Sabbatical Journey #12
May 20th, 2008 by pastorscott
Camping Unplugged
We had never tested our Casita’s dry camping ability, so our three night stay at Elkmont was an uncertain one. The report card comes out pretty good. On the third evening we ran out of fresh water. Even though we ran out of water, if we were careful we still had room for one or two more night’s waste water in the holding tanks. Therefore, I carried water from a drinking fountain across the campground in one gallon water jugs and poured them into the fresh water tank. Propane and battery power held out just fine. The conclusion is that we can be fairly liberal with the Casita’s resources if we are willing to hook up and move to a dump station and refill with fresh water every two days. If we are careful and have a fresh water source we can last for, barely, four days. On the “thoughtful” front, I can’t help but note how priorities change when one is out in a small camper like this. At home, such as I just described never enters my mind. I think it’s a good thing once in a while to “unplug” from many of the things we take for granted and let other things (like: how will we keep warm without a furnace) take over. It’s good to be without a cellphone or TV and resort to building a campfire for both warmth and the evening’s entertainment. Somehow, I need to find ways to incorporate that realization into my everyday life.
On the other hand, we moved from the beautiful Elkmont camp with no hookups into Walden’s Creek RV Park in Pigeon Forge. I backed into the site, and had everything from sewer to electric to cable TV ready to hook up. However, I also have neighbors a few feet from me on all sides. No quiet mountain scene, no river rapids outside my door and privacy a bit hard to come by. Instead of waterfalls and wildlife and trails we have outlet malls and restaurants and amusement parks nearby. Those things aren’t bad. In fact, it’s a nice contrast. Still, this isn’t the “sabbatical feeling” I am looking for.
Tags: camping, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Pigeon Forge, sabbatical leave, Walden's Creek RV Park
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Welcome to "General Writing From Pastor Scott." While my main focus in writing is 
October 1st, 2009 at 9:12 pm
[...] However, looking a bit farther back in my ramblings, she found my sanguine thoughts on camping unplugged and how peaceful it is. What can I say? Sitting beside a beautiful mountain stream with nothing [...]