A Day of Firsts

Today has been a day of firsts, but that will come later. First, yesterday:

     Yesterday was a day of mechanics, Costco, and Family, in that order.

     We woke up in a hotel, having spent the night away from our home. Put simply, the alternator decided to die. It had been a hard working beast, but 29 was just too old to go on. Rest in peace, little buddy.

     We retrieved our transportation, reveled in the fact that the fridge was still running (we’ve had issues, in that regard) and headed off to Costco, where we bought entirely too much food, but, fear not, we will eat it, nonetheless.

     Things of note: Costco sells Umpqua Oatmeal- a fantastic thing, Quinoa pasta, and no smaller than three pounds of cream cheese; our little rv’s freezer, a small box in the fridge, can take, and freeze, a whole thing of Costco ground beef, with room to spare; and we need to check our gauges more often.

     You might ask: Why?

     The answer: We learned that our galley tank was full, when the sink ceased draining, and began to fill up. *sigh*

     After we dealt with the tank, we were off to see my Aunt, Uncle, Cousin, and their action hero puppy, for a short visit. It was the first time we have seen their house, and it was fun! (I need to get the recipe for their butterscotch medley!)

    The visit was short, as mentioned above, and, when it was complete, we took off to visit my Cousin and his wife in Dallas. There, we enjoyed delicious food, great conversation, and a fun game (Dominion).

     The dinner in Dallas marked our last family related stop in Texas (if I forgot anyone, you have all of 16hrs to let me know). ;) Thus, we headed for a little, out of the way, rv camp ground that, ostensibly, cost only $14 a night. (You would have thought that we’d learned…)

     We pull up to the gates of Lake Lavon camp ground at the reasonable hour of 10:28pm. Beyond comprehension, everyone is asleep, and the gates are locked up, tight.

     After briefly wondering if I had something long and heavy enough to circumvent the one way spike strip across the open exit. We had a brief pow-wow, and decided that I should knock on the camp manager’s rv.

     As it turns out, the gate has a time lock, so it cannot be opened outside of prescribed hours, or that is what the very kind man conveyed to me. However, he said that I could park just to the side of the entrance, and wait until morning.

     Hazzah! A place to park!

     I pulled into place, and we, promptly, fell asleep.

     My alarm awoke me at 5:50am, another perfectly reasonable hour, to witness the camp manager foiling the time lock and opening the gates early. Hmmmmm…

     He kindly gave us a map of open sites, and we drove in, finding a spot near the restrooms, where we could back up towards the lake. At this time, Morgan had the wonderful idea to take a day of rest, and depart this campground Thursday morning. Yeah! Our first, true, rest day in the RV, with no outside support. ;)

     I, then, walked the half mile back to the entrance, in sandals…not my smartest decision. It’s cold here, before the sun rises.

     So, as it turns out, the camping fee was $30 a night, but having decided to stay a whole day, I shrugged and told the manager that we would be there, until Thursday. He smiled and said, “That’ll be one night, then.” Whoot! God gave us two $15 nights. ;-) He is funny, that way.

     Now, to today:

     We went back to sleep.

     When we woke, we ate our first cereal in the RV, and watched Tangled, one of Morgan’s favorite movies.

     I took my first shower in such a shady shower, and wound up cleaner than expected.

     We took the dogs down to the lake for our first RV packed picnic, and walked as the pups froliced in the waves. Yes, that’s right; there was enough steady wind to make waves. I must say, it freaked the puppies out.

     When we got back to the RV, I caught up on a personal project I had been postponing, and charged the laptop - you got it - for the first time, in the remodeled RV. It was actually very, very fast: more than 1%/min.

     And now? Well, I am writing this, as the first post written inside the RV since the remodel as my lovely wife finishes making our…second… rv cooked dinner. ;)

     May your coming days be full of firsts, and may God’s providence exceed your expectations in surprising and share-worthy ways.