Grateful for Friends and Family during the Lockdown

We leave this campground in less than a week and have lots to take care of before then, but before we leave I want to thank local friends and family who’ve helped us out. They all think they’ve played small parts, but really they’ve made our new life possible.

Laundry Sanctuary

1) Thanks to Mary Margaret from MyCancalKitchen for laundry facilities and so much more!

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MM lives in France and in Richmond (yes, she’s that cool), and her house near us has been vacant during the quarantine, so we went there every two weeks to do laundry and for a welcome change of scenery.

First off, laundry.

You may take for granted having a clean, safe place to get this stuff done, and, heck, I do too, now. Thanks to MM we were able to avoid going in the campground laundry building and in a public laundromat—i.e., we stayed germ-free. Plus we had the space and time to wash sheets and towels, something I bet I’m going to miss.

Second, a break from the campground.

MM’s back garden here in the States is private, sunny, full of herbs (wait, so is the one in France) and just a perfect place to work out, fold laundry, and watch Banjo sleep. We would spend the entire day there, downloading media using MM’s internet and lounging about like royalty.

Plus, as you can tell from her website, Mary Margaret is a cookbook author, cooking teacher, and all around expert with ingredients you have on hand (#nowastekitchen). Thanks to her, I’ve been baking without flour.

Seriously, one more plug. Check out her website if you’d like to see beautiful photos of Cancale, France, and interesting recipes written with Southern charm.

Her graciousness extends far beyond her laundry room and back garden.

Delivery Address

2) Thank you to Brandi and Pat from “Sure, I’ll Accept a Million Deliveries for You!”

Brandi swears it’s no big deal, but we should offer to re-gravel their driveway for how many times a delivery truck has been there with our packages. Brandi left them on her porch as they gathered day by day, and we’d go by every few weeks to grab the bundle.

Thanks to them we were able to order RV toilet paper, parts for the truck and trailer, and—seriously most important—this kick-ass folding sofa.

Most of all, I appreciated having people I know well (ex-laws can be a wondrous good thing) close by. When we had to decide where to park for the duration of the stay-at-home order, a main check in favor of this campground was the fact that, if all hell broke loose, we’d have someone near to count on.

(The photo way up top is us visiting them before we left. Look at the cheer!)

General Family Welcome

3) Thanks to my cousin Lisa who checked in with us, invited us out to the family farm for a hike, and generally provided a welcome feel—plus a few home-cooked meals that sustained us through week after week of groceries only from Food Lion. Thanks Lisa! We hope to see you soon in some cool place across the country.

Next without a Social Net

Okay, it’s the day before Memorial Day weekend here, and already campers are pulling in, making noise as they set up (with their small yapping dogs, too), and parading in front of us in their decorated golf carts.

If you don’t hear from us for a while, we’ve locked ourselves in the Airstream, pulled down the shades, turned up the music, and tuned out this riffraff who love camping. How dare they.

But as soon as they leave, we leave, too. Surely I’ll update the blog a couple of times before then, but once we’re in our new spot in a state forest in Maryland, we won’t have cell service or internet. We also won’t have neighbors, so I consider that safer than not!

You guys, please keep on being careful. I’m looking forward to seeing you later.