Camp Weeble: 876 Feet of Nope

After getting everything set up, Mrs. Weeble and I pulled out the good old lawn chairs and sat down to relax.

Well, that was the plan.

What actually happened was that we repeatedly got up to untangle the dogs, who apparently believed their new home away from home needed to be thoroughly explored from every possible angle.

Pennie started the festivities by wrapping herself around a couple of trees. Buster joined in by wrapping himself around the picnic table, and Sophie participated wherever she could.

It would have been nice if they had all done it at the same time. Then I could have gotten up once, untangled everybody, and gone back to relaxing.

But no.

I would untangle one dog, sit back down, and within a few minutes another one would be wrapped around a tree, a picnic table, a chair, or possibly something that wasn’t even there five minutes earlier.

After a while, I started feeling like a jack-in-the-box.

Up.

Down.

Up.

Down.

You would think eventually they would figure out where they could walk without getting tangled.

You would be wrong.

These are not exactly the rocket scientists of the canine world. Either that, or they were getting even with us for taking them away from their comfortable couch at home.

Only they know for sure, and none of them are talking.

One of the things I have always enjoyed about our dogs is that each one has a completely different personality, and camping really brings those personalities out.

Sophie is the diva.

She will come out of the Weeblemobile, wander around long enough to take care of business, and then head straight back toward the door like she has had quite enough of this outdoor nonsense.

Once inside, she will sit by the door and whine.

Naturally, you get up and open the door for her.

She then looks at the open door…

and walks away.

Apparently, she just wanted to make sure the staff was still paying attention.

Pennie, on the other hand, is perfectly happy wandering around the campsite with her nose in the air, sniffing every scent that happens to drift through the campground.

Unfortunately, while conducting these important scientific investigations, she will eventually wrap herself around something.

Buster prefers sentry duty.

He stands guard, watching for suspicious critters that might threaten Camp Weeble.

I’m not entirely sure how effective he is.

One time, Buster and I were sitting outside when a squirrel came down the tree right beside us and casually headed toward the next campsite.

Buster saw nothing.

He heard nothing.

It was probably a good thing the squirrel wasn’t a ninja assassin, because Buster would never have seen him coming.

That evening, we were planning hot dogs cooked over the open fire, so Buster, Mrs. Weeble, and I walked up to the camp store to buy some firewood.

I asked the girl behind the counter for one bundle, figuring I was going to have to carry it all the way back to the campsite.

She asked if we had walked up or driven.

I told her we had walked and asked why.

“We can deliver it to your campsite.”

Well, that changed everything.

“In that case, can I have three bundles?”

Funny how quickly a man’s firewood requirements increase when somebody else is carrying it.

I told her there was no hurry.

Of course, somewhere in the back of my mind I knew we needed that wood to cook dinner, so if the delivery took a while, dinner might be a little late.

We had barely gotten back to Camp Weeble when she pulled up with the wood.

Naturally, she received the official Weeble Dog Welcome Committee.

Buster got some pets, Sophie got some attention, and our firewood had arrived.

Dinner was saved.

One of the really nice things about Little Beaver Campground was that it had an excellent Wi-Fi network.

Naturally, I had to test it.

I ran a speed test comparing the campground Wi-Fi with my Starlink. The campground Wi-Fi was actually a little faster, although not by much. It was early in the afternoon, though, so there might not have been many people connected yet.

Having good internet led Mrs. Weeble and me into one of those deep intellectual conversations married couples occasionally have while camping.

She was sitting on her iPad reading several websites she follows.

I was sitting on mine reading The Baltimore Sun.

Eventually, we started talking about just how much camping has changed since the last time I did much of it years ago.

Back then, we would have been sitting in a tent.

Both of us probably would have had a book to read beside the campfire.

If it had been 40 years ago, we might even have found some other physical activities to occupy our time.

Fortunately, we did not have a couple of kids camping with us, or that conversation could have gotten awkward rather quickly.

In the end, we agreed on two things.

Having the Weeblemobile instead of a tent is pretty darn nice.

And having internet at the campsite isn’t such a bad thing either.

Day 2

The next morning, I fired up the Blackstone and made breakfast: eggs and sausage.

After breakfast, we decided to take a ride and explore New River Gorge National Park.

The park is a little different from some national parks because it stretches a long distance along the river rather than being one big compact area.

Our first stop was Grandview Overlook.

It had rained pretty hard the night before—hard enough to chase me back inside the Weeblemobile—and by the time we reached Grandview the temperature was climbing again.

Because the Weeblemobile can heat up pretty quickly, I fired up the generator and turned on the air conditioning for the dogs while Mrs. Weeble and I walked down to the overlook.

The rain from the night before had definitely left its mark.

The river below was high and muddy brown, which you can see in the picture.

We wandered around for a while before heading back toward the Weeblemobile.

As we got closer, we could hear Sophie’s familiar whiny howl coming from inside.

Sophie apparently believes that every time we leave the RV, we are abandoning her forever.

She hasn’t yet accepted the concept that we will actually come back.

From Grandview, we headed toward the New River Gorge Bridge.

As we got closer, Mrs. Weeble wondered out loud whether we would actually be able to drive across it.

I told her to look out her window.

And then look down.

Because we were driving across it while she was asking the question.

We eventually parked near the visitor center and once again fired up the generator and air conditioning for the pups.

Mrs. Weeble and I walked over to the visitor center, learned a little about the bridge, and then headed out to the overlook.

And there it was.

The New River Gorge Bridge.

For a little background, the bridge stretches 3,030 feet across the gorge, with a massive steel arch spanning 1,700 feet.

When it opened, it held the distinction of having the world’s longest single-span steel arch.

See?

You thought this blog was only about the crazy things that happen around the Weeble family.

Every once in a while, you learn something too.

As usual, I am getting sidetracked.

While walking back toward the visitor center, we saw a group of people wearing full-body harnesses heading toward the bridge.

Mrs. Weeble asked what they were doing.

The good Captain actually knew the answer to this one.

There is a guided Bridge Walk that allows people to walk along a catwalk underneath the bridge.

The walkway is about 876 feet above the river.

Let me save everyone some time.

Neither Mrs. Weeble nor the Captain will be signing up for that tour.

Eight hundred and seventy-six feet of nope.

There is another event involving the bridge that takes place every October called Bridge Day.

For one day, they close the bridge to normal vehicle traffic and allow people to BASE jump from it using parachutes.

There are apparently people who look at an 876-foot drop and think:

“That looks like fun.”

Those people are not members of the Weeble family.

After our bridge adventure, we headed back to Camp Weeble and finished the day with cheeseburgers for dinner.

Now, about this point, some of you may be wondering something.

The Weebles seem surprisingly organized this trip.

No medicine forgotten.

No dog bowls left sitting at home.

No major disasters.

Could it be?

Have the Weebles finally gotten their act together?

Let’s not get carried away.

We did forget a couple of things.

The first was my Leatherman multi-purpose tool.

I usually wear it on my belt whenever we’re camping. Between trips, I had placed it on my armoire at home.

And that is exactly where it stayed.

That problem has now been permanently solved.

The Leatherman has officially been reassigned to the Weeblemobile.

The second forgotten item was something called a bug vacuum.

Yes.

A bug vacuum.

For those wondering what that might be, it is a small handheld vacuum Mrs. Weeble can use to suck bugs off the walls and floor inside the RV.

This is actually a brilliant piece of camping equipment.

Not necessarily because it removes bugs.

But because now the good Captain doesn’t have to.

Another important advancement in modern camping technology.

Until next week, when we pick up with Day 3 from Camp Weeble.