Someday Is Now

 I flew to NY for the weekend to attend the funeral of a dear woman and friend.  Our "other" son Paris' mom succumbed to lung cancer on January 1st after spending the holidays with her whole family.  She was a wonderful, vibrant, momma bear.  She will be greatly missed as she was a positive influence to many. I also was able to spend time with my parents and boys and their girls.  It was a whirl wind trip, but so worth it.  Being able to hug my kids and see my grand-kitties was wonderful.  It confirms my desire to not be gone from my children for extended time.  Joni

The saying "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade" has never been more true.  We could complain, be angry about things, but that does nothing to change the situation you find yourself in.  Rather, look at the positives of the situation you find yourself in. For us, being in Georgia taking care of mom is a blessing.  We get to spend time with her, give back to her the care she provided to her family her whole life and spend time with family that we only have been able to see every few years. It's stressful, exhausting but also joyous.  It is all in how you look at it. Joni

We find ourselves this winter in northern Georgia, at the Battlefield campground on Battlefield blvd.  Its a nice enough campground.  Nice meaning it has wide clean spots with gravil.  Our spot is nicely located toward the front of the campground.  There are lots of dogs, which is always nice.   There are alot of long termers at the park.  People who work in the area and stay at the campground full time.  Lots of work trucks and even a little work area that some dude set up near his camper.  He has a chop saw and a couple other carpentry tools out under a temporary tent like cover.  Its ok, probably a no no in the campground, but sets the tone as a *workers campground.    The facilities are decent too.  Good showers, water pressure and warm water.  Two in fact, different structures housing showers, toilets and sinks.  I approached the registration desk the other day to inquire about extending ourselves....

We pulled into our latest campground in northern Ga.  The campground is located right off Rt. 75 and on Battlefield Parkway, another major rt. Our spot is toward the front of the campground, easy access in and out.  Not a lot of privacy, but a good spot, close to the public bathrooms, shower, laundry and camp store.  Nice recently paved roads throughout the campground, spots not too close together, hookups are nice and accessible.  We have full hookup, 50 amp, water and sewer.  After arriving, we looked at the extended forecast and saw a few nights below 30 degrees.  These temps threaten a hose freeze.  In this scenario, we fill our water tank, turn on our tank heaters, unhook from the public water, and use the camper pump to move water through the rig.  Its doable but inconvenient, so I bought a heated hose for $150 at the Camping World store nearby.  Its January, and even in GA, its cold.  The heated water hose allows us to stay hooked...

We traveled from Northern Virginia to Georgia. Our destination was about 600 miles away.  We were not driving that in a single day. We headed out from our campground in VA about 11 am, typical checkout time at campgrounds.    We drove about 300 miles which seems a good distance in a single day.  We had actually mapped out the approximate half way point the night before and had a idea where to start looking for an overnight rest stop, Walmart or truck stop for the night. We looked at the weather the day before and saw that a winter storm would be arriving directly in our drive path in the early evening, so we wanted to miss that and the dark.  With that in mind, about 4pm Joni started looking ahead at our route and saw a couple truck stops coming up.  We like the LOVES truck stops and saw one just a few miles ahead on our rout.   We pulled in about 5:30 as it was getting dark and the snow was starting to fall.  We drove slowly allowing a littl...