“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” Bilbo by J R R Tolkien. It was a terrifying and exciting morning when after months of preparation the adventure finally began. I believe that all great journeys must begin in the rain and bad weather. It is good to be tested right out of the gate. The first picture is what I wanted to portray, the excitement and readiness for adventure; the knowledge that I have it all under control. How I felt inside is the second picture, not sure if my next emotion was crying, screaming, laughing, or panic.
With the desire for the beginning to be smooth sailing, I had my Dad traveling in the truck with me and my Mom followed behind in their car. They were going to be my safety blanket for the first leg of the adventure. As we departed they became silent observers, they were allowed to watch but couldn’t speak or help. Afterwards we would debrief and they could provide advice or thoughts. My Mom was allowed to tell me each time that I needed to drive slower and take wider turns; it worked and it is drilled into my head now.
The first stop was my sister’s house in Louisiana. It was a 250 mile journey from Texas to Louisiana and a chance to get comfortable driving long distances. I figured that if anything went wrong from the start we would have the time and ability to fix things before continuing on. Drove in the rain on backroads making sure that anyone caught behind me was late to their destination. My first stop to get gasoline resulted in the pump eating my credit card and neither giving it back nor letting me have any gas. Luckily it was eventually resolved. I arrived in Louisiana and then promptly got into her truck and traveled with the family to a baseball tournament in another part of Louisiana. So the first night spent at a hotel and then second at their house. I was secretly hoping that I’d find one of my nephews as a stowaway to join me on the journey.
I had successfully backed the trailer down my sister’s street and into her yard, and left it hitched to the truck so it was an easy departure. While the first major destination was the Great Smoky Mountains, you live by the rule of 3 (try to stay under 300 miles a day and try to get to your campsite by 3:00). This finally made sense to me when I realized how exhausting hitching up, towing a trailer, and then setting up is. The first stop along the way was a really nice KOA in Toomsuba, Mississippi. If a new state is traveled through, the favorite activity upon arrival is adding a new state sticker to the map. My parents left me to spend the night in a nearby hotel and I finally had my first night in the camper. I celebrated with Gatorade and cheese and crackers, I was exhausted. Everything went well and my first sewage and water setup was completed.
The next leg of the adventure took us from Mississippi to Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Holiday Travel Park of Chattanooga is across the border in Georgia, so I spent the night there while my parents were across the border in Tennessee, they officially left me unsupervised in a different state from them, we are making progress now. The raining would not stop and I was exhausted so I unhitched and plugged into the power but couldn’t be bothered with setting up the water and sewage. Confined to the camper I managed to get a little work done and catch up on some emails.
