IT IS WITH A HEAVY HEART......

It was with a heavy heart that I wrote this post back in 2014.  Apparently I forgot to publish it! I made the difficult decision to sell The Pack N Play and let someone else enjoy her spacious, gracious accommodations. 


When I decided to get a camper, my intention was for a teensy little thing I could hook up to my Escape, toss in my doggie and my groceries and head out on a whim.  Those are not easily available, or typically well out of my budget comfort zone.  This one was affordable, in fabulous shape, and worth the experience to get me back into a camping mode.


The two outings taken in it were very enjoyable.  I loved sitting inside in the cool, watching the campground life around me.  Sitting under the awning in the evening was divine.  BUT, it was far too big for my car to pull, it was big enough to intimidate me trying to pull with anything, and required involvement of a friend with a tow vehicle and muscles, not to mention the nerve to pull a 26 foot tin can down the interstate at 70 mph!!!  Juggling this retirees free time and a working persons schedule, working around two budgets and different paydays during the month, trying not to be away from our respective churches on Sundays, it made the logistics nearly impossible to find a good middle ground to schedule and try to find open campsites. It made me sad and irritated to see "her" just sitting in the yard, unused.


I knew friends who had been looking for an affordable camper for a long time.  It just seemed like the right thing to do, offer it to them for what I had in it.  They were happy with the idea, liked everything well enough to say yes...... they "said yes to the dress", ummmm, CAMPER, haha!! So, at the beginning of June, I cleaned out my personal items and spiffied up the Pack N Play for the final time.  Battened down the hatches and got her road ready.  Watching her pull out of the driveway was a sad moment.  She's having a good life still, though my camping days are done. Thus ends this portion of my blogging.

Warm Weather Arrives!

Finally!  After weeks of waiting in various intensities of impatience, warm weather has arrived in South Carolina!  So, too, has the first camping trip of the season, and I no longer have to sit looking through my winter-dirty windows at the Pack-n-Play counting down the days. I can't say the windows aren't still dirty, but I can at least have the pleasant memories of the trip to Santee to ponder while staring out of them waiting for the May trip to Edisto!

Santee State Park was the second of my list of parks to camp in during the next couple of warm seasons.  We had such a great experience at Edisto back in the Fall that I had pretty much convinced myself this was going to be an equal.   I can say the campground itself was exactly as expected....well maintained sites, clean and adequate bath houses, and our particular site probably had the best view of the lake of any of them.  Another plus, being seniors gets us a 15% discount, and the beach parks are twice as expensive as the others, so three nights at Santee were a whopping $43 and some cents.  You can't even get a flea-bag roach-motel room for one night for that little amount!  What I didn't figure into the experience was kids.....dozens of them....in tents on 3 sides of us, two tents per site!  I guess I thought Spring breaks were over by the third week of April, but folks, they definitely are not!  You can forget any semblance of peace and quiet when you are camped near water, with kids out-screaming each other, bicycle Ninja warriors attacking from every available trail, and then there are the careless campers who don't clean up behind their dogs, ugh!  Now before you jump my case for complaining about the kid noise, I agree they have every right to camp there, too.  I agree that kids enjoy running and screaming and having a great time, and I love to have them enjoying themselves. I love to see families making memories together, just as mine did when my kids were young.  It's just that I am getting old, noise jangles my nerves, and if there were 'adult only' campgrounds I'd be there in a heartbeat.  So, being that we have already reserved three nights again at Edisto for later this month, I'll just take a deep breath, prepare for the onslaught and keep telling myself "the kids will be on the beach all day, the kids will be on the beach all day, and I won't be camped 30 yds from the swimmin' hole again!!!"

Enough with the complaining, Barnwellgal!  Now do some talking about the good!  The weather was magnificent....cool enough for open windows (hence the daytime noise wasn't blocked out) and in spite of a brief fierce storm that blew in Tuesday night, couldn't have been better.  We had our camper situated with the 'patio' facing the water, and as luck would have it that was the direction of the sunrise!  Oh my goodness, what a beautiful sight every morning!  Wednesday the sun was not bright and blinding like normal, but a huge red ball, glowing within but not too brightly to stare.  I thought about my camera too late to catch this other-wordly sight, but it was awesome to say the least.  Every evening the sun set behind us as we sat on our 'patio' and enjoyed a cool beverage while Leo tested every single bare spot of dirt to lay in.  

