This past weekend was Jonathan’s Spring Cub-O-Ree. I took him with our three man tent…he wanted to really camp, no permanent tent for him on this trip! Now I didn’t pitch the tent for Jonathan, he helped me every step of the way and he also helped me break camp…every step of the way. He had his soccer team photos Saturday morning so we left for the Cub-O-Ree after his photos and the first half of his game Saturday morning. Jonathan was so excited about the campout, but didn’t want to miss his game. He loves both Scouting and soccer.
Jonathan learning about lightning...the hard way!
While the weather forecast was for scattered thunder showers Sunday, the rains held off until well after we got home and unpacked the truck. Of course the tornado warnings and sirens going off at 12:30 AM Monday morning kind of made up for holding off ’till we got home.
On edit, after reading this entry, Jonathan wanted me to add that he LOVED his Cub-O-Ree!
Tags: Cub Scouts, Scouts
Last week was Spring Break for metro-Atlanta schools including Fayette County. So Becki and both boys had the week off. While I had taken Jordan on his Boy Scout camp out in the Apalachacola National Forest, we had promised to take the boys camping, or should I say ’streamin, for the rest of Spring Break.
We headed up to the north Georgia mountains on Wednesday afternoon to stay at the Georgia Power operated campground that is kind of a joint venture with the Georgia State Park System. The good: The campground is extremely well maintained. The host that was on duty was a retired Georgia Power security officer and had spent his honeymoon with his second wife in that very campground 30 years ago (on campsite #1) so he has a special interest in the campground. The campground is located immediately adjacent to the trails that circle the upper rim of the gorge so you have hiking access to the gorge from the campground. All for $18 per night.
The bad: Bear in mind that these campsites are water and electric only (dump station conveniently located at the entrance) and you have to be careful about the site you get. Some are strictly tent sites only as they are very steep and very unlevel. We experienced this and wound up trying out three sites before we got one that was serviceable for our 30 foot Airstream. The first site was so steep backing in that the rear bumper nearly dragged and Becki was concerned that the plumbing might get drug off. Not to mention that it slopped from side to side that we didn’t have enough Lynx leveler blocks with us to get any where near level. The second site was much more level, but…these campsites have the water and electric located between every other site. Our connections would have been in front of the Airstream and because the tables are concrete and can’t be moved, we would not have been able to get the Airstream close enough for the electric cord or the water hose to reach. So we asked once again to be reassigned. Now I felt really bad because the camp ground was booked solid for the weekend that was coming up and it was nearly full when we checked in. But the campground hosts were really nice and accommodating in helping us get a suitable site. Third time is a charm and, like Goldie Locks, it was just right. In fact, it was a really nice site. Two layers of Lynx blocks on one side and we were level. Easy access for the blue tote and a nice view. The sites were stair stepped and this one didn’t have a site directly in front of it so we had a nice view. Many of the sites do have nice views.
We really had a great time. As we were backing in, Becki heard a guy from Florida a couple of sites over say, “They’re moving again?” Becki called over and said we couldn’t reach the electrical on the other site. He called back, “If you want electricity, go home.” When Becki told me this she said, “Wait ’till he sees us set up the satellite dish!” and I did as soon as I got the awnings deployed and set up the grill, side table, and the awning lights. 
Then, I grilled two fillet mingnons that were to die for. The boys had chocolate milk with their dinner, Becki and I had a very nice Bordeaux.
That’s what I call Camping the Good Life.
We had the bad fortune of the worst thunderstorm I’ve ever experienced in our Airstream on Friday of that week. There was a family that came in and set up their tent on the site next to us early in the day. They had two cars on the site. By lunch they had taken the tent down and left in one of the cars and didn’t return until the next day. I was glad we had plenty of new DVD’s Becki had bought the week before so the boys had movies to watch that they hadn’t seen before. I took an incredibly long nap that afternoon. Rain on aluminum is like a lullaby.
One of the falls in Tallulah Gorge
We had the good fortune in that Georgia Power released extra water on Saturday so kayakers could go over the falls. That is probably why the campground was full for the weekend. This is an annual event. Little did we know. We hiked the trails again to watch the kayakers go over the falls. Jonathan was so excited that all the way back to the Airstream he asked all kinds of questions about how old he would have to be to do that, how old would he have to be to start learning, how do you learn how, etc. Lots of genuine interest in the sport. Jordan on the other hand more or less yawned.
