The Long and Winding Road

I sat down yesterday since we finally had wifi, typed a bunch of really great stuff about our first two days and clicked "save". Hmmm - well now it's gone so I'm starting from scratch. Think it's going to sound a lot different now.

Three days on the road, almost 1,000 miles, three completely different campgrounds each night. When we pulled out of our driveway on Saturday, I turned up "Holiday Roads" from the movie Vacation and made a departure video, as my kids groaned and rolled their eyes. About ten minutes later they started asking how much longer we'd be driving. Oh kids, you have no idea.

America is big. Very big. We haven't even scratched the surface yet.

Our first drive was only three hours. We decided to get our feet wet with a shorter drive, plus it took two days to pack so we were exhausted. John did a great job of navigating the big rigs on I-81 through Virginia despite my white knuckles. We pulled into the Shenandoah Valley Campground around 5 p.m. and as we snaked our way through the campground we realized that our first back-in experience would be a challenge. Most campers had already set up the night before so the place was packed wall to wall with RVs. The pathways to the campsite were narrow and I had flashbacks to a nightmarish search for a parking spot we once had when we arrived late to a Redskins football game years ago.

I hopped out of the RV when we found our spot and started waving John in, flailing my arms, yelling things like "Turn, turn! The other way! Wait, stop, STOP!" Fortunately I told him to stop about 2 feet from the edge of a precipice that led straight to the river below. The two older guys lounging at the campsite next to us with their beers watched the entire thing and then reassured us that it had taken them just as long the previous evening to get their trailer in. I think they were just being nice.

Our first night on the road was a success. We managed to hook up our water and electric, enjoyed a cold beer under our huge awning, John grilled up some chicken on his new grill. We explored the campground to find it overrun with bunnies - not wild rabbits, but actual domesticated bunny rabbits just roamed the place. We'd find them everywhere: under RVs, lounging by the camp store, hanging by the pool. A huge sign announced the availability of Fresh Pork Rinds in three flavors 24 hours a day. A dance party was being held in a pavilion near the pool and Jack turned to me at one point and said "This is like a little city." It was pretty lively.

 

Everyone got a good night's sleep despite Ella's tearful worries that our RV would roll back and fall into the river. The next morning we almost had more tears when Ella spilled her Froot Loops all over the ground, but then bunnies came running from every which direction and feasted on the little colorful rings of sugar and all was right with the world. We unhooked, pressed on the gas and got back on the road, confident that we had this RV thing down.

Day two proved to be a bit more challenging. It was strictly a driving day as we tried to make a dent in the mileage between us and the Grand Canyon. John had gotten the driving down but I was still trying to get comfortable with the whole feeling of driving a tank at 65 miles per hour. Every time something fell in the back of the RV we'd both yell "What was that???" The kids fought over who got to lounge on the couch and oh, by the way, "are we there yet?" We had a little mishap when we put the wrong type of gas in the RV but after several calls to the RV company and some troubleshooting we managed to avert a crisis. We pulled into RV park number two late afternoon, relieved that we could finally take a break.

This one was in Crossville Tennessee, basically the middle of nowhere. As we were checking in John decided to buy himself a coffee mug that stated "Home Is Where You Hook Up". Nothing like truly embracing the RV life! Deer Run RV Resort was a huge sprawling property with a lake and a whole section of permanent residents. We quickly pulled into our pull through site (no backing up!!),

hooked up like pros and the kids and I headed off to the pool. The resort was peaceful and quiet, except for the loud group at the pool who kept playing "chicken" over and over and screaming the whole time. Our pool time didn't last long. We had another nice dinner courtesy of John and his grill, a campfire with s'mores and some star gazing. It truly felt like camping.

The next morning I went for a run and checked out the permanent resident area. Some of the trailers actually had houses built around them. Some looked like they'd been parked there since the 70s and nothing had been done with them. Some looked like palaces with decks, in-ground fire pits, elaborate gardens. I waved to some of the old-timers who were putttering around in their golf carts.

When I returned Ella was already cleaning up outside, determined to get on the road so that we would reach our next destination quickly. She doesn't mess around. We got everyone else up, John made pancakes inside the RV which set off the smoke detector about twenty times, we unhooked, jumped in and took off. Almost got run off the road within thirty seconds by an old guy wearing oxygen tubing who was barreling down the camp road in his big rig, but we managed to get back on the road unscathed.

Next: Day 3 through Tennessee.