Wolves in the RV

It’s been raining non-stop since yesterday afternoon and according to the forecast it’s going to keep going all day. So we’ve decided to pack it in early and head home instead of sticking it out here in the rain and being cooped up all day. Let the packing begin.

Some photos from Callaway today. We saw the butterfly exhibit to Izzy’s delight and also the birds of prey show. Raining a little now, so we’re just hanging in the house truck for the moment.

It’s now day 3 of our Campsgiving excusion and so far we’re having a great time. We rolled in at around 2 in the afternoon on Wednesday and got set up pretty quick. The campgrounds are very nice; clean, well-kept and lots of nice amenities including wi-fi, a playground, a pool (a bit too cold for that though), a workout room and they say a mini golf course though none of us have found it yet.

My only complaint about the facilities is that the campsites are clustered a bit closely together. But otherwise, it’s really nice.

On Wednesday afternoon, we checked out the town of Pine Mountain which was pretty small; we walked the whole thing in about 15 minutes. Then we got back in the car and drove into Calloway Gardens for a few minutes and then into FDR State Park which was very nice. We had dinner at Calloway’s Country Kitchen Restaurant and then went back to the RV for a fire and some good old-fashioned sitting around. We were exhausted and went to bed crazy early.

On Thursday, we put on the parade for Izzy. Her eyes popped out of her head when the Dora balloon hit the TV. My adventure Thursday morning was my realization that I had forgotten my meat thermometer at home. The only grocery store in Pine Mountain was closed for Thanksgiving and the second nearest grocery store was a Wal-Mart about 20 miles away in La Grange. So I checked out every convenience store but no luck. I would have to rely on my Extra-Poultry Perception (EPP) to determine when my chicken was done.

That’s right, we had chicken instead of turkey for Thanksgiving. I was going to fry a turkey, but it started sounding like an expensive (the fryer I wanted was over $100 + $20 for oil) and dangerous proposition so I decided to give up on that this year and smoke a chicken instead. I had never done that before, so it was an adventure but I have to say it turned out great. And I made my stuffing to go with it, loaded with bacon, andouille sausage, mushrooms and apples. We stuffed ourselves and then roasted marshmellows on the campfire. Really nice day, perfect Thanksgiving. Adults had fun, Izzy had fun, Ari made trouble, good times for all.

Today we’re going to Calloway Gardens to check out the butterfly exhibit (Izzy is psyched). Tomorrow it may rain, so not exaclty sure what we’re going to be able to do, but we’re not worried. Sunday we’re outta here. More updates and photos to come

Yes, it is late. The insomnia bug bit me this evening and so I am now the first to wish myself a happy birthday.I should be telling myself to go to bed.

Anyhow, we had a good weekend. Here are some pics:

I rolled in on Friday by myself. The wife was to join later, once her mom was over at our place and the kids taken care of. I had sort of a hellacious time of it. First off, it was raining the entire day on Friday. That meant wet roads and poor visibility which made driving the Winnie a bit more stressful. And then there was having to stop for lunch on the way, getting gas and navigating a couple of tight roads…

I’m really pretty good with the Winnie at this point. Driving on the open road, even the highway is not an issue. But getting gas was an ordeal. I was convinced I was going to hit something on my way out and had to do a little backing up to ensure clearance. By the time I rolled into the Lake Lanier Islands Resort, I was a bundle of nerves.

Then I had to choose a campsite. I was originally supposed to have a back-in site. But since I was coming up by myself and with the rain, I really didn’t have the stomach to try backing in on my own I called and had myself switched to a pull-through. They gave me site 106, which they said was fairly private with lake views and an outstanding sunset. All of this was true. But they didn’t tell me that site 106 was basically teetering at the edge of cliff. There was virtually no campsite, basically just a driveway and with a picnic table crammed in and a cliff. At this point I felt a little defeated. Fortunately the guy at the camping registration gave me a couple of other open sites to look at and I ended up at 136. The site itself was just as small as 106, but it was right on the lake and a few steps down below the campsite was a huge beach with a table and firepit just for us. I was relieved.

And then I had to get everything set up, which meant a lot of in and out of the RV in the rain which also was not fun. By the time I was done, I decided I’d earned the right to a giant cold beer, which I had. Then I mellowed a bit and a little while later the wife showed up and all was good again.

Saturday was nice… We walked the campgrounds and checked out all the other sites for future reference. Lake Lanier Islands is a nice place and we really liked it on the whole. Some of the sites are a bit small though the ones with lake access are almost all winners and have LOTS of extra space. We did notice a fair amount of litter in some of the sites though, which was disappointing and something we didn’t expect to find in a private campground, which we expected would be even better kept up than the state parks (which are kept up really really well). Overall though, it’s worth the few extra bucks you pay to stay there, especially considering the location, which was just about a half an hour from our house.

Saturday afternoon we watched a movie, which is almost impossible to do at home with the kids, so we appreciated that. Then Satuday night, we had a fire, ate some dinner and hung out. Very nice. And on Sunday we came home. Nice weekend

Well, not quite yet… This weekend, the wife and I are going up to Lake Lanier Islands, our first trip to a private campground. It’s also my birthday weekend, so it will be especially nice to get away and do some relaxing.

