Camping Along the Shore at Jordan Lake – Apex, NC

We had the most beautiful drive through red wolf and bear habitat. Past marshy canals that house all manner of turtles and and waterfowl and alligators. We were surrounded by fields of cotton ripe for the picking…soybeans and peanuts with their yellowed foliage withered and dry. Carolina barbecue was advertised on hand painted signs along the two lane blacktop. I can promise you…those with the hand painted signs were the best in their county!

Crepe Myrtle Blooming at the Visitor’s Center on Manteo

The sky was mostly overcast but we left the rain and the gusty winds at the beach. The sound and the inland waterways were brown and choppy. The further west we drove, the calmer the winds and water till we were tooling along easily without being buffeted from side to side. We didn’t take the time to cook breakfast before we left our campsite because we were sure there would be a huge line at the dump station. But, lo and behold, when we got there, it was totally empty…even though several big campers pulled out ahead of us. In no time we had the dirty deed done and moved on down the road.

A Big, Beautiful Campsite with Water and Electric

As we came off the first bridge and arrived in Manteo, I told Mr. FixIt we should really pull into the visitor’s center parking lot and make some ham and egg sandwiches rather than trying to navigate a fast food parking lot towing the camper. We found a parking spot, put the slide out enough that I could get into the “pantry”, aka bathtub, and get the bread and skillet. That bathtub is a convenient place to stow the things that I used to store in the dinette benches. I quickly cooked up a batch of scrambled eggs and heated up the ham slices to melt the cheese. It was better than any quick breakfast food you could get at the arches…and much cheaper, too!

We only drove about four and a half hours yesterday. Which was long enough considering how little we slept the night before. The wind rocked the camper all night, howling and whistling around every corner. I just got to sleep when I heard a loud bang. I looked all around and couldn’t figure out what it was. Again I drifted off and Mr. FixIt forgot to turn the sound down on his phone and he got a notification. I about jumped through my skin! I crawled over him to grab the phone and turn it down, then promptly dropped it on the floor with a loud thump. Now I’m literally laying across him, feeling around on the floor till I made purchase with the phone and hauled it back up by the charge cord. That’s when I looked at the window and saw what had made the crash earlier. 

You can see the other loop from our campsite.

Egress windows in a camper are hinged along the top and swing out so you can crawl through if you need to escape quickly. They have a long handle that can prop the window open for ventilation. But, a big gust of wind can lift it up, pull the handle through the slot in fits through, and then it falls down straight on the outside of the camper. That leaves it free to bang the side of the camper with ever gust of wind…which I’m SURE pleased the people sleeping in the tent right beside us. Oh, who am I kidding…they didn’t get a wink of sleep all night, unlike the folks on the other side. She works in an elementary school cafeteria and drives a school bus. She could sleep though an a-bomb. They were up bright and early, chipper as could be!

We stopped at Harris Teeter just before we got to the campground. We’ve eaten a lot of eggs the last week and needed to get more. We also needed ice. Even though we have a small refrigerator in the camper, it’s not really big enough to hold much. So we supplement with the cooler. We got to the campground and I was surprised there was still someone manning the gate. We found our campsite and backed in with no problems. However, when I plugged in the camper, my surge protector indicated the post was wired with reverse polarity. We pulled out to go see if we could move to a different site when Mr. FixIt suggested I test another site to see if it was also reverse polarity and it was. So the whole campground was probably affected.

The closest we got to a sunset.

You are taking a risk when you plug in like that, but when I had Big TowWanda at The Farm, the house was wired the same way and it didn’t hurt the camper. We were so tired, and it was for just the one night so we took the risk and stayed in that site. I went to bed with a prayer that Grace will be ok in spite of my choice.

Our campsite is directly across the road from the lake. I can imagine in warmer weather, the mosquitoes probably take you back to the nest to share with their buddies. Out of an abundance of caution, I sprayed myself up with insect repellent and Mr. FixIt and I took a walk down to the water’s edge. We are in a beautiful forest of tall trees with very little in the way of groundcover and underbrush. Jordan Lake is a huge freshwater lake outside the Raleigh-Durham area with three big campgrounds. If it hadn’t been so cloudy, I’m sure we would have had a beautiful sunset.

Day is Done

Today we head off to a Virginia State Park for the last two nights of our wonderful trip. I honestly think this has been our best vacation to the beach since we’ve been together. We had so much fun together! We’ll be in the mountains tonight so I have no idea if we’ll have cell service, so if you don’t hear from me for a couple of days, don’t be alarmed. 

Happy Monday!

🍁

“For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.”

Psalm 50:10 ESV