Friday, July 26

Camping trip, day one:

Up 6 a.m., though I simply could not drop off to sleep before 2 a.m. this morning. Dragged myself out, anyway, so I could help do last-minute stuff before heading out on a camping trip to grape country, about four hours away.

We'd spent the past several day preparing food, and packing the camper, but there are always things to do on the morning of the trip. I allow at least two hours for last-minute preparations.

By 8 a.m., we were ready to head out. Hubbie drove the truck/camper, and I followed in the van, since Mother is no longer able to climb into the back seat of the truck. Down the road a ways, I noticed the right-hand brake light on the camper wasn't working. So I called Hubbie, and he pulled into our favorite auto repair shop.

He startled us a bit when, as he was pulling through the narrow gravel road beside the shop he grazed a large tank at the corner of the building. He felt it, though, stopped, and maneuvered the camper away from it.

About fifteen minutes later, the brake light was fixed and we were on the road again. The trip was uneventful for the rest of the way to a town about two hours away, where we met Sis at a shopping center parking lot.

Once she'd packed her things into the van and camper, she took over driving the van, while I rode with Hubbie.

Except for a downpour along the way, the trip to the campground was uneventful. We stopped along the way for lunch around noon, before proceeding on the last lap of the journey.

Once the camper was set up, and Mother was comfortably ensconced for a nap on the couch, Hubbie, Sis and I went on an excursion to the small town where a grape festival was to be held this afternoon and tomorrow.

At the festival site, we learned that the festival had been cancelled for today. Some vendors were already setting up. A refrigerated truck containing luscious Reliance and Venus grapes was stationed in its usual place, but no one was available to dispense the grapes. So we would have to wait until tomorrow to buy some.

From the festival venue, we went to a roadside fruit stand just outside of town to buy area peaches. Last year, there were no peaches to be had, due to the drought, but this year they seemed to be plentiful. We bought a half bushel of them, and Sis also bought some.

The peaches come from a nearby county that is known for them. Nowhere in the state are peaches as large, and succulent as in this area. At this time of the year, though, they are a bit beyond their peak, so we knew the ripest of them would not hold until we returned home to process them for the freezer. We'd have to set aside some time to work up some of them here at camp.

From the fruit stand, we visited three wineries, where we sampled some of our favorites, along with some we hadn't tried before. We bought several bottles, including a couple of on-sale port. Hubbie had sampled the port and decided it was worth the price, but when I tasted it, I found it to be a bit strong. It can be mixed with a sweet wine, though, to be made more palatable, or I can use it in cooking.

Back at camp, Mother was snoozing peacefully. It was near suppertime, so Sis and I prepared a meal of BLT's, served with baked beans heated in the microwave, and macaroni salad, as well as a salad of  tomatoes, Vidalia onions, yellow squash, mushrooms, and cucumbers (the cucumbers turned out to be bitter, though, so we had to discard them). Sis had brought along baked goods, so we had yeast rolls with the meal.

After supper, we played several games of Skipbo. Mother, Hubbie, and Sis each won a game, but I went down with a goose egg.

We were ready to head to bed after that. It had been a good day, but we were all tired.