Winter Excursion 8, Day 211

The drive today was nice, most of the way was I-99 to I-86 to Rt 13, to Rt 11, to Home!

So here are the stats for this years trip.

We only stayed at 16 different campgrounds, as we were Camp Hosts again this year at George L. Smith State Park

We drove a total of 11383.4 miles.

The camper now has a total of 40398.2 miles on it (in seven years)!

Average MPG was 11.4 for the whole trip (towing and when not). So we used 998 gals of gas, at an average of $3.50/gal (estimate) we spent $3493 on gas! The lowest we saw for a gas price was $2.95/gal in South Carolina, although in some states it was much higher and as the year progressed it just got more expensive. When we got to New York it was $3.69!

Here's a pic of our route this year.

It was a good trip this year. We only stayed at one new campground, Barnwell State Park, SC.

We are already planning next year's trip and have many of our reservations already made, including our Host position at Dames Ferry Campground Georgia (1 Jan 25 - 30 Apr 25) and our trip to the Family Reunion in Oregon.

We have two trips planned for this summer, The Forest River Owner's Group (FROG) Rally at Chenango Valley State Park and a late summer trip to Eel Weir State Park, so the next blog posts will be 22-30 Jul 24 and 23 Aug - 3 Sep 23.

And by the way; today was 1726 days of camping in eight years!

It's good to be home!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 210

We left camp at 0930 with Bob & Marie heading to breakfast. It was a nice little small town diner and we had a good meal.

Back at camp I put everything outside away as we have rain forecast for the afternoon.

After that the four of us head to Leonard Harrison State Park, also known as the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.

Here's a bunch of pics. They really don't do it justice. This park is beautiful.

When we got back to camp I took a nice bike ride and got these pics of the clouds this afternoon. These were a precursor to the storms we got later.

Back at camp we sat outside for a little while and the rain started around 1500. It got really heavy and stayed that way until after 1900. I'm sure there was some local flooding.

The four of us left camp again and drove in the rain to the Wellsboro House for dinner. This is a restored railroad station and Inn. The food was good and the company was even better.

Back at camp we watched a show then were off to bed. We leave for home in the morning. I'll do our last blog post of this trip tomorrow. We plan two camping trips this summer; the FROG Rally and Eel Weir. 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 209

Our camping friends, Chris & Jean left this morning. We will see them again in July at the FROG Rally at Chenango Valley State Park. We are looking forward to the Rally.

Cath and I hung out at the camper most of the day and did a few chores.

Our other camping friends came over in the afternoon and we all drove to Taco Tuesday Night at the local Moose. The tacos were very good. On the way back to camp we stopped for ice cream. The "small" cones were huge! I should have got a pic.

Back at camp I hit the bed early and Cath stayed up reading her book.

We have one more night here and then we will be home.

All is well in the Boss Camp! 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 208

Sometime during the night it rained, but we didn't hear any of it. We slept really good!

We made a quick trip into town for a few things for dinner tonight.

Back at camp we watched the mass exodus. It was a big one. At one point we saw at least a dozen campers waiting at the dump station. By afternoon the campground looked almost empty, but new campers started arriving. By evening this loop was about half full.

Late in the afternoon we had an eagle decide to sit in the tree a few sites down from us.

The six of us spent the late afternoon telling stories and misbehaving. We burned some brats on the egg and everyone contributed a little something for dinner.

A good day was had by all.
 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 207

The six of us left camp at 0930 and drove to the the local airport (Grand Canyon Regional Airport) near Wellsboro. The airport has two fund raisers each year, Memorial Day and Labor Day. They have a dynamite all you can eat breakfast for $10. There was at least 1000 folks there. It is normally a fly-in, but it was super foggy this morning, so only the local planes were there. I did get a pic of this WWII trainer.

Back at camp we all spent the afternoon relaxing and yakking. Cath made us all a very good Schnitzel dinner. Afterwards we sat by the fire for the rest of the evening.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 206

Cath and I left camp around 0900 to do a little food shopping. We are doing dinner for everyone on Sunday evening. Back at camp we did a little prep for the dinner, We made the Spatzle. Bob & Marie where here to watch. They had never heard of it before. We are anxious for our friends to try a Schnitzel dinner tomorrow.

We left camp for a late lunch/early dinner at a local bar that serves dynamite Cheese Steaks. They were good as usual.

Back at camp the rain started and we all hunkered down in Chris & Jean's Clam Gazebo. Kaylee was having none of that so I brought her back to our camper. The party broke up around 1900. Cath and I watched a movie and then hit the sack early. 

Weather tomorrow is forecast to be nice. We hope to be able to eat our dinner outside. 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 205

We spent the morning finishing camp set up and watching everyone arrive. The campground is 100% full.

