We arrived in Erie at a KOA for what wound up being a very eventful first stay in the RV.

Our campsite had the kind of amenities that really pique a kids’ interest – pool, bounce pad, rec room and a camp store packed with loads of expensive, useless junk. In Covid-times, our big question mark was where and when we felt safe in different public spaces if we chose to enter, whether or not we masked up. It was clear at this campsite that there wouldn’t be a heck of a lot of social distancing or masking happening on other people’s parts. Although three of us are fully vaxxed (sadly, our son is too young), our feeling was that we didn’t want to become a vector for other people as we travelled across multiple states.

Most of our journey, we planned at least one full day per stop. In Erie, Chris decided he’d do work at the RV during that day, while I took the kids out to Presque Isle to get some Vitamin D and swimming. We found a lovely spot at a nice beach with changing rooms and spent the day there. On the way home, we picked up some filets as a surprise for Father’s Day dinner. I took out the first of many frequent shopper cards in Giant Eagle in order to get all the “deals” and decided that I’d make a hobby of collecting these. (It’s the little things.) When we ate yummy nosh that night, we called my dad to wish him a happy Father’s Day and sing Happy Birthday to Mom.

In the middle of the second night, we were awakened at 2 in the morning by a loud thwapping sound. Turns out we had left the awning out and a major thunderstorm rolled through in the night. One arm holding the awning in place had lost a screw and we had to wrangle the whole thing in, pop the awing back in, and retract it in the dark, in our pajamas and in the driving rain. Not long after that, the hail started. Small blessings: at least we missed getting nailed by massive ice balls as we worked.

A nice employee of the KOA “heard we had some problems in the night” and hooked us up with a screw and zip ties to make extra sure the awning would stay put as we drove. As he walked away, we thought all would be well, but I discovered I had lost the cotter pin for the hitch. So we spent a good thirty minutes looking for that. I finally saw it stuck to a magnetic-ball-on-an-extendable-thing that we used to line up the car and RV for hitching. This staved off any impending curse-word-laiden conversations and we were able to hit the road feeling like we’d tackled a Herculean feat.

Surely nothing from there on out would be nearly as frustrating, we thought (said the naive travelers).