Reached our destination - Day 875 (Yr 3, Day 142)

Raleigh, NC

After 2 weeks of almost non-stop travel, we have thankfully reached our destination yesterday.  We know we will be here at least until the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  Still don't know when/where the next assignment is.

I have to tell you it was exhausting, but such a joy, to "set up house" once again.  When we're in travel mode, many items need to be put on the couch, tied or bungy-corded down, or put away.  It doesn't feel like home, but more like a cluttered tin box.  It was well worth the effort to put things away and take things out to make this our living quarters once again.

We got up at 7 am and were almost ready to set out at 8:30.  However, there was a minor calamity that delayed us by 1/2 hour -- I was doing the breakfast dishes when Mitch disconnected the water.  I only had 1 cup left, and the water that was still left in the hose was enough (barely) to finish rinsing it.  I think my mind associated the fact that there was no water left with the fact that the faucet was off.  Well, fast forward a little bit later, when we were just about ready to do the last item of closing the slides.  I had a sudden cramp and needed to use the bathroom.  In order to flush, I needed to put the water pump on (which uses the water in our tanks as opposed to the city water from the hoses, which were now disconnected).  When the water pump is in use, you can hear it running.  While sitting on the toilet, I heard the pump but didn't think anything of it.  A few minutes later, I heard the sound of running water.  It then occurred to me that I never turned the kitchen tap off!  I had run out of water, but now that the water pump was on, so was the kitchen sink.  By now, I had put the covers on the sink, so all the water was running out of the faucet, down to the floor, behind the cabinets and onto the living room carpet -- a nice little flood!  Mitch came in and we just kept loading the area with towels until the flooding stopped.  Fortunately, it was only from the water that ran while the faucet was on -- it wasn't like a busted hose that wouldn't stop.  And it was only running for about 2 minutes.  Half hour later, we were ready to pull out.

The ride was uneventful, although we did need to go through a lot of mountains in Western NC.  Because of the draught, many fires are being lit to avoid out-of-control wildfires, but driving through the area was extremely smoky (we experienced that at the campground Saturday as well).  There was an eerie yellow haze and my eyes felt a bit irritated.  Otherwise, driving through the TN and Western NC mountains are beautiful.

We arrived at the NC State Fairgrounds at about 2:00 (we stopped at 3 rest areas to change drivers and to take a few little naps).  Once again, we had a back in spot which would have been a 1-2-3 job for most others.  But after 45 minutes, thankfully the park ranger came by and helped guide us in (he remembered us from the last time we were here).  We really can't back into spaces!!!  I think the problem is that Mitch can't follow directions and I can't give them.  It's like the blind leading the blind.  I'd say it's a comedy show, but after about the first 10 minutes, we start to fight.  It's incredibly stressful trying to park this thing!

So today starts at least a 2 week stint of being back on a routine (at least for me -- Mitch is still on vacation and using his time to work on various back burner projects).  We've had magnificent driving weather for the past 2 weeks, and today is the first day there's actually rain.  It's one of those steady, drippy kinds of showers -- the kind that makes you want to stay in bed all day.

Sadly, while we're here in Raleigh, our daughter isn't!  She'll be back some time this evening, but after an 8 hour drive, won't be in any shape to see us.  She also has plans tomorrow, so hopefully we'll all catch up towards the middle to end of the week.