Chris and I took a drive to get some firewood and I showed him the dam that makes this lake.

Our other friends showed up and all of us spent the afternoon yakking, trading barbs, and drinking beer! A good time was had by all.

Jean and Chris made dinner for all of us. The Cuban Sandwiches were super good!

Jean made a new quilt for Bob and Marie. Marie was thrilled.

It's been a fun day and we are all looking forward to a few more days together.

 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 204

We were awaken this morning at 0530 by our NOAA weather radio alarm with a severe thunderstorm warning. Luckily it was northeast of our location. 70 MPH winds and large hail had been reported. I went back to bed. The alarm sounded again at 0630 with a watch for rain and thunder storms in our area. I stayed up and drank some coffee this time. It ended up we got just a sprinkle.....HORRAY!

We were on the road by 0900 and arrived at our new campground Ives Run COE near Wellsboro, PA by1300. The drive was uneventful and the weather was perfect. Here's Site #38.

After we got set up we made a quick trip into town for gas, beer, ice, a truck wash, and a few groceries, all the essentials!

We will be here for a week with some of our camping friends from the FROG Rallies. It will be a great week. Stay tuned for our adventures.

  

Winter Excursion 8, Day 203

We spent the morning in camp and then drove to Sailor's. one of our favorite grocery stores. I got to pick up all the Pennsylvania food I remember as a kid, scrapple, Lebanon baloney, pickled eggs, Martin's Potato chips, pretzels, and of course TastyKake stuff!

Back at camp we got all the food put away and then everything outside put away as thunderstorms are forecast for tonight and tomorrow morning.

We played cards again, had a nice dinner, then off to bed. Tomorrow is a travel day!    

Winter Excursion 8, Day 202

We had a couple walk by our site and say Hi! I noticed he was wearing a General Coffee State Park, GA t-shirt. I asked him about it and he said they had been looking at hosting jobs in Georgia. I told them what we do and where we had hosted. Turns out they stopped at George L Smith and talked to the staff! It’s a small world!

We made a quick trip to the grocery store for a few things and got this pick on PA Rt 233 on the way back to camp. Google it, it's a sad story.

We spent the afternoon playing cribbage outside. The weather is really nice, low 80s and low humidity.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 201

Needless to say we were in a "no cell, no internet" campground for the past few days. I'll catch it all up when we are back in the real world.

We got up this morning at 0630 and were on the road by 0830. The trip was 300 miles, but uneventful, and that is good.

Arrived at our new campground around 1330 and got all set up. Here's the new site at Pine Grove Furnace State Park, PA.

We made the short trip into town to pick up some KFC for dinner.

Our friend Ron from the FROG rallies visited us around 1700. We all talked, exchanged stories, and caught up on happenings with other camping friends. We will see Ron and Shirley at the Chenango FROG Rally in July.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 200

We made a quick trip to Wally World for a few supplies this morning.

The rest of the day we hung out at camp and watched the Sunday mass exodus.

We did a little camp maintenance getting ready to leave tomorrow.

We went to the local Sports bar for dinner. It was called The Mason Jar. They even served my beer in a Ball Jar! The meal was good we would go back again. The service was great!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 199

We left camp late morning to do a little exploring. First stop was near Pulaski, VA on US Rt 11 at a really nice overlook.

We ate lunch there and enjoyed the view.

We continued south on Rt 11 and checked out Hungry Mother State Park. We had been there before, but wanted to check it out again.

On the way back to camp we stopped at the Dutch Cupboard. We picked up some snacks and some scrapple.

From there we jumped on the Interstate as it was starting to rain. We got into a torrential downpour. Traffic on the Interstate slowed to a crawl and finally stopped for awhile due to an accident. We finally drove out of it.

Back at camp we had dinner and a movie then off to bed.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 198

We got up at 0630. We wanted to avoid the forecasted rain and we did! We were on the road by 0830 and did the short drive to our new campground. We arrived at 1130 and did minimal set up as we are only here for 3 days and rain is forecast the entire time.

We spent the afternoon in the camper reading and watching TV. We don't have the satellite set up so we are streaming or watching recordings.

Here's the new campsite at Claytor Lake State Park, VA. Site #D-21.

If it doesn't rain tomorrow we may do a little exploring.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 197

We woke up after a great night's sleep around 0830. A little camp clean up and showers were in order this morning.

Around 1130 we left for a day trip. First stop was the Lodge Cast Iron factory store. I checked it out in about 10 minutes and then sat with Kaylee in the truck. Cath came out sometime later. Next came Tennessee Legend Distillery. We did a little tasting and got a few bottles of some Good Ole Tennessee Whiskey.

We then drove to the Bush's Bush's Visitor Center and had lunch at the Bush's Cafe. It was very good and the fries were to die for. 

