Damn Fine Camping

One of the most difficult things for us is the waiting time in between trips in Scoopy. We count the days, literally. So this weekend, when we had a last minute opportunity to meet up with Debbie and Rod Kendall, we jumped at the chance, even though the timing wasn’t ideal.

By ideal, I mean when both Steven and I are off work and able to enjoy the weekend. That just could not happen this weekend, but we made the best of it anyway.

Rob & Deb were parked at the Puyallup Fairgrounds through the weekend, and as it happens, that is just seven miles from Scoopy’s storage facility. Talk about “meant to be”! To pull this off, I had to drive to the storage facility after work on Friday, move Scoopy to the fairgrounds, and set up all by myself. And by that, I mean without Steven. I wasn’t really by myself because Rod and Deb were standing by to help. And help they did!

When I arrived at the storage facility, I moved all the food and things I brought with me into Scoopy. By this time I was feeling somewhat confident that I could really do this. But the one thing that made me nervous is that I didn’t know exactly where the campground was located. I had been to the fairgrounds many times, but I did not recall seeing any campground. I was missing my navigator.

So, with one quick call, Rod & Deb were on their way. By the time they arrived, I had pulled Scoopy out of her storage bay and was waiting at the front gate. Deb was very brave, and she hopped right into Steven’s seat as Rod took off back to the campground. Once we got turned around in the right direction, Deb and I were off to the fairgrounds!

We arrived in a flash, and before long, Deb was outside giving me her own special brand of hand-signals, which included lots of twirling of fingers. And yet, I understood exactly what she wanted me to do, and we got Scoopy backed into her spot.

I went out to see about hooking up electric and water, and before I had to try and figure it out, Rod showed up to help. YAY, Rod! He had Scoopy hooked up in no time.

Once the inside was all done, it was time for Happy Hour. Following that, we had a fabulous dinner and lots of laughs. We have spent time with Rod and Deb on a couple of occasions, and we’ve always had lots of fun. It was good to catch up and spend an evening gossiping and giggling.

By 8:30 p.m. I was done. After weeks of early rising and late nights, I was ready to crawl into my fabulous bed and go to sleep.

A few weeks ago, Steven and I had purchased a “Bed-In-A-Box” and had taken it out to unleash it onto the platform in Scoopy’s bedroom. It is the most comfortable bed ever.

Once back in my own rig, I turned the A/C down to “freeze”, closed all the shades and crawled into my cave bed. I was in heaven. It was a full 12 hours later before I crawled out to have some coffee. I hadn’t felt this rested in a very long time.On Saturday Deb and I had plans to go to the Puyallup Farmer’s Market at 11:00am. Deb had her shopping all scoped out, but I had to look around and poke on the tomatoes. In the end, we purchased loads of fresh veggies for dinner, to go with the Damn Fine Chicken Deb was planning.

Damn Fine Chicken. No, really. That’s the name of the recipe. Damn Fine Chicken. Google it, because it is Damn Fine Chicken.

Steven made a beeline for Puyallup once he was off work, and he arrived around 6:00 p.m., just in time for a late Happy Hour. The four of us, joined by Deb’s brother Donnie, enjoyed some Damn Fine Chicken. Yeah, I just like saying that, but it really is Damn Fine. I wish I had a picture to show you, but we scarfed it up too fast.

Steven was incredibly bummed that he had a such a short time to visit and be in Scoopy, but on Sunday morning, when I looked at the check-out time, we realized it wasn’t until 5:00 p.m. What campground has a check out time of 5:00 p.m.??? This one, that’s who! YAY! We got to spend more time loafing around in Scoopy, enjoying our stay. We didn’t pull out until 2:00 p.m., and our trip to return Scoopy to storage was uneventful and successful. That is our favorite kind of trip.

And I must say that on this occasion, I did my very best job of parking Scoopy in her storage spot. I think I’ve finally gotten the hang of it. Of course, I can do this because no one is parked behind her. The day will come when someone takes that spot and then it’s a whole new ballgame!

Usually we would be incredibly bummed after dropping Scoopy off, but since we will return to liberate her on Thursday, we were less bummed. On Thursday, we will take her to the Snoqualmie River Campground for one night, then head off to Leavenworth for another three nights. We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.

UP NEXT: Unlevel and cracked!

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