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The last time Sheila, Ashley and I went camping was when Ashley was
a toddler. We went tent camping at Toe River which is in Yancey
County N.C. It was a terrible experience! There was a
steady downpour the entire time we were there. The tent floor was
covered with water, the canopy we had over our table and food
collapsed and all our clothes were wet.
We finally decided to pack up and leave. It was pouring rain on the
way home which made it hard to see and the road slippery. A car
stopped short in front of us and I ran into it. This resulted
in a traffic ticket for traveling too fast for road conditions.
The only up side for us was that we left the campground just in time
because not long after we made our escape the river flooded the
campground and pretty much washed it away. Many people park
their RVs there year round and the flood washed them all away.
Thankfully, no one was injured. After that
experience Sheila and I would not even discuss camping for years.
In the summer of 2005 one of our friends told us that they knew a
person with a pop-up camper for sale at a good price. For some
reason we decided to go and look at it. Even though we could
not really afford it we bought it. The camper was really dirty
and it took us several days to clean it up. After a lot of
sweat, and a few tears, the camper was ready to go.
 The
camper was all ready! We hooked it up to the truck, packed
enough food, clothes and wood for an old west wagon train trip and
took off.
Ashley was nervous that we were pulling a camper
behind us and said a prayer as we backed out of the driveway.
I kept telling her that everything was fine and the truck would have
no problems pulling the little pop-up across the mountain into
Tennessee. After quite a bit of convincing she settled down
and was enjoying the ride.
The trip was uneventful into Erwin, TN. We
exited the interstate into the small town of Erwin which is only a
few miles below Rock Creek Campground. As I was starting off
from a traffic light we heard a loud noise and a lot of scraping.
I looked in the rearview mirror and saw that the camper had came
loose somehow and I was dragging it! I pulled into a gas
station dragging the camper by the safety chains. The trailer
hitch had completely rusted through and had broke off on one side
and was barely hanging on the other. All we could do was thank God
that the hitch had not broken loose when we were coming down the
mountain.
 A very nice gentleman came over to see what was going
on. He helped us get the camper moved to a safe location and
even loaned us a chain to secure the broken hitch. We left the
camper at the store, drove home and borrowed my sister's Ford
Explorer. I thought her Explorer had a trailer hitch but it
only had a ball on the bumper. There was no other option so I
drove the truck and Sheila drove the Explorer back to Erwin where we
hooked the camper to the Explorer's bumper and carefully towed it
the last few miles to Rock Creek Campground.
The campground was beautiful! We found our site
and set up but towing the camper back across the mountain with the
bumper hitch was worrying us. Sheila called a friend of ours
that has a truck with a heavy duty hitch and asked if we could
borrow it. Even though this meant yet another trip back home
it made us all rest easier knowing that we had a vehicle capable of
towing the camper safely. Once we had the truck switching out of the
way we all could relax and enjoy ourselves! Ashley and Andrew
even washed the dishes (once or twice)!
Details are on the way!
Details are on the way!
Details are on the way!
Details are on the way!
Details are on the way!
Details are on the way!
Details are on the
way!
Details are on the way!
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How we started breeding Welsh Terriers. It was all Ashley's idea!
