Day 44: So Many Stops

The drive to our next campsite was less than an hour away. We didn’t arrive until nearly 9 p.m. and this is why.

We had read that there wasn’t laundry at the next campground, so we did a load the morning of our departure. We also needed to hit the dump station; we made it three nights without filling up our holding tanks, which was quite an accomplishment (especially at the beach due to the more frequent showers).

So after two hours at the beach, we headed back to the RV, took showers and ate lunch. I had a little extra scrubbing to do because once again I got pooped on (again by a bird). This time was Rob’s fault, though, since a flock of pelicans were flying overhead and he said “look up!” At this point of my life, I feel like I am closing in on a record of some sort.

The next stop was a brutal reminder that I don’t think we have been clothes or shoe shopping as a family of four, ever, thanks to online ordering and free returns. I really needed some new shoes and so did both boys. We hit the nearby outlet mall, and after an agonizing long time we walked away with shoes. We did score three pairs of Nikes for the boys for $55, so that felt great, but we were all physically and mentally exhausted.

The kids have very different personalities when it comes to shopping. Nicholas found a pair of shoe he HAS to have at every store, while Cooper agonized for hours and never found one he loved. We made the decision for them, which was easy given the crazy good deal.

We then made our way to Belk at 5 p.m. (a department store like Kohl’s) to pick up our Amazon packages, which included bug spray, toilet cleaners, and adult scuba masks. Walmart was up next, where the website said they had body boards in stock. After walking the entire store and asking nearly every employee we walked out with none. We did walk out with bags of candy for Halloween, though. This year the boys each picked out their own bag of candy and I said I would come up with a creative way for them to trick or treat for it (Cooper wanted Twizzlers, Nicholas wanted Kit Kat).

Now it was past 6 p.m. and we had to decide whether to drive the remaining 20 minutes to the campsite or stop for dinner. We figured dinner would be too late if we went all the way, so we ended up stopping at a Domino’s and ate in the parking lot. I spied a Winn Dixie (grocery store) and opted to get that errand done while they were waiting for and eating the pizza. The pizza took forever, so the timing was just fine for a full grocery trip too. Bonus of the grocery trip is that Winn Dixie had body boards!

It was now close to 8 p.m. and very dark, and we are still in the Domino’s parking lot. Time to head to the campsite, but not before yet another stop (gas station). Fortunately we were close so the drive was short, but I still much prefer driving in the daylight, especially pulling into a new campground. Rob expertly researched the layout of the campground using Google Maps satellite view and made a plan to get us to the dump station and all turned around again to get to our site. We really have the whole “unhooking the car, backing in, getting level and hookups” process pretty dialed in. It was nice to have an awesome partner for it when we were working by headlamp.

The kids were finally in bed a little after 9. Rob did all the driving and planning of our stops today, which is the only reason it only took us until 9 to get there when we had so much to get done.

To add just a little bit more to the day, there were wind gusts up to 25 mph that night. After lying in bed listening to it I opted to get out of bed and pull the slide in. Fortunately, the kids slept through that, and knowing the cover over our slide couldn’t tear in the wind gave me the piece of mind I needed to finally get some rest.