We were camping this past weekend, with no cell service at the campground. I got the news about Jimmy Buffett's death while sitting on a large rock at the summit of a mountain we had just climbed. The Internet joked that dying on the Friday of a long weekend was a very Jimmy Buffett way to die. I think hearing about his death out in nature with somebody you love is a very Jimmy Buffett way to hear the news.

I don't have deep memories of his music growing up. My dad was a "put the country music station on" kind of music fan, so I probably heard his music as a child. My first memory of his music is around age 8 or 9, snickering as we sang along to "Let's Get Drunk and Screw." "Margaritaville" was a staple of my high school party days, probably courtesy of the older siblings of some of my friends. We may have been high school metalheads, but we were high school metalheads living on a tropical island. Jimmy's tunes resonated.

Our Daughter Delaney was born in 1996. Jimmy's daughter Delaney was born in 1994. We didn't name her after Buffett's daughter, and truthfully neither of us knew that fact or were familiar with Buffett's song "Delaney Talks to Statues". But one of my wife's friends introduced her to that song when Delaney was born, and our Delaney dancing around the house to that song is a strong memory that we'll have forever.

I was well into my 40s when I finally made it to a Buffett concert. We attended two concerts in the 2013-2016 time frame, having a great time at both shows. His key skill on stage seemed to be making people happy, and he was damn good at it. The vibe at his shows was just one big party, with everybody happy and having a great time. The music was secondary to the event. His songwriting skills were probably under rated. His persona was happy go lucky slacker, but he didn't become a billionaire by slacking through life.

Celebrity deaths very rarely even register with me. I was certainly not a Parrothead, but Jimmy's death is hitting me a bit (as evidenced by this rambling post). Having nothing better to do than hang out at the beach was certainly aspirational for most of my adult life, although today I'd choose the mountains over the beach.

I guess I just assumed when I got to that stage of life, Jimmy would still be there entertaining us.

"Some people never find it
Some only pretend
But I just want to live
Happily ever after, now and then"
? Jimmy Buffett

Back in the winter I booked a Labor Day camping weekend at the NPS Oregon Inlet campground on the Outer Banks. Hurricane Idalia visited the Outer Banks on the Wed prior to the weekend. On that Tuesday, I changed plans and we headed to the Peaks of Otter campground at mile market 85 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Peaks of Otter is an older campground in desperate need of a makeover. The asphalt is crumbling and some of the campsites are (or should be) unusable. In chatting with one of the Park Rangers he chose his words carefully as he answered my question by telling me there no plans to renovate the campground. That said, I'd camp there again because it's 2.5 hours from home and only $20 a night. Plus I made of list of the good campsites, and it's camping, not a Marriott. But they really should redo the asphalt.

Protip - you can always get a campsite at Peaks of Otter. It might not be a great campsite, but the bathrooms are clean and it beats staying home.

On the way in I had to hit the brakes about a mile from the campground to let a black bear cross the road. That was pretty much the highlight of the weekend for Michelle. That evening, we drove down the BRP to a west facing overlook to enjoy sunset.

On Saturday, we did the Johnson Farm / Harkening Hill hike, which took us to the Johnson farm, which is the actual farm that operated on that land from the 1850s to the 1940s, when they sold the land to the park service. From the farm we continued on up to the summit of Harkening Hill. Our car was in the Peaks of Otter Lodge parking lot, and there is a bar in the lodge, so I enjoyed a couple of post hike pints before we went back to the campground. Prior to dinner I enjoyed a nap in the hammock. After dinner at the camper we lounged around the campfire before playing some board games in the camper.

On Sunday we returned to the lodge and walked around Abbots pond birding, It was an unremarkable morning of birding. The highlight was watching a bluebird pair teaching their fledglings how to hunt from a large tree in an open field. After lunch back at the camper Michelle dropped me at the Flat Top Mountain trail head, and I hiked the 5 miles back to the campground. The first 2.8 miles is a generally mild climb to the summit of Flat Top Mountain. The hike down was the tough side, as trip down to the lodge and campground is about 1600 feet, and you do it in only 2.2 miles. It was steep and frequently slick from loose rocks. It's slow going down as you carefully consider each step while maintaining your center of gravity back so you don't splat.

I did not go splat.

The views at the top were worth the effort.

Sunday night was another night of contemplating life while staring at the campfire, followed by a game of gin runny. It's a common pattern when we camp.

We woke up Monday morning to dim lights and a dead fridge. I guess 3 nights under heavy tree cover was a few hours more than the battery could handle. The battery has 4 camping seasons on it and I am planning to replace it next Spring with a couple of 6V golf cart batteries wired in series. The battery came back after the solar panel got some morning sun. I'll check it next week and if it's still reading 12V I'll let it ride as we only have 2 nights of dry camping left this year. Most of our remaining camping has hookups. It's always something with an RV.

We had a 7 week layoff between camping trips, which is a long time for us. I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time in the woods over the next couple of months. It looks like our planned campervan adventure to Death Valley and Joshua Tree in November is DOA for the year though. The latest news suggests Death Valley will open in December. I haven't canceled anything yet, but I have booked backup camping plans for the week of Thanksgiving (Savannah and Okefenokee Swamp). At least the airline tickets to try again next year will already be paid for.

Photo Album

I saw on the local birding group that a Limpkin was hanging out in 3 Lakes Park in Henrico County, about 15 minutes from home. Limpkins live in S Georgia and Florida, I have no idea what this guy is doing so far from home, but I was glad to have the oppotunity to observe him for about 20 minutes, get some photos, and check him off my life list.

We also got a bonus Great Egret and Osprey at the park this AM. I'm glad the big birds were out, because hearing songbirds over the cicadas would have been a challenge.