Saturday afternoon, we went to Wal-Mart and picked up a few items for the camping season and when we returned, we went straight to the visitor’s center and toured the museum and viewed a little 15 minute movie that was made about Talullah Gorge. In that movie, they showed close-ups of kayakers going over some of the falls. At the bottom of the falls they went completely under and stayed for what seemed like several seconds (slow motion I’m sure). I leaned over to Jonathan and asked if he still wanted to go kayaking over the falls and he replied, “Yeeeessss.” Well, when he is old enough and strong enough to right one when it capsizes, I’ll probably get him one. And of course that means one for me, too!
Mid-70's Palm Beach GMC Motor Home
One cool thing about the weekend was that a couple came in in a mid-1970’s Palm Beach edition of the GMC motor home. I didn’t get a chance to meet them or ask to see the motor home or anything like that because I didn’t want to intrude, but I thought it was cool to have them as neighbors.
Tags: Streamin
This was the first weekend of Spring Break in metro-Atlanta and that includes Fayette County. Jordan’s Boy Scout Troop planned a camping trip to the Apalachicola National Forest for the first three days (this weekend) of spring break. We left from the First Presbyterian Church of Peachtree City at 8:30 am and headed south to the Florida Panhandle.
We arrived mid-afternoon and set up camp in the small campground run by the National Park Service. This campground provides a clean bathhouse and water service at each camp site, but no other services at the campsites. The campground is on a lake that is well stocked with fish and some of the boys went fishing Saturday evening before dinner. The boys made their own dinner and the Dads had grilled chicken, salad and grilled bread. Yum.
Sunday morning the boys cooked breakfast burritos for both Scouts and Dads. By mid-morning we headed toward Tallahassee to the Sinks to hike the four miles around the sink holes. After lunching at the park at the sink holes, we headed over to the beach on the Gulf Coast for the boys to play off some energy. This was, I believe, Jordan’s most enjoyable part of the trip. Like me, Jordan is a warm weather, beach kind of guy.
We were approached by a man that was with a group of young men nearby and asked if we were a Boy Scout Troop. Turns out the man was with a Sea Scout Troop from the Woodstock, GA area (North side of Atlanta) and he invited us to come up and learn to sail with them. I’m really hoping that Jordan will have interest in this type of activity.
Jordan's Boy Scout Troop at Apalachicola National Forest
Monday was our day to drive home and it wasn’t any quicker getting home than getting down there. Somehow I wound up being the lead vehicle. I’m not too wild about being the leader because I never know if I’m driving too fast or too slow. Apparently I drove too slow because the Assistant Scout Master took the lead when we stopped for gas near Dothan, AL. It was nice to get rid of the pressure. On the way back a couple of Scouts rode back with Jordan and me and it was nice to have the company. We listened to the Family Comedy Channel on Sirius Radio. There are advantages to having satellite radio sometimes.
Tags: Boy Scouts, Scouts
When you join the Wally Byam Caravan Club International (WBCCI) you are assigned a membership number. This serves two purposes, both are for identification. You are provided with your first set of numbers for the front and rear of your Airstream and a club seal for both as well. This way, when you meet another member on the road or in a campground, you can look up the name of the other in the club directory that is updated each year. The other purpose is to identify your trailer at a WBCCI rally. These can be quiet well attended affairs and when you have from 100 (small WBCCI rally) to literally 1,000 or more nearly identical silver trailers at a rally, it is more than convenient to have a unique identifier for your trailer. This can be so that you can find your trailer in a row of 50 silver beauties after cocktail hour, identifying the location of the evenings’ cocktail hour, or for safety reasons in case there is an emergency and the authorities or EMt’s need to find your individual trailer.
