Enjoying the Great Indoors

We've made it to Indianapolis and are enjoying the hospitality of my friend Janet.  After some negotiating, angling, and praying, we parked the pop-up securely on her fairly steeply inclined driveway (I say "we" as if I had anything to do with it.  Ha!  We've discovered many things during these past two weeks, and one of them is that I can't back up the pop-up to save my life.  Tim, however, is a pop-up back up genius.  He's like the Yoda of Reverse.  He's gotten us out of tight squeezes, unlikely positions, and impossible situations with only a "Yeah, honey, you've got it!" from me.  If there were an Olympics for backing up trailers, Tim would be bringing home the gold).  We'll spend the next week and a half relying on the kindness of friends, popped down and indoors. 

But as nice as it is indoors, we kinda miss the outdoors.  Life popping up has been surprisingly enjoyable.  Though the camper is small, it's comfortable and fits the four of us nicely.  The electrical hookup at the campsites give us lights and the ability to charge up cell phones, the laptop, and even our electric toothbrush (so much for roughing it).  We get fresh water from the campsite spigot, and with that and the propane stove hung on the outside of the camper, we're good to go for cooking.  I was doubtful about the slide out beds when I first saw them, but after having spent many nights on them, I can say without hesitation that they offer a good night's sleep.  All in all, I foresee a pop-up in the Akins family future (only one with a little more storage space, because the one drawback we've found is having to share that small a space with our sound and music gear.  That's a drag.  But it's a small price to pay for the joy of camping). 

But back to the tour...

We left Chattanooga on Wendesday, dropping off a few CDs at local churches (in the hopes that they might - miracle of miracles - actually listen to them!).  We didn't get to play in Chattanooga.  We stayed at a commercial campground and there was just no opportunity there for us to perform, doggone it. 

Commercial sites have a totally different vibe than state parks.  Commercial sites have the ambience of a Walmart parking lot, only without the shopping carts.  These sites are home to serious RVers, some of whom live in their RVs full time (ye gods).  Serious RVers don't hike trails (cuz there aren't any in a Walmart parking lot, in case you haven't noticed).  They don't socialize.  Shoot, they don't even come outdoors.  They just stay snug in their very large, very comfortable RVs.  They're like turtles, only with cable TV.  So no, we didn't play there. 

But we did play at the campgrounds in Carrollton, Kentucky, and I'll write about that next leg of our tour - and the National Quartet Convention - tomorrow.  Now I think I might just go hang out on Janet's deck, enjoy the night air and listen to the crickets for a while...