August 19, 2020 (by Angela)
Getting home from Arizona in March was interesting due to the thing that my husband says we must not say its name, but I bet you can guess what thing that may be. Jim, Leroy, and I made it fine and with no issues. Our first stop in our general “home” area was Hidden Cove RV Park on Smith Lake in Northern Alabama; we ended up staying about 9 nights there while visiting my Dad and bonus Mom and having our scheduled medical appointment. Unfortunately, because of the thing that shall not be named, we didn’t get to have our annual RV maintenance and repair completed at Shelby’s nor did we get to keep Leroy’s vetting appointment.
Our next stop was at Texas T Campground, the closest RV park to our property in Tennessee. Here we visited with our youngest son and his family before setting our sights on Shawnee Forest Campground in Vienna, IL. We had promised the owners, Gary and Andrea Dahmer, that we’d be there by the end of March to Camp Host for them for Spring and again in the Fall. Jim, Leroy and I rolled into our lovely campsite on March 29th amid a lot of uncertainty related to the thing that shall not be named.
It all worked out. Because Shawnee Forest Campground (SFC) is a full hook-up campground, the owners were able to close bathrooms and limit stays to self-contained units. Since less than 1/2 mile from a major Interstate and they had both full-time RVs as well as essential works in the campground, it earned the designation of an essential campground/business and was allowed to remain open.
The very next day after our arrival back at SFC, it got extremely busy and it did not slow down until after the 4th of July. Thankfully, the owners got us some help after Memorial Day, which allowed us (me) to take a breath. We’d not intended to stay June, July, or August, but with the campground so busy and with the uncertainty of the thing that shall not be named, we agreed to stay to help in June and August, but we said we needed to go find cooler weather in July. That was agreeable to all, and it is what Jim, Leroy, and I did. The owner said things slowed down after the 4th of July, but on my (Angela) first day back hosting, it got crazy busy again! It’s a good thing I really enjoy this camp hosting gig. Then again, the owners at SFC are amazing folks and good friends!
Next time, we’ll talk about our trip to cooler weather in July. š
Home On The Roam 