Celebrating the Fourth of July in North Carolina
Making the best of a checkmark stop
In Mission: Wanderlust, I write and podcast about our family’s travel adventures and the things that we have learned along the way.
Our summer vacation in 2021 couldn’t have come at a worse time. We had started discussing our plans in late 2020, as my sister-in-law started making her own plans for a camping sabbatical across the United States. By the time she was ready to make the itinerary in early 2021, our lives had exploded in our laps. We made the decision to move back to Indiana less than two weeks before we were supposed to leave on vacation. In short, it was a disaster, and with focus on moving when we returned, all I could really write about it was a quick summary. Now that I have time, I’m going back to write more reflectively about each of our major stops. You can find the original summary of our whole vacation here.
If I’m being perfectly honest with myself, North Carolina was a checkmark stop. We had to travel through the state to get to our final destination in Indiana, where we were meeting my family for a few days in Brown County. Unfortunately, we discovered that finding a state park that would house our travel trailer became a significant challenge and we finally ended up at a Corps of Engineers park in the Appalachian Mountains.1
Our drive from South Carolina wasn’t not as long or strenuous as the previous day drives, so we felt like we had some time to relax for two nights. The park was near a town with enough lively activity that we looked at entertainment options and discovered a few local distilleries. After dinner, we left the kids with their grandparents and Jeff, his sister, and I went out for some local moonshine at Call Family Distillers. We enjoyed good drinks and an impromptu personal tour from one of the employees, only to discover that the state required cut off time for purchasing bottles of the flavored moonshine was well before closing time. Oh well.2
The next day, I did laundry, and the rest of the family enjoyed some sun and swimming at the reservoir. It was one of those down days during vacation where we actually didn’t feel like we had to do anything, and while I struggle to not have a full itinerary and see all the things, being forced to slow down for a day was what we all needed.
And for the first time in six years, we took our kids to an actual fireworks show. The last time we had gone to a real fireworks show was in 2015, the summer we moved to Texas. After that last professional show on the shores of Lake Michigan, we had spent the next five years either traveling on July 4 or doing our own fireworks with our neighbors. Our 10-year-old, who had never actually stayed awake for a whole display, was amazed by what a real show put on by professionals, not neighborhood amateurs, could be. And we all enjoyed the small-town atmosphere that surrounds all good July 4th celebrations, including food and a parade.
It appeared to be a nearly perfect stop.
Then we packed up to go. We didn’t get the camper properly hooked up to the truck the first time and it dropped off of the truck, nearly rolling down the hill and getting caught by the two leveler blocks that we had put into place when we parked. Then, while we were dumping our wastewater, I discovered that the greywater tanks were not closed and got gross dish and bathroom sink water all over my hands and arms.3
Awesome.
But we got on the road safely and headed towards Tennessee for an overnight stop on our way to Kentucky. And we were able to put that all-important North Carolina sticker on the camper before we left.
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While I usually prefer state parks for overnight stops when we can, Corps of Engineers parks are an excellent alternative. They are affordable, well maintained, and often have enough options for at least a few recreational activities after a day on the road.
We did eventually find a local liquor store where we could purchase the moonshine to take with us on the rest of our trip.
These mishaps were the fourth and fifth mishaps of our trip. To say things weren’t going smoothly would have been an understatement. It also was reminiscent of that scene in RV when Robin Williams has a major mishap with their black tank. I’m just thankful it wasn’t worse!
Great post! Distillery tours are always on my list... looking forward to a Scotch whisky tour in our camper one of these days. 🚐 We’ve just had our first camping trip of the year - it was fun in the frost! 🥶