Vacations used to be easy to imagine, plan and execute. Pick a spot or a loved one to visit and go. Wanting a little different scenery, I decided to plan a staycation in a WV state park. Wrong……no cabins available. One of the good outcomes of the pandemic, if that’s possible, is that families are enjoying the outdoors together and so all the state park cabins were rented, except one — a pioneer cabin.
So off I trek with my travel buddy to Kumbrabow State Forest to stay in a pioneer cabin for two nights. What is a pioneer cabin? Well, it’s a little more modern than pioneer living, but not so foreign to some people in my mother’s era. The cabins have gas lights and wood for heating and cooking – no running water and no electricity. Most of our friends asked, “why would you pay to stay there?” Desperation? Sense of adventure? Stupidity?
We packed the porti-potty, the battery lanterns, playing cards and books, ready for a rainy weekend. As we drew nearer the mountain, the rain began to fall. As we ascended the mountain the rain fell harder and the dirt road became muddy and a bit slippery in places. We began to understand the meaning of the phrase “if the Lord’s willing and the creek don’t rise.” An hour or so before dusk we pulled in and hurriedly read the instructions for lighting the gas lights. Next we searched for the well in order to pump water for dish washing after dinner. Lights lit, water well found, some really hard pumping of the handle and four heavy buckets to carry back to the cabin and we were ready for the night. Surprise – it took all four buckets of water to wash the dishes after our meager meal.
Meal eaten, dishes washed, gas lights lit and surprise — too dark to read, so time to play a game. We woke up to more rain, but didn’t mind because we brought books to read. As soon as we heard the rain stop, though, we ran out to the well to obtain four more buckets of water to wash the breakfast dishes. Dishes done, time for a glorious walk in God’s beautiful world. We walked down to the water fall, took pictures and enjoyed the lush greenery. After time spent in silent meditation next to the babbling brook, we decided to take the road back to the cabin for lunch. We learned quickly to step out of the road into the edge of the shoulder when a car drove by to escape the spewing spout of gooey mud.
Lunch eaten, back to the well to obtain four buckets of water to wash dishes and a continuation of the card game as we head the rain fall outside. This routine repeated several times over the two day stay until it was time to return home. We packed the porti-potty, battery lanterns, playing cards and books in the car and looked around for any stray items. All packed and ready to go, we said our good-byes to our rigorous experiment in pioneer living.
Note to self: book cabin ASAP for next year – haven’t had that much time to relax, read, play cards and talk to God for a long time………..