It was about an hour drive and the scenery was beautiful. Of course, all I wanted to do was get there, set up and roast hotdogs…

We get there about seven thirty or so and set up the tent and the screen porch. Before doing so, we each see if we have cell service and are tickled that we don’t! A true escape from reality!! We have a very nice campsite. Since this was the first time using both the tent and the screen porch, we were surprised at how easily they went up. I actually put the tent up by myself…everything but staking it down, but there’s a reason I didn’t do that and I’ll explain later.

Behind us were a group of what we originally thought were all German Baptists. As the weekend went on, we were trying to figure out their story. The woman and the girl definitely were, however, it didn’t appear that the men were. They didn’t have on the traditional garb, and by the time they left, Tim had come to the conclusion that the men kidnapped the woman and the girl to cook and clean for them on their trip, or that they bet with someone on the race last week and the winner got to take the women with them.

Up and to the right of us were Tyler and his family. We don’t know any of their names, other than Tyler’s and didn’t talk to them the whole weekend. We were there all of 20 minutes when I hear Tim say, “I already don’t like Tyler.” Tyler pretty much stayed in trouble the whole weekend. The only reason we knew his name is because he kept getting yelled at.

Tim gets out the air mattress, a Blue Light special from last year and plugs the pump into the outlet I have in the car. Well, the pump doesn’t work. Then he tells me that even if he could blow it up, there is no cap to hold the air in. We just kinda look at one another. I say, well, I’ll go to Wal-Mart and I’ll get another bed and a higher power outlet for the car. He says, “No need to go to all that trouble with the outlet, just get a hand pump. I guess the closest Wal-Mart is in Martinsville, it seems like an awfully long way to go.” Seeings how we have no bed, no sleeping bags and there are ROCKS under the tent, I see that a trip to Wal-Mart is the best thing that we can do.

By this time, it’s 8:30, and I’m starving. But, I know that I need to go to Wal-Mart, so I tell him to finish setting up camp, and I’ll be back as soon as I can. As I’m pulling out, he tells me that I need to get gas as soon as I can. Oh joy…

I stop at the guard’s station on the way out to get directions to the closest Wal-Mart. They just look at me like I have two heads. It’s an older married couple that run the front and she tells the husband to step out of the booth and tell me how to get to the Wal-Mart in Rocky Mount. He comes out and whispers to me, “I’d go to the one in Martinsville if I were you,” as if her hearing him tell me this would cause an argument. He tells me how to get there and asks me when I’ll be back. I ask how long will it take to get to Martinsville and he tells me about 20-25 minutes and then tells me that they lock the gate at 11. I tell him that if I’m not back by 11, there’s a major problem. So he leans in again and says, “If you get back after 11, just come knock on that first trailer and I’ll come up and let you in.”

So off I go…in search of a gas station and a Wal-Mart. I say a little prayer that I find the gas station soon, but I know I won’t find one until I hit the main road, and I know that the main road is at least 11 miles away. (When I say we were in the middle of nowhere, I mean it.)

Of course I get lost getting out to the main road. I wasn’t paying attention while Tim was driving in, and now it’s dark, so nothing even looks familiar. I see a group of trucks sitting on the side of the road and ask how to get back to 220. I wasn’t that far off. I didn’t really want to stop and ask for directions as I’m out after dark, by myself, and in foreign territory, however, I know that I’m on borrowed time. Sometimes I think I watch too much Law & Order.

I get to the main road and about 2 miles later I see a very run down gas station. Well, to be honest, I saw many of them in those 2 miles, however, most were missing the pumps. I see the little sign that says “Pay before pumping” and go inside. She states to me that they close at 9. It’s 9:04. I beg, “please, I’m not from around here and I’m just about out.” She replies, “Oh you’re fine, I was stating it to that guy back there so he’ll hurry up and get out of here.”

I get my gas, and I’m on my way. The sign states 12 miles to Martinsville. I’ve heard many things about Martinsville, although I’ve never been there really. Just drove through once on the way back from sales calls. I find the Martinsville exit that Pop told me to take and went through the main strip of Collinsville. It’s hopping on this particular Friday night and as Tim later tells me, it’s called “Dark Alley” and that’s pretty much all there is to do in Collinsville.

