Hard Work = A Miracle

Saturday, 1 December
Bull Run Regional Park — Centreville, Virginia
Temps: Lo 30F / Hi 48F (-1C / 9C)

After picking up the motorhome from storage yesterday afternoon, we drove the short distance to Bull Run Regional Park (BRRP) and got settled in site 109 (FHU for the jurisdiction rate of $41.50/night + tax).  That done, we went out to celebrate our retirement with dinner at Copper Canyon Grill, located not far from the park.

Mui ordered the wood-fired rotisserie chicken, which is CCG’s specialty — roasted throughout the day, the meat was literally falling off the bone.  I opted for the pan-seared crabcake sandwich, served with a rémoulade that had just enough zing to make it interesting.  Overhearing us toasting our newly-minted status as retirees, the manager comped us one of the two desserts we ordered.  We enjoyed half of the huge slice of key lime pie at the restaurant; the other half will be dessert tonight.  As for the second dessert; well that’s a treat for tomorrow morning and the subject of a post of its own ;-)

When we returned home, we decided to overlook the mess around us.  Instead, we watched the latest episode of Muhteşem Yüzyıl (Magnificent Century), a Turkish TV program that can best be described as a soap opera based on the life and times of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent.  With our recent switch from Millenicom’s aircard to its 4G/3G mi-fi, we had great signal strength to stream the show with no hiccups and use up at least some of our 20GB data allowance for November.

After a good night’s rest, we spent today tackling the mess of boxes and bags that were haphazardly piled on every available surface.  The task seemed quite daunting … until we took out the trikes, which we were temporarily storing under the dining table, and loaded the car with all the stuff designated for the storage unit.  That done, the job became more manageable.

It took a lot of hard work, but we went from this last night …

… to this by 4:30p today.  It’s a miracle what can be accomplished when one sets one’s mind to the task at hand.  A miracle indeed!

There’s still plenty of fine tuning to be done, but it feels good to know that we’ve been able to put everything we want to take on the road with us in the many nooks and crannies of the Phaeton.  And we still have room to spare ;-)

We’ll be at BRRP through Monday night.  Probably won’t have much of interest going on during the day; we’ll be busy working around the motorhome.  However, we plan to go out one night to enjoy the park’s annual Festival of Lights.  Those staying at the campground — and there is a surprising number of us — get a small taste of the holiday cheer for free as we come and go from the park after nightfall.  If I can unearth my tripod, I’ll take some photos to share.  (For those who are local, there’s a $3 off coupon here; it’s good for weeknight admission.)

[Banner image from the BRRP website]

The first day of fulltiming was a good one!