We’re off on Friday, back on Sunday and best of all, Michele’s mom is watching the kids! Woo hoo! I mean, I love my kids and all, but let’s be honest… We could all use a little peace and quiet

I have finally found time to post something here.  Now how to start? I am in love with the RV - i can hardly believe that we have such a thing!  I really don’t even know how it happened exactly - was it our friends Shaune & Alma taking off across the country in one this summer that triggered it?  Was it my increasing desire for a life where we actually DO THINGS AND ENJOY LIFE, not just run errands and work, and worry all the time about all the stressors of daily life.  I guess that we just came to a point where we were like - yep - we have accomplished all the things we set out to do years ago and maybe now we deserve to take our foot of the gas a bit and establish more of a “lifestyle”  - instead of just living out a to-do list. 

Since we bought the Winnie i have been non-stop exploring of all things RV - its like an addiction at this point.  I love reading about people who live in RVs full time or did year-long trips in them.  I want to do a year-long trip.  I am putting quite the little plan together in my head, but it has not yet reached spreadsheet-phase.  I am not serious about something until I put in Excel.  Stay tuned for an exciting spreadsheet in my next post.

So I am really enjoying it so far - we just booked 4 nights for Campsgiving but that’s like 2 months away so we have to find a few more weekends to go out before then. Trouble is that we are finding it difficult to get somewhere efficiently Friday nights, since I work about an hour away from the house I have to rush home and then we have to throw everyone on board and drive somewhere in rush hour traffic.  Erik beat the system last weekend by driving up alone with the dogs and setting up camp but i did not get to camp with the kids in my car until 7:30 PM - after being in the car since 5 PM.  We have to find a better way (i.e. I have to find a way to leave work earlier).

So our official Campsgiving Plans are set — we’re going to be down at Pine Mountain, near Calloway Gardens November 26-30th. I’m gonna fry a turkey And there will be lots of family fun to be had… We’re especially looking forward to the Wild Animal Safari! No, we won’t be driving the house truck through the safari, although it would be kind of bad-ass…

And now some good links… Here’s a web site that we’ve found especially useful: RV Park Reviews. Lots of helpful ratings and reviews from real campers like you and me.

RV Park 411 is another good site with links to RV parks and resources, owned and maintained by my friend and former co-worker Philip Randolph.

We had a really nice weekend up at Unicoi State Park, near Helen. I went up on Friday afternoon and set up and the Michele came and joined me with the kids that night. We stayed until Sunday afternoon and hit the road for home around lunchtime.

First let me give a shout out to my new GPS. Figuring out directions and reading maps in areas I’m not familiar with can be stressful and often a cause for in-car fighting between me and the wife. But my new Garmin made it really easy. Going home though, I discovered quickly that the way it directed me back home on streets I knew wasn’t exactly the fastest way, but I decided to ignore it. But if you’re going someplace new, who cares if the way it gives you isn’t the fastest? It gets you there and eliminates the stress. And being able to locate gas stations and restaurants on the fly is very helpful as well.

Here are some photos from the weekend…

Unicoi is a really nice park. And may I also compliment their shop by the campsites for actually stocking useful items. At Red Top they just sell souveneirs and crap. I asked for a hose washer the last time we were there and the girlo looked at me like I was toalking another language. At Unicoi though, if you forget something basic like soap, cooking oil or yes, even a hose washer, you can find it there.

We had a full hookup site which included the sewer. Our sewer hose didn’t actually reach that far so we couldn’t keep it hooked up but it did save us a special trip to the dumping station when we left. The sites were a little more cramped than what we were used to, but still pretty nice. When we go back to Unicoi the next time, we’ll get one of the partial hookups which has electricity and water, but no sewer. The campsites are much more spacious and wooded.

We went to Helen on Saturday and had a nice time there as well. It’s got that whole Alpine village thing going which makes it especially fun for kids. We walked, had lunch, bought Izzy some shiny rocks, got some candy and then went back to the campsite and hung out before dinner.

We don’t have any pictures of this unfortunately but I set up what Michele called a “Dinner Impossible” kitchen outside with my grill and camping stove and made chili which we ate outside. Good times, chili by the fire.

And in a note on personal achievement, driving the Winnie is really not nearly as scary as it used to be. It’s actually getting a little too comfortable maybe. I’m sort of enjoying coming around a turn and seeing all the cars practically jump off the road and onto the shoulder in fear. And, as the wife noted after we were done, parking it in storage was not terrible either. I actually managed to get that done in just a few minutes. The first time it was a 20 minute ordeal.

No updates yet on when the next trip will be. Campsgiving is set though, more details to come on that.

So I was flipping channels this afternoon and what did I find on TBS? RV the movie with Robin Williams. This is one of those movies that I probably would never have dreamt of sitting through, but given my newly  minted status as an RV owner, I had to check it out. Verdict? unexpectedly hillarious, especially after having spent the last two weekends on the Winnie.

The funniest scene, pictured above, was when Robin Williams tried desperately to empty his toilet waste. Hillarity ensues in the form of a 30-foot-high feces geyser. I almost fell off the couch. Good times.

We’ve confirmed camping plans for next weekend, we’ll be heading out to Unicoi State Park. It’s a little more than an hour north of us in the mountains, about three miles from Helen, our local faux-Alpine mountain town. We’ll set up on Friday night as always and then take the kids to Helen on Saturday and come back Sunday afternoon.

Unicoi is a really nice park — Michele and I camped there a few years ago when camping meant going and setting up a tent and sleeping in a sleeping bag on a gravel platform. Ah, how innocent and naiive we were…