Courage

“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” John Wayne.

In all honesty...I am scared to death of all that is before me.

My Virginia PT license was in slight jeopardy of not being pushed through on Thursday afternoon and the heat, coupled with pushing too hard to get ready to go (not enough sleep), had me in bed for a lot of the day on Thursday.  So getting packed up and leaving by 9:30 am Saturday seemed impossible when faced with the final word from Deltaflex on Friday that my license had cleared through.   I was to be there Monday, or start week after next.  

Well, I had no choice...I couldn’t wait 11 days to start work.  So I called in for reinforcements.  There were only a few people I could call that could clean to my standards, stay up all night, and work tirelessly until I was ready to leave.  Luckily, the first one I tried, in this very uncharacteristic call for help, came to my rescue.   That would be Margaret Ellen.

Through some miracle of fate all of my important belongs got packed up and loaded onto Fran.  There was only a brief three hour nap taken by the crew, and, somehow, we managed to launch Fran as scheduled by 9:30 Saturday am.  

There was just one stop on the way up because I was scared I was going to miss getting to Candy Hill Camp ground by the 7 pm deadline (when the office would close).  I knew I would need help getting set-up and didn’t want to do it for the first time in the dark without assistance!

Pit Stop

Fran and I drove through our first thunderstorm and came out on the other side with a wonderful gift.  A full rainbow was clear across the sky out my right window and I could not help but marvel at the symbolism of such an event.

Rainbow

Rainbow

I made it to Candy Hill before 7 pm (with 15 minutes to spare...) and a wonderful man name Starr helped hook me up.  He showed me the ropes of electric hook-up and as we moved on to the water hookup he said, “Where is your water hose?”  

“Oh my...,”  I said...oops!  Yes I forgot to get that before I left.  

No worries...there was a Walmart 0.10 miles from the entrance to Candy Hill.  

“Ok, what else do I need.”  

After reviewing toilet function, gray and black water (if you don’t know the difference, you don’t want to know), I ran to Wally World to get a drinking hose.  I returned about 9:30 pm with the hose and toilet treatment system chemical. Then I began the daunting task of unpacking.  I unpacked and stowed and rearranged until about 2 am.  I had figured out that for some reason A) my auto leveling system would not work where I was parked and B) that my hot water heater was not working.  

So after a COLD shower the first night I fell into bed exhausted.  Other than the cold shower, I smiled as I drifted off to sleep that first night and I thought, “I’m doing great considering I have no idea what I am doing.”

The next day I organized and unpacked all day.  I read the manual about a 100 times regarding hot water function and the leveling system but to no avail.  I could not figure it out.  Starr came back by to check on me around 4 pm and between the “two of us” figured out that my hot water gas had not been turned on at the source yet (since Fran was so new).  I felt as blonde as I have ever felt.

Home Sweet Home

Off to work Monday and hoping my problem solving skills will improve with some rest.

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