Memorial Day Weekend ’24

Jeffrey and I were both extremely excited to finally embark on our first real camping trip. The last trip to Keystone was very wet, short, and didn’t feel like a good official start to the camping season, so we were both looking forward to this weekend. 

After work on Friday, we finished loading the car and realized our battery was really struggling. (We have our normal car battery and a “house battery” that gives us power for our fridge, lights, radio, charging ports, outlets, etc. The house battery is not connected to our regular car battery.) We jumped the van in our home garage and decided we should probably deal with this issue before leaving. We quickly stopped at Advanced Auto to see if they had the very special group 41 battery Charlotte takes, but they did not. We figured we had a jump starter battery pack and that we’d be able to jump ourselves in the morning if she died again. We were itching to get going and start our weekend, so we acted on this plan.

As we were driving, we realized that in our haste, we had forgotten to fill up our water tank! (*cue facepalm) We couldn’t believe we forgot something so basic and…simple!? I can understand forgetting a weird ingredient for a meal or something quirky that we don’t usually bring, but water!? We had reached a new low haha Thankfully our campground had a potable water filling station that saved us.

The drive out to Shawnee State Park was absolutely stunning. While the mountains were quite the challenge for good ole Charlotte, she slowly trucked us up them and we enjoyed beautiful scenic overlooks spotted with windmills and family farms. A car show had recently let out also, so we got to see some beautiful old cars as we drove too.

Upon arrival at Shawnee, we filled our water tank and enjoyed some Teddy Grahams. The area was beautiful, but for whatever reason, the entire western Pennsylvania decided this was the day to spread manure. It stunk at home before we left, and it stunk throughout the entire campground. 

We drove to our campsite (223 on the hill loop), and it took multiple tries to back in to the flattest portion of the campground we could find. I ended up finding some rocks to back our van onto to use as a ramp to try and level us out a bit more. Was it perfect? No, but we made it work. 

After setting up camp, we explored the campground and walked to the bathrooms. We settled in, had another snack, and watched The Idea of You. Jeff thought it was an average movie, but I thought it was SO good, and I will definitely be watching it again. 

Saturday, May 25

We woke up to the birds singing, which just never gets old when camping in Charlotte. We both had a pretty good sleep. It did get a little chilly in the middle of the night, but overall it was very comfortable. 

We started getting ourselves ready, and as I was making myself coffee, a little hummingbird friend came to visit! He circled the entire front of the van looking in! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I had never seen a hummingbird just appear without the draw of sugar water or flowers. 

After getting ready, we were ready to take off! We turned the key, and….nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not even a click that the van was trying to roll over. Yikes. But no worries, we had our trusty jump starter battery pack and could jump ourselves, right? Wrong. We connected the jump pack and she tried to start, but after 5 attempts of struggle and no turn over, the battery was overheated and the jump pack now did not have enough charge to jump us again. 

Jeff then jumped out of the van trying to think of other solutions. Mind you, we had the entire back of the van packed with our things, so we had to throw all our belongings into a heap on the couch so Jeff could access the engine in the back. It was a mess. It was also at this exact point that the tiny little dot of green on the radar hovered over us and the heavens opened up. And it was at this exact moment that I needed to use the restroom. So I grabbed my rain jacket and trekked through the torrential downpour to the bathrooms. It was a lovely time.

Once I returned, we walked to the nearest bulletin board and called the park rangers for help. We officially needed jumped. (We counted that is our second “breakdown” ever, which is pretty good for an almost 40-year-old van. Our first “breakdown” was last spring when we discovered our lugnuts were not tight enough, and we almost lost a wheel while driving.)

We waited for the park rangers for about 10 minutes before they arrived, had us sign papers, and get their vehicle ready to jump. The only issue was that it was a newer model of vehicle and no one knew how to open the front hood. So back they went to the ranger station to get an actual jump pack to jump us. So we waited another 10 minutes. In the meantime, Jeff unplugged an idle feature that had been failing to see if that would help with the battery starting. 

We left Shawnee State Park and immediately went to O’Reilly Auto Parts in Bedford to get a new battery. Which of course they didn’t have. We ended up spending about 3 hours making phone calls and driving to auto parts stores before finding our speciality battery in Somerset. 

After switching over our battery, we drove to Indian Lake to visit with some of Jeff’s extended family and celebrate Memorial Day. (Sidenote: I made this AMAZING cream cheese chocolate chip dip but made it lactose free with mostly vegan ingredients and even with the substitutes (including no nuts), it was AMAZING.) We enjoyed the lake, showed the family the newly renovated van, and enjoyed a delicious meal before leaving for Bald Eagle State Park.

It was quite a long drive, and upon entering the campground, we discovered how quiet our neighbors were, which was much appreciated. We quickly got ready for bed and cuddled in for a good night’s rest.

Sunday, May 26 // Bald Eagle State Park (Site 85, beautiful, flat, and by trees)

We woke up and immediately went to the little lake that is a part of Bald Eagle State Park. It was time to blow up our paddleboard! When doing the van renovations, we knew we wanted to outfit her with more “outdoorsy” things, and a paddleboard was at the top of my list. We decided on an 11’ inflatable stand up paddleboard from Atoll Boards because they were reasonably priced and would allow us to tandem paddle too. 

Pumping up the board wasn’t the most fun. It’s extremely easy at first, but as it becomes more pressurized, it gets much harder. We decided we’d be purchasing an electric pump to travel with since it would be much less fun on an even hotter day. 

After pumping it up, I took it out and was able to stand up for the first time! And I didn’t fall in! Jeff then came to paddle with me and we explored a little before jumping in for a swim and a bath. It was nice to have a floating table to put our biodegradable soap on! We floated for a bit before heading back to the campground and picking up some firewood. We dried everything off, set up the rest of the camp, had a quick lunch, and headed for Bellefonte. 

At Bellefonte, we admired the beautiful buildings, the local park, and a small craft show. We then went to State College and walked around the Penn State campus before ending with ice cream from the Penn State Berkey Creamery. Jeff got a chocolate milkshake and got alumni icecream, which had crunchy chocolate pieces and a blueberry swirl in vanilla icecream. We bought a couple more pints of ice cream (which we could do since we have a freezer in the van now!!) and some meat sticks (which were absolutely delicious). 

We drove back to Bald Eagle State Park and explored the rest of the park, packed up the paddleboard in preparation for incoming rain, and enjoyed burgers over the fire. 

Monday, May 27

It did rain a bit in the morning, and I was grateful to have such a dry space in the van. When we used to tent camp, we got caught in the rain often and it made it very difficult to pack up everything when it was wet, and then you had to reset up everything at home to let it dry, so the novelty of having everything dry and movable is still a luxury. 

For breakfast, we had cereal and (burnt) cinnamon rolls. (Poor Jeff is really trying to learn how to “bake” cinnamon rolls on a gas stove.) We drove through 2 more state parks on the way home: SB Elliot and Parker Dam. SB Elliot was extremely small, so it was a quick drive through. Parker Dam, though, was very picturesque. It was small too, but it had more to enjoy. We popped the top, enjoyed a Bubly, I took a nap, and Jeff worked a bit on his computer. It was such a nice relaxing afternoon. It was another reminder of how much we enjoy having everything with us in the van and the ability to spread out and rest even while on the road.

After a good rest, we traveled the rest of the way home and unpacked for the week ahead.