Road Tripping - Week of Aug. 3rd

"A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles." ~Tim Cahill

We met Ms. Michelle in the summer of 2015 when she was added to our Cam Care team.  Eleven years later, we still connect with her in person at least once a year.  In Cam's graduation book, her entry reads: "The question is.. how has CAM NOT affected my life! Cam has taught me unconditional love, sacrifice, persistence, not to give up!! There is always another way to do something! Kindness is a beautiful gift! There is an invention that can solve many problems! Cam always knows what's going on! Follow his instincts! Laughing is a choice and contagious! From the beginning Cam knew his summer would be fun and I knew God sent me an angel along with Jane and Chris!! Forever blessed to be a part of your family...."  We were so happy to see Michelle on Monday in between her mission trips.  She brought Cam some graduation balloons and candy from Latvia, along with the best hugs!

Tuesday night, our van was packed up in anticipation of our early morning.  At 5:30am on Wednesday, we pulled out of the driveway.  Our destination: Mills River, North Carolina, just southwest of Asheville.  Jane's best friend from grade school, Leslie, along with her husband Wes live in a Cam-accessible home nestled in the mountains.  Our 11+hour journey was fairly smooth.  The sunrise was beautiful and we made our inaugural stop at a Buc-ee's travel center.  It was quite overwhelming and definitely lives up to its reputation for being the 
largest convenience store for travelers.  

We arrived in Mills River at dinnertime, thankful for a safe journey and comfortable beds.  During our stay, Cam and his parents have the entire lower level of the Les and Wes homestead.  The mountain views are incredible and the "swimming" hot tub made for a most relaxing Thursday for us all.  Their two cats, Earl and Sterling, are great entertainment and even joined the guys on a stroll down the road. Auntie Leslie had a great idea to use a float for Cam in the hot tub and it worked perfectly for him allowing his muscles to relax.

A big bonus for us all was the arrival of Leslie's daughters that evening.  Ali and husband Daree arrived first, followed by Erin.  

For our Friday activity, Wes had borrowed his brother's pontoon boat and jet skis so we could all enjoy a lake day.  Wes's brother, Gary, joined us to assist with transporting all of the gear.  We had to laugh because the forecast provided a few days prior called for lots of rain.  It turned out to be the perfect boating day.  The inland lake was beautiful and the water was warm and refreshing.  The biggest bonus was that Cam's power wheelchair made it on board without any issues!

A family barbeque was planned for Saturday.  Wes's daughter, Mackenzie, and her family along with Leslie's mom, her sister and family all arrived in the afternoon.  Wes smoked pork all day and we had a literal feast.  Jane transported one of their homemade apple pies from Michigan and baked it for dessert. Then, we played a most hilarious game that Erin introduced us to.  Fishbowl is a popular group communication game that only requires pieces of paper, pencils and a couple of bowls.  The moderator calls out a question and everyone writes an answer on the piece of paper provided and adds it into the fishbowl.  Then, the moderator reads all of the answers and each player has an opportunity to guess which answer was written by each individual playing the game.  The age range of 18-88 years made for a most hilarious outcome.

Sunday was our final full day in North Carolina.
Every morning, the clouds seem to hang on the mountains until the warm air lifts them away.  It is a spectacular view.

On this day, Cam's parents celebrated 23 years of marriage.  Originally, our group was going to commemorate the event by going to Sierra Nevada for dinner.  We were so relaxed, though, that ordering pizza seemed to be a much better option.  The best part of vacation is being flexible and going with the flow.  

And to make it all even more special was the fact that Cam insisted on paying with his own credit card!

Camology Quotes:

Upon arrival in North Carolina, we told Cam that he was a much better road tripper than his parents that day.  He was way more patient than his folks and at one point when his mom and dad were exasperated with technology, he rightfully asked:

"Parents, are you ok?!" (which thankfully led to laughter for everyone!)