We were finally on this big Empty Nest Adventure, and our first stop was a place we didn’t even know about! We had done some research on places in the Netherlands, but we never thought we would spend the whole first month there. We planned to head south and west, hitting Belgium and then Luxembourg on our way to cross the Alps.

We have also been finding out that we like the Farm Camps more than anything, so we headed for another one. If you don’t know, a Farm Camp is a campground built on a farm, usually a working one, so you stay with horses, chickens, sheep, all kinds of farm animals. You usually stick to your camper, they stick to their fields and stalls.

This Farm was originally a Sheep Farm, but over the years has moved more into cattle. The name Camping De Schaapskooi reportedly translates to Sheep Farm.

I checked in, and was given a tour of the whole place, including walking to our site. The grounds were lush and freshly mowed, which I will get to later. Shortly after parking, we were greeted by our camp neighbors. They were interested in how we could have a camper with German Plates, and a motorcycle with a plate from The Netherlands.

We extended our awning, pulled out the chairs and tables, and decided to enjoy the outdoors until the sun went down. It was going to be a chilly night.

Kasey also had time to run a load through the laundry. The clothes were clean, and got mostly dried from hanging under the awning. We really loved everything about this place, except for that lush grass. Not the stuff still growing, but the wet clumps that had been recently cut. They tracked into the camp with ease. Kasey and I could wipe our feet, but Salsa hadn’t learned that lesson yet.

We packed up the outside gear, drew in the awning, and settled inside for the night. For tomorrow, we decided to stay a second night, but during the day we would hike to the Dutch Sahara.

We woke up in the morning, made some breakfast, and got ready to hike. The Farm Camp has a gate in the far corner that puts you right in the National Park. To make sure we didn’t get lost, I use the Gaia App. I thought it might only work in the United States, but it had these trails.

It took us about two and half kilometers, but we made it to entrance of the Dutch Sahara. Honestly, Kasey was about to give up just a few hundred meters short of the view. We marched on, and were glad that we did. We hadn’t hiked in a good while, so we were happy we made it. We are still working on getting in better shape!

We didn’t go deep into the Sahara, but enjoyed the view that we worked to get to. Another two and half kilometers, and we would be back to our home on wheels. I was recorded our hike on the Gaia App, so all we had to do was retrace our line. Little did we know we had a Salsa Guidance System with us! She led the way, making every turn correctly. Good to know we have a back up to get us back home.

We swept the grass out of the camper, relaxed out front for another afternoon, and then packed it all in to have dinner. It was another pleasant night at the Sheep Farm.

The next day, we decided to hit a Pancake House near The Sahara, still having the taste in our mouth from the ones we had after staying in the hotel and meeting Jan and his wife. We got the camper ready to move, and made our way to the eatery.

It was nearly as good as the first trip. The place was very nice and had miniature golf, a playground with a peddle car race track and more!

We moved on, trying to find a spot that was supposed to have a lookout over the sands of The Netherlands. However, we weren’t able to find spot to park our motorhome, so we decided it was a sign to move on. We were heading for Germany, our second country in Europe!