Every Day is An Adventure

Although it might look like we’ve been at this RV thing for a while, it was only the first week in May when Mike officially retired. It’s only been a few weeks since I quit work, too. The campground we’re currently at in South Carolina — Ebenezer Park in York County — is the first time we’ve been able to enjoy real retirement mode. It’s been awesome.

This past Thursday was such a surreal day for me. One of those days where you wake up in the morning feeling completely normal, but you go to bed thinking, “Um, what really happened today?” The kind of day where enough seemingly coincidental, serendipitous interactions occur throughout the day that, by day’s end, you can’t help but wonder which aspect of Fate has been pulling your strings again.

I even ended up on the local news! How weird is that? Remember, I am usually a taker of photos/videos, not the subject.

I’d already planned on taking my raft to the beach for a nice long float. I had an idea how to solve a problem I’d encountered the day before. Even on a lake without waves (like in an ocean), floating still requires work because the wind moves you around.

I had to get some stuff done first (paperwork, ugh!) and find a mailbox to post some letters. And I wanted to ride my bike around the campground. There are about 70 sites here at the campground. About half of them seem to be in the shade, unlike our site which is pretty small, but close to the lake.

When I set off, to mail my stuff and tour the campground, I told Mike my plan. He’s ridden around the campground and knew about how long it should take.

The sites in the wooded section are much nicer than they are in our part of the campground. Many are larger and there are lots of trees for shade. One pull-through site in particular (#58) was huge. There was a guy setting up/or breaking down his campsite. I originally stopped to take a picture of his site, but we ended up chatting instead. As it turns out, he and his wife had just arrived. She was inside (I assume) getting the camper situated while he was doing the outside stuff.

I told him how much I loved his big, shaded site and told him about our small one, which was tight, but close to the lake. “I’ll trade sites with you,” he said. They had just bought some sore of boat that he explained as being sorta like a kayak but with a catamaran-type hull, and a trailer or wheels or something so, if you’re close to the water, you can just walk it over and launch it by hand. Those of you who’ve ever used a busy public boat launch will understand the benefit of that.

I knew Mike would never want to switch sites mid-trip, so I told the guy (Jim) I’d make him a deal. If he’d let me test-drive the boat, he could keep it at our site, closer to the lake. I could see the wheels working as he considered the option. I told him our site number and invited him to stop by later and have a look.

Then I continued on my way and saw this cool, little trailer that looked homemade, but wasn’t. I had to stop and ask that guy (Wayne) about his rig. He called it a hunter’s shack, which makes complete sense. Northerners have things like that for ice fishing, why can’t Southerners, who’s lakes never freeze, have portable huts for hunting. His wife (Johnnie) showed up before I left. We all could have chatted for hours.

Figuring Mike would be wondering where the Hell I’d gone, I finally had to peel myself away from those nice folks and go on my way. Mike was busy when I got back, watching TV or doing something on the computer, I forget which. He had been wondering what took so long. I started telling him about meeting the man with the boat and the other guy with the cool little trailer, but he was clearly not interested. So I just said something like, “Okay, if a man named Jim shows up with his boat while I am at the beach, just show him where that tree is so he knows where to put his boat.”

I did have to explain that one! LOL. Then off I went to the beach, anxious to test my idea to overcome the drifting problem with my raft.

I had just gotten myself situated on one of the lounges when a nice young lady showed up and asked me if I was going to be there for awhile. When I said yes, she told me she was a reporter doing a news story about recent renovations to the park and asked if she could interview me. “Sure, why not,” I said, and off she scurried to get her stuff.

In the meantime, two older grandmas were passing by in a golf cart (those things are very popular at campgrounds). I got their attention and said, “Hey get your grandkids out of the water. This lady is doing interviews about the park. You can all be on TV.” They looked horrified. “The last thing I would do is get my kids out of the water to be on the news,” I heard one saying as they drove quickly away.

I told the reporter about it when she came back. Where I come from, people love being on TV. It’s the whole “fifteen minutes of fame” thing. Apparently, people in South Carolina feel differently. She and her associates were having a hard time finding people to speak with.

She and I chatted as she got her equipment set up. It took extra long because somehow, her wires had gotten all tangled. I told her I had that effect on wires. She laughed. “In fact,” I said, “Can I take a picture of you and your tangled wires to show my Hubby. He’ll get a kick out of that.” Plus, I was thinking, he was never going to believe the whole reporter interviewing me for the news thing.

The reporter’s names is Shakira Speaks. I asked he if that was her real name and she said it was. “You were meant to be in TV news!” I said. “I know, right?” Was her reply. She and I definitely clicked. It’s not always easy for me to find like-minded individuals in this world.

As the interview came to a close — I’d talked her ear off — I told her about my raft idea. I’d borrowed my husband’s bucket and brought some string. The plan was to fill the bucket with rocks, take it out into the water, tie a string to it and the raft, and use it for an anchor.

She stayed around long enough to see if my anchor worked. I think her curiosity got the best of her. If you click the link below and watch the news story, you’ll see me floating, safely anchored, at the end. The thumbs-up at the end was to let Shakira know my anchor had worked.

Ebenezer Park open in York County after $4.6 million in renovations

I must have floated around for at least an hour, just staring at the blue sky and puffy white clouds. It was funny seeing people’s faces as I walked out of the water with my bucket. One lady asked, as she watched me dump the rocks, what the rocks were for. “An anchor,” I told her. She chuckled and we chatted a bit then I went to my chair and sat for a while to dry off.

There was a woman with six kids nearby. She was flitting from kid to kid taking pictures of them at the beach. When she noticed me watching I asked her if she’d like me to take a picture of her and her kids. “Oh my God, they are not all mine,” she said, and told me who they all belonged to, followed by, “You gonna be here for a bit? I would love a picture. No one ever asks that. I’m always the one taking the pictures.”

As I ate the snacks I’d taken to the beach, I thought again about Jim and his boat, wondering if he’d showed up with his boat while I was away. I watched and listened to the people on the beach as I enjoyed my snacks. The sky was starting to look like afternoon thunderstorms gathering, which is normal in the heat and humidity of the South. The woman with the kids must have been watching me, because she started summoning her horde as I packed up. She gave me her phone and I started shooting a video as she herded everyone into place. When they were ready, I stopped the video and took a few pics.

I told her about the video, saying I thought she’d get a chuckle out of watching it. “It looked like you were herding cats,” I said as I returned her phone to her. She laughed, thanked me, and then we parted ways.

As I headed back to our campsite, I thought again about Jim and his boat, figuring I would see it chained to the tree. When it wasn’t there, I assumed he just chalked me up as being a crazy woman. I took Belle for a quick walk and was headed back to the camper when Jim showed up in his truck. This time, his wife, Debbie, was with him.

I showed them the site and they both agreed it was a great idea. That’s how we ended up with this at our campsite:

I was away on Friday when they took the boat out. Saturday, I was still away visiting my nephew in Norfolk, but it wasn’t a great boat day in South Carolina. Today, Sunday, they went to watch their adult son play soccer nearby. Maybe this afternoon will be a good day for the water.

I already know their vessel is too big for us since Mike has absolutely no interest in the water, but it was fun to see it in person. I’ve seen Sea Eagle brochures in the past, bit have never actually see one in real life. Now I can say I have.

In the meantime, today is our last full day at this campground. There’s a raft and a bucket waiting to be put to use in the lake.