NOTE: This chapter has an accompanying photo posted on Tumblr, under the user name kindly-whisper-tolkien and the tag fleetwood.

June 30

I really should stop tempting fate.

Of course, we got lost on the way to the Virginia campground! Even with the help of the GPS (why do we even rely on that thing anymore?), we ended up on a dead-end road on some skinny forested peninsula in the middle of nowhere. So, what could we do? We got hold of the campground people, and they said that we're not the only ones to have had that problem - that the town name as given on the website doesn't "agree" with some GPS devices, and that we have to put in the name of the next town over. Well, why didn't they tell us that before we got lost, if it happens so often?

But anyway, there we were, stuck at the woody end of a no-outlet roa; and so we actually had to back the trailer up for what felt like forever (thank goodness there were no other cars), because there were ditches on either side of the old cracking gray asphalt, and no room for a 35-foot trailer to make a big u-turn! We eventually ended up having to turn around on a golf course, and the owners weren't happy with us at all - but since we didn't actually do any damage to the place, they sent us off with a scowl instead of a bill!

So, with the new (proper) address put into the GPS, we did eventually make it to the campground (after sundown)! And after we got to our reserved spot, we all went into the trailer knowing that we'd have a bit of cleaning-up to do, since some things always get shifted around in travel; but this time we found quite a big mess indeed! I guess turning around on the golf course must have caused a bit of excessive jostling, so everything had fallen out of the cupboards, and off of the boys' beds, and from on top of the refrigerator!

Well, at least nothing broke! But unfortunately, the divider that separated the betta fish got moved out of place. I imagine that the battle between them was fierce - and Blue won, in the end. He now has the whole bowl to himself, and we had a little fish-funeral for Red in the dark last night. It was awkward, of course, but Frodo insisted that we do it right then and there! And then he scolded Blue for killing Red, but he told him that he still loves him.

And speaking of pets, the cat was not at all happy to see me when we got to the camp. Perhaps it is because he considers his "imprisonment" in the back bedroom to be entirely my fault (or perhaps he just wanted the fish and was mad that we buried it) - but when I sat down for a bit and tried to relax after we managed to get the freezer out of the trailer and hooked up the water and power and such, he started clawing the back of my head. Thorin detached him from me, but Rolly still glared at me for a while after. Honestly, I don't know what that cat has against me!

Oh! This morning, though, we got a nice surprise! We couldn't see it in the dark last night, but it turns out that our camping spot is right near the water! We have a full view of the ocean (or perhaps it is a bay - I'll have to check the map out later to be sure), and despite the humidity there is actually a nice breeze coming off of it. There is no beach to speak of, though, and no trees to block out the sun (and, goodness, is that sun hot!).

And, well, there is no sewage hook up here. There is a "dump station", at least, where we can drive the trailer to every few days to empty out the tanks. It'll take some doing, but it won't be that much trouble; however, the boys are going to have to restrict themselves from letting too much water run into the "gray water" tank, so it doesn't flood the shower-stall tub again! We'll perhaps do the dishes in a bucket outside, so not to overfill the tank, and also save us from having to drive over to the dumping station more than necessary.

On the bright side, all the food in the freezer was still good and solid when we got here! Well, except for some chicken on the top; but that was at least quite cold, so I'll be grilling that up for dinner tonight!