Watching paint dry

Howdy, Campers!

Well... it's night three here at Lake Lanier. Let me recap the day:

1. Got up before the sun (as usual)
2. Drank coffee which was good (as usual)
3. Did out reading and chatting while the sun came up (as usual)
4. Made breakfast, walked the dogs, got cleaned up for the day (as usual)
5. Looked at each other and said "what now" (usually we say "let's go!")
6. Went to lunch at a nice, highly reviewed Asian restaurant nearby which lived up to its billing
7. Explored nearby Alphareta, GA, did some shopping, went to Whole Foods to reprovision for the next few days (so you know we were back in civilization if there was a Whole Foods there).
8. Went back to the trailer
9. Fed and walked the dogs including wandering around and looking for photo ops (there really were none... this is a very nice place to hang out but it is not photogenic)
10. Ate dinner and dessert (scratch made raspberry crepe's!) and settled into evening TV and reading

So... what's wrong with this picture and what did we learn today?

Well... we realized that civilization is not civilized. Have you been to a Whole Foods recently? The activity in the aisles resembles a blend of the police academy training day on creating effective roadblocks, the bumper cars ride from the amusement park and the TV game show "supermarket sweep". I think I'd rather have root canal or drive the trailer (which is 8'6" wide) back through Atlanta on I75/85 (where the lanes are 9'0" wide) at rush hour. Lesson #1: When you live and travel in low population density areas, the return to high density is a shock to the system.

Lesson next: It's nice to slow down and spend three days in one place, and this is a very nice place, but we are ready to see America. Parking the rig at a campsite is a chance to see Americans. America and Americans are not the same. We are ready to shift focus.

That comes to the deeper realization and that is we are travelers more than campers. I know this will sound campy and hackneyed, but for us it really is about the journey, not the destination. It's about seeing new places, interacting with the people and the places we encounter then moving on for the next encounter. The "camping people" we meet probably recognize that about us. Many of them move into a campsite as if the setup is permanent. There are people with outdoor lighting, post lamps with their name on a hanging sign which they place by the road, screened rooms up to 12' x 12', dining furniture they bring with them (I guess the picnic tables are not up to their demands for seating and eating?), outdoor showers (they look like a "tent phone booth"... 3'x3' base and 7'; tall. Those people are CAMPERS. We on the other hand may... but only may... pull two folding chairs from the locker on the side of the Airstream if the bugs are minimal and the campsite has someplace worth sitting. If we are really committed to the place we unfurl the awning that is mounted to the side of the trailer.  That setup takes up to 3 minutes... unfurling it shows a degree of commitment that we don't usually make to a campsite! But each of those steps has to be undone prior to departure and when departure time comes we really don't want anything to slow us down. We're travelers, not campers.

So, tomorrow we get back to doing our thing. The day is sure to start with coffee and reading and dog care then we will pack up (10 minutes) stop on the way out of the campground to lighten the load on the trailer and head northeast into North Carolina. The trip tomorrow starts the mountain segment of this adventure. We'll probably stop to check out Tallulah George State Park, GA where the Tallulah river has carved a gorge 1,000' deep. The tightrope walker Karl Wallenda performed a crossing there in 1970 and his great grandson Nik was scheduled to repeat his feat this summer. Then we'll head into NC with a stop in Franklin where Mrs. C's late father had a cabin for many years. Then on to Smokemont Campground which is a Federal facility inside the Smokey Mountains National Park. I'm sensing you'll see pictures in the next post.

It's been a nice three days here on Lake Lanier, but the next campground is calling and I think I can hear the next few after that, too. We will camp in a different state each night this week (NC, TN, WV, PA) before we reach Buffalo on Friday and settle in for a weekend visiting old friends and connecting with our past.

Until tomorrow (which is is a rustic campground... no water and no electric... maybe no internet!). If I don't post anything tomorrow expect a double dose on Tuesday!

Later...

SC