Welcome to Ohio!
We have been “settled in” at Camp Chautauqua, Ohio for a few days now. By settled in, I mean, we may never get our camper out of the mud! Ha! Thankfully, they have important equipment like Bobcats around here to pull us out if necessary!
I have discovered why this part of the country is lush and green, and has the most incredible trees, grass, and flowers! It RAINS. All. The. Time. My Texas tan is fading fast! 🙂
It is truly beautiful though.
In my last blog, I mentioned about our truck issues. I am happy to report that our drive shaft is now replaced and is in working order. We finally got to continue on our trip and made it to Kentucky on May 3rd…not as far as we planned, but Kentucky nonetheless! As it turns out, the new driveshaft was faulty and a piece of it disintegrated after about 50 miles. Of course…only us! LOL!
A big thank you to Campbell Chevrolet of Bowling Green, KY for getting us in and back on track so quickly. Thankfully, once again, we got “stranded” at the awesome Bowling Green KOA Campground. Notice I put the word stranded in quotes. While we definitely couldn’t move anywhere, the dealership provided us with a vehicle. We were taken care of, the KOA got us in, and we got a good laugh out of the photos we took with said vehicle.
We paid quite a bit more than we normally pay for state parks at the KOA, but we had just boondocked for free the last 5 nights, so it all worked out. It was a great park with huge sites. It really was the perfect place to crash for a couple of nights.
One thing that comes along with this lifestyle is the understanding that you have to be really flexible sometimes. I posted this statement on our Facebook page that evening after reflecting on the week we had experienced. “I love that no matter where we park each night, whether planned or not, I am at home. I sleep in my bed. I love on my kids. I hang out with my hubby. I play fetch with Tipper. I am blessed. It’s been a crazy week with our truck issues, but I wouldn’t trade our life full of adventures for anything! Things can be fixed. Time with my little family is irreplaceable!”
That pretty much sums up why I love this life. Unexpected things happen. They happen whether you live in a 5th Wheel or if you live in bricks and sticks. But, at the end of the day, it’s all about who is around you and your attitude. I treasure the time I get to spend with my little family, wherever that may be!
On May 5th, we finally made it to our destination, Camp Chautauqua, Ohio. It’s been great catching up with some old friends. It really amazes me how God can bring people unexpectedly back into your life after a period of time. We are a long way from “home”, but we have friends right next to us.
We are still trying to find our place here. Paul has a couple of local jobs he’s following up on for audio/video installations, while trying to balance the work we already had. The kids have been getting back into a school day routine, and I’ve taken on a few more “running of the business” responsibilities. It’s been nice to be in one place for a while after moving so regularly. It really is beautiful here. We’ve enjoyed driving around the area and looking at the scenery, and the old homes and buildings. It’s not a state park though. I’ve missed the hiking and exploring, but the weather hasn’t really been conducive to that anyway. Soon, very soon! There are plenty of places to explore!
In the meantime, Paul installed our new American flag contraption on the back ladder with a solar-powered light to shine on it at night. (YouTube Video coming soon.) Now, if it will just stop raining so we can display it! Ha!
There is definitely a lot to do and see around here though, and we will be exploring very soon! The weather is supposed to be pretty nice on Friday of this week, so now we just have to choose which cool thing we want to do first! Stay tuned!
Our Moving House 