brown county

Where we are: Brown County State Park, Indiana

Where we’re going: Shelbyville, Kentucky

How we feel: Cold, but pretty stoked about it (we don’t get weather like this in Texas)

*****

Casey has been talking about camping in Brown County since we started our journey. He spent years coming to the park as a kid and says some of his fondest memories were made here. Anytime we mentioned our plans, people jumped all over themselves proclaiming its beauty. If I had a dollar for every person who said, “Brown County is gorgeous in the fall!” I’d have enough to buy my next bundle of firewood, which is not cheap. I was, however, still a little worried it wouldn’t live up to the hype. I figured that at least some of the good parts were a result of happy, childhood memories. Fortunately, it’s proven to be every bit as wonderful as everyone promised. The weather is cool, the leaves are changing colors, and all around is an intoxicating mix of fresh, crisp air and the woodsy smell of smoldering logs.

We spent our first few days here hanging out with some of Casey’s extended family and visited Hard Truth – an awesome brewery/distillery (two thumbs up, highly recommend). After they left things got a little tense. I think the time away from home in small spaces with small children has started to get to us just a little bit. Fuses seem to blow more quickly these days. And speaking of fuses! I had a minor breakdown as a result of a blown one when Dave and Casey decided to fix our fridge, which hasn’t run off of electricity the entire time we’ve been on the road. Unfortunately for everyone, the fuse blew just after Charley went down for a nap. The power went, the sound machine shut off, and she was startled awake. This probably wouldn’t have been a big deal, but she’s nearing ten months and NEVER sleeps through the night, which means I never sleep through the night, and I am a mean, angry, tired mother. The second her wailing started, I freaked the flip out. Rather than stay there fuming with all of the people I hated at the moment, I packed the kids up, went into town for a few groceries, and cooled off. Then the grandparents watched the kids so Casey and I could relax and enjoy some much needed time away from our very loud adorable children.

The rest of the time here we’ve hiked, biked, played at the many parks, visited with a few of Dave and Teresa’s old friends, and eaten A LOT of brats (#nomorebratsplease). Last night was one for the books when our neighbors brought their guitars over and we bonded over classic rock and beer. They’re retired, so their plan is to travel the country and play for tips in campsites. They call themselves a multigenerational band and played everything from The Eagles to Miranda Lambert – check them out here and on Facebook.

This trip has been difficult to sum up in a short blog, but I don’t want to be overly wordy – most algorithms show that people don’t generally like to read more than 500 words unless it’s a truly riveting piece, so I’ll wrap it up. All in all, it’s been a pretty successful camping experience and the first one we’ve really spent in the wilderness. And while most of the time, we camp in RV parks, I much prefer it out here in the woods. But the truth is that it doesn’t really matter where we are because the whole point of this trip is to live deliberately. Sorry not sorry for using Thoreau and getting all English teacher-y on you.