Home-sweet-home away from home

View from our patio area, couldn't be better

Monday afternoon we got set up and walked a little around the campground, letting Leo get used to the new smells and places to walk.  I had planned ahead for meals, so we had sandwiches from my homemade pimento cheese and my homemade chicken salad for supper, and just relaxed, played cards and enjoyed being away from home.  I am a light sleeper, and not used to a roommate, so between waking every time he turned over in his bed, him snoring from across the room at my head plus Leo snoring at my feet, it was a long, long night.  I really got excited to peek out my window and see that bright sunrise getting started!  (And yes, I do use ear plugs camping, but they get uncomfortable after a while and sometimes just get wiggled out in spite of everything!)

Tuesday morning we decided to drive into town for bait to fish with, and see how long to allow to get back for supper that night.  We got our bait, went back to fish from the shoreline and let Leo come with us and stay anchored to a tree.  I was trying out my new bream buster but there was so much overhanging brush, and shoreline weeds that I kept getting hung up, broke lines, and pretty much got disgusted with the whole experience.  Leo and I left Jimmy with his gear to fish a little longer, and went back to rest and get lunch ready.  I had also brought chili and the fixin's for super nachos (tortilla chips, chili, shredded cheese, sour cream and salsa) so we ate and rested.  Another walk around the campground was called for to walk off this huge lunch.  Tuesday night we drove the few minutes back into Santee itself for supper.  We had made plans with some dear friends who live close by to meet them at the Cracker Barrel, and were enjoying ourselves with Carroll and Sharon Cheek while the storm blew up and blew out. What a great evening it was, listening to their plans for a fabulous trip to Ireland and Scotland that they were leaving on shortly, and catching up on old family histories we weren't familiar with. Back to a quiet, dark campground and another night of stereo snoring, LOL.

Santee Selfie  :-)

Wednesday was another fishing trial.  We decided to drive over to the other part of the campground that was on the cypress view and try our luck from the pier.  There was a man down on one end who said he had caught a couple but threw them back to grow bigger, then caught one keeper.  It was a nice one, and he insisted we take it as he was leaving to go home for lunch and didn't want to clean just one fish.  We thanked him and found out what he meant about letting them grow bigger....the only thing we hauled in over the railing was barely bigger than minnows, and I only broke my line once that day and suspect it was hung on a log.  We left after throwing back one or two ourselves, and gifted our gift fish to a couple who had taken the first man's fishing spot.  We sat outside until the cool air ran us in, and once inside we pigged out on the Beaufort boil we cooked outside on his gas fish cooker and we played several of our hundreds of games of Rummy during the trip.  We sure do enjoy that, and I don't know why I enjoy getting beat 9 out of 10 games!

Sunrise over Santee

Thursday morning I was outside with the camera before the sun broke above the horizon, but it wasn't that amazing red ball again, just brilliant and blinding good ol' Sol.  I got a couple of shots anyway, for keepsakes.  It was time to start breaking down camp and heading back.  All went well with putting things back in place, keeping things secured from moving or bouncing, and we were hooked up and ready.  Jimmy put the truck in gear, pressed the gas and - horror of horrors- the trailer brakes were locked up!!!  He tried 'rocking' the vehicles, back to front, several times, engine roaring, dirt flying from the spinning tires (and all nearby campers gawking!).....all the while us going nowhere, me in a wide eyed panic and him trying to stay cool but I knew inside he was panicking, too.  He decided to unhook the trailer wiring from the truck while we drove to the dump station and cleaned the holding tanks.  Once that was done, we nervously plugged it back together, and it worked like it was supposed to!  Whew!  Two really thankful people were riding in that truck!  I really didn't want to drive back through Orangeburg without brakes or lights on that camper.  The rest of the trip was uneventful, even though we did have a rather lengthy forced rest break at a train track while they juggled cars and engines but at least it wasn't due to a problem of ours.  

