West Trip 2012: Day 36

Hungry Mother State Park & surrounding areas

Weather: 78 day, 47 night

Once again, God showed himself as Lord over our trip this morning. Everyone slept in this morning-the latest yet-till 9:00! We had a leisurely breakfast (muffins) and coffee. Bay came to breakfast and said that he had it figured out-we would stay another night at the campground, and then leave tomorrow to go home. Keep in mind that we were scheduled to pack out today-our campsite had already been booked for the weekend by someone else. We asked Bay if God had spoken to him last night about these plans, because, God hadn't answered us yet about staying another night. We knew we would like to stay, but were okay with leaving too if that was the plan. So, we decided to go ahead and call down to the camp office to find out if there were any cancellations, and there was- one. They asked us to come down to the office and reserve it right away. I hopped in the car and drove down to pay for tonight, and after checking to make sure that we could stay on the same site and not move, we were so excited to be able to extend our trip just one more day! What a great confirmation that it was good for us to be here a little longer J

Eventually the kids got dressed and we all went out and took a walk from our campsite around the lake and over to the playground. I’m not sure how far the walk was, but it wasn't too much, just nice weather, fall leaves and hanging out. Back at the campsite, the kids wanted to change into their water shoes and play in the creek next to our site. Dennis and I sat on our chairs and watched them as they played. They had a blast-moving rocks and dirt to get the water flowing where they wanted it to go. They tried to build dams, create faster moving rapids, and even caught a crayfish That was a funny adventure just in itself! Bay ended up being the brave one who finally caught it, but as soon as it was on his hands, he freaked out and dropped it. Eventually they got a little container and coaxed it in so they could observe the poor little critter for a little before putting him back in his home.

Dennis had gotten in touch with a friend of his, Marchelo, whom he worked with years ago at Sprint. Marchelo and his wife now live in Johnson City, TN, and were available to get together for a little visit tonight after they got off work. We made plans for the afternoon and into the evening, got everyone changed into dry clothes, and headed out.

Our first stop was right here in the town of Marion, at a lunch place called Macado’s. It is one of those sandwich shops where all of the sandwiches are named after famous people, like the Babe Ruth, or the Mona Lisa. Because it was around 2:00 by the time we made it to lunch, we had the dining room all to ourselves-it was kind of nice. We ate half our lunches and put the rest in our cooler to take back to the RV for lunches tomorrow. Then we headed to the nearby historic town of Abingdon, Virginia. Dennis and I (with baby Eric) visited here many years ago when Dennis had travel for work. This is the home of a famous theater, the Barter Theater. I’m not so into those types of things, but I know the town is famous and historic for it. Anyways, we were planning on taking the kids to a movie at some point, and so today seemed to be the day. We went to the local Cineplex to see Hotel Transylvania in 3D. The kids loved it so that made it a hit! After the movie, we had fun in the lobby with the funny mirrors-looking at ourselves with long torsos and short legs and giggling over our disproportionate bodies! Silly fun.

Then we drove somewhere and parked so that I could update the blog on the computer. The town of Abingdon has free wi-fi anywhere in the town. By that time Dennis had talked to his friend, Marchelo, and we decided it would be easiest just to drive down to their house and meet them for pizza. It was a little bit of a drive, but that was okay for us. We got to their house and visited for a little bit with them and their 2 dogs and turtle. We haven’t seen them for about 10 years-so we had lots to catch up on! Then we followed them to a local pizza place (I don’t even know what it was called!) and had dinner together. By this time it was pretty late- but the kids didn't seem to mind. It was a good thing that we had all slept in and started our day late, because it was shaping up to be a late night! By the time we got out of dinner, it was 10:00, and we had a 1 ½ hour drive back to the campsite. We said our goodbyes and drove back where everyone pretty much crashed (Bay and Leah fell asleep in the car on the way).

Eric mentioned on the way back tonight how this has been such fun trip-the whole thing. I think we all echo his sentiments. Leah is probably the most anxious to get home, she missed the animals. However I think honestly, none of us are really ready to go back home. We know it’s over, and life must go on as soon as we get home, but we are happy to stretch out the vacation as long as we can. This last stop at Hungry Mother has been a good one-we have ended on a happy note. The campsite is our favorite from the trip, and the past week has been one good visit with friends after another. The trip as a whole has been so good for all of us. I am working on some summary pages that I will post over the next few days-hopefully I can get them all written before we get home and get too busy with everything that must happen then.