Continuation of the new Adventurer Saga

When I last posted, David and I had just returned from our trip to PA to purchase and drive back to TX an Adventurer for him.  This post is more or less a continuation of the journey since he and Sophie have been busy as beavers getting the coach all tripped out and personalized just for them.

I could tell they were pushing way too hard by the daily reports of how much work was being done and needed a break (not to mention my wanderlust was gaining on me as well) so a trip to a nearby lake and Corps of Engineer park seemed to be the perfect solution.  After all, just how much work can you do sitting by a campfire and telling tall tales?  They also wanted a short trip, close to home before heading out for longer journeys to make sure all systems are go and ready.  Sort of a shake down cruise if you will to address any forgotten items and to learn the right buttons to push at the right time (as opposed to the wrong buttons at the wrong time).

So begins our epic tale of four couples with their motorhomes who have all agreed a bit of relaxing time at the lake would do everyone some good.  David preceded me to the campground and when I stopped at the entrance shack to let the attendant know I would be looking for a spot in the non-reservation area and then come back to pay, I found out for sure that David was already there.  The attendant asked me if I was with that 'other fellow' and I told him I was.  The attendant then told me the 'other fellow' had not been back up to pay yet and needed to do so promptly.  He expected someone to take care of business expeditiously and did not want any trouble or freeloading.  I told him I would seek out the 'other fellow' and see if I could 'jack him up' and get him to come back and pay for his stay.  After looking at me through a half cocked head and squinting eyes, the attendant reluctantly allowed me to enter thinking he might have another 'fare thee well' type camper on his hands.

David and Sophie's new Adventurer

Upon arriving in the campground, we easily find our friend who is still busily trying to get settled in and we pull into the spot next to him.  After I get out and talk to him, I find out the delay in returning to the previously mentioned gate attendant has to do with pushing the right buttons at the right time and the electrical connections at the campsite.  It seems the slides on the motorhome were not working as intended when he first arrived.  Now for those who are unaware, this particular model has a Master Switch with a key that keeps the slides from being activated when it is turned to the off position and the key removed.  It seems that during the process, Sophie has turned the key to off, and David has not realized it when trying to activate the slide mechanisms.  This is even as Sophie, realizing there is something amiss, asks David repeatedly, "does the key need to be in the 'On' position?"  For several minutes there is this back and forth between them about the position of the key when finally David realizes the key is not in the 'On' position as he thought he had left it and voila the slides magically operate as intended once the key is back in the 'On' position.

Now I do not want to mock this situation, but have we not all been in this position before?  This is a classic case of missed communication.  You are not hearing what I am saying and you are not saying what I know you are saying.  I would be willing to guess that everyone reading this can relate to the scenario and recall many of these events throughout their lives.  Anyway, the equipment functioned as intended after communication was re-established and meaning of words reconciled to each other's statements.

I mentioned that Bibi was going back to the entrance gate to pay and after relating the story of my adventure with the gatekeeper, would David like to ride with her to pay too.  He did and so we both have our reputations restored as men of our word and not just a couple of freeloaders.  David refrained from telling the campground host about the electrical connections he discovered.  The other part of his delay had to do with getting the electricity to work.  Being new to the coach and having installed a surge protector, David was unsure if the lack of electricity was on his end or the campground facility.  Anyway, to make a long story short, the campground receptacle had a loose part not allowing a complete connection and thus no electricity.  Again the coach functioned properly once the problem was diagnosed and addressed.

So with a few bumps and fitful starts, our camping was off to a great beginning.  The next day our other two couples arrived to join the party.  Sam and Brenda along with LA and Jean showed up to begin sharing and enjoying each other's company during our stay.  We had a short jam session when Brenda and Beverly got their dulcimers out and I got the guitar out to play and practice a bit.  Then we had Taco Soup for dinner. Afterwards, we all settled down by a nice campfire and viewed the Rangers baseball game on the outside TV while roasting marshmallows on the fire.

Roughing it - Watching Rangers Baseball by the Campfire

The next morning dawned brisk and clear with the promise of plenty of sunshine.  We had a communal breakfast of sausage muffins compliments of Brenda.  Some of our crew are early risers while others do not understand how much daylight they are burning by sleeping so late.  By the time breakfast arrived, I was already to the point of starvation and almost too weak to bring the muffin to my mouth.  But luckily I pulled on my deepest strength and managed to down some nourishment which quickly restored me to my normal blustery self.

Since this was Easter week, the weekend is expected to bring many folks to the campground.  Indeed starting Friday we saw a major influx of people as the campground began to fill up.  By Saturday, it looked as if the place was at capacity with just a couple of empty spots located here and there.  Of course, with a full campground the age levels multiply and the noise levels too.  Everyone around us seemed to be enjoying the wonderful springtime weather.  As for us, we had another enjoyable evening by the campfire watching another Ranger game on TV, this time at David and Sophie's spot.  Because there was so much joy and merriment in the campground, I had a hard time sleeping.  In fact, it benefited me for you see, Brenda made sausage muffins for breakfast again.  But this time, she caught me sleeping.  It was certainly a surprise for her to find me answering her knock on the door with my bedhead hair standing straight up in my sleep pants rubbing my eyes to get the sleep out.  It was certainly nice to have breakfast in bed that AM as I am not normally treated to such royal treatment.

On Friday we were visited by Bill and Nell.  Nell plays the dulcimer too and joined us for a jam session in the pines.  Now Nell is quite a character and willing to have a good time.  There is one particular song that she likes; however, our group does not play it quite as fast as Nell wants us too.  So somewhere along about the middle of the song, we all speed up to keep up with Nell.  By the end of the song, we are traveling at quite a good rate of speed and some of us are out of breath.  For those of you familiar with the old saying, 'like a mule headed for the barn', you will get a sense of the direction and speed enveloping us.  We had a grand ole time playing our instruments and hoo haaing each other during the session.  We garnered quite an audience from our immediate camping group but the rest of the campers just plain missed out on a fun time.

Beverly, Nell and Brenda on Dulcimer with me on Guitar

Saturday we had to abandon the camp temporarily to attend a wedding.  Our niece, Melissa (Missy), married Cory and we had to clean up, spiff up, put on Sunday go to meeting clothes to attend.  Afterwards, we donned our camping clothes once again and returned to the near perfect blissful rest we were all desperately seeking.  Sam and Brenda had to return due to pressing appointments and responsibilities so we are now down to three couples.

Sunday is Easter and Bibi has decided to treat us to a scrumptious feast.  She said it was an easy meal involving a crock pot and opening up cans and packages.  I told her afterwards, she gets the Cook of the Day award as far as I was concerned.  The only problem I had was trying to sleep while the crock pot cooked the meat all night long.  My senses were on overload during the night as I smelled the various stages of the cooking process.  She gave us a roast, mashed potatoes, green beans with Hawaiian King rolls meal followed by old style homemade Banana Pudding (my favorite kind).  Oh boy!  Afterwards, we all retired to check out our eyelids to see if there were any cracks in them.

Somewhere along the way we got to talking about the movie, 'O Brother Where Art Thou' which is one of my all-time favorites.  As it turns out, it is a movie that a lot of my fellow campers thoroughly enjoy as well. Even if it did not have the bluegrass music and an association with Homer's Iliad, it has some very interesting lines.  If you don't believe me then you are not bonafide.  And no, I did not turn into a Toad.  Gotta watch the movie to learn what that means, so enjoy.

For now that is the update.  But stay tuned, there will be short trip to Melissa, TX soon that is sure to find its way onto the blog.