Please Please Please Let There Be A Campsite

My entire plan for the weekend hinged upon scoring a campsite in the Cataloochee campground since it is no reservations, first-come, first-served. It is not possible to pick up the phone and call your favorite park ranger about availability. Most FAQs are answered on the website, but you can email specific questions and they are pretty prompt at answering. My back-and-forth with the ranger was discouraging, as this was a big holiday weekend and there are only 27 sites in the campground. So...Plan A was Cataloochee, Plan B was Balsam Campground (also no reservations and even more remotely located), Plan C was Smokemont Campground (reservations but probably full), Plan D (go to Maggie Valley and hope to find a commercial campground) or Plan E (sleep in the car?) Why didn't I just go with Smokemont and make reservations? Because you pay in advance and you can't get your money back and I wanted to be in Cataloochee (insert photo of toddler stamping foot here).

Stephanie and I left Charlotte on Thursday shortly after noon on a mission: a Cataloochee campsite or bust! We are pretty sure we did not harm anyone along the way. As soon as we got off at our exit from I-40 we stopped for gas and beverages, as we would be leaving modern conveniences after this point. I saw a suspicious vehicle at the pumps - it was full of children and camping gear. I hustled Stephanie back to our car and we sped off up the twisty-turny gravel Cove Creek Road to the sign that says:

Funny thing about Cove Creek: It is paved, then gravel, then paved, then gravel. I'm sure it made sense to someone.

After many suspenseful hours (okay, 30 minutes) the campground appeared and we turned in. I could see the campground host lady at the sign-in board. As I approached I asked if there were any sites left and the answer was, "Well, I believe there is just one left." Cue the Hallelujah chorus! I whipped out my checkbook and filled out the paperwork.

I have not seen my checkbook since that moment. Steph, if it's in your car, give me a call.

Stephanie drove to our site and we set up a small tent for us and a larger tent for our buddies coming in the next day. We finally broke out the canvas chairs, sat back to breathe, and Stephanie says,

"So...what's for dinner?"