I finally reach Wal-Mart and I’m impressed from the outside. It’s big and well lit and upon entering, I’m even more surprised to find it clean. Knowing that this Wal-Mart will be laid out differently, I attempt to make my plan of attack. I have to be back by 11 and I know there’s no time for looking at the clearance racks. Tim sent me for additional items as well…charcoal, a jug of water, and batteries for the radio, as well as a hand pump. I pick out a new bed, one that comes with the pump and gather the other items on my list as well as some chips and soda for the road. As I’m perusing through Wal-Mart, I begin to see people walking through the store with no shoes on. Then I see other odd people, genetic mysteries included and shutter. I’ve NEVER in my life seen people walk through a store with no shoes on!

I quickly pay for my purchases, use the restroom (which was VERY clean) and be on my way. I was anxious to leave Martinsville and never return.

I head back, worried that I’ll miss the little road I need to turn on to get back to the campground, and suddenly, the “service engine soon light” appears. CRAP! Now, it does this from time to time, but really only when it rains heavily. And it hadn’t rained. I panic a little…only because if I were to break down here, although I have cell phone service, I know that Tim does not. I ask God to remove my fear and just get me back to the campground, which he does. I didn’t get lost getting back.

I roll up…STARVING…and Tim says, “I was wondering where you were.” I was gone almost 2 hours…but when I got back, there was a fire going and the tent was staked down and everything was finished. I roasted a hot dog while he pumped up the bed and by the time I was finished, it was almost 11 and I was ready for bed.

Of course, I’ve forgotten my pajamas…so I did have a pair of shorts and Tim gave me a sweatshirt to wear and it was cold…

That was Friday…

Saturday morning, I wake up with a shooting pain in my hip. I don’t know what time it is. I know that it’s early. I then realize that there is very little air in the mattress, and the reason that my hip hurts is because I’m pretty much sleeping on the ground. Great, I think. I decide to just get up and make some coffee. I have a little 4 cup coffee pot that we bring camping and plug into the car. I go and plug it in and NOTHING. Great. The closest store is miles away, and I have no coffee for Tim. I decide that I’ll go take a shower and I took the coffee pot with me.

The showers were nice, and since it was so early (7am) I was alone. There was one outlet in the shower side and a little bench there. I started the first pot of coffee, got in the shower and washed my hair. By the time I had done that, the coffee was done and I filled up Tim’s cup and started another pot for my own. I finished my shower, dried off, and lugged everything back to the car.

I roll up and Tim says, “Where’d you get coffee?” I told the truth…”the bathroom.” I was tickled with myself that I had come up with such a great plan B.

After breakfast, we ventured out a little bit. Mom and Pop at the guard station said there was a little store not far from the campground that sold fishing licenses. So we headed there, but stopped at a little hole in the wall, Philpott Bait and Tackle. We there found a coffee pot that you could put on the camp stove. It was $8. He didn’t take credit cards. We scrounged around and had $11 between us. We paid for our coffee pot (used of course) and headed to the next little store where we would obtain 2005 fishing licenses, ice, and bait.

Yes, I now am licensed to fish for the rest of this year in the state of Virginia. I’ve never had a fishing license, but I do now.

Back to the campsite and Tim takes Rhoda down to the lake. She’s never been in sand before and is funny for the first few minutes. I clean up around the site and I notice this little packet with 2 straws and a tube of something. At first, I think it’s those bubbles that you can blow on the straws but then I see that there is a cap of some sort in there. When Tim gets back, I ask him what it is…he just grins…”that’s the cap to the first air mattress. I guess I just saw the patching kit and not the cap and threw it in the box.” I look at him…I glare at him…”I had to go to the depths of Martinsville last night where people wear no shoes and we had the cap here the whole time?????”

“Well, we needed a pump anyway…” he says…to which I say, “I could’ve figured out another way to blow up the bed. I could’ve taken it to the bathroom, just like I did the coffee.” Now, I wasn’t mad…just ironic, that’s all…and another humorous story to add to our trip.

