Our Stay at Fair Harbor

Our first couple of weeks in Georgia

 So here we were at our first campground ever. We have never been the camping kind of family and therefore never been at a campground in our lives.

In our 30' camper we had 5 people and 3 pets. There was myself and John, our oldest son and his girlfriend, our youngest son, our Rottie, and our 2 cats.

Life in a tag-a-long camper is very different from living in an apartment, a mobile home, or a house. I should know, I've lived in every one of these accommodations. Now here we are living as a family of 5 in a 30' tag-a-long camper. We have a conversion van as an extra bedroom, but so far that only works well when the temperature outside is warm enough.


When you live in a typical type of home, you have space to spread out and have time to yourself. Most people have bedrooms,kitchens, dining rooms, or whatever that are actual separate rooms. You can spread out and spend a lot of alone time. Some homes are so big that you can lose yourself in them. Families are less connected because they don't have to spend time together and so they don't. Again I know this from personal experience.Our family started out in small apartments. We could spread out and have some time to ourselves but we also had to spend a lot of time together. Then we moved into a mobile home. Over the years we enjoyed living there. We could spend time together when we wanted to but everyone had their own space as well. As the children grew, and the years passed, we moved into a very big and spacious house. We had so much room to spread out and enjoy time to ourselves that eventually we lost our connected together time. Most times I could look around the house and find every member of our family in a different room.

We have since gone from that immense house to a 30' tag-a-long camper. There are no separate rooms or places to go that don't have another person in them. We are together often and for long periods of time. It's not as bad as it might sound. We have had to learn to adjust. Everybody has to have more patience. Everybody has to have more respect for each other. Everybody has to cut everybody else a little slack.Watching TV is a family event and tricky at that. With 5 people watching tv becomes a matter of learning how to fit everyone into the area.

The nice thing about Fair Harbor RV was that it was a very big campground. Lots of space to walk around and nature to enjoy. Johnny found great joy in exploring the entire campground each day and he slimmed right out because of the exercise he was inevitably getting.

Kyle and Jessie set up house in the van and would stay in there for hours watching movies or tv. At night they would join us in the camper and have supper and watch a movie with the family.

We met lots of people at fair harbor. The first folks I met were almost right outside my camper. I went outside and started down the roadway. Two campers down from us was a woman who was getting ready to haul out and head for Florida. Her plan was to spend a little time down there visiting family and then she plans to move on to Louisiana to work with Habitat for Humanity for a while.

I didn't get to talk with her very long but I was so touched by the fact that she is going to work with them. Speaking with her when I walked up was an older gentleman who was walking his dog. I stopped and pet the little dog for a moment and then we began talking as well. We started walking down the road together and chatting and he offered to introduce me to his wife. So we walked to his camper and just talked. Such friendly people. His name was Tom and his was a reverend who had come down from a northern state to help out another reverend friend of his. His friend was not feeling well and needed someone to help with his church for a while, so Tom and his wife were there to help out where they could.

Tom and I talked for a long while and then he introduced me to his wife, Mary. Mary was a dynamic and energetic woman. They both have that energy that just draws you to them. While we sat at their picnic table and talked many other people approached us to say hello or join our conversation. We talked about our lives and how we feel about the world today. We talked about things we have experienced and how we believe everything happens for some reason. And then they needed to get on their way so we said our see ya later's and they went on their way.

Over our time at Fair harbor we would meet other lovely people and make friendships that still last.

Johnny gets a bike

Somewhere during our second week at the campground, Johnny made a new friend. Johnny and I were out walking and this little boy was playing Frisbee with his mother. I started chatting with the mom and Johnny started playing with the boy.

They were there at the campground for a week's vacation and to spend some family time. The mother and I quickly became friends and enjoyed visiting with each other well after dark. Johnny and the boy played the whole time.

Every day that they were there we would go up and visit them. We would enjoy several hours of visiting and playing.

One day the mother told me about her daughter who had just gone into the military. She had left a 10 speed bike at home and had told her mother to find it a good home. They wanted to give it to Johnny. I couldn't believe it. What a nice thing to do. The dad went and picked it up and brought it to Johnny the next day. A few days later they were gone but they left the bike with Johnny.

Johnny now had something to do. Every day he would ride all over the park. He began meeting more and more people. He got to know all of the animals in the park. He was very happy and excited.

Moving Within the Park-

Sometime during our 3 week at Fair harbor we decided that we were going to be there for longer than we had originally thought. Realizing this and wanting us all to feel more comfortable I was beginning to consider moving us to the long term section of the park.

John hadn't left the camper since arriving in Georgia except for at night when people really couldn't see him. His social anxiety was in full swing and the thought of going out in the day would make him ill.

So I took a walk down to the long term area and began scouting out possible lots. After seeing what was available I was torn between two spots. I returned to the camper and all but dragged John down with me to take a look. We decided and after returning John to our camper I walked up to the office to check and see if we could move. They told me that this was not a problem at all. So we all packed up the camper and moved it down to a new lot.

The long term section of the campground was far back into the campground and felt quieter and more secluded. John even seemed to feel more comfortable here, as he would now sit out at the picnic table on occasion.

On our 3rd day in the long term section the kids met some folks who lived a few campers over. These folks sent up a bag of food for us and I was concerned that the kids might have told them that we were struggling, so I went down to meet them myself.

As it turned out, they were just trying to be kind to the new folks. Leigh, the wife, told me that when they first started out they struggled and now she tried to help when she could. The kids had said nothing, she just "knows how it is".

Leigh and I quickly became friends. I spent some time visiting with she and her husband Jeff and immediately liked them both. I went up to the camper and spent 20 minutes convincing John to come meet them. He finally agreed to come out, more to shut me up than anything. He immediately liked them as well and he and Jeff became fast friends.

Over the next month that we stayed at Fair Harbor, we spent many nights around a campfire at their camper. We spent many nights sharing meals and talking. Jeff and John played horseshoes a few times, when John could physically handle it. And Leigh and I did a lot of running errands together.

We were beginning to feel comfortable with our new lives, but things were soon to change.