Three years ago, I went on a wonderful tour of several of the State Parks in West Virginia. I was blessed with the opportunity to tow around a brand new 2020 rPod for the Annual Girl Camper Raffle. It was a fabulous trip filled with some of the most beautiful scenery you can find in the Mountain State. The fact that it was October and the Mountain Mama was dressed to the nines in her autumn finery made it all the more magical.

Taking a break for a s’more!

Friday night was the first night I’ve slept in the house in a month. Our little home on wheels has beckoned me to “camp” in our field under a canopy of stars…even when the temperatures hovered near freezing. The only time I can talk Mr. FixIt into sleeping in the camper with me is when we are actually…you know…CAMPING. At a campground. I don’t blame him. He has a bad back and the mattress in the camper is brutal. However, now he has no excuse!

Hi there, sweetheart…

I hope you’re getting settled into your new routine and you’re making lots of new friends. College is such an exciting time. Because it’s different. It’s a change…and sometimes change can be a little scary. I mean…here you are out there, doing your thing, learning, growing. But you need some stability. You need to know not EVERYTHING is changing. You want to come back home on the Winter Break and have everything just the way you left it because that’s your security blanket…your touchstone. I get it. I’ve been there.

Wow, was yesterday crazy busy! I’m trying to use up the food out in the camper…the lazy way. Rather than pack it all up, carry it inside, and put it all away…I’m bringing my sweetheart out to the camper every morning for a little dining “al fresco”. So far it’s been great! We’ve been eating up the croissant breakfast sandwiches and tea. We’re going to have to have bacon and blueberry pancakes soon. Maybe we’ll do that today for our anniversary! Four years…can you believe it???

We’re knocking out the chores here at Marshmallow Ranch. When I moved to Mr. FixIt’s place in November of 2017, there was a maple sapling in the flower bed in front of the kitchen window. It wasn’t very big…maybe an inch or a little more diameter. I kinda liked it because the birds would swoop in and then on the feeder. And in the fall, the leaves turned yellow…like aspen trees in Colorado.

Well, we crammed a whole summer’s worth of camping into the last month and now it’s time to pay the piper. I got up yesterday and started emptying the cabinets in the camper and making lists. I knew I needed to drive into town to run necessary errands, so I fixed us some breakfast out in the camper, since that’s where the breakfast food is still sitting in the refrigerator. We sat at the dinette and I started my list.

My bonus daughter called us last week and told us she started getting Netflix and can have up to four people on her account so she made us a profile. I have to tell you…I have not used Netflix since you had to order the DVD’s and they mailed them to you!!! That’s dating myself, for sure! So, we’re kinda late to the party and I’m not sure we’ve missed too much.

We need a new mattress in the camper! That is the first thing most people will change out when they get a camper. RV manufacturers will never give you a decent mattress. Not unless you’re buying a $500,000 mega rig and then you can’t be certain. I know…mattresses are a highly individual thing. Just ask Goldilocks. But, maybe if you could have a choice when you buy your camper…soft, medium, or firm…innerspring or memory foam…six inch or ten inch? That could make the whole camping experience much better from the get go.

Brrrrrrr….the high yesterday was only 52° and it was downright chilly. I put a roast in the slow cooker in the morning and let it simmer with onions, mushrooms, and beef bone broth till it was fork tender. We served it over noodles and it really hit the spot last night. We sat outside as much as we could in front of the propane heater but eventually we went inside because we were freezing. We brought our DVD set of the entire series of West Wing, so we sat in the dinette and watched that while I knitted. I got half of the last arm of the 3 year size sweater done yesterday. 

We had the place to ourselves till late afternoon.

Seriously…some days just leave you at a loss for words. Just when I think we’ve had THE best day camping of the year…another one comes along that knocks it out of the park. That was what we experienced yesterday. While the high temperature was only 68°, it was sunny for a large portion of the day. We sat in the screen room most of the day, admiring the trees…and chasing out the errant stink bug that still got in. The room doesn’t have a bottom. Parts of it sit right on the ground, even though I do put the camp mat out. And besides, we’re in the woods. There’s going to be critters!