We ate some lunch, where I realized in preparing it, that we have no knives or forks…just spoons. I remember looking in the camping box while packing it and seeing a box of utensils, just didn’t realize they were only spoons. I start making a store list. T-bones would be a little difficult to eat with spoons.

We head down to the lake to fish. I haven’t been fishing in YEARS and Tim loves it. He gets me all set up and I find the little spot where they are biting. It’s right here where my bobber is…

Tim takes my rod and catches the first fish of the weekend…

So since he’s found my spot, I decide to find a new one. I found a log that I could get up on and be closer to the water and not the shallow part…

Yes, I fell in. I’ll admit it now. Luckily, I had rolled my jeans up before I slipped so really only my shoes got wet. But Tim had a good laugh over it.

But I finally caught a fish…I know I was getting on Tim’s nerves. The fish kept taking my worm and he kept having to rebait my hook, and I believe at one point in time I whined. “This just isn’t fun and relaxing. I keep throwing it out and reeling it in with nothing…it much like playing the slot machines.”

Rhoda, of course, is bored with all of this…

But she was a very good dog all weekend. We let her off her leash most of the time, and she never ran off…just growled at every other dog walking by.

We get back and read for a little bit and then go in to take a nap. By this time, Tim’s inflated the original mattress with the new mattress on top. I can’t tell you the last time I’ve taken a nap. It was so nice. We got up about 6 and I headed to the store and when I got back, Tim had the steaks on the grill and a nice fire going. He made garlic toast and the best steaks, but then again, his meals on the grill are always wonderful.

After dinner, we picked up our books again, and didn’t put them down until 11 when we took the lantern in the tent and read some more. The bed was interesting again, as it had lost some more air and it was much like a cross between a waterbed and a moonwalk. If one of us moved, the other one had to hold on. We just laughed. At that point in time, it was all we could do.

Up Sunday morning by 8, and we’ve got the new coffee pot in the stove.

While we’re waiting for it to perk, and while shoveling poptarts in our mouths, we’ve got our nose in our books. We were both so close to being done. We finished our books and commented on how geeky we were. Now, I’ve been known to read a book in a day, however, I think Tim set a new record for himself.

We decided to head to Ferrum College to fish in their lake, so I made a picnic lunch and we loaded up the car. Tim’s new job is working at Ferrum so I had the pleasure to see what he’s working on…and I took pictures of course.

After the job tour, we headed over to the lake to fish.

After calling it a day for fishing, we went in search of Fairy Stone park to have lunch. An hour later, we found it, however, since it’s a state park, you have to pay $4 to park and since we used all our cash on the new coffee pot, we drove back a bit and found some picnic tables and had our lunch.

We got back to the site and played cards for a bit and munched. I think all we did on Sunday was eat! We then took Rhoda back down to the lake. It was all about her and we attempted to tell her that as a Labrodor Retriever that she should retrieve things, but she just didn’t get it. We’d throw the stick and most times she didn’t even go after it, but when she did, she wouldn’t pick it up and bring it back.

Back to the campsite…the German Baptists were gone, and Tyler was gone…it was just us. I started to read the book that Tim had just finished. We listened to the race. We started a fire and at about 8 decided that we were hungry. We skipped the chicken that I had brought and decided to roast hot dogs and make s’mores. I finished the book about 10.

We talked alot about how we didn’t want to come home and that despite all the mishaps, we had a good weekend. We figured out that it would cost us $105 a week to stay there, and that we could make bulk trips to Wal-Mart (in Rocky Mount…there would be no more trips to Martinsville…) It was a nice dream…but…

Reality came Monday morning. We slept the latest that we had all weekend, getting up at 9:30. Tim put the coffee on (we had to leave anyway, we used the last of the creamer) and we started getting packed up. Deflating the air mattress wasn’t difficult…ha ha…

We were all packed up by about 11:30…

We were home by 12:30. We had a great weekend, and one that we really needed. I came home to laundry and 153 emails. But I can’t wait to do it again!

Here are some other pictures from our trip…

Thanks for sticking this one out…

Until next time…