In Which We Reappear in 2019

So.  It’s been a bit.  There were some Things that came between me and my writing.  So we made some major life changes, it’s the 2019 camping season, and we’re back at it.

How do you choose where to camp?

For us, if it’s a long trip we’re planning then we just decide where we want to vacation and plan a camping trip for that destination. We have several of these trips biding time on our wish list at this point – a tour of Civil War sites, the Gulf coast, Disney Fort Wilderness, Utah, Yellowstone, The Grand Canyon, Big Bend, The Redwoods, The Northeast, The Northwest... Basically we’re going to have to full-time it at some point to hit all of our wishes. In August 2017 we fulfilled our Outer Banks wish (well, almost – the week we were to go to OBX, someone cut an offshore cable and the entire OBX shut down and we had to employ Operation Reroute) and went to Emerald Isle, SC and stayed at the HTP Resort on the beach for a week.  It.  Was.  Fabulous.

But for short weekend camps, while we have a list of nearby places we’d like to go, but we don’t choose the location first.   What I do is wait until Monday or Tuesday and then start researching the weather surrounding us – Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Arkansas, and Missouri – and whichever state comes in with the best forecast wins Weekend Camping Roulette for that week and then I search the internet and Pinterest for good RV camping in that area.

This past weekend’s forecast led us to Hannibal, Missouri – a place that was nowhere to be found on our wishlist but a charming little town that we were happy to have wandered in to.  It was just over a 4 hour drive from home, with weather in the 70s for both Saturday and Sunday.

We stayed at the Mark Twain Cave Campground.  I chose this mostly because Mark Twain!  But also, it is located at the cave complex, it is close to downtown Hannibal (about a 7 minute drive), dogs are allowed, and because there’s a winery right on site.

Since it’s still early in the season and it was Easter weekend to boot, there were hardly any other campers there – it looked mostly like people passing through, or in town to celebrate Easter with family.  There were maybe only 12 other campers in the campground, which boasts 99 RV and tent sites.  Our site (F1) was partially shaded, on the creek, with full hookups and a nice big space for Maude to wander around behind our camper.  The only thing I didn’t love was that the fire pit was (relatively speaking) really far away from the camper and unreasonably close to the campers in F2.  So we had neither campfire nor s’mores this trip. Which at that point are you really even camping?

We arrived in the afternoon on Friday and in the evening after we set up we relaxed with a few drinks, some music, and had a delicious steak dinner. Maude got the bone and all was right in her world.

Hannibal was a quaint little town set in a hollow in the hills, at a bend on the Mississippi River.  The downtown was charming and we didn’t even come close to seeing everything that the town has to offer – there were antique shops, Mark Twain Museums and a Lighthouse, caves made famous by Tom Sawyer, the Unsinkable Molly Brown was evidently from there too and boasts her own museum (which we also didn’t visit)), a lookout named Lover’s Leap from which a couple of Native American lovers once leapt to their death… What did we see?  Well, we had Maude with us and that always limits the things that we can do as she isn’t the best at staying alone in the camper.  So on Saturday we took a walk on property then left her to go to town and see Mark Twain’s boyhood home then had lunch at the (I know this will be shocking…) Mark Twain Brewing Company!  The beer was great – we had the Jumping Frog IPA and the Red Ale, and the smoked wings with the dry rub was out of this world.  Two giant thumbs up from us.

Then Saturday night we went back to the campground and took Maude to the onsite Cave Hollow West Winery where we had wine, beer, cheese and crackers while listening to great live music then back to our campsite where we had another drink and made new friends.  And while talking to strangers and engaging in chit chat is pretty far down on my Favorite Things About Camping list, on Saturday we met a really lovely couple who full-times in their Class A and seemed like people we could share a couple of bottles of wine with.  They had interesting stories to tell about their adventures and could really be a great resource for us if we ever decide to full-time (which comes up as a possibility every once in a while).

Sunday morning found Tim making us some egg, cheese, and bacon sandwiches for breakfast and after sitting in the glorious sun for a bit we packed up and made the short trek home.

For a first trip, we kept this one pretty low key since A) we’re generally exhausted, and B) we had NO IDEA how Maude was going to react to camping again since we only went once last year.  I wouldn’t mind going back to Hannibal to really explore the town and while this campground was okay, by far the best thing about it was the on-site winery and the proximity to Hannibal. Next time I would like to try out something else, maybe a recreational area around Mark Twain Lake, about 30 miles away.