This year I had the opportunity to attend my first WBCCI rally. We’ve been members of the WBCCI for three years now and so far I haven’t even put our membership numbers on our trailer yet. One of the neat ideas I gleaned from the monthly WBCCI magazine, The Blue Beret, was to apply the numbers to the type of cling film that is used for window clings and put them on the trailer just for rallies. This has the advantage that the numbers can be removed. Many people buy used trailers that either have someone else’s numbers on them or they or the previous owners remove the numbers only to find that the numbers have a ghost image burned into the clear coat. This can be unsightly if you want new numbers of your own or if you don’t join the WBCCI. I had my numbers printed onto the cling sheet material by a local sign shop. It wasn’t cheap, but I can rest assured that our trailer will have the numbers on it when we want them on it and not when we don’t. Since Airstreamers call a trailer without numbers bald and our numbers are removable, I can say our Airstream has a toupe’. :LOL:
The rally I attended was the Florida State Rally. This is the second largest congregation of Airstreams in the country every year and this year they had a weekend program at the end of the rally for those of us that haven’t retired. Unfortunately, the weekend program was the weekend before Fayette County School System’s President’s Week Break. This meant that Becki and the boys couldn’t go with me since the rally is in Sarasota, Florida and that is an eight hour drive from our home. So, I went by myself leaving on Thursday to be at the rally first thing on Friday morning. And who wouldn’t want to spend a three day weekend in south-central Florida during February? Sign me up!
The rally was fun. I met the nicest couple in a motor home parked next to me. They were not members of the WBCCI and had come for the weekend also to see if they were interested in joining the club. During the summer months, they work camp at Yellowstone and spend the winter at their home in Florida. Unfortunately, some of the members didn’t roll out the welcome wagon for me or for them. I don’t think they will be joining. It’s unfortunate because they were the “youngest” retirees I have met in a long time. Lenny rides his bicycle 70 miles each week. This is the type of members the club needs.
One of my friends I met on-line through the airforums.com was in charge of receiving and processing pre-registration for the rally. I didn’t get a chance to see his wife again, but I did get a couple of chances to talk with Randy during the two days of the weekend program.
All-in-all, it was a nice taste of the Wally Byam Caravan Club International.
We have been patiently waiting for months for a new forums rally. This was the first rally that we have been able to attend with our own Airstream and it was named the “Can Opener Rally” and held the first full weekend in January 2007. So named because it was intended to open the camping season for the year and can, because we camp in “aluminum cans”.
The rally was held at Topsail Hill Reserve State Park in Santa Rosa Beach, FL. This was of course our first time camping at Topsail Hill. This is the nicest campground we have stayed at so far, with the possible exception of Ft. Wilderness. Each campsite here has its own “street light” and all the sites are paved and beautifully landscaped. When I made our reservation I chose a pull through since I knew we would be arriving late in the night and I wanted to be able to get in and settled as quickly as possible. Even though we were on a corner site, the landscaping gave us lots of privacy, but enough visibility to see the world, and other streamers, go by. I definitely will recommend this campground and we will definitely be back.
Saturday morning, I discovered that I had not packed a casual pair of shoes, so off to Wal-Mart for a cheap pair. I actually found a decent pair of sandals that I was quite pleased with. We had lunch at a nice restaurant and Becki wanted to stop by the outlet mall for a quick tour of the shops they had. They have a Disney Outlet! We decided to return on our way out the next day for some discounted Disney merchandise.
One of the forum members had to cancel at the last minute and couldn’t use his site and offered it to the group for whatever gathering we could use it for. So, it became the location for our pot-luck dinner. With such a large crowd, the site was full. We had quite a diverse crowd. We had streamers from New York, New Hampshire, Canada, Michigan, Missouri, Montanan, Miami, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, and as near by as Panama City and Santa Rosa Beach. Unfortunately, it was really neat to go on the “tour of homes” and see all the different models that were present. From late ’50’s models to brand new Front Bedroom Classic models. There were a total of three 30′ Safari Bunkhouses including ours. That is kind of interesting because there were so few of this plan made, but we were well represented at this great rally.
We really had a great time at this rally. We saw some old friends that we had met at previous rallies we had attended as day visitors and some we had only met on-line. It was a great bunch of folks and Becki and I decided this would be a regular on our schedule each year.
