Top o' the morning Alabama

While the boys sang their way to Boston on the Church Choir trip, Will and I took a few days to adventure a little further with our tin can (aka- Airstream).


I came across a link for one of Alabama’s State Parks – Cheaha Mountain State Paork. The site boasted of a magnificent view, waterfalls and the highest spot in Alabama. I thought the name was interesting – we have a Cheehaw park here in our town, and while the spelling is diffent, Cheaha is pronounced the same.

Will agreed to the adventure, knowing I like hill and mountains and waterfalls. And I better not forget, he liked the challenge to see if the ol’ truck could handle pulling the MUCH older camper up the incline.

So our adventure started.



Day 1

First: Loading our furry four legged friend. She is not the easiest dog to travel with. Seems that if there is another car in site or a pedestrian, she seems to get all anxious. Paces and pants and whines and whimpers and sheds even more hair than she normally does 365 days a year.

Second aspect of the adventure: The steep incline and narrow way to the wooded retreat that awaited us.

My pictures just do not do it justice.

Third: Setting it up. Now that is usually pretty easy, except this campground was on top of a rocky mountain. And it is a state park. So REAL level parking pads were almost nonexistent. I wish I had snapped a picture of the stacked 2x4’s and rocks.

And that was it. All settled in. Well almost. A quick run to the closest town (20 miles) to pick up some groceries. And a chance to stay in air conditioning a little longer. Did I mention this was early June and we had maintained highs in the low 100’s at home? We turned on the air conditioner in the camper, locked Francie in the home away from home and set off to pick up some groceries to have a wonderful fire side dinner later.

It took longer on those winding up and down roads than we thought, so plans changed as we neared the campground, and realized it was still hot. This campground also had a restaurant. But first, we thought we should check out the over look before going back to camp. We missed the turn and had to drive the loop around campground again. Then we turned on the wrong road, and since it is all one way, we drove the loop again. Only 2.5 miles, but we sure felt silly.

We walked the wonderful boardwalk to an amazing site (gnats and still hot air aside)!

We drove back to the campsite to unload the groceries and head to dinner. As we parked and stepped out of the truck, the neighboring camper came over

“Just wanted to let you know, someone came by and said to tell you someone saw water running out your door, so the water has been turned off”

There are moments when reality just does not really register. This was one of those times. No reaction, it wasn’t really sinking in. We walked to the camper and rug outside the door was wet. We opened the door, to let Francie out – surprised she wasn’t soaked. Just one spot on her back – she had quickly found higher ground.

We had leveled the camper side to side, but front to back was off by a hair, the front being just a smidgen lower. And weren’t we glad. Apparently, there had been a surge in water pressure, while we were gone, and a hose under the sink had popped off. That slight slant to the front had kept the water in the front and running out the door. Never dreamed our first waterfall would be our camper! We laughed - another story in life to laugh about later. After Will repaired the water line and I was finished mopping up all the water (and deciding that was the cleanest the camper floor had been). We again set out for dinner. We parked and walked up to the door of the restaurant.

Locked.

????

It was 8:20. On Thursday’s the restaurant closes at 8:00.

Nothing that some cheese, crackers and a glass of wine could not cure…followed by a good night sleep.

Day 2 will just have to wait til another day.

Pin It