Packed and ready to roll - or not to roll :-(

Taking a break on train-time

I said a little prayer of thanksgiving as we backed her up beside my driveway....thankful to be home, thankful for safety on both legs of the trip, and thankful for my quiet little neighborhood to come home to! 

Next adventure is back to Edisto Island State Park for fun in the sun!  See y'all later!!

Waiting for a warm spell......

47 degrees outside, windy.....brrrrrrrr.  Not exactly camping weather, for me anyway.  I am sitting on my sunporch, listening to the little wind chime, dreaming of being off somewhere and glancing out at the Pack -n- Play with just a little frustration.  Frustrated that it's too cold to go anywhere, frustrated that she is too big and heavy for me to just hook my car to and take off on a whim, stopping wherever the scenery tells me to.  At 26 feet, and over 5,000 pounds, she requires a pretty hefty truck (read 'gas guzzler' )and not my teensy little Ford Escape.....but I do love my Escape and really can't afford to trade up yet.

You see, when I started with this camping bug a couple of years ago, it was my intention to find a VERY TINY little thing to tow behind me, just big enough for me and wee Leo to ramble around the South in.  I envisioned winding up eventually in Austin TX visiting my BFF since 5th grade, Rivanna.  I could go visit the grands in TN, and my cousins and old friends who I rarely ever get to see.  There were thoughts of Washington PA to visit my dear former AGNS friends, the Murphys.  I have never been to Colonial Williamsburg, so that was a distant dream, and the Outer Banks, and the FL Keys, and.......and....... get the picture?  I researched with Google and found motorcycle campers that might have worked, as they were shown being pulled with VW Beetles, and were just really a tent on a wheeled platform, but for some weird reason I am just adamant that I have air conditioning and a potty - hard to accommodate those requirements in what I found.  I also looked for hours and hours at sites with what are now called 'glampers', really cute restored vintage campers that are small enough to pull with a reasonable vehicle.  Research proved that 'vintage' really just means VERY old, VERY worn out and just plain ugly, or else beautifully restored and VERY expensive!!!  Hmmmm, on to plan B.

Plan B never actually existed, it just sort of evolved, from the restraints of my almost non-existant camper budget.  When I heard about this one, I went to see it and was just totally smitten, and the price was right......well, the rest is history...or her-story, as it turns out.  I still can envision her parked in some quiet, shady campground on a long-term basis, the campsite all tricked out with various kinds of tacky decorations, with me and Leo becoming semi-permanent residents and meeting new people every week.  She is big enough that I do believe I could live in her on a temporary basis....after all, she has every amenity but a laundry room, and that's a small inconvenience.  Campgrounds have them, silly girl....let them pay for the machines and the hot water  :-)

Oh well, like I said, just sitting here dreaming and waiting for a warm spell.  I guess for now I'll just have to be content with browsing State Park websites and choosing some potential places to spend a few days here and there, when schedules and budgets, and vacancies,  allow.  Roamin' Empire, don't give up on me!!!

Here she is, waiting on a new home....

Twins flanking the bathroom door at the rear

Tub/shower to the right, potty and big closet to the left

Front kitchen, movable dinette

Really great working space 

Full sized refrigerator, pantry, tons of storage

She was really in need of a bath

Getting a scrub-down....what a difference a bath makes!

It's on the Books - Her Maiden Voyage Camping Adventure!

We did it!  We really did it!  We took the Pack -n- Play on her 'maiden voyage' this week.
We spent October 21 - 24 at Edisto Beach State Park.  What a wonderful experience!  After giving her a good scrub down (whew, what a job THAT is!) and getting her loaded with trip essentials, then making sure we had the campsite reserved, confirmed, and preregistered online, we set out for the first adventure.  Jimmy's Dodge Ram 1500 Hemi pulled her like she wasn't even behind us, except that it cut his mpg's by almost half.  Since she weighs 5,100 lbs without all the extra 'stuff' you pack to camp with, I guess that was to be expected.

