RV Adventures, Part 1

This week began a new phase in my life, so to speak. My friend, Laurie, bought an RV this past year, something that I also have always wanted to have. With both of us having grown children and a yearning to travel, we've decided to go through this adventure together. This week we set off on our first "real" RV trip (the only other one having been a 1-night shakedown trip to Gettysburg).

We left Monday morning for Niagara Falls, Canada, with a stop the first night at a sweet little campground in Woodland, PA. I'll get into the details of the trip in a later post. What I want to tell you about today is how friendly, helpful and wonderful the people have been that we've met along the way.

After three nights at a wonderful KOA Kampground in Niagara Falls, ON, we left this morning for Cooperstown, NY (and a stop at the National Baseball Hall of Fame). We're staying at the Cooperstown Family Campground and, honestly, when we finished going down the third country road and turned into a gravel road with a small, unassuming sign, we were a little concerned about this place. Boy, were the first impressions wrong! This turned out to be a beautiful place, quiet and friendly, with nice neighbors and a family running the camp that couldn't be nicer! As I checked us in, Laurie was checking "Rosie" (the name we gave the RV) and discovered one of the dual tires on the driver's side was flat. What to do? Well, before we could even figure it out, the woman in the office had called the owner and asked him to come take a look at it. He did and said he could change it to the spare without too much trouble. He came by our campsite after dinner and, as I write this, Chris (the owner), two of his friends and our camping neighbor are all gathered around Rosie changing her tire. We've become the party site of the campgrounds! LOL!

And while they're visiting and changing the tire, they're all laughing, sharing war stories (literally -- Chris was in the Navy and served in Desert Storm; Laurie was in the Army), and talking car talk....which is why I'm sitting here at my iPad typing and listening to them. I don't know much about machines, so I'm staying out of the conversation!

While we ate dinner, the owner's daughter came by with her dog to say hello and see if we needed anything. She stayed and chatted with us as Phoenix sniffed around.

The point is this: each of the places we've stayed this week has had people who were friendly, helpful (especially to us RV "newbies"), kind, etc. We've had wonderful experiences and have enjoyed every minute, in spite of the flat tire. This is the best part of the adventure and what we've really been looking forward to -- meeting new people with common interests.

The adventure has just begun...but we're planning to have it go on for a long, long time! Next big trip: Grand Canyon this fall. Come back and visit and follow us as we tour the country!