Along the Way!

Update: We made it!
I had this big plan to write entries along the way between New Hampshire and Minnesota, NOPE.  Reality is never quite what you plan it to be.  So I am writing this from Mom's comfy computer room, so no entrenched journalism points for me today, oh well.  We made huge strides the first day (Monday), not leaving until about 2 in the afternoon.  Trudged right along, leaving behind a great deal of humidity, some thunderstorms and a bug carcass or two thousand as we sped our way across New York.  

Our dear friend Ed Madigan told me one time to never stay overnight in New York, if you can help it. Why?...  because everything in New York is expensive, even the dang dollar menu at McDonalds doesn't quite seem to be a dollar there.  We found a KOA campground in Herkimer, New York at about 7 that evening.  A nice young man at the counter suggested we drive on back and take a look at the "sites" before committing to one of their electric tent sites as he told us with a wink that these spots were covered in Goose $#%*.  

Okay, so we drove back, and determined that what other option did we have as I need my Darth Vader mask to sleep at night which requires electricity as well as the big clunky box fan that we dragged with us all that way.  So no problem, we'll take it.  Yuck, yuck, yuck but we set up the tent anyway, threw in all the bags, pumped up the air mattresses, got the animals settled in the crates, decided our gourmet dinner of bologna sandwiches could wait till after the pool and headed on over.  

The pool closed at nine and by the time we made the mile (not kidding) hike over there, the kids had like 45 minutes to swim.  After the hike back we quickly escaped the mosquitoes by zipping ourselves in the tent, wet and all.  I'll not go in to too much detail here, but will only say that three wet, hungry, tired kids in a 12x8 tent, not a good combo.  But sandwiches were had, Carter falling asleep halfway through his, literally.  Then of course we needed a bathroom.  Where was the bathroom we mused as we checked out our Disneyland size map.  You guessed it, the nearest bath/shower was half a mile away. Thin flip flops plus gravel road plus ouch ouch ouch. Oh and it was dark at this point as well which can only mean one thing for a campground bathroom, fluorescent lighting plus every kind of bug that can get to said bathroom.  Who hasn't walked into a camping bathroom and assessed the location of every bug there before dropping your drawers.  Then sitting there thinking to yourself, alright if that one moves I'm outta here.  Or, "I wonder if that thing can fly"?  

I must confess that my hearty country girl Cassy, is a big bug chicken.  And yes the irony of the fact that we are moving to the middle of nowhere is not lost on me.  I was in no mood on this night though to deal with phobias so we walked right in and I told Cassy to take the stall on the right and Kelly and I shared the big stall next to it.  What followed was about thirty seconds of the most hysterical, foot shuffling, squealing and carrying on all witnessed by Kelly and I from the "other stall".  We laughed so hard our sides hurt and of course Cassy was so mad at us, she didn't speak to either of us for at least the first quarter mile walk back.  Alas, I had no camera though to capture this candid event, but I can tell it to the world here.  I hope she sees the humor in this when she reads it.      

It was on the walk back though that it dawned on me as well that this campground might be the most absurd place I have ever seen.  I am of the mind that the there are two different types of campgrounds.  The kind you go to right off the freeway on your way to somewhere else, and the kind that you go to specifically to "camp"  But what is camping anyway?  Is it going off into the country somewhere and staking out a spot surrounded by nature and know one else?  Or is it more like what this place was.  Eight miles from the freeway along an overflowing river.  Very pretty manicured lawns, every kind of play area you can think of (basketball, horseshoes, mini golf, "fake fishing", bike rental, etc.) Really the silliest part to me though is the closeness of the "campsites" row upon row of trailer, camper, huge RV's, tents etc.  But this all seems very normal to the folks we walked past as it occurs to me now that of course this is normal as this is how 99% of the country lives.  Right next to one another.  None for me thanks.  

I must also mention the various types of sleeping quarters that one can now rent at various KOA campgrounds across the country.  They start with the one room cabin (very basic, usually comes completes with bare mattresses, one window, and bugs (ants or spiders, you pick).  They only get fancier form there though; let's call them the "fill in the blank"camping experience, teepees, vintage airstream trailers, deluxe cabins, astronomers dream with telescopes, solar powered, and I know there are more I just can't think of them right now.  What's next, why not go for the whole themed experience with Plymouth Plantation and an Old Western town, wait I might be on to something, forget I mentioned those. 

And the kicker for this whole evening - $45 for the privilege of setting my tent up right across from the open dumpster in a goose poo field of not so well manicured lawn (these were the cheap spots after all) and an "outlet" to plug into.  Yippee, now let me tell you how fast I got out of New York the next morning. Had the tent packed up, truck loaded and "Driving to the bathroom by 7 am. Showered and hit the nearest Dunkin Donuts for some overpriced doughnuts, thank you Mrs. Caracappa, you're the best!!!!

Kids are back from there walk now and my stolen moments of computer vent time are through but will continue more tomorrow.  Thanks to all who are following us, I see that you number in the hundreds at this point which is pretty cool.  

God Bless You All,
Michelle