta!! And they were heading toward our end of the Shasta!! This was getting hard to ignore. So my son thought he'd sleep in a chair instead. Of course my son and I kept discussing things and moving around and my husband isn't snoring anymore. We woke him up. Oops. I told his it was an infestation and we had to do something about this! I couldn't travel with little Mickey and pals all over the country!! Then my sweet and patient man told me if we were going to be like this he would turn the Shasta around and we were going home! I told him that was not nice. Sleep deprivation is a hard thing on all of us...
After that conversation, my son is quiet, I am quiet and my husband is snoring. Then I think this is silly. I should be like a detective and observe the situation. (it was by this time 2am.) I think, mice do not scurry endlessly. There hasn't been any other sign anywhere. And there couldn't not in all reality be this many mice.....so I lay there thinking all of this over.....hmmm.......I wonder.....
I roll over and open the window....sniff sniff.....hmmmm......open the screen, stick out my arm....and RAIN!! That's right!! RAIN!! All of that scurrying was rain!! Praise God it's rain!!! Oh hurray! I was going to get sleep after all! I call out to my son, "It's rain! The sound is rain! Not mice!! Just rain!!" He responds with a very firm, "I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!"
Next morning, he sheepishly says, "You know, now that I'm awake that makes sense. What were we thinking?" And so we survived the mouse infestation of Coyote Run. And that was only day one of our trip!! Ah good times :)
