April 10 – Day 1: We leave.


We arrive in Smithville, TN to spend the night with the Unc and Auntie.

April 11 – Day 2: Leave Smithville, TN. Arrive 370 Lakeside Park in St. Peters, MO. A really, really, really nice city-owned 140-acre recreational lake with camping, fishing, boating, hiking and biking.

April 12 – Day 2: Leave St. Peters, MO. Arrive WaKeeney, KS. Nothing much to see along the way except the Gateway Arch, a pretty impressive bridge and some windmills. Steve fought some mean head winds and some of us slept.
April 13 – Day 4: Leave WaKeeney, KS. Arrive Parachute, CO.
This is a Friday as in Friday the 13th. I have never been overly superstitious but I may think twice before traveling on Friday the 13th going forward.
We check the weather. Blizzard warnings have been posted in parts of the central Plains and Midwest. We are in Kansas. Kansas is in the Midwest. We need to get the hell out of WaKeeney.
We are on the road before 7:00 AM. It’s snowing by 8:30 AM. The wind is blowing snow, tumbleweeds, and us across the interstate. But once a sailor, always a sailor so Captain Steve battens down the hatches and pilots us across Colorado.
Ten hours later, the snow is behind us, and we stop for a much needed break. Steve walks the dogs and I go into the camper to get us something to eat. Uh oh. There’s water on the floor. I look in the bathroom and look up. What??? Who left the #$@&%*! vent open? I reach for the handle to crank it closed. What??? Where’s the #$@&%*! handle? I look around. Why is the #$@&%*! handle on the floor?
Steve comes in. We assume the wind caught the vent cover with enough force to break the handle. Steve removes the screen, the fan blades and the motor and pulls the vent cover closed. He uses twist ties to secure it. I mop up water.
Exhausted, we decide to get a hotel room for the night. I make a reservation. About 20 miles out, a guy in a truck zooms up beside us, honking and pointing frantically at the camper. We stop. We look. We have a flat tire.
We check into the hotel at 6:00 PM. Tired, but not discouraged because now I have something to blog about!

April 14 – Day 4: Leave Parachute, CO. Arrive Moab, UT where the pictures speak for themselves.


And, this my dear readers, is Zen In A Camper!
Certainly sounds like an adventure. Stay safe, but have fun.
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