I have vacillated back and forth whether to sell Big TOW-Wanda or not and finally decided to go for it. It’s time. She’s just too big to tow with this truck and we are far less likely to up and take off camping with this big trailer. I’ve had her for six years. She has been with me almost since the beginning of this journey. She sheltered me from the winter winds when I lived on that bluff overlooking the Ohio River. She’s been all over the country. But it’s time to let her go to someone who can use her more and a joy the heck out of her. I had to wait till I was ready to let her go…and the time has come. Time to move on.

I spent a good part of the day emptying her out. It is absolutely unbelievable how much junk you cram into a camper and pay for the gas to haul it around. I don’t need and didn’t use half of what was in there. I am trying to be ruthless in purging the contents. Some will go to the camping kids. Some I’ll keep. And some was just plain trash. It feels really good to be leaning out a space in my life. Now there’s room for something else…a smaller camper that’s easier to pull so we can have grand adventures. 

I think the tipping point came when I started making plans for our second anniversary trip. We go every spring to our time share on the Outer Banks, but Covid knocked that out. We were fortunate they offered us a substitute week anytime in October, because our anniversary is October 13th. I like to take our time driving down, stay overnight, then arrive at checkout refreshed and ready to spend the afternoon and evening on the beach. 

We aren’t excited about staying in a hotel this year so we’ll be driving straight through. If we had a smaller camper, we could find a campground between here and there…or even a good Walmart or Cracker Barrel parking lot and sleep in our own bed and have our own kitchen and bathroom. That right there told me it was time to let TOW-Wanda go. I’m praying the perfect person comes to buy it and pays a good price so we can go out and buy what I hope will be our last camper.

By 3:00 in the afternoon, I was ready to run to town for errands. When we were done, we picked up carry out and sat along the river to eat. As I watched the sun setting over the water between Blennerhassett and Belpre, I mused how fitting it was that I’d be there the day I decided to let the camper go. This is the river I watched cover over with ice in February of 2015. This is the river that comforted me as I mourned the loss of Mr. Virgo. I was not lost on me the incredible blessings I had sitting beside me in that pickup truck as we quietly munched our sandwiches and contemplated the stark beauty of the Ohio River at sunset.

My sweetheart mentioned he would like to have some salsa from our tomatoes to take to the beach with us. He and I have VERY different tastes in salsa. He likes his with pineapple and no heat. I like mine hot enough to make your nose run but not so hot that your eyes water and you can’t taste anything for a couple of hours. I tease him and say his isn’t salsa…it’s tomato-pineapple jam. He teases and says he can clean the corrosion off the battery posts with mine. We aren’t far off either way. So, pineapple for his…jalapeños for mine. I also bought a poblano pepper because they were beautiful. I won’t have enough tomatoes…I’ll have to go buy some.

I slept in the camper last night…getting in my last days of camping for the year and preparing to say goodbye to my faithful companion. Girl campers get pretty serious about their relationships with their campers! I am so blessed to have such an understanding hubby that supports me in whatever I want to do. Such a good guy!

❤️

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.”

James 1:5-8 NIV