Impromptu Camping Trip – April 8-9, 2017

Saturday, April 8th was gorgeous–really the quintessential Springtime-in-Virginia type of day.  We had a slow, lazy start to the morning, and then thought about working in the trailer.   We also thought about “driveway camping” that night since the weather was so nice, but then Wayne said we should actually go somewhere with the trailer.  Hmmmm…. I knew that a couple of relatively close campgrounds were already full (I’d checked earlier in the week, just in case), but then he suggested Misty Mountain, which is literally right up the road from us.  It was 12:30 in the afternoon, and I wasn’t too optimistic since it’s a very popular campground.   When I called, however, they said they had a few open sites, so I quickly made a reservation for that evening, and said we’d be there within an hour.  Things didn’t quite work out that way!

Once we took the tarp off, we could see that the trailer was really dirty, plus I noticed that the tires looked low.  Wayne tried to inflate the first one with a manual pump, but it actually let air out of the tire. Not good….  Ultimately, he had to go buy an electric pump, and while he was gone, I cleaned off the outside of the trailer as best I could to make it a bit more presentable.  The next challenge involved getting a car close enough TO the trailer to be able to connect the pump to the cigarette lighter in the car and still reach the passenger side tire.   Anyhow, a couple of hours later, we were hitched up and pulling out of the driveway. 🙂

  

Our site was #49, and since there was a little pop-up trailer in #50 (and no vehicle at the site when we got there), we were able to pull through instead of backing in.  This is always a good thing!

By not planning ahead for this trip–and knowing we were close to home–we brought very little “stuff.”  The advantage to this is that we were set up–and relaxing–in no time. 🙂  With few leaves on the trees, we could see the Blue Ridge Mountains from our site.

  

The trailer looked so pretty inside with the late afternoon sun shining in.  Yes, we’ve still got a lot more we want/need to do with the trailer, but we’re so glad that we can use it! After a lot of hard work, it’s become a comfortable little home on wheels.

  

The disadvantage of bringing “very little ‘stuff’,” however, meant that we didn’t have our camp stove or cooler with us, and we didn’t have anything for dinner.  No worries–Wayne went out foraging (to a place a couple of miles away),  and came back with fried chicken, macaroni salad, potato wedges, and some drinks, which we ate while sitting at the picnic table.

Misty Mountain has lot of scheduled activities (and LOTS of things for kids), so we decided to go down the hill to the community building at 7:00 pm to check out the live music.  We were in the upper camping area, and there are two lower camping areas (past the little pond).   There were two other fiberglass “eggs” in the lower campground Saturday night–a Casita and a 13-ft. Scamp.

Before going in to listen to the music, we decided to make a quick trip to the house to get our cell phone chargers (which we’d forgotten), and some yogurt for breakfast (that we put in an insulated backpack).  After giving the kitties a little more food, we drove back to the campground community building.

Yay!  Live music!  Pool tables!

  

  

We played four games of pool while listening to a couple of sets of music by the groups, and drove back up the hill to our campsite a little after 9:00 pm.  We’d left our Scamp’s “porch” light on, and an almost-full moon was rising above it.

The crystal clear skies brought falling temperatures, so Wayne started a fire and got out his guitar.  When I took this picture, I didn’t expect the flash to go off; I thought I would get his silhouette.   As a result, the picture is too bright, and the video clip is too dark. Reality was somewhere in the middle.   🙂

We turned on our little ceramic heater to let the trailer warm up, and we continued to sit outside by the fire, moving closer and closer to it as the night got colder.

When I started getting shivery–and the fire had burned down to embers–we went inside, where it was quite cozy.  I always sleep incredibly well in the trailer (we have a full size memory foam mattress that we cut to fit the curves of the trailer), and this night was no exception. Even though the temperature dropped to the low/mid 30s outside, we were warm and comfortable in the Scamp.

When we woke up on Sunday morning, we fixed coffee (always a priority) and ate breakfast in the trailer (yogurt, plus peanut butter on bread).  The dinette was a huge project last summer, and this was the first time that we’d had a chance to use it.  🙂

We were blessed with another beautiful Spring day, and it warmed up quickly.

  

  

Can you see me through all the reflections in the window?

  

I finally ventured out, and we enjoyed a few more peaceful, relaxed hours at Misty Mountain before heading home.

Yes, indeed, happy campers.  Very happy campers. 🙂