THE FIRST 48 HOURS

Our first day of travel had some unexpected surprises. We had a place in mind to stop for the night - a campground just off the interstate in central Georgia. There was no need to call ahead for a reservation, but as we got closer I decided to check their booking website to see how full they were. It said no sites were available, so I called the campground only to find out that they were closed because they had been STRUCK BY LIGHTNING! Of all the random things to happen! We had already passed our other go-to options, so we had to scramble a bit to find a new place to stay. And in the midst of that, we also realized that Eric lost his debit card at a rest stop about an hour before. Neither of these were major problems, but if you know me, you know that I like - no, NEED - to have a plan at all times and get flustered when plans go awry. Obviously there will be a lot of disruptions on this trip, and this was just the first of what will be many opportunities for me to learn to roll with the punches.

After we found a place to stop for the night and got settled, the boys went outside to play ball with some other campground kids. Just in that hour and a half before we finally called them in, John's watch showed that he had racked up over 16,000 steps! I don't recall how many Reed had, but he wasn't far behind. These boys play HARD!The next day we arrived at our first destination - Hiawassee, Georgia. Beautiful views from our campsite and beautiful weather, especially the cool evenings. We were last here in November, just a couple of weeks after Eric and his team had completed acquisition of this property. Over the past few months they have transitioned from a privately owned campground to a KOA-branded property, and we saw a lot of improvements. The boys were excited about the new paddleboats on the lake just across from our campsite. They wore me out on the first day, wanting to go a hundred miles an hour and do everything at once. They played putt-putt golf and arcade games. They played on the playground and the jumping pillow. Reed explored the creek while John played shuffleboard and bowling, and they rode their bikes and scooters all over the campground. The next day we went to the pool and the boys made some friends that they played with for hours that day, and for the next two days until it was time for us to leave. Needless to say, they are worn out every night from playing so hard, but they wake up in the morning ready to do it all over again!