Sea shells by the sea shore. Henderson Beach, FL
The boys were bored with the shopping of course and a little bored with the potluck, but Jonathan made friends with one of the other boys and had fun playing with him. We took the boys out to Henderson Beach to play in the surf. It was way too cold and cloudy to actually go swimming, but the boys had fun building a sand castle and playing chase with the waves. We found that there was a lot of small shells washed up on the beach. That may have been from a storm earlier in the week or just may have been the season.
While the weekend was over cast, the new friends we made and existing friends we visited made it a bright and sunny weekend in the middle of winter. We’ll be back next year for sure.
Tags: Airstream
After two major catastrophes on our first two camping trips, I was afraid to take the Airstream on a 900+ mile trip, but one of the plans we have for the Airstream is to use it for some of our many annual trips to Walt Disney World. Having bought the Airstream late in the year, we didn’t make reservations at Ft. Wilderness until we knew for sure we would have the Airstream. Being so late in the year, it was next to impossible to get reservations at Ft. Wilderness for the full week of July 4th, so we decided to take what we could get just to be able to check out the campground. Unfortunately, that meant getting only one night. Well, we take what we can get when we wait until nearly the last minute. But, if you keep calling back, you can often pick up a night here and there.
After many attempts, I was able to get a second night. After many more calls I was able to get another night. So, we arrived on Saturday, July 1st and were scheduled to leave on Tuesday, July 4th. We stopped and picked up my mom so she could go with us. Our plan was to check out the campground and really not to go into the parks that weekend. We couldn’t get a premium site (full hook-up plus cable) so we settled for a full hook-up site. One thing we didn’t count on was the narrow width of the streets and close proximity of the landscaping and tow vehicles on the other side of the street. Up to this point, we had always (both times ) had pull through sites. This time I actually had to back the Airstream into the campsite! Becki got out and I dialed her on her cell phone and she began giving me directions. It took a good twenty minutes or so to get positioned in the campsite. I literally had to pull up a matter of inches and back up a matter of inches at a time to work the Airstream into the site. I had quite an audience of people waiting to get past on their golf carts and in their cars. I would definitely have done a better job without the onlookers.
Of course, we had a few items to purchase to make camping a little more enjoyable. One item Becki observed from across the street from us was an oscillating fan on a pole that was used under the awning to circulate the stagnate, humid summer air. Trip to Wal-Mart. It turns out the lady across the street in a 5th wheel trailer was staying for the summer with her six children while her kitchen was being renovated at home. Her husband had towed the 5th wheel to Ft. Wilderness and returned to North Carolina for the summer to work and came down on weekends to visit. I can think of no better place to spend the summer! Turns out she is a regular on the Disboards.com and spends every summer at Ft. Wilderness with her six children. I can’t imagine a whole summer in a 5th wheel with six children, though.
Ft. Wilderness is a huge campground. So large in fact that Disney provides an internal bus system to get around the campground and to the bus stop at the entrance to go to the theme parks. It was OK using the bus system, but despite the regular schedule of the buses, it was a little inconvenient to use them. It seemed we always just missed the bus when we got to the internal bus stop or when we got to the bus stop at the entrance we would have also just missed the bus to the park we were heading to that day. By the end of the weekend, Becki told me that we needed to get our own golf cart considering how much we would be coming to Ft. Wilderness. I told her we would have to start shopping for one and maybe we could find one before we came back next spring. Three weeks later we were the proud owners of a three year old E-Z Go golf cart.
Ft. Wilderness is a beautiful campground and has so much to offer. There are nightly campfires at the amphitheater where you can roast your own marshmallows and hotdogs. There is live entertainment provided followed by an outdoor presentation of a different Disney movie each night. There is a pool, although not themed like those at the newer resorts, tennis, volley ball courts, playgrounds, a marina, canals for canoeing and kayaking, and large sand beach. There are two convenience stores and a buffet restaurant and a dinner show (Hoop-dee-doo Review, the longest running musical in American history). There are pony rides and horse back riding available, and carriage rides available each night. So much to do and so little time!
One of many private golf carts decorated for the parade
On July 4th, there is a Golf Cart Parade where people decorate their golf carts and participate in the parade. This was the highlight of our trip…or at least it was for me. I counted well over 160 golf carts in the parade that morning. Sadly, as soon as the parade was over we had to head back to the campsite and finish packing up and head home. But, like every other trip to Disney World, we can honestly say, “We’ll be back.”
