Chapter 15 · America the Beautiful

One More Campfire

She gave me a love of travel that has forever shaped my life

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However, there were aftershocks from that trip. Once we got back, I spent the night on my Grandma’s couch since we got in late. One of my uncles had stayed at her condo with his kids while we were away, and, unbeknownst to him, one of his kids had head lice that had gotten into the furniture. When I slept on her couch, I picked up the bugs, and it took me a week to figure out why my head was itching so badly, and then another week to get rid of the lice.

Grandma went to her doctor for another look at her arm, and sure enough, it was fractured. She ended up in a cast for about a month while it healed.

That was the last time we went to West Virginia and Ohio together. I had grown up and started a life of my own. Years later, though, Grandma got a permanent spot for a camper in Cleveland, Georgia. She had more camping buddies there, including my Papa John and younger cousins. I can honestly say I was a bit jealous. However, in my late twenties, the thrill of camping with Grandma was calling again.

This time, the tradition moved to the fall. We’d head up to her little spot in the mountains and spend a weekend antique shopping and photographing the fall color change in the mountains. I would tend the campfire late into the evening, roasting marshmallows while she’d sit inside reading a book.

I even signed up every year for the annual chili cook-off and won the first year, and almost won the second year. Grandma would listen to me talk big and competitive for the whole weekend, peacocking around the campsite, rolling her eyes and laughing at me while I smiled and walked around passing out samples of my chili like a true politician chasing votes. It was hilarious.

These trips lasted until she finally, and begrudgingly, sold her camper and campsite to a friend. Even my heart was broken. She camped there with my Papa John and younger cousins for years before she reached that point. Papa John even fell out of that camper once and broke both of his knees, and my cousins grew up just like I did.

If Grandma could still get out and camp like we did back in the day, I’m sure she would do it tomorrow, even in her 80s. She still has a bucket list of places she wants to visit and lives vicariously through my trips all over the country, camping at various national parks in tents, stagecoaches, hiking through mountains, and sightseeing places we could only dream about.

She gave me a love of travel that has forever shaped my life and the lives of my cousins and even a couple of my uncles.

She was truly the original badass traveler in our family.