When I went on the road, one of the things I gave up was having a washer and dryer. I figured I would visit laundromats every few weeks and in between could hand wash my clothes if necessary.
I had gotten gotten rid of a lifetime’s worth of heavy, bulky cotton clothing and replaced it with quick drying lightweight merino wool, polyester and nylon clothes.
Going to the laundromat wasn’t pleasant.
First, I had to break down my camp.
Then I had to find a laundromat that had nearby space for parking my truck and trailer. Driving and parking in small towns was always a nightmare. I needs to find places where I could pull through so I could avoid a disastrous situation where I had to attempt backing up to do a three point turn.
Because it was spring in the desert, it was usually extremely hot when I went to the laundromat. I’d run in with my laundry, load up a washer or two and then run back to my truck because I couldn’t leave Snickers in the truck in the heat for long. And naturally, none of the laundromats allowed dogs.
I’d time my wash and run back to throw whatever I could into the dryer. Most of my clothing couldn’t go in the dryer and needed to be hung. I would string clotheslines inside my micro camper and hang up my wet clothes to dry.
Once the dryer was finished, I’d fold and pack the dry cloths into their containers and I’d drive back to make camp.
By the time I reached camp, half of my clothes drying on the line would have fallen down during the drive. I’d restring the clotheslines inside the camper and rehang the clothes.
I thought I’d be able to hang my clothes outside to dry. I never could because because it was always so windy that the desert dust clouds would coat everything with a fine coats or orange brown sand.
Many nights, I slept in my camper under lines of still damp clothes drying.
It sucked.
Since being back in civilization, I have a washer and a dryer in my home. I have a clothesline in my back yard. I do a load of laundry every week – sheets, pants, shirts, socks, boxers and dog hair covered stuff.
It takes about 20 minutes to do a load. It takes 10 minutes to hang everything that doesn’t get tossed in the dryer.
A few hours later, I spend another 15 minutes folding and putting away my laundry for the week.
It is absolutely fabulous.
As an adult, I took doing laundry for granted.
When I was a teen, we didn’t have a washer for many years. My sister and I were in charge of doing laundry so once every two weeks, my mother would give us a roll of quarters and send us the laundromat where we’d wash up to 14 loads of clothes – depending on how many of my stepfather’s friends and kids were living with us at the time. It would take hours.
But I didn’t own enough clothes to make it two weeks between washes so I would hand wash my jeans and shirts and underwear in the bathtub and hang them in the basement to dry. They never dried right. They never got very clean. They had weird creases and were stiff and scratchy.
I swore I would never go without owning a washer and dryer ever again once I was a grown up.
And I didn’t, until I went on the road.
My observation here really isn’t about laundry. I love doing laundry now. It never feels like a chore.
It’s about taking things for granted.
Without going on the road and doing without, I would never have re-expereinced the joy and convenience I get from having a washer and dryer and a clothesline in my back yard.
This had been one of the best lessons I learned from going on the road.