Trip: Day One

I was seriously tempted to write this blog entry before we even left. I figured it would be totally predictable: drive drive drive drive drive sleep.

That was, in fact, pretty much it. Start at 6AM from home, keep feeding gas into the machine, head down 35 to Des Moines, pick up 80 to Grand Island, cameras left packed, pay, pitch the tent, crash.

Except....

Walking into the KOA, I was greeted by the smell of pizza. It seems after a hard day of driving, you can order it delivered from their office to your campsite. It was tempting, but we were on a budget, and I thought it would be a bad precedent to set. There was plenty of food in the RV just waiting to be cooked and eaten, or sometimes not even needing cooking. But pizza was just one of the ways they get things right there. They also get the pool right too. It's warm, shaded on the western side by tall trees so you can swim after arriving without worrying about sunburn for as long as you wish. Even more important, it has steps to get in and out, rather than ladders. That never occurred to me to be important when I was a kid, but I found out the hard way later in the trip that it was vital. When you are done swimming, you can walk a few steps to the hot tub, in its own small room with clear instructions on how to remove the lid. Yes it's hot, and yes it feels great. We slept well that night.

Having asked for sites near the pool and showers/bathrooms, we were well accommodated. Everything was clean, accessible, and pleasant. The final nice touch was a bucketful of fireflies darting about after dusk.