Wednesday, June 4, 2008

First Vacation in the Camper - or so we thought







On May 17th we head up to a campground in the mountains called Raccoon Holler in Glendale Springs, North Carolina. We are staying for a total of 9 nights. We got there and the weather was a clear, beautiful 65 degrees, Finally! We check in and only pay $190 for those 9 nights - that's practically 2 nights in a hotel. Now the diesel gas to get there and back is a whole different story. We set up and meet a few young neighbors that are Bryce's age and they play until bedtime. So far so good. The one thing we are learning about camping is that everyone is so open and friendly. In hotels we pass our neighbors without saying hello and quickly enter our rooms. Camping puts everyone outdoors and so we are able to meet all kinds of different people. Bryce even walked up to a girl and asked her to play with him which is great for his social skills.

The next morning is Bryce's 4th Birthday. We make cinnamon twists for breakfast which are his favorite and decided to visit a church nearby. Church was great then we come back to eat lunch and it starts raining. One of the deacons at the church had prayed for more rain and David and I looked at each other like - no fear, the Corbetts are here. The rest of the day we just relaxed and enjoyed hearing the rain. Night time came and it cleared off enough to have a fire so we introduced Bryce to roasted Marshmallows - the moment I've been waiting for. Bryce liked them hot, Stacy liked them straight from the bag. They went down for bed and then mommy broke out the chocolate and graham crackers to finish the complete Smore product. I'm not messing with melted chocolate and kids yet - sticky marshmallow was enough.

Monday morning we woke up to clear skies. David and Bryce made Pancakes and eggs on my fancy new electric griddle that I got for Mother's day. Last year I got an ice cream maker. David disregards the whole gift with a cord rule and that's okay, I have really enjoyed both gifts. We decide to go for a bike ride along the New River railroad grade road. Its flat enough for Bryce to ride which he did for a little ways. We then headed back to eat lunch and take a nap. David decides he wants to do a 2 hour bicycle ride while the weather is good, so off he goes.

The kids both fall fast asleep and I was able to rest for about 30 minutes until I hear a knock on our camper door. It was a volunteer fireman who asked if I was Laura Corbett and said my husband is okay but had an accident on his bike and had to be rushed by ambulance to Ashe Memorial Hospital otherwise known as the "band-aid station". He didn't give very many details just reassured me he was okay and said he had to be checked out to make sure nothing was broken. So I wake the kids up, load them in the truck and head to the hospital to find my husband in his tight spandex strapped head to toe on one of those Emergency boards. Scared me, but I was just glad to see him breathing. Luckily he was alert and could tell me what happened. So now I know why the Volunteer Fireman didn't tell me the story. He was riding his bike, descending a mountain and his back tire blew out. This threw him off the bike across the road where a commercial dump truck with a full load was coming. Everything happened so quick that the only thing that got hit was his right leg from knee to toes. PRAISE GOD! We've had plenty of time to think of what could have happened and not only was his life spared, but not even a broken bone in his leg or foot. His cycling shoe was so hard that it must have protected his foot from being crushed. The swelling was severe and had to be monitored so we packed up what we could, left our camper and drove home to be in Raleigh. When I went to pick him up under the concrete awning of the emergency room I had forgotten that our Mountain bikes were on the roof rack on top of the truck so - WHAM! went the rack into the bed of the truck taking everything off the roof. David was in too much pain to be mad, but there were some nice by- standers who saw how helpless we were and placed the bikes in a safe position to ride home in.

When we got back to Raleigh we went to see an orthopedist who admitted him to the hospital to make sure the swelling didn't cut off circulation to the muscles and tissues which could lead to amputation. Gratefully it didn't swell to that point. The pain was tremendous as you can imagine. We believe God still has a purpose for him here and I'm so glad he does. David obviously is sure of his salvation and where he will go when he leaves this earth, but didn't want to leave us behind - NEITHER DID I!

We stayed a couple days back in Raleigh and Bryce actually got to attend his last day of Preschool. I figured David could either lay around here and be taken care of or be in the mountains for Memorial Day weekend so I let him pick the scenery. I'm glad he chose the mountains, so back up we go. It was a little extra work for me but was worth it. We had friends, actually Daddy D and his wife were coming up and their daughter and friend helped us with the kids. It was a beautiful weekend too.

There are a couple seasonal sites at Raccoon Holler where folks can leave their campers and stay March through October. Every one of those folks knew who David was. He is now a celebrity there and call him "Dump Truck Dave". They were so nice they even offered to drive him around in their golf carts to get from our site to where he wanted to go. They are mostly older folks like grandparents and they loved the kids and the kids loved their golf carts. Can't wait to go back, under better circumstances of course.

Daddy D was kind enough to leave his camper up there since he will be back soon and drove ours back to Raleigh since Dave couldn't drive and I had no clue how to drive it. That would be a scary and nerve racking sight on Memorial Day. What would we ever do without Daddy D.

This vacation was interesting and not how we thought it would be. I'm glad we planned a few other short ones for the summer so I'm not totally bummed. I would post a picture of David's foot but I'm afraid you might get grossed out.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Camping is the best way to make interesting, funny and life time memories that your family will talk about for years to come. Look forward to reading more posts.