See that gorgeous campsite in the photo above? The big one with a perfect view of the lake, full hookups, a long and level trailer pad, no immediate neighbors, and shade trees for privacy? Yeah, that’s our site. We reserved it months ago, after scouring online campsite reviews, Google Earth, and multiple RV apps to find the best site here at Brantley Lake State Park.

There’s just one teensy, weensy problem. That’s not our trailer parked there.

We arrived a little after 3 pm to find that raggedy-ass rig you see above squatting in our spot, with no sign of anyone we could politely ask to move. After circling the campground a few times, we headed back to the visitor center where a ranger made well-rehearsed sympathetic faces while telling us there was nothing she could do about the trailer if there was no one at the campsite to evict. She offered us the one remaining vacant site, disclaiming “I ain’t gonna sugar-coat it: It’s the last site in the park for a reason.”

Sure, it’s cramped and unlevel—but it’s ours.

So here we are in our tiny, consolation prize campsite with a view of the bathrooms, a broken water faucet, and big-rig RVs hemming us in on all sides. But our cooler is full of cold beer, Maureen just cooked dinner, and our three-week camping adventure is finally underway. So life is good.

We had a nice drive down here, too, including a stop at the Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner Historic Site and lunch in UFO-obsessed Roswell. Our next stop, Davis Mountains State Park, allegedly has excellent WiFi, so we hope to post a video soon–hopefully with no footage of Mike getting into a screaming match with the owners of the mobile meth lab parked in our original site.