We made it! To our first stop, at Lodgepole Campground in Sequoia National Park. The campground was pretty empty and we parked at the edge of a river (listened to flowing water all night until icicles began forming in the camper as the temp dropped to 41 in the RV- at 7:00 am everyone ended up in my bedroom warming their feet under blankets until we figured out how to turn on the generator). We had dinner, roasted marshmallows and went to bed. During the drive to Sequoia, Brown Bear was constantly chiding us

“We need to watch water consumption- we are going to run out!”

Well, 9-11 year old boys take this warning to heart and being their lovely selves they also went about their business after using an increasingly full toilet as if all was right and well in the world. At this point in the story, Dear Reader, I would also like to let you know that my usually fine strong sense of smell has left me (for more reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anosmia turns out to be the dieting aid I’ve been looking for as well, so far no downsides) and I had no idea that there was malodorous stench coming from the latrine rather I was busy creating a pasta dinner extraordinaire.

After, Brown Bear got the RV situated in the parking spot to her liking, popped two sides of the RV popped out, and threw the kids out of the RV handing them knives and telling them to whittle ( not my first choice for an activity but questioning the driver at that point was not advised), she decided to use the bathroom as she had been the driving and had been hydrating due to the increased elevation.

Upon entering the bathroom, I received the first salvo

“Hilary, CAN’T YOU SMELL THIS????”

Thank you Anosmia, I can not. I tried. I inhaled, nothing but pure what I figured was gorgeous mountain air.

“Ahhh, no”

I guess at that point she opened the lid because she strung together a slew of words that will now thankfully fund my kid’s college funds after she antes up the money into the swear jar.

Needless to say, the kids and I whittled happily for the next 30 minutes….