THE HONEYMOONERS

Leaving Hilton Head wasn’t easy, but life goes on and so do we - up I-95 although we considered the mountains, but they were too far west on our way home. 

We knew we wanted to take our time on the way back using the last 2 nights of this road trip to find memorable experiences along the way. 

So, just a couple hours north of HHI through the quaint town of Benson, NC, Amanda found Cory on HipCamp. 

Cory owns and operates Animal EdVentures. 

Cory is an incredible woman. Five years ago, she moved her life from Montana to Coats, NC to realize her dream of launching a sanctuary for surrendered animals - and she was very clear that she’s not a rescue center but an animal sanctuary aligned with grounding the human spirit. 

We rolled up on a very rainy night and Cory was there to open the gate after we drove up her 900ft unpaved, bumpy driveway. 

We made our way to her make-shift hookup using a converter to down-power our 50amp plug. We knew we wouldn’t have a water hookup tonight - all good. 

Despite the muddy conditions, Amanda and the boyz enjoyed a guided tour of the sanctuary while I setup the rig alongside 3 Emu’s. 

Grateful for auto-leveling on our RV, we turned-in early and enjoyed watching Hugo on our big screen TV, a book Linky is reading for school right now. 

It was a perfect night. 

Short lived, as the rooster started crowing around 4:30am! 

But, we tried to sleep in knowing we’d be able to spend the morning at Cory’s “zoo” which was too surreal for words - emus at our door, Kangaroos jumping over dogs, Bart the pig enjoying breakfast, Isaac the Camel up front hanging w the goats and donkeys, the birds and parrots talking to us and setting off their version of the car alarm noise, foxes, turtles, coyotes, sloths, otters, bats, snakes, peacocks on the roof, dogs of all breeds running amuck, the biggest turkey we’ve ever seen and Riley telling us “I want to come back” when we had just started! 

Please, if you’re ever in Coats, NC or looking to donate to a worthy cause, consider Cory and Animal EdVentures. 

After some quality time w/ Cory learning about her background and philosophies, we literally reversed the 900ft down her driveway and headed north for one more sleep. 

Stopping for lunch at Cracker Barrel on the way up, we ordered "take-out Cracker Barrel" for definitely the first time at this favorite road trip stop of Mommy’s. 

It was a couple hours drive to Emporia, VA where we planned on staying at the Yogi Bear themed campground for our last night, but after pulling in and taking a drive around, we decided to continue on since most of the amenities (mini golf, bathrooms, showers) were closed due to Covid. 

We just didn’t know where to stay.

Convinced you can't go wrong at a State Park with RV hookups, we found our way to Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield, VA - an hour closer to home and replete with power, water, a bath house and a fire pit - all we needed for our last night since we had sub sandwiches and a bottle of red on us.

And, so we drop Rad Rufus off this morning at Andrew's house, pick up and pack up Mommy's car and head back to Bridlepath with one less tooth in Lincoln's mouth.

This past week solidified some things we all know - family first, gratitude, actions speak louder than words, experiences over consumerism, virtual school sucks, phantom limb syndrome is real in children w/o their "devices" 

Sadly, Riley & Lincoln didn't have those feelings although they may argue otherwise.

We did the best we could - great effort fam.  

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