Boler Life – The Learning Cliff

Boler Life has become real life and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve just finished my first adventure and it was filled with learning. Learning so very much that I did not hit the learning curve quite yet; I hit the learning cliff many times. For the record, I have never towed anything, camped (except a trip with my family when I was 12), used propane, jackknifed (I am currently a master at that) or even used a BBQ. I basically have no knowledge or experience. If you read the article on how I learned to fish, it will give you an idea of my “skills”. The first thing I did was flood twelve gallons of water into my trailer.

Boler Life

Let’s back up a moment.

The first time I heard of a Boler was from my chiropractor, who is a teacher of life. He has taught me a great many things about camping, coaching, parenting and of course, is a constant support in my unsuccessful efforts to stop hurting my back. Dr. Pat knows ALL dat’! He explained what a Boler was when I told him I wanted my daughter to have summers in nature and live the lake life.

The next day, I bought a Boler; a forty-eight year old trailer. I have a sign on the back of my SUV that says ‘Baby up in this bitch’ (friendly Canadian warning). So I got my bitch hitched and decided to take my toddler camping by myself. Hence how this became a learning cliff.

Boler Helpers from the Universe

I purchased the Boler from the kindest, most amazing human; Doug. Doug not only got the Boler camp-ready for me, I texted him at least one hundred times over the twenty-four hour period that I attempted camping. He helped me so much. I also made ten thousand new friends. I joined an online community of Boler Life goers and asked a couple of questions. Over one hundred tips and pieces of advice arrived within an hour. I learned SO much from this community; I already feel like I have more friends than I ever have. So many moments of “WTF do I do now?!” and the community rescued me.

I also had two lovely, wonderful friends join my party of two (the mini and I), bring me a whole bunch of missing items that I wasn’t aware existed and hang out with me until I felt safe enough to go to sleep. They even brought wine. Now that’s friendship.

Boler Upgrades. Learning Begins

Boler Life began on Friday, as I prepared for a Saturday to Sunday adventure. I am a classic over-planner and made two very necessary adjustments before I left. I made a screen door using Magic Mesh, glue, pins, hair clips, Gorilla tap and magnets. It was perfect.

Not a bug! And I was able to save my daughter and myself from a wasp. No one is allergic but I am fucking terrified of them and had been stung twice the day before. I watched the wasp attempt entry to the Boler and when it couldn’t come in, I thought “VICTORY!!!! I AM A BOLER CHAMP! TELL YOUR FRIENDS, ASSHOLE!” I am very un-yogic when it comes to wasps. My next goal is to purchase a CLAM. Take that wasps! It will fit right over the picnic table.

Jack it, baby!

My other addition, with the help of my awesome bro-in-lo, was to install a new jack on the front of the A-frame that had a wheel on it. It was an easy installation between the two of us. When I backed into the campsite, my jackknife issues weren’t too bad (at this stage, the Boler online community called me Jackknife as a nickname) and I didn’t need to wheel it into place. I just needed thirty attempts. NBD.

Boler is a Bathtub

After I finished the necessary upgrades, pre-Boler adventure, I filled the water tank. Where is the water tank? Back to the online forum. I found and filled it, not sure what was happening inside but assumed the tanks were filling and I’d have running water. After I was sure it was full, I opened the door and found all twelve gallons of water on the floor with more coming out like a goddamn tsunami. WTF is this shit. I didn’t order a Boler Bathtub.

I managed to get the water out by using the jacks to tip the trailer one way to force the water toward the exit and then change jacks to do the same with the other side. By tipping back and forth and using the jacks, I removed the water and found the leak. I did not figure out how to fix it, but that’s a job for next-summer-Nadia. I cleaned things up and packed some sheets, supplies and a Buddha statue. The Buddha will help me…I know it.

Boler Life Begins!

I got up the next day and began preparing myself and the mini at around 6am. It was 10am by the time we left. I hitched to my SUV, triple checked everything as Doug and Dr. Pat had advised and took off on my thirty-five minute journey to the campsite. Twenty-five of those minutes were surrounding our city on the perimeter. Ten minutes outside the city was the park that I had driven to roughly three hundred times. So naturally, I got lost.

Touristy Trip

After leaving a brand new, cute little town that I didn’t know existed, I arrived at the park. I stopped to pick up my park pass and was pleased we had even made it that far. I had planned to back track and sleep in my parent’s driveway if the trip didn’t work out. The kid was good, I was good, I found a new town and was ready to get camping! Learning cliff here we come!

After I grabbed my park pass, I met a new friend who helped me with my completely dead vehicle. That’s right. Dead. FML. We got the SUV going again, he and his family became my new besties and I finally made it to my site (after getting lost again).

