Too Much Like Camping

Is it wrong to complain about 2 weeks in Hawaii?  I’m not really complaining…..more explaining why we’re cold, a little stinky and a little damp in this fabulous home-away-from-home. 

Good flight deals sent us to the Big Island for 2 weeks ending on Thanksgiving and then it took another two weeks to get new tires on Chuck and get ready to go.  It’s been the coldest early December in a long time and we kept putting off loading up and leaving until it warmed up a bit (high 20’s would have been nice), until we couldn’t wait any longer.  So finally, after 500 trips between the house and rig, moving every possession and every pantry item and a case of wine, on Friday, Dec. 13^th we were ready to go.

Chuck had been winterized before we went to HI, meaning all the water lines were filled with anti-freeze and unusable until we got someplace warm enough to purge the lines and connect water, hopefully our first stop.  In the meantime we’re drinking bottled water, we can’t wash dishes, we’re flushing the toilet with a jug of antifreeze and we’re showering in the bathhouse of the campground, theoretically.  The first day’s travel was uneventful and we stopped at a nice campground in Effingham, IL.   

Set up in Effingham

We got set up just as the light was fading and the snow starting falling.  Clearly we weren’t dewinterizing here, but we were prepared for a couple of days of no water if necessary.  It was cold however and the next bad surprise was that our propane tank was empty and therefore we had no heat in the rig.  We’re not sure how the tank got emptied.  Perhaps user error, perhaps vandalism, but regardless, we were chilly.   Off to Menard’s for a couple of electric heaters.  Frozen Indian food reheated and served on paper plates and we were in for the night.

The next morning dawned wet and white.  

Next morning in Effingham

 Heavy, saturated snow was still falling from the sky, and from the trees, and from the power lines.   Everywhere you went big clumps of snow would land on your head and shoulders and run down your neck.  It was so wet we didn’t want to walk to the bathhouse for a shower.  Yes, we skipped a shower and wore the same clothes – just like real camping.  The snow hung heavy on the slide covers and we borrowed a ladder and broom from the camp host and spent an hour sweeping snow from on high (12’ high) while precariously balanced.   We debated staying another day to wait for the weather to clear but agreed that the sooner we got south the better.  We refilled the propane and headed for Nashville.  Surely Tennessee would be warmer.

Despite our late start, we made good time on the interstate and were on track to get to the campground before dark when, 1 mile from our exit, traffic came to a screeching halt.  It took an hour to go that last mile.  Turns out that we shared our exit with the Grand Ole Opry resort and whatever they do on Saturday nights before the holidays draws every car and pickup truck in the south to their doors.  It was pitch dark when we got to our campground.  The note on the door said it would be freezing during the night so don’t connect water and directed us to our site.  We inched our way around the dark roads, found our site, suited up with our headlamps and settled in.   

Me modeling our array of useful headlamps

I headed for the shower in the bathhouse, unable to stand another minute of real camping.  We found a good Thai restaurant nearby and ordered enough to have leftovers for another meal.

Only half of the Thai food we ordered.

Coming back from the restaurant we hit another traffic jam and it took another 30 minutes to go one mile.  This time it was the most obnoxious display of Christmas lights drawing all the cars that couldn’t get into the Grand Ole Opry to tour the display right next door to our campground.   

Acres of these lights blinking frenetically while cars roll through

Yes, Nashville is an exercise in patience, and it’s still too cold to dewinterize.  The dirty wine glasses and coffee cups and filling the sink and we’re almost out of antifreeze to flush the toilet so today we’re heading for Alabama.  Meanwhile, Robin still hasn’t showered.  This is way too much like camping.  Surely it has to be above freezing in Alabama!