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.
