Trouble in Paradise

Our trip has been great but no matter where you go, you always come upon some "bumps" in the road.

Saturday night Kevin had trouble sleeping. According to him, Jeff and Chris were quite active during the night. There were several trips out of the camper and each time they had to walk by a "sleeping" Kevin. We have already made mention of the fact that Kevin is more than a little paranoid about being watched while he is sleeping and this added to his anxiety. He said at one point, he thought maybe the Woods were hosting an "Open House."

Sunday morning. Chris came out of the trailer and announced that we need to rethink our trip to Camper World for cool things for the pop-up because we might not be doing any more camping. She had a horrible night. Her air mattress (the new one Jeff and Chris stuck underneath their regular mattress) was angled up along the side and she kept sinking into the middle. On top of that, sometime during the night she lost her vaseline. She needs that to keep her lips moist at night. Upon determining that she wasn't going to be able to find it, she crawled out of bed to look for her lip gloss. After dumping the bag that it was supposed to be in all over the floor and table and still not finding it, she gave up, licked her lips and got back in bed to once again try to find sleep.

The more Chris talks, the faster the color drains from Jeff's face. He knows that if we are to have more adventures in the Woodabago, Chris needs to be happy. Tonight he will change sides with Chris in hopes of her getting a better night's sleep.

Meanwhile, it's time to move on.

We packed up our campsite around noon under a blazing sun in 90 degree temperatures. We were able to get everything packed up and the pop-up down in a record 30 minutes, but we are all hot and sweaty and tempers were a little short.

Chris and Lana jump in the Lexus in anticipation of a little air conditioning. Jeff is a little slow for Chris's liking and we all knew that when she hollered, "Turn the "darn" car on. It's hot in here."

Our next stop is the Smoky Mountains and everything was going pretty well until Kevin decided to take off his shoes. The car instantly filled with an incredibly horrible odor that could only be alleviated by Kevin putting his shoes back on. There was quite a bit of discussion after that about whether the problem was the shoes or the feet, but we all agreed that something needs to be done. We're still working on this problem but Kevin is not allowed to take off his shoes in the pop-up or the Lexus any more and the shoes stay outside at night. (We also think he needs to use the Lysol wipes on his feet, but he is not totally in agreement with this.)

Around 5:30 we pulled into Jellystone Campground in the Smoky Mountains. We have a beautiful campsite right next to a babbling brook. For now, life is good again.