Wednesday morning, we finally pulled out of the driveway at 8:30am. Usually we leave sooner, but because there isn't really a full time housewife in operation, laundry had to be done, and a good deal of packing last minute. We decided to take 20 across the state to 985, and from there head north. Within 10 minutes of leaving our house, and driving down 575 at 70 mph, the tire light went on. Jon and I just figured it was a weather fluke and not truly related to tire problems. But then we started hearing a funny sound and seeing smoke. The back passenger tire looked to be flat and melting. We pulled over as fast as we could (with a very large pop-up in tow, mind you) in an area that thankfully had a nice wide shoulder.
The tire was destroyed, and it was a brand new, top of the line tire, too! I took out my camera, took a picture of the tire, and then my camera died. Apparently the battery was low. So there are NO pictures of this camping trip! Jon had just gotten AAA coverage about 10 days previous, so he opened up his wallet, took out his card and made the call. We were assured by the man on the other end of the line that within 1 1/2 hours they would be at our service. That explained the cheap rates. Though our tradition is to stop at Cracker Barrel for breakfast whenever we head out on a road trip, it was apparent that there would be no Cracker Breakfast happening anytime soon, so I handed out sliced bread and water bottles to the kids.
Jon and Jeremy ( a friend who joined us for the trip) took inventory of tire changing equipment, and decided to get started rather than wait for help. Thanks to a tire theft safety system on the tires of 2004 Suburbans, (a feature, not a bug), it took the boys 1 1/2 hours to change the tire. Jon called off AAA, and headed to the nearest Tires Plus. By noon, we were back on the road, heading toward Asheville, only by a different route.
The bread and water held everyone over until about 2pm, and then they were sure death by starvation was right around the corner. Besides, I didn't want to show up at the campsite with 6 hungry, crabby campers. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel and had lunch (the kids stuck with their pancakes and bacon).
We made it to Asheville by about 5:30 and headed for Ridgecrest and registration. We found our campsite without a glitch, and except for being in the center of the camp rather than off to the side with tree coverage, it was a very satisfactory spot. Jon set to work taking the bikes off the camper, and Jeremy headed off to set up his tent with Jonathan's help. The bike racks proved to be efficient at holding the bikes, and obstinate in letting them go. Just when we were about to pull out my pocket knife and cut the last bike from the rack, our guardian angel stepped in and the bike was freed!
That job over, we started putting up the Pop-up and were most pleased with the speed and efficiency of that process. Finally, something was going right. Jon pulled out the water hose, hooked it up to the spicket, and voila! Our Camper began to fill rapidly with water, and every spicket and pipe leaked with hissing, rapid efficiency. In a panic, I yelled for him to turn off the water and raced to grab blankets to mop up the flood. Jon finally got the water off and then we surveyed the damage. Do you understand the frustration of waking at 6am after going to bed late. Working yourself to a sweat, packing up car and camper, getting a flat tire, driving all afternoon, setting up camp, and having yet another major disaster all with six needy children vying for your attention and care the entire time? We were at a low, very, very low point. Then we checked our watches and realized that if we didn't leave for dinner at that moment, we would miss it entirely.
We yelled to the kids to get back in the car, mopped up the remaining water and left two big blankets in a soggy heap on the picnic table, and decided to go have dinner and try to forget about it.
You might, perhaps think that this was the end of our misadventures for this fine day, but you would be mistaken. Dinner was good, and we had the cafeteria to ourselves since everyone else had eaten and was headed to the conference area. We made it into the auditorium in time for the debate. After seating the family, Charles looked at me in disgust and said, " I thought we were camping. What is with this?" I realized that I had failed to communicate the conference part of the camping trip. Oops.
About 10:30 we stumbled back into camp. Jeremy bid us goodnight and headed for his tent, and we tried to boost up our energy to get 6 little humans bathed and in bed. Since it was clearly dark, the first thing was to hook up electricity. I had not brought lanterns, but merely little flashlights for the kids, because the camper is well equipped with lighting. The cooler no longer contained ice, so it was getting rather urgent that we be able to use the refrigerator. We plugged in the main electrical cord and......nothing happened. We checked all the fuses. We reset the electrical. We flipped any and all switches on that camper. We read the owners manual (which was not entirely accurate because it was for a similar camper a year previous to our model, and a photocopy version- we bought the camper used). We had a friendly neighbor come over and check all the outlets. Meanwhile the children were busy biking in the dark around the camp ground, and Vivian and Gabriel were as fussy as they could possibly be. Vivian needed a bottle, but of course no electricity meant no electric kettle meant no hot water for formula. I headed for the bath house and fixed it with hot tap water. We gave up on the electricity, and I was beginning to marvel at how tent camping had been a lot less complicated. We gave up on bathing the kids, and instead scrubbed everyones feet in a basin (Charles the nasty, went last, since his feet are by far the grossest), washed hands and faces in the bathhouse, brushed teeth, and put everyone to bed.
Once we got into bed, we made a new discovery. A train track ran not more than 25 feet from our camper along the side of the campground, hidden by trees and shrubbery, which did not by any means mask the noise. The hissing and churning greeted our ears every hour or two, with the occasional booming horn. Gabriel whimpered a few times, but I hissed at him in no uncertain terms that if he woke up Vivian or in any other way interrupted what little chance of sleep that remained to me, his life would most certainly be in great jeopardy. He must have believed me, because he pulled his covers over himself, and went back to sleep.
The next morning we discovered the electrical switch under the sink, which was the magic button for power, and we gave up on the water entirely, until someone who knew what they were looking at, could look at our pipes.
The next two days were uneventful, relaxing and very nice. By Saturday, we were sad to be heading home, and as we settled into our beds Saturday night, we were a little sad not to feel the breeze coming through the camper screens, and missed hearing the scampering of the little animals, and the sounds of the churning, hissing, night trains.
