Bev's Journal Continues |
| 9 June 2002 Cumberland Lodge Motel Jamestown KY Well, yesterday was another one of the marathons we’re becoming famous (or infamous) for. We broke camp relatively quickly yesterday and were on the road by 1 pm!?? Now, to the seasoned RVer, this will sound pathetic, since by that time, most of them appear to have reached their destination for the day, and are already set up and taking a brisk walk through the woods before returning to play horseshoes and shuffleboard. We did not make it to Bowling Green, but we did make it most of the way, in spite of the usual misadventures, missed turns and turnarounds. Turning this beast around is no small matter for the insufficiently experienced, and it’s impossible on a twisty mountain road with no shoulder, so often one must drive for several miles to find a place big enough to turn around. Then the real fun begins. I get out and attempt to guide John in backing the trailer and turning it around. This process has been known to be a factor in divorce cases. Gee, what else happened—we nearly creamed an old lady who unexpectedly braked for a yellow light at an intersection. She had no idea what was behind her, and that it takes a lot longer to brake this beast than her little car. Luckily for all concerned, John swerved to the right and we landed between her car and a telephone pole. We waved her on when the light changed and just sat leaning over the steering wheel for a while till our hearts slowed down. We found a promising campground to stop for the night, and headed for Cumberland State Resort Park. Be warned, if you go there in an RV, there is really only one small section in the campground large enough to accommodate most RVs; the rest of the campground sites are situated around narrow roads with hairpin turnarounds. After two circuits of the campground looking for a spot, one backout, and one nearly impossible turnaround, we were, shall we say, frustrated, tired, dirty, hungry and ready to scream. But our adventures for the day were not yet over. We thought we had seen a WalMart in Jamestown; it turned out to be a Kmart, and they had no objections to our parking in the lot. However, they warned us that they closed at 10 pm, the lights went out at midnight, and that ravaging teenagers were known to frequent the lot at night. Also, that the police might come knocking on our door in the middle of the night and tell us to move on. Well—onward! We were going to try to make it to Bowling Green after all (we could have been there by this time!), but wiser counsels prevailed and we stopped for the night at a motel and parked in their lot. At first, a troop of skateboarding kids promised to make staying in the trailer a noisy experience, but they didn’t persist long, and they eventually went home. We elected to stay in the trailer because we didn’t want to leave the cats alone (nuts, right?) which meant that we were running on the battery. This means none of the AC appliances work – TV, microwave, coffeemaker, etc. The fans and lights are 12 volt and run off the battery; the stove and frig run on propane, so we can go self-contained with a minimal loss of convenience. We dropped into bed dead tired. |
DAY FROM HELL |
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