The Learning Cliff of Fun

The camping experience was amazing! I got us hooked up with electrical and instead of my toddler attempting to escape me, as she usually does, she actually helped! I set up an awning and she passed me tent poles. She brought me tools as I tried to figure out how to use a Coleman stove, she climbed in and out of the Boler, took her naps and used her baby sign language to tell me what she needed. It was like nature made her different, in a way. She was so at ease.

We hung out, walked around collecting leaves that had turned red or yellow or rocks that looked neat. At least two hours was dedicated to this game. Then another hour dedicated to touching plants and learning which are safe and which are not. Glad I took Botany, even though I thought I’d never use it. Tricked again University, tricked again.

She even tried to learn how to hitch the trailer.

*Proud Mom Moment*

Big Adventures

The biggest adventure we took was to the bathrooms. I had a stroller that I’d never opened. So that took another hour. I had a map indicating there was a beach nearby but after walking at a glacial pace with the mini, I decided we would stay at our campsite. Plenty to do here! Where are those rocks? Give me that cool leaf!

I changed the table area to a bed and put sheets and blankets on. My mini was the dirtiest I’ve ever seen her. Her tiny feet were black and she kept pointing to them and saying “ditty”. Yes, Sweetie, those are hideous feet. Once she played a bit more in her pajamas, ensuring literally every single thing she owned had mud on it, she fell asleep in the bed like a perfect Boler angel.

Bathroom Catastrophe

A storm blew in and took out the camouflage awning I had smoothly put up (far from smooth…far). I collected things as quickly as I could, hid them in the Boler or under it and then took cover with the sleeping Boler baby. I woke up in the middle of the night and had to go to the bathroom RFN. This was the moment I discovered I was locked in.

It was pitch black, storming and I couldn’t open the door. After a significant period of time, a text to Doug and some crying, I discovered how to manually get the latch open which I had accidentally super glued in place while fixing my sweet DIY screen door. I quickly went behind the trailer to deal with my bathroom issue and had immediate visions of being eaten by a bear.

Boler Baby

I didn’t sleep very much after that but did have the opportunity to see my adorable daughter curled in the corner of the bed. The Boler has rounded edges that are made with fiberglass and Ensolite so it is soft and smooth. Her little body was curled right around as she slept like a camping champ. As a single mom, I truly didn’t believe I could ever do any of this. Especially BE a mom, let alone camp alone with a toddler.

We woke in the morning and it rained. The sound was beautiful, the air was fresh and there was nothing to do except hang out. I had turned the data off on my iPhone and we spent time making faces, drinking coffee (milk for her) and playing on the bed. It was so special. Then we had a great nap.

And that’s what it’s all about!

It’s so rare that I spend such intimate, wonderful time with my daughter. When there are no distractions, no work, no toys (I did bring one single book and that was accidental); nothing to take away from just being. Sitting. Loving. It was the highlight of my trip; that rainy morning in my Boler with my baby girl. I thought of the days and years I had prayed for her to come, often believing I would never get there. Seeing her happy smile and fluffy, crazy, Afro hair made my whole body smile.

Shortly after, we cleaned together and she started learning what she can and cannot touch. Yes, you can touch food and put it in the cooler. No, you cannot touch that large piece of animal shit or that dead bird. You cannot eat those berries. You can eat these animal crackers. She learned so much in such a short period of time. I suppose I did too!

Home time, Fun time

Hitching was easy, things were muddy and cleaning up was yet another adventure. My mini looked like a jungle child. It was awesome. We had no issues pulling out, finding our way home (whew) and only lost one item on the highway. I arrived at my parent’s house, where I store the Boler, and noticed my brother had returned from his musical festival and parked a car right in front of the empty garage. Not in…but beside. This is where I had to move all 1200lbs of trailer into the correct location. I got it as close as I could, removed the hitch, dropped the wheel jack and then pushed it with a childbirth kind of effort. Nailed it.

Boler Life is our Life

I am so proud of my mini; her first camping trip and she was a champion. She didn’t run away from me, she drank cold bottles (yeah, I didn’t feel like boiling water because it’s annoying) and ate when she needed to. She laughed and cuddled. Got muddy and wet. I’ve never felt so connected to her as I was in the little campsite, in the dark, watching the blowing trees and hearing rain. It was just us; just being. Nothing more.

This Boler Life is a wonderful life and I have big goals for our adventures. I also have big fears. If there is one lesson I took away from the weekend, it is that you don’t need to know everything. You need to be resourceful, problem solve and ask for help when needed. It is better to have the capacity to think fast and learn quickly than spend time learning what you may not even need.

Boler Life! Next big goal? Learn to change a trailer tire on my own and head towards the Rocky Mountains.

And learn to make better camping coffee. Everyone knows how important coffee is to me.