Our Second RV Adventure - Halfway Lake Camping

Well what can I say, we decided early in the year that we were going to use the Travelaire this summer and boy are we. We have returned from our WEEK-long camping trip at Halfway Lake, just north of the city. As every trip we seem to go on, there was never a dull moment.

Day 1 - Site 173



We arrived at 5 pm, Jason set-up in record time while Auntie Shannon & I fed the kids. With an extra-large site we could have housed more than 3 TravelAires, but I wanted to make sure there was plenty of room for the dogs to mill about as well as store Grandpa's truck/kayak who was scheduled to arrive on Wednesday. And what would every Simpson vacation be without Riley either vomiting from a chocolate over-dose or getting a hideous bum rash, or Presley running away at least once, however this time he fell out of the TravelAire and caught his toenail in the step thus resulting in a minor injury or so we thought.

Day 2 - Beach Day

The first night went well since we already knew how the kids would sleep from our previous RV adventure. With our bellies full from the bacon & egg breakfast, we loaded up and headed for the beach. If I had known how much beach crap was required for 3 babies we probably would have driven to the beach. But Auntie Shannon was our resident pack-mule, and managed to carry all the inflatable toys, beach toy bucket, and a few other odds and ends almost every time.

The kids had a blast at the beach in their inflatable crab, turtle and car. We stayed in the water for almost 1.5 hours.







Once everyone was dried and changed we had a few snacks and beverages until we were ready to leave and noticed Everett had fallen asleep on the blanket.

When we returned to the campsite, I noticed Riley limping slightly.

Day 3 - Moving Day

After an restless night (the second night is always the worst) especially when it was my turn to get up with the kids, and the vomiting dogs (Presley, who felt the need to each peaches, funny coloured berries, and lick the spilled bacon grease from the gravel) I was up a good portion of the night. Which wouldn't have been so bad had we not slept on the bed/dining table.
After breakfast Jason had to perform his RV-owner duties and do a poop/water run, Shannon & I had decided to take the kids for a stroll around the campgrounds. Jason & I had done some preliminary campsite investigative work and knew of a couple of water-access sites that had some potential. So off we went. 2 hours later we were moving to site 127.

We decided to move at noon and by 12:45, we were settled at our new location, set-up and ready to feed the kids lunch.I have never seen as much stuff as we had, torn down packed into the back of the RV in less than 20 minutes since it took us 5 days to meticulously pack everything.

Since Grandpa was scheduled for the Wednesday arrival, and was unaware of our site relocation we had Shannon perched up on the top of the RV holding her phone to the sky like a new-aged ET looking to phone home.

By this time Riley was dragging himself around the campsite with an exaggerated limp. His toenail , I swear to God was 6 inches longer than all the rest. During is uncoordinated exit from the RV he had managed to pull the nail out from the root. All I could think of was it was going to get infected, and he would get gangrene, it would have to be amputated, we would have to buy him a prosthetic so he wouldn't have a bad self image. By that evening we (me) had decided to take a trip into town and have him checked by the vet.

Day 4 - Vet Visit

With tensions running a little high in the morning (mommy & daddy not getting along), we managed to shove off around 11 am. Our first stop the vet. She managed to take us right away. Well he avoided amputation, but his treatment was not much easier. She trimmed to the nail ALL the way down and cauterized it. Now if anyone has had anything on their body cauterized knows that this is frickin' painful (I know)
This poor bastard had it done not only once but twice during the same visit. The vet accidently cut another nail too short so she cauterized that one too!. By this time Riley is losing his mind, trying to bite the vet, while I am trying hold him steady so she doesn't cut all of his nails too short. And in the end it only cost us $23. While I am paying Jason walks in with 3 bottles asking to use their microwave. They oblige only if they can come to the RV and have a look. So here we are parked in the tiny little parking lot, engine running, feeding kids and Jason asks if its wrong to have a beer. At this point I would have gladly had a beer.

Day 5-7 - Finally the days of relaxation

For the next couple of days we laid low spending our time drinking beer, BBQ'ing, going to the beach and taking walks around the campgrounds. Grandpa Howatt had arrived with kayak in tow. Everett discovered his feet had a purpose, Avery developed a drinking problem, Grace discovered her 2 new bottom teeth and Shannon never got out of her PJ's.









A pretty successful trip I would say.



I am posting this picture of a loaf of bread on the site because Shannon cooked this bread over a fire and it was the best damn fire-cooked bread I have ever eaten.