Unheeded Advice

“Get to the campsite early,” Mr. V was telling us. Mr. and Mrs. V had spent a year on the road camping and Crazy Mom and I were asking them what nuggets of wisdom they could pass along to us as we embarked on our own trip. The get-there-early advice was certainly sound.

Just three days later we experienced first hand the perils of ignoring this advice. With only 5 hours to travel that day, we felt like we had plenty of time. This led us to make a number of bad decisions.

Bad decision #1: Cook pancakes and sausage for breakfast after sleeping in for an extra hour.

Bad decision #2: Rather than take off for our new site (in the Badlands), go visit the Ingalls Homestead.

Bad decision #3: Get sucked into lingering at the Ingalls homestead because the kids are having so much fun.

Bad decision #4: Being nice to the guy from Australia who talked to us for a half-hour right as we were trying to pull out of the campsite.

After all of these bad decisions, we could have still made it to the campsite before nightfall if all had gone well. Unfortunately, I had to buy a new jack for the front of the RV and it did not fit into the old hole, leading to an additional delay at a car shop.

Then, as we crossed into the Badlands there was a nasty front passing through. The wind was blowing so hard we pulled over in a rest area and parked next to a semi to it could break the wind for us.

All of this resulted in arriving at the campsite well after dark. Visiting the dumping station and setting up camp in the dark with a tired and crabby crew meant we violated the quiet hours of the camp, I am sure. The one good thing is that the storm caused a spectacular sunset as we passed through the Badlands to get to our campsite.