We found our campsite, got her backed in and hooked up to water and electric and made sure both were working before we unhooked the truck.  Didn't want to have to hook back up to move if either weren't working right.  After rolling out the awnings, placing the patio rug and moving the picnic table under the cover, we started unloading and setting up the inside with the small appliances, dog crate, and other little essentials.  The campsite was just about perfect, since we were at the beach campground but on the back side right at the marsh with a great view.  The bath house was just across the little dirt street, and kept clean, so it was convenient....more space for showering than the camper and plenty of hot water, although I did give its tub a test run one night just to be sure everything worked, which it did.  We took Leo and walked the few yards over to the beach, and took a long walk looking for shells and enjoying the weather, scenery, and life in general.  Back 'home' and hungry, we made our dinner of super nachos that I had prepared for with my homemade chili, cheese, salsa and sour cream on tortilla chips.  I hadn't played Rummy in years, so Jimmy refreshed my memory and we played several rounds before sitting outside for a little while.

Tuesday dawned dreary and cool, but we were determined to go fishing some.  We tried to go to the dock at Steamboat Landing, but there were quite a few people there. Since we had Leo with us, I didn't think they would appreciate having him out there so we drove on to the Dawho bridge landing.  We had it all to ourselves, so I tied Leo on a long run to a railing and we fished in a pretty steady mist and drizzle.  Got too cold for Leo, so I put him back in the truck while we toughed it out on the dock.  The only things we caught were a couple of tiny croakers and one ugly little dogfish.  This was our second time fishing here, with no one else, and not catching anything.  One of the Park Rangers told us he used to try fishing there too, and never caught anything either so he quit.  Maybe that's why we had it to ourselves....no one ever catches anything from there, apparently!  Back 'home', hungry, cold and tired; our bowls of steaming hot chili were well appreciated.  It was raining pretty steadily by then, and the noise on the awning and roof of the camper made it impossible to stay awake, so naps were mandatory.  Later on we got out the little propane grill I had bought.  Putting it together was pretty simple, and we managed to do that without any fussing, or undoing anything to do it over.  Jimmy had brought his fish cooker along, so we made fresh homemade french fries and grilled hamburgers right out there under the awning.  Of course, we enjoyed a few 'adult beverages' of various types during our stay there, but always inside the camper since there is a rule of no public use of alcohol in the park.

On Wednesday we took travel mugs of coffee over to the beach, wearing our sweatshirts since the wind was pretty cool, and picked up lots of shells for me to try to do some crafts with. We even found a starfish, but not the first sharks tooth.  So weird, they used to be all over the beach there.  We tried to go to Botany Bay, as Jimmy has never been there, but it was closed yet again for another deer hunt.  That makes twice we've tried and failed.  Second choice was the little museum, which was a delightful little place.  The afternoon consisted of a nap after a sandwich lunch, then shopping for fresh shrimp to boil for dinner, and riding out to the little fresh market for some she-crab soup and a key lime pie - yummo!  We came back by the Piggly Wiggly for a couple of things, and ran into one of my high school classmates, Bill Coffey, who is now a policeman in Edisto!  Dinner was excellent, even with the cool breeze - well, actually almost gale force winds - and we decided to roll up the awning to prevent it being damaged, since we were packing up to leave the next morning anyway.  What a good decision that turned out to be, since after dark we sat on the 'patio rug' and enjoyed a million stars overhead while one meteor managed to streak across, and the fiddler crabs in the marsh were playing a tiny little symphony with their claws click-tick-clicking into the dark.  There were several more games of Rummy played that evening. The wind continued, blowing in a cold front.

Thursday dawned dry but COLD!!!!  We never did turn on the electric oil radiator we brought along, since our beds had plenty of blankets and spreads on them, but boy oh boy the air was brisk while we had coffee and got everything reloaded safely into their cabinets, nooks and crannies, bungie tying the table and chairs to the wall (a brilliant little device Mr. McConnell Sr. had created) and the TV (which we never used, never missed!) into its corner.  I was a little concerned about having to empty the sewer holding tanks, but we pulled up to the dump station, hooked a new hose to the fittings and followed the directions in the camper manual without a single wrong move.  The drive home was again uneventful, thankfully.  We stopped at Duke's BBQ in Walterboro for lunch (our only meal 'out' in a restaurant the whole vacation) and there was Reid Boyleston from Barnwell!  By the way, we highly recommend eating at this Duke's.  I think it would be worth the drive just for the meal.  We arrived safely back at my house, and backed her into the yard, unhooked the truck and then my job began, unloading all the food, clothes and miscellaneous things we thought we just had to have on the trip.  Didn't use or wear about half of it.  Lesson learned!

