{"id":593,"date":"2016-09-17T23:17:29","date_gmt":"2016-09-18T03:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/?p=593"},"modified":"2016-09-17T23:47:35","modified_gmt":"2016-09-18T03:47:35","slug":"camping-trip-almost-to-james-river-state-park-sept-17-18-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/?p=593","title":{"rendered":"Camping Trip (Almost…) to James River State Park – Sept. 17-18, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

We finally had\u00a0a free weekend–with no rain in the immediate forecast–so we decided to go camping at\u00a0beautiful James River State Park<\/a>. \u00a0We’ve been to this park\u00a0several times over the years on day trips, and we were excited about camping there. \u00a0Realizing that the campground might fill up on a Saturday, we finally took the plunge and made reservations for Saturday, September 17th.<\/p>\n

It seemed to take forever on Saturday morning to get all of our stuff organized and packed into the car and\/or trailer: our cooler with homemade soup, cheese, butter, cream cheese, dip, eggs, etc.; our propane camp stove; folding chairs; cooking and eating utensils; clothes; extension cords; flashlights and more–but we were finally ready to leave the house.<\/p>\n

And leave we did! \u00a0It always makes me happy to see our tiny house tagging along behind us. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"01-headingout\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Smooth sailing as we drove on Rt. 250 West to Rt. 151, and then we turned left on Rt. 6.<\/p>\n

\"00-map-crozet-jrsp\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As we were approaching the intersection of Rt. 29 South, however, Wayne said there was something wrong because the battery light had just come on! \u00a0Ugh, not good!<\/p>\n

I remembered that there was a gas station and convenience store about 1\/4 mile down Rt. 29, and we pulled in, thankful that we had a safe place to stop. \u00a0But what could be wrong? \u00a0Was the battery on the trailer somehow draining the 4Runner’s battery? \u00a0(The Scamp battery is set up to “trickle charge” from the vehicle’s battery.)<\/p>\n

We unplugged the electrical connection between the car and trailer, and then Wayne opened the hood of the 4Runner to see if there was anything obviously wrong. \u00a0And–unfortunately–yes, there was<\/em> something obviously wrong: The serpentine belt had broken and it was tangled up in the engine. \u00a0Seriously<\/em> not good. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n

As frustrating as this was, we\u00a0were still very thankful that the 4Runner\u00a0had\u00a0at least gotten us to “Shady’s Place” instead of stopping dead in its tracks\u00a0on some narrow stretch of rural Rt. 6….<\/p>\n

\"03-shadysplace\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We went in the store and asked the woman at the counter if she could recommend a garage that might be open (on a Saturday–after noon<\/em>…) She gave us the name and number of a garage in Lovingston. \u00a0We thanked her, went outside and called. \u00a0The man who answered said they only worked on tractor trailers. Darn….<\/p>\n

I next called our insurance company’s “roadside assistance” number, and the woman I spoke with gave me numbers for other garages in the area that could provide\u00a0towing. There was no answer at Garage #2, and the woman who answered at Garage #3 said she’d get in touch with her part-time driver and call me back. \u00a0Fair enough. \u00a0While waiting, I quickly called the campground to cancel our reservation. (Thankful again, this time for cell phones!)<\/p>\n

In the meantime, we realized that we had more than just a problem with our vehicle<\/em>, because we also had our trailer<\/em> with us. \u00a0The woman at Shady’s had said they couldn’t guarantee that it would be safe if we left it on their lot, so we knew it had to go somewhere, too. \u00a0Well, darn.<\/p>\n

After some discussion about what to do, Wayne called our friend Mark\u00a0to see if he could possibly help us out–and he could! \u00a0He said he’d\u00a0meet us there with his truck in about 30 minutes, and that he’d tow the trailer back to our house. Excellent!<\/p>\n

\"02-4runner-scamp-wayne-shadysplace\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A few minutes later, the woman from Garage #3\u00a0called me back, apologized profusely, and said that their driver was unavailable. \u00a0She gave me the number of Garage #4 in Nellysford. \u00a0I dialed the number, and the man who answered at Stoney Creek Auto Center said that he could meet us in about half an hour.\u00a0Yay! \u00a0“Fourth time’s the charm”, eh?!<\/p>\n

While we waited for our rescuers, we picnicked in the parking lot on fried chicken and mac & cheese from Shady’s and washed\u00a0it down with green tea that we had in the cooler. Fine dining in the hot September sunshine. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

The tow truck driver arrived first, and he quickly and efficiently got the 4Runner loaded onto the rollback wrecker.<\/p>\n

\"05-4runner-towtruck-091716\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At first we weren’t sure where we’d have it\u00a0towed, but then decided it would make sense to have it taken\u00a0to one of our local garages. \u00a0I got in the cab of the tow truck with the driver, and Wayne stayed with the trailer to wait for Mark. \u00a0And so back up the road we went–back to Rt. 6, to Rt. 151, to Rt. 250 East and on to the garage.<\/p>\n

About 30 minutes and $100 later, the 4Runner and I were safely deposited at the shop where All Will Be Made Okay….<\/p>\n

\"06-4runner-warrenjames\"<\/a><\/p>\n

…and before too long, Mark, Wayne, and the Scamp arrived to pick me up.<\/p>\n

\"08-markgreenfield-scamp\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"09-markgreenfield-scamp\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After Mark\u00a0got\u00a0the trailer\u00a0backed into the driveway (not an easy task) and headed home with our thanks,\u00a0Wayne and I drove over to the garage to get everything out of the 4Runner.<\/p>\n

\"10-kia-4runner-warrenjames\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Back at home, it took a while to get everything put away:\u00a0our cooler with homemade soup, cheese, butter, cream cheese, dip, eggs, etc.; our propane camp stove; folding chairs; cooking and eating utensils; clothes; extension cords; flashlights and more. (Remember?)<\/p>\n

Since we’d planned\u00a0to be gone overnight, we’d left tons of wet and dry food out for our four\u00a0cats. \u00a0Since we were now\u00a0not<\/em> gone, Kai let us know\u00a0that this arrangement was totally unacceptable. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

\"15-kai-food\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As to our<\/em> food, we heated up the soup from our cooler\u00a0(a delicious chicken chili),\u00a0and ate dinner at the kitchen table. \u00a0Would it have tasted better outside on a picnic table at James River State Park? \u00a0Yes, maybe–but it was still wonderful!<\/p>\n

\"13-chicken-chili\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"14-wayne-soup\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And would we have enjoyed sitting by a campfire on this Saturday night at James River State Park? \u00a0Yes, of course!<\/p>\n

But you know what? \u00a0We’ve got a sweet trailer sitting just outside\u00a0under a rising, almost-full\u00a0moon.<\/p>\n

\"11-scamp-porchlight\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"16-scamp-moon\"<\/p>\n

We can still<\/em> go camping this weekend; it will just be\u00a0driveway<\/em> camping. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"17-moon\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We finally had\u00a0a free weekend–with no rain in the immediate forecast–so we decided to go camping at\u00a0beautiful James River State Park. \u00a0We’ve been to this park\u00a0several times over the years on day trips, and we were excited about camping there. \u00a0Realizing that the campground might fill up on a Saturday, we finally took the plunge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6ap3J-9z","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=593"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":628,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions\/628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}