August 16, 2021

We made it to our campsite on August, 11th. Our Good Samaritan neighbors helped Luke back into our site which was very kind. They also taught Luke about how to use our truck mirrors when backing to see where the camper is going. I realized later I should have paid attention to this too…We drove though some mountains and valleys and were surprised to see how much less gas mileage we had towing up steep grades, but we didn’t have any problems. However, when we arrived at the campground we saw that some cabinets in the living room had the bottom break out in the journey and the ham radio equipment fell. Luke was mad. We both really wanted this to be a top of the line camper that nothing went wrong in. In time, we learned that there is no such thing. Thankfully none of our equipment was damaged though.

The campground had nice people, lots of nice dirt roads and trails to walk around, goats and bunnies, clean bathrooms, full hookups, and a little store. It was along a creek and people fished in it every day. We were able to get our scared dog to walk on a leash without too many problems.

The purpose of this trip was really to try out living in the RV without having our house right there as a back up and to visit with Luke’s Mom and Gram. The summer cabin his Mom built is really nice and in a beautiful wooded area with a river behind it where we saw deer drinking every day. It was hot, but I love the summer so I didn’t mind. I had some time to bond with Gram and talk about serious things like we wanted out of life. We explored the local legend of the Flatwoods Monster and drove to some places where there was lore related to this to take pictures and just explore.

Luke decided I needed to watch some old “classics” so we watched movies at night. Kindergarten Cop, Over the Top, and the whole Rambo franchise were his picks. I don’t think I would give any of them a strong endorsement. I learned to use the oven in the camper and made our first batch of cookies and chicken pot pies which both came out awesome. Luke fixed the stuff that had broken (shelving that needed reinforcements) and I organized and labeled our bathroom closet. It seemed it was coming together for us though we quickly realized that almost everything put together in this camper was adhered with a little bit of glue or just small staples.

I went on this kick of making friendship bracelets for close friends and family members while we were there. I felt like a kid at summer camp and we decided to stay a while.