Winter Excursion 8, Day 184

We were up early and on the road by 0900 (EDT). It was a perfect travel day, no rain, but overcast. We drove the backroads all the way of the 300 mile, 5 1/2 hour trip, and arrived at Deerlick COE, AL around 1400 (CDT). Did a minimal setup as thunderstorms were forecast, but they never happened. Here's a pic of Site #11 at Deerlick.

I think this is our third time in this site.

It was pushing 90 deg when we arrived. We turned on both ACs and just relaxed.

We can't wait to see Jacob tomorrow! All is well in the Boss Camp!

 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 183

We woke up this morning to a power outage. Our EMS cut the power as one "leg" of the 50 amp was only 73 VAC (should be 120 VAC). I'm glad the EMS caught that, if the air conditioner would have tried to start it would have been damaged due to low voltage. I let the host know and the maintenance guys showed up a little later. Seems the 100 amp circuit breaker is bad. This affects our site and the one next to us. They did not have the part so we are running on the 30 amp plug now. It's really the first time our EMS has "saved" us! That makes it worth every dime we paid for it.

Later in the morning we drove through Macon, GA and went to Robins Air Force Base. This base is huge! We visited the commissary and the PX. They are also huge! Checked out the FamCamp and then headed back to camp.

As we are leaving tomorrow we had our traditional pizza for dinner. We got pick-up at a Mellow Mushroom. It was very good pizza.

We are headed to Deerlick Creek, COE tomorrow and Jacob!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 182

We headed for High Falls State Park just a few miles from here. We met Kathie the Assistant Park Ranger who is also in charge of Dames Ferry. She gave us the run down on Dames Ferry and our duties for next year. We are looking forward to volunteering for her.

High Falls is a nice park. We toured the park and all the campgrounds. It is a nice park especially the day use areas. The campgrounds are also nice but too big for us, no hosting!

The CCC had a hand in building all of this. This dam forms the lake.

There are two campgrounds above the dam and one below.

As long as we were in the area we headed over to Indian Springs State Park. We toured the park and campgrounds, but again, not our cup of tea as far as hosting (it's too big).

It also has a lake, a dam, and CCC involvement, but it also too big for us as far as hosting goes.

Back at camp it was 88 deg. We sat outside in the shade for awhile, but ended up in the camper with both ACs blowing.

We are going exploring again tomorrow. Stay tuned for more adventures.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 181

We were up early packing to head to Dames Ferry. It felt strange to be leaving GLS. We said our goodbyes to all the staff, our Co-hosts, and was on the road by 1100. We arrived at Dames Ferry around 1330. We did a minimal setup as we will only be here for three nights. Here's a pic of site #35 (50 amp, pull thru) at Dames Ferry State Park, GA.

Here's the view of the lake from the site.

It took awhile, but we got good satellite signal on this site.

After we got set up and were relaxing with a toddy when this little guy showed up.

It's a cicada! Since we arrived here we have been hearing a "noise". Turns out it is the cicadas emerging! This one bit the bullet at our site. After I ID it with google lens and told Cath what it was she asked, 10 minutes later, about the Casa-de-as (Quesadillas) I laughed my butt off!

I got a couple of pics yesterday that I didn't post, so here we go.

This sign was at the coffee/pizza/bakery place where we picked up our dinner last evening.

This big guy (18") was crossing the road near the campground.

He was definitely taking his time. I hope he made it by tomorrow..LOL.

It's nice to be campers again. We will be really relaxed very soon.

  

Winter Excursion 8, Day 180

"The Life of a Camp Host" is over until next year. It's been wonderful for our third year as Hosts here at George L Smith State Park. We will be Hosting next year at Dames Ferry State Park in GA just north of Macon GA. We have made lots of friends in the park and the local area here, but it's time to move on. If we don't enjoy our new job next year we will return to this area.

Here's the end of the saga of the broken black tank handle.

I woke up this morning at 0600 and drove the 45 minutes to the Claxton GA (think fruitcake) Ace Hardware store. They had two Camco dump valves in stock and I bought them both (think spares). I prefer the Valterra valves, but could not be guaranteed that the one I ordered would be delivered today. Back at camp I tried the procedure I saw on YouTube. It did not work. When I hole-sawed the valve it messed up what was left of the broken valve closure paddle. I was glad I had decided to move the camper to the maintenance area instead of trying to repair it in the campground. The maintenance guys backhoed me a pit and we crowbarred the valve open without any dump hose attached. It worked great except of the SMELL! One of the new maintenance guys almost gagged. I told him to get used to it as every dump station in every campground has that smell. Later in the day the pit drained, the odor left, and the pit got filled back in. All went well with dumping! I towed the camper back to our site, installed the new valve, tested it, and all is well once again with the BCBTDV (Boss Camper Black Tank Dump Valve) by 1000! Horray!

Here's a side story. 

When I left our site with the camper and headed to the maintenance area, I left Cath and Kaylee sitting at the site with no camper. Cath said it was just like the Clampet's saga (Beverly Hillbillies). She also said (and our Co-Host backed it up) that Kaylee was distraught, sad, and moping, that Dad had left them. It was like she thought her house and Dad were leaving! When I came back her tail was wagging!

We did a lot of food and supply shopping in the afternoon. Got some Pizza for dinner as is our tradition for our last day in a campground.

We will say our goodbyes to all the staff tomorrow and head to Dames Ferry for a few days before we get to see Jacob in Birmingham.

It's been a long few days. Sleep will come easy tonight.     

Winter Excursion 8, Day 179 The Life of a Camp Host

Today was our last day as Hosts and it was a busy one! The campground was full last night and we had 13 leave today, but had 13 arrive. I spent the whole morning cleaning sites. As all these campers were leaving they all wanted to chat. By the afternoon we were all talked out, so we sat in the shade and said nothing to each other!

I'll post the results of my black tank valve issue tomorrow after I get it fixed.

The find of the day is all the finds I've been "banking" in case I didn't find anything. But that was not the case, I had extras! 

I'll be danged if I can remember what they all are, but it's quite the collection!

It is nice to be Campers again. We are looking forward to some relaxation for the next month. 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 178 The Life of a Camp Host

It was for the most part an easy day hosting. We had two campers leave and two arrive. We cleaned the bathhouse and then started packing up. Cath has been working on the inside getting ready to travel. I took down the "gazabo" and got the truck all packed. It's like putting a puzzle together, but I'd taken some pictures when we got here so I did have a reference for packing. We had a few of the campers stop by to chat and our local friends, Bob & Deb stopped by to say their goodbyes. We will see them next year at Dames Ferry.

I think I may have found a solution to my black tank valve issue. After searching the internet I found a YouTube video where the guy cut out the valve sidewall with a hole saw to gain access to the "guts" and was able to open the valve with the sewer hose attached. We will see tomorrow how this works. In the meantime I was able to order a new valve from Amazon and it should be here on Monday. If I can get the tank dumped it is a simple job to replace the valve. Time will tell. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The find of the day was this sign at the local hardware store where I went to buy a hole saw. 

What can I say!