Let There Be Flames

There had to be at least one campfire or this whole trip was wrong.

I said I would have it, and I made it happen.

The way I made it happen was by scavenging the woods around our campsite for dead wood.

And I found it.

We parked for one last night, partly to make sure we had all our tanks emptied and flushed, because our previous stop had no hookups.

But also because Columbus to home is realistically seven hours when you're towing.

The Googles say five and a half.

We know better.

We stopped at Grand Vue Park in Moundsville, WV. It's a beautiful campground that truly does have a grand view. The area that is now the RV park was once a golf course, and it sits high in the hills above the town of Moundsville, overlooking the surrounding valley.

I don't know if we'll travel four hours to stay there again anytime soon, unless it's on our path to somewhere else.

But the campground is meticulously maintained, and they have some nice amenities: disc golf, mini golf, a pool with waterslides, plenty of places to walk, and sites with spectacular views.

Unfortunately, their onsite restaurant closed in early 2026.

And I gotta say, for the kind of trip we took, that would have been a real bonus.

We were banking on that onsite restaurant when we arrived.

However.

Supper turned into wings from yesterday, reheated in the air fryer.

Followed by some popcorn chicken we found in the freezer.

Supplies are gettin' low, y'all.

After the sun went down, Jason made me the best—and only—fire in thirty-five days of "camping" with my scavenged wood.

And I put on some music.

It was perfect.

And it was also weird.

It was a square-peg-round-hole situation.

Campfires and sitting outside listening to music and enjoying our surroundings weren't really part of this trip.

I had to have the fire to feel complete, but it didn't represent what we actually experienced throughout the trip.

It was something I thought was supposed to happen every night.

The campfire.

And like so many little things I thought this trip would be, it was lacking.

And yet, the trip was so much more.

We sat and watched the fire burn, and then our song came across the speaker.

No way.

Eric Church. Wrecking Ball.

It's a very sexy song, and it's ours.

It's about coming home after a long journey and... well, listen to it for yourself.

We slow-danced.

And we laughed.

This is coming to an end.

The next stop is home.