Birchwood RV Park Durham NC

So we are at our destination in Durham, Birchwood RV, the only RV park in the area other than a very expensive KOA in Raleigh.  http://birchwoodrv.com/  A beautiful forest like setting as we look out this morning the sun is way up there over the tall pines which block satellite TV reception.  Getting here was a big challenge with Godfrey, the new GPS who took us alongside a shopping center.  The area has lots of development but Godfrey although newly purchased in  April this year is out of date and is just plain whacko.  Somehow we arrived intact despite my fears that we were entering a scene of Deliverance.  The neighbor next door from AZ came  right over saying, "welcome to Deliverance."  We had a laugh at that as well as his tshirt which said, "I drink to make people interesting." He was towing a Hummer 2, a smaller version which I believe I would have had to have if we had stayed in Northern CA; my  fascination with the smaller Hummers is unexplainable.

  Pham the resident manager whose brother owns the  park is quite a character, a Vietnamese boat person, survivor, conservative and the agile happy go lucky  guy in charge who runs a safe place, "no trouble here."  With the experiences of his life he has learned to enjoy one moment at a time.  By our arrival I was beside myself, wondering how and where we were and was this trip worth it.  Two minutes with Pham who encouraged us to stay the week, "more cheaper that way" I felt better.  He later said, "I see you were trouble so I make you laugh."  Perceptive person. Another of his favorite sayings, "Oh we gonna' be in deep deep trouble now."

The people in the coach behind us were also at the rally  in Winston Salem and have lived here as full time RV'ers.  She told me more about Pham,  who calls the local cops if he suspects the strangest thing from the residents of the  mobile home park on the hill.  She says Pham is one in a million and I have already seen that.  They sold their home near here and travel between Durham where one son lives  and their other son in southern CA and visit family in FL along the way. Her husband is a retired computer program mer and  says he picks up odd jobs along their travels to supplement their retirement.  She has had medical issues about which she did not elaborate and says she is bound to enjoy life while she has it and do things while she can.  Good advice.

Neighbors on the other side are from South Dakota and have been here  six weeks but are leaving tomorrow. Showing me a picture on his phone of a big full sized pig and then two pot bellies which were in a corral up the path, he said, the woman driving her RV alone  was a retired surgeon who had rescued the pigs and brought them by trailer. Once long ago in CA I had the desire to get a pot bellied pig as a pet, a notion which Jerry vetoed without due consideration.  I thought they were cute and so on, but Jerry was vehement that no pig could live in our house.   By now you get the drift that everyone is a neighbor in these RV sites which makes for interesting conversations if you enjoy talking with people and hearing their stories as I do.  

It is only 91 miles here from Winston Salem much shorter than our directions courtesy of Good Sam travel planner indicated.  Once we were set up, I had a couple loads of clothes to wash and was happy to be all hooked up again from our semi-dry camping at the Rally.  Yesterday morning was our planned departure and at 9:00AM all electricity was shut off.  We thought that rude and so much for southern hospitality.  Fortunately we are self contained but what a surprise.  That is just one reason why we are unlikely to attend any other FMCA rallies.  Why not announce that instead of just unplugging everyone?   We have been spoiled at the Fleetwood Owners Association rallies and will stick to those.

We have been sleeping in late for us and not moving early this trip to the south.  Maybe it is dark earlier in the morning here or maybe we have a case of the retired lazies, but 8:00 or even 8:30AM is very  late for us.  Of course Jerry was recovering from his bout of   sore throat, cough, etc and I don't know what my excuse has been.  Although yesterday I started to feel a bit tired and head congestion. 

For two people who never get sick to both catch something on the trip is annoying.  Saturday  evening we skipped the entertainment at the rally because I just did not feel like trekking back and forth in the dark.  The neighbors here who also were at the rally said they did the same thing.  In my case I had not been sleeping well for a couple nights and decided it was just too much stimulation in the evenings and then the cold walk back to the coach awakened me.  I am so accustomed to my quiet reading time an hour or so before bedtime that my mind and or body were rebelling at the absence of quiet. 

Today we are off to visit with our long time friends from CA who moved here after we left CA.  They have visited us several times in MN and this is our first trip to NC, seemed each time we planned something in life switched the plan.  The four of us go back to about 1969 in Fair Oaks; for a time Nevin was in Vietnam with the army and Alicia who is Panamanian stayed there with the kids. When we are together she and I both talk  at the same time, making others ears very numb, but I learned this technique long ago with her otherwise I would not get in a word.  We both can keep up with our dual conversations to the amazement of observers.  There is something beyond the familiar or comfort in these long time connections, that is unexplainable.   Perhaps surviving life's bumps and billows leaves us with a deeper appreciation of knowing one another.

Our AZ neighbor departed this AM and another coach  has just  pulled in with "Christian Music Ministries" painted over their windshield, traveling minstrels perhaps.   Weather is once again optimal here in NC, temperatures in the high 70"s today and possibly 80. That is all good.