"You Do Exist!" - June 27, 2011

"You Do Exist!" - June 27, 2011


We were awake at 5:30am, or what passes for "awake" for me at that hour of the morning. After breakfast we had some sprinkles of rain and then again just before leaving for the last time which we did at 8:15am. It was early but not the earliest that we left any place. The sprinkles did not continue nor did it rain.


At 9:30am we made our "map stop" just inside the Ohio state line. How could I know how close we were to my friend's house if I didn't have a map? We continued on our way at 9:50am with an ETA for the campground of 1:06pm. Good timing. Hoped that we could keep it.


Wrong! I "threw a monkey wrench into the works." At about lunch time we had stopped for the necessities of life and then I made motions to sit at a table to eat rather than eat on the run. I had completely forgotten that we had a schedule to keep. It was too nice a day to waste if we didn't eat at a picnic table. So we did. And we moved the ETA to after 2:00pm.


We arrived at Maple Lakes about 2:13pm just as we had planned. This is a gated community; one has to wait for the gate to be raised before one can enter. I saw the camera aimed at the gate but I don't know how they know whether to raise the gate when you go out and come back. They have your license number but that is only on the rear of a vehicle from PA.


We were not given a map but only verbal directions to our site. We made it without too many problems. We just had to remember "the little green man" whose presence tells us to turn. We passed the pool. It really looked nice and clean. But we weren't there for that. This was just a place to park for the night! And it was close to the wash house.


I don't know why it takes us an hour to "set down roots" for the night. But that's just about it to the minute that all of the outside stuff is done and I have made the inside liveable and sleepable for the night.


That done we kicked off our shoes and settled for a "power nap." That was easy for Tom but not for me. I'm not too great at power naps. Besides I was too excited. In about a half hour we got up and made ourselves presentable (well, sort of) and headed for the van. I called my friend to warn her, I mean tell her, that we were on our way. The gate that we met when leaving was ready and willing to let us out. We didn't even have to stop for it. I hoped that the gate at the entrance was as accepting when we returned.


Following my friend's excellent directions we arrived without a problem. As we turned the corner to her street there she and the kids were waiting to greet us. I needed to give her a hug to make sure she was real and not a figment of my computer's imagination. She is real, alright!


We spent a great evening with the family in conversation whether over eating a wonderful chicken dinner, made with all that grease that the doctor's warn you to stay away from but tastes so good, eating some very tasteful soft ice cream or just sitting in a living room and letting our "jaws flap." Our host's comment "Some foods are good for the body and some are good for the soul" says it all. It was a wonderfully restful and all too short evening. We had to call it quits early because of having to get a good night's sleep in order to last for our 6-hours drive tomorrow.


Our thanks for a wonderful evening given we drove off hoping to find the campground in the dark as well as the camp site. But we had to get in the campground first.


Following the directions backwards we had no problems finding the roads and the campground. Now to get in. Driving up to the gate didn't work; not even driving very close to the gate. We sat for a very short when someone drove up on the left side of the area in front of the office window and in front of one part of the gate as we sat on the right side in front of the same gate. The person pushed some kind of a button and the gate opened. We followed the car in without the gate coming down on the roof of the van or starting some sort of an alarm.


We found the site, too, without a problem, grabbed our bags and headed for the wash house. Soon we were in bed supposedly getting ready for the next day. I spent some time remembering the people with whom I had just spent a portion of my life. Well worth the price of planning.


Tomorrow starts the last saga of this trip.