So, some observations:  state parks not having sewer hook ups is not a big deal, the dump stations are not a horribly difficult thing to manage, bath houses are great to have but so are potties in the camper for middle of the nights, hehehe; campers should not leave their outside lights on all night, it is light pollution to stargazers; campers should NOT hang wind chimes on their campers as some of us are light sleepers and hear them all night long; waves crashing on the beach all night when you aren't used to it can be disruptive to sleep also. Most dog owners clean up after their pets, but not everyone is so considerate - watch where you and your dog walk!   Four days without TV, wi-fi and Facebook, and never even missed any of it!  Camping involves some work, some thought and preparation, but the payoff is huge, it is so well worth all of it.  This old gal is hooked, and already looking for new places to camp (fairly close by) when the weather warms back up in the Spring. Being a member of The Roamin' Empire is a dream-come-true!  Let the adventures continue.......

Backing the Pack-n-Play into her campsite at Edisto Beach State Park

Ahhhhhhh Edisto!

Nothing like sand, surf and breezes

The Name Says It All......

She has a name!  After the suggestion of my friend, Jonna Murphy, I settled on "The Pack and Play" as her official name.  I liked the idea of having my last name - Pack - used, and it really is for playing, so that seemed appropriate.  Thanks, Jonna!  If there had been a name-the-camper-contest prize, you would be the winner, hehehehe!

The tires have been replaced.  The old ones, when removed, showed signs of dry rot and splitting in the seams, just primed for a blowout.  Jimmy also put something, I think called bearing buddies, on the wheels, to make it easy to keep the bearings greased.  That's his department, I work on the inside and decor!  She is back home, sitting comfortably in my driveway.  We went through her with a fine-toothed comb, and made lists of what we NEED to repair/replace and what we WANT to replace or add to her.  Off to CSRA Camperland in Augusta last weekend, and got only a fraction of the NEED to list as they are not fully stocked, but I will probably order the rest from Campingworld online, and save the trip to Columbia.  Today I have spent part of the day out there, working on her, and after this lunch break will head back for a little while.  I love being in that camper, and can't wait until she is on a waterfront campsite somewhere quiet. 

Some of the plastic lens covers on the inside lights had cracked, so I replaced those today, with the only 4 that the store had in stock.  I replaced the 5 plastic knobs that turn to open the windows, the old ones were dry rotted and crumbled in our hands when we turned them.  That is expected in a 23 year old camper!  I took down the cover over the A/C and scrubbed it, washed the filters, and wiped the remaining parts that I could reach.  There is a musty smell that was like mildew, and I'm sure this will help.  I have taken down the curtains and washed them also, but haven't put them back up.  I have a plan.....  I wanted to buy fabric to recover the two kitchen chair seats, and hopefully make pillows for the sofa, and maybe a couple of new curtain panels.  My hope was to find a flame-stitch in the colors of the sofa fabric, which are soft rose, blue, teal and beige.  I really didn't want to spend a fortune on this fabric, though.  So last week, on a whim, I strolled through the local thrift store for the Animal Advocates looking for remnants, or old table cloths or curtains.  Well, lo and behold, there was a beautiful almost new-looking valance hanging there for $3...in my colors, and flame-stitch pattern!   It is FIVE YARDS long, and when I ripped out all the seams it turns out to be the full 45" width of the fabric! This is awesome!  Enough to cover both chairs, make the curtain to cover the wide window over the sink and not have to use the mini blind.  There is enough for the little pillows, and likely a pair of panels for the dinette area, too!  Do you get the impression that I am trying to 'glamper' my camper????  Yep, for sure!!

