There’s an adage that it’s not the destination, it’s the journey.  Well my birthday started off in quite the dramatic fashion illustrating this philosophy.  I had reservations in Rodanthe, North Carolina along the Outer Banks.  I was going to go fishing.  I had plans to visit the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge to take photographs of migratory birds.  I was going places!  But alas, it was not meant to be.  And when I say it was not meant to be, well, I wasn’t going anywhere, lol.

“Never let a stumble in the road be the end of your journey.”
– Karen Salmanshon

So I rolled into Delaware ever so excited to share the purchase of my new Airstream with the family.  Everything was going ok, until…the door fell off the Flying Cloud.  Come again?  Yes, the door fell off the trailer.  Hmmmm…so how does one reattach a door to an Airstream?  But even more importantly, should one attempt to trailer a Flying Cloud across the Chesapeake Bay and down the Atlantic Seaboard with its door precariously attached, or maybe not really attached at all?  That’s one expensive crap shoot.

Find the Answers on the Inside

All one has to do is look inward, to the inside of the Airstream, where it’s warm on this cold December evening and is lit ever so beautifully like a sparkly Christmas tree.  Because it’s within, that one will find the answers, or well at least the answer to one critical question.

Where did the keys go to the Flying Cloud?  The keys to said Airstream, are on the inside of the trailer that is also locked, from the inside.  And in case you didn’t figure it out yet, well, no one is on the inside with the keys.

The day is growing shorter and by shorter, I mean, it’s getting close to midnight and the window of opportunity for traveling down the coast to my destination has all but closed.  Six hours and $200 later, it took a team of locksmiths (whose methods were somewhat shady but proved to be effective) to ascertain that the best way into the trailer was not through the locked door (that we still weren’t sure was properly attached to this riveted aluminum marvel of engineering) was through the back window, the emergency escape window.  Meanwhile, I have fallen asleep, inside my parents house, on the couch.  I would later move outdoors, to the driveway, where I would spend my first night in my new beach home on wheels.

Here Goes Nothing

By morning, it was apparent that a change in the game plan was on the table.  The gods had spoken and traveling to OBX was simply not in the cards for Aolani’s maiden voyage.  So where else does one travel to, at the last minute, in the beginning of December in the Mid-Atlantic, where most campgrounds have closed for the season?

Enter Rock Hall, Maryland…a hop, skip and jump away from Odessa, Delaware and geographically situated in such a way that if the door did fall off, well, I could roll back up Route 301, doorless and back into my parents’ driveway.  I had no idea what we were in for quite honestly.  The closest we had come to anchoring and levelling a travel trailer was my Grady White boat.  But tonight we would park and level this 24′ Airstream in the dark, in the pitch black dark, along the shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay at Camp Shore Camground.

Meanwhile in the Galley…a Dilemma

Can you spot what is missing from this list???

• A Warm Blanket (One of my favs…Woolrich Made in the U.S.A.)
• My Scrabble Typography 3rd Edition by Andrew Capener
• A Loaf of my favourite Zingerman’s bread, Parmesan Peppercorn
• A bottle of Zingerman’s Peranzana Olive Oil (my absolute most favourite olive oil on planet earth and no I’m not being paid to say that, so yes, you should BUY IT, like right now because you have no idea what you’re missing out on!)
• A wedge of Manchego Cheese from Spain
• My Baffin Unisex Cush Insulated Slipper Booty that look like they belong on an astronaut

There was just one problem, aside from having to set up camp on our maiden voyage in the frigid darkness of the Eastern Shore of Maryland…there was no wine onboard:(  But as I rolled into the sleepy, off-season fishing village of Rock Hall, to what should my wandering eyes appear but a coffee and wine shop called Java Rock, but no I couldn’t find the reindeer.  (However I knew Santa just HAD to be nearby.)  They were still open.  Woo-who!  Not only did Java Rock have great latte’s, they had a little room full of wine!!!  I purchased the best bottle of Pinot Noir I have ever had from West Cape Howe.

The Journey That Will Never End

Regardless, happy day for Jen!  After all the drama of the past 24 hours, including the disappointed faces of a 3, 5, and 7 year old who were promised they would get to “camp” for the first time, in Aunt Jen’s “camper van” in the grandparents’ driveway, alas here I was with my wine and that loaf of bread that was eagerly awaiting my arrival and its baking in my new convection oven:)

Not only did my dad find the most awesome campground within one hour of their house on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, he also found the nicest campground keepers on the East Coast.  The Bayshore Campground is located right on the Chesapeake Bay and the sunsets are simply to die for.  It’s uber quiet and the kind of place you want to goto for peace and no distractions.  Definitely a place to challenge a viable opponent in Scrabble, especially a fancy Scrabble set;)