Following Our Arrow: The Adventure Begins Here

The Adventure Begins!

We’ve been towing a trailer (“Faithful Sabre”) for almost 3 years now, and we have traded up for a Grand Design Solitude S-Class fifth wheel!  We’re excited to continue adventuring, exploring, and…let’s face it… glamping!  As all things get changed up, so, too, will our records of our adventures. I’ve been writing in a journal about each trip, collecting maps, etc.  Well, now we’re going to record in a blog because why not!?!  Here’s to our first adventure in our new (unnamed) camper!

Steve & me with our new baby!

Pulling out of the dealer, Camper’s Inn in Myrtle Beach, SC

May 26 - May 29, 2023:  Yogi’s Jellystone Camp Resort Golden Valley in Boston, NC

Site 615

This campground is situated in the foothills of the BEAUTIFUL Blue Ridge Mountains. We decided to come here to celebrate our oldest daughter, Kaety’s 13th birthday because it’s got a ton of things to do and see and we wanted to have something special for her big day.  Though it’s only about 4.5 hours from Charleston, which is home for us.  Unfortunately, leaving on the Friday of a holiday weekend and having to make a “pit stop” at Carowinds Theme Park to pick up our youngest daughter, Grace, meant that our trip turned into a 7 hour adventure!  We were SO READY to be there when we pulled in at 7pm!

Turns out, our site is a very new one through the back entrance of the park and was not labeled on the map they gave us at check in, so we drove in and went the wrong way.  After “touring” all the 400’s sites, we managed to make our way to the correct area.  We were located at the end of a cul-de-sac in a pretty private area.  SCORE! BUT…we did not bargain for how tight Steve would have to turn to back the 40’ camper into the site and he “jackknifed” the truck to the camper, then had to pull forward and in doing so, crashed out the back window of his truck and dented the cab. GULP.  To say he was angry is probably doing a disservice to the word, “angry.” 

After swallowing back his words of disdain, we were able to work together, along with another camper who helped us, and successfully backed the beast into the site.  Clearly we have things to learn about this new camper!

Setting up took a lot less time than unhooking a trailer, which was a bonus, but we couldn’t get the auto-leveling to work, so we weren’t 100% level - in fact, the bunkhouse door wouldn’t stay closed, so it was good we had installed a black out curtain before we left home!  (Spoiler alert…Steve was able to get us almost level the next day by adjusting the front feet …another lesson learned.) All in all, it was a rough start, but at least we were camping and with full hook ups to boot!

Grace needed to use the restroom immediately upon arrival and went up to use it vs. using the one in the bunkhouse.  Upon getting to the bathroom, she remarked disgustedly, “There’s no door!  … Well that’s great.” She’d never seen a pocket door before!  We all got a great laugh at that.

While we had planned to do “1000 things” that Jellystone offered, a Tropical Storm from the gulf thwarted many of our efforts.  While normally it is in the 70’s over Memorial Day, we were graced with 60 degree weather and colder nights.  The first day, Kaety’s 13th Birthday, the rains held off and we were able to explore in our golf cart we had rented for the weekend and do a few activities.  The golf cart (#71, which I was thrilled about, given that is my birth year!) was a spunky little cart with a speed code governing how fast we could go and how we could take the many hills throughout the park, which was a good thing.  Though they said only 4 people per cart, we were able to get all 5 of us (Steve, me, Auntie and the girls) easily onto the cart.  We toured the whole park and determined we really liked where we were site-wise because it was quiet and more private than the more “RV Park” feel of some of the other areas.  We did get in some playtime at the park, on the jump pillow, and hit up gem mining and mini golf, which was a lot of fun.  We signed up for laser tag, but the rains came in about 4 o’clock and put the kibash on those plans.

The birthday girl and her sister opening gifts

The birthday girl and Yogi!

Mini-golf:  One of Kaety’s favorites!

What a VIEW!!

Kaety’s birthday bouquet - picked at our campsite!

My beautiful girls

Grace and Kaety clowning around

Though it rained (and I mean BUCKETS and BUCKETS of rain) all the next day, we made the most of it with an in-camper “Kids on Stage” game and impromptu dance party.  AND, we still went out and “toured” the park with our golf cart and gem mined in the rain.  When the rains slowed late afternoon, Grace decided to brave the cold of the lake and go out on the really cool obstacle course on the lake.  She LOVED it.  Honestly, it was one of the features that most drew us to come to this park.  Unfortunately, it was far too cold for Kaety.  And the zip line was closed due to the rains, so we didn’t get to do that either.

Daredevil Grace jumping off the top

TRIUMPH!

When we stopped at the park store, the “Ranger Station,” to get our gems to mine, Steve decided to also get some new sewer hoses - we didn’t even think about the fact that with two toilets we were going to need some extendo hoses and a “Y” connector.  The lady at the checkout told Steve, “Based on your purchase, I hope your night get better.” At least she was trying to lighten the mood!  Little did we know that would portend issues the next day when we tried to drain the tanks.  

Of course the last day, the day we had to leave, dawned sunny and was going to be a warm and lovely day.  I realized first thing that the toilet in the bunkhouse was COMPLETELY full - you could see it all just sitting there, but when Steve went to dump the tank, nothing came out!  I ended up getting a stick and “poking” at the mess…it finally went down, but left a big clump of TP visible in the pipe.  I *think* it was a result of new tanks, dry tanks, and little girls who use far too much TP!  Regardless, we did get some out, were able to flush the tank, and vowed to pull the TP out when we got home with our “grabber”.  (Note:  We got home and went to “grab” the TP and it was gone!  The movement of the camper on the road and any sloshing around seemed to dislodge the clog.  YAY!)

Cindy, Yogi, Boo Boo & the girls…on our way to return #71 golf cart!

Oh…we will be back!

I had promised Grace we would go back to the lake obstacle course and she could spend some time in the morning on the course before we left, and I needed a break from the things that had broken, AND she helped clean and get things put away in the camper to prepare for leaving, so I took Grace to the course and Kaety came with us to “watch her sister.”  Kaety and I played chess, she rode the swings, and Grace climbed all over the course (she was the ONLY person on it that morning!).  An hour later, we headed back to the camper to finish our checklist of things to close up/put away and Auntie had already finished it!  YAY for printed out checklists and helpful sisters!

And we did accomplish one of the biggest tasks we had set out to achieve:  We named our camper!  Her name is “Geraldine Savannah” - Geraldine for Grand Design and because, we could not stop singing, “Geraldine, Geraldine, why you gotta be so mean? You bit Steve’s truck and that wasn’t keen…” (sung to Miranda Lambert’s “Geraldine” and Savannah because she’s a Solitude (and because Kaety kept saying that was her name…I mean this was her birthday trip, so she definitely gets some pull in the name!)

Our trek home was uneventful and a BEAUTIFUL drive.  I could spend all my time in the Blue Ridge!  The park was fun, but we didn’t get to do a lot of the things that we wanted…so we already booked to go back for Grace’s 12th birthday over Labor Day weekend.  We are going to take the spot next to us (614) because it’s even more private…and we will definitely know how to pull Geraldine into it next time!