I figured a way to 'fix' the sliding window in the dinette area that would not stay up on one side.  Just no engineer inspections, okay?  It probably won't pass 'code'.   The screen door had an aggravating handle that you had to slip your finger into and pull to the side to open it.  I replaced it today with a flip down lever latch, and even got the holder up to keep it attached to the outer door!! Yes, there was drilling involved, and yes, everything is attached firmly, thank you very much.  The cover over the bumper storage for the sewer pipe was bent and letting wasps get in, so I worked at that until it came off, and replaced it with a bug-free insert type.  No inspections of these projects, either, okay?  I had bought a replacement holder to keep the outer door hooked open, but wasn't able to get the old one off, it has rusted to the point of no slots in the screws!  That's okay, it's ugly but it still works.  Just a few more little things inside, like seeing if the screens in the overhead vents will come down from inside to clean the leaves out of them......I just simply cannot climb up on that roof.  I am such a chicken about heights, oh yeah.  

Once these little 'want to do' list items are complete, and we get her scrubbed down and presentable, I will post a whole new album of her pictures for you to see.  Then we will truly be ready to hitch her up and "Pack and Play" our way through as many state parks as we can make it to!  

Later, y'all........

Getting Acquainted

Rain, rain, rain.....yesterday was a deluge nearly all day long, with 2.5 inches in the rain gauge.  Seemed like the perfect day to get acquainted with my camper, so I opened up the windows and took one of my oscillating fans with me.  I turned the stereo system on and listened to WBBQ all afternoon.  I started emptying drawers, cabinets and cubbyholes....boy oh boy, there are lots of cubbyholes in a camper!  There were dishes for eating, for serving, cookware, small appliances, utensils, plastic drinking things and plastic food storage dishes that might have filled up a Walmart aisle, hehehehe.   Sheets, towels, bath cloths enough to probably live in the cute little thing, and even electric blankets!  There is little to need other than a couple of personal favorite items, and most of those I already had duplicates of here in the house.  They will help fill all those cute little cubbies!  With the electric water heater, electric refrigerator, and an electric hot plate, the only thing we will add is my oil-filled radiator space heater for cool weather camping to let us be all-electric and no need to use the LP gas, which always makes me uncomfortable.  I had a bad experience as a teen working in Daddy's little hamburger stand, so I try to avoid using gas if possible.

The rain pounded for most of the time, but it was cool and with the fan blowing around there was no need to turn on the a/c, which does work well.  I love the open air and the sounds of the outdoors, so it was a really great day.  Today I'll start replacing everything and make a list of the very few, minor things needed on a 23 year old camper, like plastic window knobs, little plastic light covers, and I can't find a smoke detector so that goes on the short list, too.  I'm kind of spooky about fires, guess that was obvious from the LP gas post, wasn't it?  Tires...I forgot those....will be replacing them just as a precaution, since we don't really know how old they are.  At least they got us into my driveway, yay!!!!

This is a very thrilling experience for me, I have always wanted a camper of my own.  I can hardly wait to get practice setting it up and breaking it down, so we can hit the road.  What is that sound?????  Oh, it's Edisto Beach calling my name!!!  Roamin' Empire, it won't be long!

She has arrived!

She has officially arrived as of today, July 1, 2013.  The hookup and pull from the owners to my house went without a glitch.  She is now insured, titled, and tagged and sitting in my driveway.  We have pulled out the awnings and they seem to be intact.  Tires will be replaced later this month.  I had a wonderful time all afternoon running the a/c, listening to the radio on the four speakers and pulling everything out of the cabinets and drawers and making a list of what we have.  Seems to be everything imaginable, and probably lots more cooking utensils than I am going to be willing to use when camping!!  There are some really nice but disgusting ORANGE towels that I am sure the former owners may want to keep since they are Clemson fans and I just know they would blister my skin if I dried with them, hahahahaha!!!  Seriously though, everything is there, even electric blankets, a fly swatter and umbrella.  I just know we are going to have the time of our lives kicking back and enjoying the camping life.  Thanks, Chuck and Betty.....you have made this old retired gal really happy!!!

"Bother me tomorrow, today, I'll buy no sorrows...doo, doo, doo,  Lookin' out my back door"