Kabin Life: First Location and Sleeping Arrangements

Any vacation starts with travel and lodging necessities, of course.  We chose  to use the car for traveling, and that involved finding somewhere to sleep at night.  Gail, Gary's sister, and their mother Elna, had done considerable traveling by car for years, and had always used KOA Kabins.  We elected to do the same; and since we split the costs for the whole vacation two ways, it was more affordable, and much more enjoyable than either tent camping or just using a motel.

But this, of course, necessitated packing sheets and pillows for 4.  Along with our food cooler and other storage box of kitchen items, this pretty much filled the trunk.

Since we planned and booked this vacation almost last minute we ended up with the very last basic kabin at each campsite. Which was fine; it was what we would have chosen anyway.  This is what the basic model looks like inside;

 

There is a bunk bed set, a double bed, usually some sort of table and chair, a porch swing, a picnic table and a barbecue pit outside.  The beds come with mattresses as shown.  At each location there are different things; some have A/C and/or ceiling fans, heaters, more outside chairs or barbecue grills.  It just depends on the owners.

They do come in deluxe models; with multiple rooms, some with kitchen and/or shower facilities.  

We had the basic kabin as shown above, which was fine for us as we didn't intend to hang out there anyway.  

Here is a pic of our first site in Wakeeney, KS.

This was taken in the evening, so it's not really clear, but you get the idea.

We were, as you can see, next to the playground, and on the other side of the playground was the swimming pool where the infamous picture of Gary enjoying himself therein was taken.  I will not post that here to ensure marital security, but needless to say it was a popular site as the pool was open until 10 pm. I believe.  Next to the pool were the shower facilities. 

Since the kabins do not supply bedding, we had to bring pillows, blankets and sheets.  So setting up camp every day, except for where we stayed two nights, involved making and unmaking beds; and then packing them all into the trunk along with everything else.  

Our sleeping arrangements over the course of our vacation was the source of a bit of fuss and consequential amusement.  Gail and Ellen took the bunk beds. After trying the top bunk Ellen quickly vetoed that for herself, which decision relegated her Aunt Gail to that position.  Gail told us not to watch her clambering up and down from her bunk, but she became quite adroit at it by end of the week; though descending remained more challenging than ascending. Making and unmaking the top bunk was also a challenge; though I occasionally did the unmaking and just hauled off the sheets without scrambling up there.

Gary told me to take the other bed, and with that end he'd brought along an inflatable pad and a sleeping bag to make his bed on the floor.  

I think if someone wants to make a mint of money they need to invent a non-slippery, quiet inflatable sleeping pad.  That first night Gary spent much of his time trying to drag the sleeping bag back up onto his mattress pad and there was any amount of sighing and indescribable sliding and scraping noises going on in the dark.  

The second night, which was the first of two nights we spent in Estes, Colorado, he quite sensibly slept on the double bed with me.  

It was after this second night I realized the reason my back was screaming at me was NOT because of sitting so much during the hours and hours of driving.

And I will leave you hanging there until my next post!