Day 1 – Clear Creek Recreation Park near Jasper, Alabama.

Arrived at 9am to pick up the beast, left at noon with it fully tamed. We learnt about grey water, black water, generators, slide ins, jacks, propane but nothing prepared me for the girth of the monster. For the first 100 miles, the RV was either on the rumble strips on the verge or straddling two lanes – not too bad, I hear you think but we did travel on miles of single track roads.
Clear Creek Recreation Park was a little practice area. It was the ideal spot to level and hose up – quiet and sparsely RV-ed. It is a national park by the side of a lake with shaded drive throughs and places to hang your food in case of bears, we thought. We didn’t think too good as the metal posts were positioned beside the picnic table so even the most remedial of bears could have snaffled the food. The poles were, as Jules found out from her stalker ranger, for hanging lanterns on – nothing so dramatic! Well we swam in the warm lake and then played poker till the wee hours. Isn’t it ironic that the one who didn’t understand the game should be the winner at the end. Ended the day trying to find a trashcan for the remains of our meal. As you may imagine, it was pitch black and all we had was the light of the cellphone to guide us. We were serenaded all the way there and back by a full orchestra of crickets. It was a surreal experience to end the day.