Meeting Volunteers

~Wednesday, August 26, 2020~

Day 73

Spent the morning posting updates for all of you, while Jeff broke down camp. It pains us that we have to break things down to move only about 100 feet to the next site. The campground volunteers must have driven by 5 times to see if the site we were moving into had left yet which obviously hinged on us moving. Most people depart early in the morning, but these guys didn’t leave until 1:15 (check-out is 1:00). At least we got to talk to the volunteers and get to know their story a little bit. A husband and wife, retired, volunteer their time here in the summers then head south like everyone else. This year...it’s Arizona for them. Another small world. They both are originally from the East Bay in California (near where I grew up in Danville). Finally, we were able to move and set up, where we found ourselves liking this site better.. Again, it’s a double site. To be official, Jeff checked us in then took a little side trip through the Waldron Loop, only to discover that we are in by far, the best loop with more mature trees and less scraggly forest. The trees, to us, is what makes a campsite great.

We spent most of our day with PAINFULLY SLOW internet, so I think it’s time to buy the Wee-boost. Too much time a-wastin’ to edit photos, do posts and research our accommodations with spotty internet. At least we were able to really hone in our route and time frame keeping weather in mind. We’re basically working things around our time in Florida where we plan to be for 6 weeks between January and February.

Later in the day we took what was going to be a walk around the campground loops, into a hike down to Beaver Cove. As soon as we saw a “lake access” sign, we took it. Unfortunately, no dogs allowed, but it is a treasure of a site for swimming in calm water and just a relaxing place to chill. It was nice to have an uphill hike back to our site, to get a little cardio in.

Back at the “ranch”, we made turkey/veggie burgers. When camping, one must improvise sometimes. So to prepare the perfect pepper burger, Jeff smashed peppercorns with a wine bottle (the same weight as a mallet).

Perfect. Nice that we topped off a great day with our first campfire at Farragut with the temperature dropping pretty fast. Busy day tomorrow building in some fun with the work.