We got a few pics of the Smokey Mountains on the drive.

We shopped a little at the store, but was disappointed they were out of their Jalapeno Bean Dip.

Our last stop was not in the area last year, but was under construction. We gassed up at Buc-ee's!

This one is not your everyday Buc-ee's. It is the largest in the world! It is at the intersection of I-40 and I-81. They have 128 gas pumps! Here's a panorama pic to prove it (click on it to open).  It is not curved, that's what the panorama pic looks like. We had never seen any gas station like this. We did go into the store. It was the largest convivence store we've ever seen.

Back at camp we made sure the awning tube would fit into the camper. We got lucky!

 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 196

One of our neighbors came over this morning and helped me remove the awning and hardware from the camper. We will save the "tube" as it is not damaged. It should fit in the camper for transport (keeping our fingers crossed). There was another camper right next to us that had their awning destroyed also. 

In the afternoon we did a quick trip to the grocery and then to SMKW (Smokey Mountain Knife Works). I think I wrote about it last year. The place is HUGE and has any type of knife you can think of. I picked up a new pocket knife I'd been eyeing online. From there we wanted to go to a distillery we had seen advertised to try some Tennessee whiskey. We didn't realize it was in Gatlinburg. It took us almost an hour to drive 20 miles. The tourist traffic in this area is nuts! We did not visit the distillery as the area was crowded and parking the truck would have been impossible. There is another distillery near us we will check out tomorrow.

Back at camp we had a few more rain showers (that were not forecast)! Had a nice dinner. Went to bed and will sleep like bears as last night we didn't get much sleep after the awning fiasco.

All is well, once again, in the Boss Camp! 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 195

The weather guessers were wrong again. We woke to dry weather and did our final pack up with no rain and no issues. 

It was a very long drive for us, 343 miles! We drove through three major cities, Birmingham, AL, Chattanooga, TN, and Knoxville, KY. Around these cities traffic was horrible. We got to our new campground around 1500 and were all set up by 1600. We have a nice site right on the Douglas Lake. Do you notice any funny about the pic of our site?

After dinner I hit the bed early as I was tired from the long drive. Cath did some reading and came to bed later. Right after she crawled in bed we had a storm hit. The forecast was for some rain tonight and light winds, but this was anything but that! Here's some pics of what was once our awning.

The awning and both "arms" are destroyed. The left "arm" separated from the camper a little, but the damage is not too great, it's repairable. I'll be able to get the new "arms" and new awning on Amazon to the tune of around a grand.

We are both hoping that bad things happen in threes. First the dump valve, then the roof, and now the awning. It's been a lousy last few weeks at the end of this camping trip.

The old "arms" and awning now reside in the dumpster at Douglas Dam Headwaters Campground. 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 194

Laundry Day...YUK!

We left camp after a quiet, but rainy morning and headed to the laundromat. We had been at this one before, but they have made some changes. It was clean, but EXPENSIVE! It cost us close to $60 for 5 loads. The machines were over $8 and the dryers were 4 minutes for each quarter.

Back at camp we put the clothes away and relaxed.

Left camp again around 1630 to go get our traditional "last night in camp" dinner..PIZZA! After dinner we packed up the inside. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the weather forecast is wrong. It says we have rain when we leave, rain the whole way, and rain when we get to our new campground. We shall see!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 193

Weather continues to be nice, but we will be happy to get back north.
Repaired the roof hole this afternoon. I'm sure it will hold until we get home and can fix it right.

Took Jacob home in the afternoon. We will miss him, but will have some more time next year with him. He is growing up fast! He is getting to be a super flattop cook!

Back at camp we got almost everything packed up as it forecast to rain for the next 48 hours. We hate to pack up or set up in the rain. Time will tell.

And BTW...Happy Mother's Day to all you ladies. You Gals are the best!

Took a quick bike ride this evening and got this pic of a couple of deer.

Zoom in a little. They could care less I was watching them.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 192

We had a lazy morning and just enjoyed the great weather. I could not have asked for better weather to be able to dry out the hole in the roof before I put a temp patch on it. It was very low humidity with temps in the mid seventies!

Ray and Melinda came over in the afternoon. We all just sat outside and yakked. They stayed for dinner and Jacob and I BBQed chicken. Cath made a nice potato and asparagus dish and a good meal was had by all.

After dark we spent some time in the camper watching Dish Scapes. It was fun trying to anticipate what was coming next.

 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 191

This is one blog post I hoped I never have to write.

After the storms blew through last night I went out this morning to check for any damage. Here's what I found.

This stick is about 2" in diameter. And yes that is the camper roof!

Here's the hole when I pulled it out this morning. I'm actually glad the stick was still stuck (LOL) as it kept most of the rain out (think cork in a wine bottle).

