A Crazy Couple of Days

There is no photo today, unless you want to picture us frustrated and irritated. Denny and I had left our campground in New Jersey three days early to avoid the hurricane, settling in at a campground in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Ron and Nancy also moved to the same campground and we went out to dinner at a local Amish buffet, stuffing ourselves and spending a good evening chatting. The next morning we ran into each other again at a farmer's market, Denny and I returning from a shopping trip and Ron and Nancy just starting out on one.

Around 1:30PM there was a knock on our door which turned out to be a campground employee notifying us that a decision had been made to close the campground due to the upcoming hurricane. They were closing the campground at 4PM, turning off the electrical power at that time. "Are you going to leave?", he asked. Well yeah, because we have no generator to create our own electricity! Denny went outside to start taking down our satellite dishes and put things away while I scurried to find a campground. I made arrangements at one campground about 200 miles away and then I called Nancy because I didn't see their car at their campsite and I wanted to warn her that they needed to pack up and leave. When Nancy answered I could tell that something was wrong; it turns out she was at the hospital with Ron who had exhibited signs of a heart attack and so he was being checked out. I hated to add to her worries, but told her about the campground closing. I explained that she could stay at the campground since their rig has a generator and leaving wasn't mandatory, so she didn't need to worry about that immediately since she had greater concerns with Ron.

Denny and I finished packing up and headed out. We got about two four miles from our campground when it hit me that the campground I had called to make reservations at was the one where we had blown our transmission out about four years ago due to the steep interior roads. Crap!!! Thank goodness for smart phones, as I have a campground directory app and was able to locate a campground in Gettysburg that was staying open and had spaces available, so we went there instead. It is a lot closer so we arrived before the rains became too heavy, plus it will be easier to return to Lancaster to finish out our stay over the Labor Day weekend if that campground reopens in time (most campgrounds are already booked for the holiday.)

Right now I'm listening to limbs falling on our roof because this campground has a lot more trees than our last one. I'm crossing my fingers that later today we'll avoid damage when the winds are really supposed to pick up. Hurricane Irene has lost power but there's still a lot of rain and wind left in her today before she moves on to the upper East Coast. Today we'll hunker down, hoping to hear some good news from Ron and Nancy. Right now our concern is more with them.

Next in the path are friends Brooke and Bob up in Maine. Sometimes living in a tin can on wheels isn't all that much fun.