The Kind of Vacation Movies are Made of...

It's the end of the Summer, and I'm reflecting on our Summer Vacation over the 4th of July Weekend.

(Truth Is: I just found the camera I was so worried I had lost...with the memory card of pictures! ha!)
{Picture Above Borrowed From Denton Farm Park's Website}

My husband has been attending The Southeast Old Threshers' Reunion (Old Tractor Show), in Denton for...forever. I'm quite certain he hasn't missed a year since we've been married, and was going long before then. It is held annually in the Denton Farm Park featuring old tractors, farm machinery, tractor pulls, etc. It is Kevin's "heaven on earth." This year, Kevin came up with the oh so wonderful idea, that we would rent a RV, and stay during the entire festival on the grounds. {And yes, there is a movie with a similar story-line, but ours is real life, and by the end of this post, I'm sure you'll concede, the movie didn't have nothing on us!}

As our adventure began, we should have seen the signs early on, that Kevin's dream vaca was going to more likely resemble a horror film instead! ha! Kevin and I traveled to Wilmington on Thursday morning to pick up the rental RV. Unfortunately we weren't able to leave town until after 2:00 due to a malfunction in the awning that had been damaged in a wind storm the night before. We arrived at our house to load all of our belongings into the RV, and the generator {powering the AC} quit...several times....but still our excitement was not deterred! :)

It was dark by the time we reached the Farm Park...pitch black in the camping area! Finding our site, parking {backing in} the camper was an adventure unto itself! We tried to level the RV, but the automatic leveler wasn't working on the RV. Despite old fashion wooden blocks stoked under the tires, we were still a rocking ship!

We were so tired, and I, who thought I'd packed everything we could possibly need, forgot the bed sheets and pillows! At that point, we could have sleep under the stars on the ground....we did not care, and all made do for the night!

The first full day of our trip was good....hot, but good! We enjoyed browsing around the junk and displays, listening to live music, and eating lots of "fair/festival food." As we were hot or tired, we were able to venture back to the RV to rest and cool down. My husband was loving it!

~Veering away from my tale, above and below are pictures from the Park. The middle of the Park is set up as a little old town, with an old church, feed store, general store, etc.~~

...the Handy Dandy Railroad, which circles the Park and offers rides to fairgo'ers...

{Photo of the Handy Dandy Train borrowed from Google Images}

Hundreds of Antique Tractor for show, including a few custom ones...in pink!

Antique & Flea Market goods set-up to sell.

A vendor with a booth of nothing but used cowboy boots, in which my daughter found a pair.

...makes you want to start humming, "These boots are made for walking...," huh? :)

The camping spot we were assigned was great! ...right in the middle of all that was happening, and under the trees for shade. As campers for that spot, we were to set up an exhibit. Ours is pictured below...

And there's David. He was independent little fellow, walking around and doing his own thing, which included many ice creams and BBQ sandwiches. haha!

Added a little patriotism to our exhibit...

Kevin's John Deere BO and David Bradley on display, below, as well.

He almost choked down while crossing the rail road track, as the Handy Dandy Train was approaching...but that's another story....ha!

As I said earlier in the post, the first day was great. We enjoyed the vendors, music, food, set-up our exhibit, settled in, mingled with our friendly "neighbors," and went to the nearby town to buy sheets and pillows.

And then, Saturday morning we woke up to silence in the RV, sweating. During the night, the AC and most everything else electrical had quit!
We spent the day, trying to diagnose the problem over the phone with the RV Rental Company, and the help of our fellow camp "neighbors." At one point they sent us to the nearby town for two new batteries, but that didn't fix the problem. The temps hit about 100, and we went to a hotel in Charlotte for the night. At the hotel, Kevin realized he'd left his debit card in the other town, while buying batteries, two hours away.

On Sunday morning, we went back to the Park to pack up and head home. By now, it had been determined that the RV was not going to be fixed and our trip was a goner. We were fortunately given a very satisfactory reimbursement from the RV Rental Company.

I was pulling a trailer loaded with the tractor and other stuff {junk}, with our Surburban. I set out before Kevin, in hopes to catch the store he had left his debit card at, before they closed early for 4th of July. I didn't...and as I proceeded to get back on the major highway for home, Ashley and I started smelling smoke and saw debris flying from behind the trailer.

The roads were hot, my load was heavy, and the tire just couldn't take it! Kevin was not far behind me...following the debris on the road like breadcrumbs to find us. We loaded up, with our disintegrated tire, in the RV, with.no.air.conditioning, and were lucky to find a Walmart Service Center still open! "That was a Thank-You God moment!!!" :)

Home was one welcomed sight that evening!

And you might think our adventure ended there...oh no!

Before we returned the RV, we had to clean out the septic tank. On the movie RV, Robin Williams is unloading the septic on their RV and it explodes...back on him---yep--in real life...that was Kevin and I! On us, in my hair...

I hollered, I cried, and I laughed, all in that order.

It may have not been the vacation of our dreams, but it was one the children will never forget! ha! And would we do it again...you betcha...probably next 4th of July! Besides, "what are the chances of lightning striking twice???" {so to speak} It has to be better next go around, right? :)