# Eureka! Washing The Outback In A Drought



## Reverie (Aug 9, 2004)

As many of you know the state of Georgia has been experiencing a profound drought for almost a year. Lake Lanier is down about 15 feet, a level barely above the lowest level experienced since the lake was created 50 years ago. There have been some very strict watering restrictions in place since early last summer so I haven't been able to wash the Outback since last May.

Our kids are out on Spring Break next week so on Thursday night I brought the trailer up to Lake Lanier and spent last night and today "de-winterizing" and spiffing it up. The wife and kids were heading up to join me tonight but because there is some severe weather on the way we opted to have them stay home until tomorrow morning. As the rain started the campground host came by with his son and encouraged me to move my truck to a storage shed on the property. They went so far as to move the tractor out of the shed to put my truck in. That is one o the reasons we pay to belong to this group every year.

I was trapped in the trailer and decided to do some school work on the computer. It is nice and quiet and I listened to the rain falling steadily on the trailer. I idly hoped it would wash some of the much that accumulated on the trailer over the past year. I was checking the forecast at weather.com and saw that it was going to rain steadily for a couple of hours. It finally hit me, now is the opportunity to clean the trailer I have waited for.

I only had about an hour and half of daylight left when I started. I changed into some shorts and some water shoes I normally keep in the boat. I had the wand and bucket along with some car wash detergent. I drew a bucket of warm water from the tap, added the soap and away I went.

I scrubbed the roof from my collapsible ladder then started washing the trailer all the way around. It was incredible how much muck I scraped off the outside. The rain fell steadily as I scrubbed and wiped. It washed away the soap as steadily as I put it on. As the last of the sunlight disappeared I finished up. I took my flashlight and checked for missed areas but found none. If any appear when the sun comes up I will clean it up then. For now I can finally rest easy because the trailer actually looks nice, instead of like it is occupied by bums.

I'm sitting inside now. I took a shower, put on some dry clothes and now I'm surfing the net from my nice, clean trailer.

Reverie


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

I am so jealous....my trailer is under wraps for another several weeks.

Nothing like working hard on your trailer than relax inside it having a beer and surfing the web. I hope you got some good tunes playing as well.

Thor


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## W4DRR (May 17, 2005)

Nick, I've thought about doing the same thing. Take advantage of a good rain shower and get out there and wash down the Outback. Just been too lazy to do it.









Bob


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

When I was young, I remember my father using the same common sence thinking to wash his car duringthe occasional shower when we had a drought. Smart thinking and a clean trailer.

John


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## mmblantz (Jul 1, 2007)

I wash my truck in heavy downpours all the time. My girls think its hillarious and take pictures of me and send to friend on their cells. DW just shakes her head.


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## Fanatical1 (Jan 9, 2006)

About 20 years ago I use to live in Marietta and then moved close to Lake Altoona, but now live in the north coast of Ohio close to Lake Erie.

I love Atlanta, but it's hard to imagine just how bad your water situation is at times! It's scary just how fragile the water supply is and how we
often take it for granted that we always will have enough water.

Glad you have a clean Outback now! It would have driven me nuts too, not being able to clean it once in a while.

Mark


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## Reverie (Aug 9, 2004)

The funny thing about Lake Allatoona is that it went from it's lowest point ever to over full in about two months. The difference is politics, not weather. Lanier is down because the politicians insist we allow the folks in Alabama and Florida to live in a pretend world where profound drought never effects their river levels. We released twice what we took in so the river levels allow the folks in Columbus, Ga, and Birmingham, Alabama to continue to water their lawns and to protect two dozen fresh water mussels in Florida. It was incredible to watch the Chattahoochee River below the dam at normal levels while the Chattahoochee and Chestatee Rivers coming in to the lake are running at one quarter flow. Allatoona benefits because it isn't used to maintain anyone's illusions. I spend a fair amount of time on Allatoona with my boat and even though it is smaller, it is more reliable right now than Lanier.

Reverie


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## W4DRR (May 17, 2005)

We were camping at Lake Allatoona last weekend, and can attest to the fact that it is, indeed, full.

Bob


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