Here's the part of the limb that broke off that little stick in the roof. This thing is about 10 ft long. It fell from a tree, speared the roof, then broke off. That's what shook the camper so hard last night.

 This is the ceiling inside the camper just over the fireplace. It was wet, but not soaked.

The entire campground looks a mess with branches, cones, and leaves all over the place. The Ranger came by to do an incident report. She also said there was no other damage in the rest of the campground.

I called USAA to start a claim. They were on it right away. I've been with them 44 years and would not even think of changing insurers! Their service is better than A+. 

I will give the hole a few days to dry out and then put a temp batch on it. We will get it repaired when we get home.

The rest of the day went much better. We left camp around 1230 to get Jacob. We spent the afternoon with Fergie and CC, then drove back to camp when Jacob got home around 1630.

Ray and Melinda had a nice dinner for us. Afterward we played SEQUENCE again until 2130. Back at our camper bed was in order. It's been one "helluva" day!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 190

We spent most of the day in the camper. The weather is so hot and humid you can hardly stand to be outside. We have storms forecast for tonight. That will break this weather pattern and we will have cooler temps and lower humidity.

We went over to our friends camper after dinner to play some more SEQUENCE. After about an hour we heard thunder, so I checked the radar. The storms were coming a lot sooner than forecast, so we headed back to our camper. The storm was very violent when it blew through and it shook the camper. After it passed I looked outside and there were tree limbs, branches, and leaves everywhere. I didn't see any damage, but will check in the morning when it's light.   

Winter Excursion 8, Day 189

We did a little food shopping this morning to get us through the weekend.

Our friends, Ray and Melinda, arrived early afternoon. They got all set up a few sites from ours and then came over for dinner. We yakked a lot and played our new game, SEQUENCE. A good time was had by all!

The weather continues to be miserable. Temps are in the high 80s to 90s and the humidity hangs around 90. Our ACs run full blast all day. Hopefully we will get some cooler, dryer weather soon. 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 188

We left camp around 0930 to do a little exploring. As soon as we left the campground we got behind this guy doing about 35 in a 55 zone. Checkout the jeans on the top of his vehicle.

There was no where I could pass him. It took us awhile to realize that they were indeed blue jeans! He finally pulled off to go fishing. "Fishy" I would say!

After that interesting start to the drive we headed to Moundville, AL. and Moundville Archeological Park.

We mainly wanted to check out the campground that is here.

A view of some of the mounds. There are lots of them here, all shapes and sizes.

Here's the steps on the largest one. We did not climb them...LOL!

From Moundville we drove to Cath's favorite Mexican Grocery Store near Oak Mountain State Park. She picked up all the things we needed for a fajita dinner. The have marinated fajita meat to die for.

We stopped at Oak Mountain State Park with the hope we could see the renovated campground. It is opening the 24th of this month and all sites are full hookups. We could not see the campground as they are still working on it. As much as we like Deerlick COE, we will be glad when Oak Mountain is open and we can stay there next year. The drive to see Jacob and CC is way shorter from OMSP.

We got back to camp around 1530, had a few toddies, a good dinner, then off to bed.  

 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 187

After breakfast we did some camp chores and just hung out (inside). The weather remains hot and very humid. I think it's time to head north!

We played some cribbage in the afternoon. Cath is back to her cheating ways, but I beat her anyway!

We did get a walk in this morning before it got too hot and we had a "find of the day". On one of the lantern post we found this red bead necklace. We think it's from Mardi gras. It now belongs to George along with his winter ensemble and handcuffs.

Around 1600 we drove back to Hoover area to watch Jacob at his archery lessons. He is getting pretty good!

Back at camp it was a night cap then off to dreamland!

 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 186

Jacob and I made a nice breakfast on the flattop. Afterwards we all got cleaned up, did the dishes, and spent the rest of the morning relaxing.

After lunch Jacob and Cath played some cribbage. I'm sure there was some cheating involved.

We all watched a movie and then headed to Jacobs house in a thunderstorm.

We had a nice dinner with Fergie and CC. Talked for awhile and then headed back to camp.

I've done very little night driving lately and it was "fun" getting back to camp. Once back we hit the hay. Sleep will come quick! 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 185

We finished our site set up this morning and then made the short drive to the grocery store. We did a little shopping and headed back to camp.

Jacob and CC arrived around 1000, with Jacob driving, and the yakking began! We burned some burgers for lunch and the yakking continued. After lunch we played a new game they had brought called SEQUENCE. We had a good time playing and Cath & I ordered the game for ourselves.

After CC left Jacob did some truck driving with our F250! He said it's too high and too big! He is use to an Forester!

We had a nice steak dinner and we all hit the rack early. It's been a fun day and it was great to see them both.