Tags: Airstream, Disney, Ft. Wilderness
For Father’s Day, we decided to go to Georgia’s premiere state park, FDR State Park in Warm Springs, GA just 67 miles from our home in Fayetteville, GA.
Warm Springs, GA was a semi tourist destination, health resort, and hospital in the late 19th and early 20th century. Many people from around the country visited Warm Springs to “take the waters” for their perceived health benefits. The natural warm springs are mineral rich and emerge from the ground scalding hot. The water was routed to an in-ground swimming pool built of indigenous granite stone. The waters were cool enough to swim comfortably in without being scalded by the time they arrived in the pool, but were warm enough to allow one to swim year ’round. Long before running for president, Franklin D. Roosevelt discovered the comfort of the warm springs water, but he also experienced that the buoyancy of the water made it possible for him to have apparent movement of his legs. Something he had not been able to do since he had contracted polio in his younger years. He felt that if he “took the waters” often enough he would be cured of his polio so he built a small cottage on some property adjacent to the resort. There he traveled via train several times a year to swim in the warm waters of the stone pool.
Dent from "head on" collision with a buck
I had toured the recently completed and beautiful little gem of a museum at Warm Springs when it was completed and wanted my family to see this for themselves. However, the weekend got off to a rough start. The Park property is huge and borders the west side of State Hwy. 85. We left for the weekend after I got home from work and arrived at the turn-off just as the sun was setting. It was about 9:00 and less than 100 feet from the road to turn to go to the entrance to the park, there was a Doe and Buck standing at the edge of the highway. There was no traffic coming so I blew my horn, put my headlights on high and moved over into the oncoming lane. Just as the rear bumper passed the two deer, I heard the impact. The buck had dove into the right front corner of the Airstream! Once again I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Arriving at the ranger’s station for check-in Becki and I discovered the worst. The right front corner was caved in. Yes, I just wanted to cry.
The next day, I told Becki that we should just camp in the drive way from now on…it would be a lot safer and cheaper in the long run. The insurance company is not going to be happy about this.
Tags: Airstream
Well, we just bought our first travel trailer this weekend…and already had our first accident. In fact, we have had some of the most serious events in towing occur on my first weekend of towing any trailer since I towed my parent’s 16 foot ski boat when I was a teenager.
After leaving the dealer in Cookeville, TN, we headed back south to Chattanooga and while we were in the mountains, what I presume to be a drunk, pulled out of a convenience store on the opposite side of the road and tried to merge into my lane. Only thing is he didn’t wait ’till I passed and there was a car coming from the other direction. Not only did he nearly side-swipe my truck, he also apparently didn’t see this big ole 30 foot Airstream attached to the back and I had to drive off onto the shoulder to keep from being hit by him.
We had to stop along the way and move everything we had packed in the bed of the truck into the trailer because of the threat of rain. We could see the menacing dark gray sky and flashes of lightening as we peered out over the valley from the highway we were traveling on.
Crease ran from door to seam at rear corner
Next, when we arrived in Chattanooga it began to rain so hard that I couldn’t see the traffic in front of me and had to pull over. So, if being run off the road by a drunk and torrential rain, when we left the campground at Raccoon Mountain I cut too short and hit the guard rail with the side of the Airstream. This left a crease from the door all the way down the side to the seam at the beginning of the radius panel of the rear curb side corner. Talk about a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach.
Now for the good news. While we were a little disappointed in the campground at the caves at Raccoon Mountain, we had a great time being led through the caves by a real nice young guide. She was very knowledgeable about the caves and every detail along the way. We were fortunate enough to have her all to ourselves.
When we left the Raccoon Mountain campground, we headed to Rock City and took the boys on a tour of this famous and historical tourist attraction. While the kids enjoyed Rock City, they later admitted that they really liked the caving at Raccoon Mountain better.
Fortunately, the rest of the trip home was uneventful except one thing: when the dealer set up the weight distribution hitch the bed of the truck was loaded down pretty heavy. After moving everything into the Airstream, there was apparently enough of a difference in the weight distribution that I did have a good bit of sway. I’ll have to have that adjusted.
Tags: Airstream
