RVing Experiment Day 4

Laundry at the campground I can see will get to be an expensive affair. The day before Cid had deployed the awning. We don't think we did it right, but it certainly served its purpose & more; as my new clothes line. A wash is $1.50. Drying is the same. I only washed & dried 2 loads, no separating colors & it was a chore to always be scrambling after quarters.



On Fri. the day before we left my new washing machine had come in from http://lehmans.com/, the Rapid Washer. I've also seen it called the Yukon Plunger, which is exactly what it is; a steel plunger, but fabricated in such a way as to force the water & detergeant through your fabrics using less of both. There is a laundry sink in the bath house, so I decided diapers would be my experiment. I knew hand washing clothes for a novice would be hard & to that end I was also frantically trying to locate a wringer in good shape, but it wasn't to be. I do keep a washboard under the bathroom sink at my house, but that's only for pretreatment.



The Rapid washer is wonderful! It did take some muscle, but I think I overfilled the sink. I had watched a demo & they washed in a bucket. I put the diapers in to soak, took my shower & came out to plunge, changing the water twice, rinsing them individually & wrung them out. It was the wringing that gave me a blister, I plan to intensify my search for a wringer. As to drying, I had no line, so I broke down our camp table a bit & used it as a rack & then just started clipping to the awning.



As it happens, all of the weekly rentals face north so my sun exposure wasn't that great. It's also cooler in the mountains & this gave me some valuable experience for which I'm grateful. As much as I hate to do it, the flannel sleep diapers I made will have to go. They're super absorbent, but need more than a day to dry. The prefolds are only slightly less so which leaves...flatfolds! I remember reading this recomendation by Carla Emory & I don't know many to buy, but 1 of Charlotte's evacuations is more than that can handle even w/ a doubler. So, I guess I'll just work harder to potty train her when we get out there for good. Flatfolds dry in about 3 hours on a cool north facing day & come out the cleanest.



Other fun things we did include touring the Linville Caverns, a small little cave system, but w/ some neat stories. According to our guide, North & South soldiers would walk a 1/4 mile through thigh high water just to reach a sandbar to sleep on. I guess they were AWOL, they had a fire going under there & the smoke coming up from the ground is how they were discovered. A couple of boys got lost in the 19teens 7 took 2 days of walking through that cold water in pitch blackness. They were saved but found w/ cuts all over & severe hypothermia. Also, it only takes 6 months of solid darkness to lose your sight forever. I had never heard that before. There were beautiful speckled trout all around & giant rocks & paths to climb, it was fun. My nieces drove back to Ga. & Fla. from there & we all went home.