Maiden Camping Voyage

I hadn't camped for years. My camping luck was poor and I was known as The Rainmaker in regards to camping. (Seriously.  Tim is thinking on taking my show on the road to drought-stricken areas of the US. He's pretty sure we can make a nice living doing this.) On top of my weather-conjuring issues, Tim struggles to sit still and just relax and in a campground there aren't a lot of chores to be done.  It's not like we're "gather your own firewood and cook your freshly caught fish over the red-hot coals" kind of people; we're "buy a nice steak and cook it over the propane-fueled grill" kind of people.

ANYWAY, my need to disconnect and disembark our weekday lives was stronger than my dislike of camping and eventually, the lure of the peace and forced relaxation that camping affords won out. Our first trip was to a KOA in Nashville, Indiana. We chose this because, A) it was close to Mackenzie and Hayden and B) it had full hookups and our first time in the camper, learning how to dump the tanks was not on the agenda.

When we got to our space, our patio area DIRECTLY faced our neighbors. I mean DIRECTLY. THEY WERE SITTING IN THEIR CHAIRS, 8 FEET AWAY FROM US, WATCHING US SET UP!

(Maude, watching them right back.)  

It was at that moment that I wondered whether we had made a terrible, horrible, sixty-eight thousand dollar mistake.  I'm pretty self aware in that I know I can't camp 8 feet away from strangers who are watching us and talking to us all weekend and enjoy it. This really wasn't on my agenda of peace and quiet, and relaxation.  But I dealt with it like a big, extroverted, champ and we made the most of the weekend.

Maude behaved better than we expected (we half-expected to be evicted due to her barking at squirrels and dogs and people and cars, and basically everything that moves), Mackenzie and Hayden came over on Saturday to visit us and we all went into Nashville for craft beer and pizza, I chatted with The Staring Strangers, and we made ourselves a delicious Sunday morning breakfast after our neighbors pulled out and enjoyed the morning before we broke camp and went home.  And it was all right.

In Which We Must Learn the Hard Way

We bought a camper. And we didn't know anything about camping or campers, save what I remembered from being a Girl Scout in the 70's, what Tim picked up on what I gather were somewhat painful camping trips with his ex-wife and her family, and what I learned from Pinterest. God love Pinterest.

So because I suffer from FOBO (Fear Of Better Options) to a pathological degree, we (I, nearly obsessively) spent 3 years researching what we could pull with my Mercedes SUV (named Fiona), what would best fit our family (which could be as little as me and Tim, or as much as me and Tim, 4 adult kids (one with non-verbal Autism), 3 grandkids, 1 dog, 2 cats, and a partridge in a pear tree), and what manufacturers had a reputation for good quality. What I didn't do was research WHERE to buy it or WHO would do the necessary modifications to the Mercedes, and we prefer to learn the hard way.  Camping World has a terrible reputation for service, and from what we've seen, the company appears to be run by orangutans (no offense to the primate world) and no one (not even the Mercedes dealership) would tap into the electrical system on Fiona to complete the modifications necessary to tow a camper.

Long story short: we will never buy from Camping World in Greenwood, Indiana again, and I've traded my beautiful, white Mercedes ML350 in for a sparkly red, gigantic Ford Expedition.

So there you have it. Meet Ramona.

Seeking Simplicity

In our Real Lives, from 8:00 on Monday morning to 4:30 on Friday afternoon (and any other time he has a fire or I'm on call), we are harried and stressed public servants.  Him a fire chief, me a supervisor in child protective services. We spend the week meeting every one else's needs and on Friday rush home to relish in the 64 hours we have to recover from the previous week and prepare for the next...all while cleaning 4 bathrooms, raking leaves, vacuuming, mowing, and everything else it takes to care for a too-big, three-level home.

Then about 3 years ago it slowly began to dawn on me that we were going to need more.  Or, actually, less. I realized that we were spending the entirety of the week waiting for Friday and then on Friday, began to dread Monday.  It occured to me that it was time to downsize and simplify. It didn't occur to me that we should sell our house and move.  We began to take more vacations - Texas, Florida, Colorado, California - unfortunately, with an Autistic child, two dogs, two, cats, fish, and a hot tub that all needed caring for, preparing for a trip was nearly as stressful as just staying home and doing the week's laundry. And then Ginger, our orange Doodle, passed away and that's when it hit me.  If we could take the dog with us, vacationing would be that much less stressful.

I decided camping was the answer.  Camping forces a simpler way of life on you. Simpler food, simpler activities, a simpler way to spend our precious 64 hours.

So last month, we bought a camper.