Blue Angels homecoming and Big Lagoon state park FL

Big Lagoon State Park, Pensacola, FL. Blue Angels homecoming airshow. We arrived on Veterans Day and made it to the Friday night show, and then came back for the day show the next day. Impressive, but no A-10s (my favorite airplane) flying. We had a nice shaded spot at site 19, and would go here again just to take a break. We just hiked the trails on our last full day and relaxed. Met Ray and (Re)Voe here, they own an EggCamper. The park has kayaks and canoes for rental, and places to launch your own kayaks. Beautiful weather and sunsets. The Navy Blue Angels museum on NAS Pensacola is worthy of a visit any time, and can take a full day or more since it is so interesting.

Raccoon mountain TN, Southern Belle river cruise in Chattanooga TN, Rock City, and Cloudland Canyon

Raccoon Mountain, Chattanooga, TN. This trip was to catch a “fall colors” river cruise on the Southern Belle in Chattanooga. The colors weren’t quite ready yet, but the scenery was still good. This weekend happened to also be the “Head of the Hooch” rowing regatta with hundreds of rowing sculls competing. Busy waterway. We visited the Chattanooga Choo-Choo and trolley, and visited Rock City. We both used the shower in the Scamp on this trip since we had full hookups. On the way home, we drove to Cloudland Canyon state park, and walked part of the rim trail. Beautiful campground! The colors were better here, and I also went to the floor of the canyon and then back up the 400 plus stairs to see the waterfalls. Looks like a good place to camp.

Land Between the Lakes, TN. Piney campground LBL rally 1

Land Between the Lakes, Dover, TN. This was a fiberglass campers meetup, and our first rally after buying our Scamp. Several Scamps (mostly 5’ers) and 2 Casita’s and 2 A-Liners (Dennis the host bought his A-Liner) attended and camped at Piney campground. Dennis was instrumental in giving us advice which helped us pick a Scamp vs an A-Liner (he has one of each). We toured Fort Donelson National Battlefield (Union’s first big victory under young US Grant) and learned how to cook on a Dutch Oven. Colors in the trees were turning a pretty color. Campground was nice, but crowded with kids on school break that weekend. Visited the Lodge cast iron foundry in Pittsburgh, TN on the way up, and bought some cast iron of course!

Unicoi state park, Helen, GA with Greg and Ela

Unicoi state park, Helen, GA. Our Grandkids were visiting, and we still had our pop-up camper, so we took both campers here to camp with Greg and Ela. They have "buddy sites" at many of the GA state parks where you can get two sites together. Greg built a campfire both nights, and the guys hiked to Helen along the 3 mile trail, while the girls drove. We hitched a ride with the girls on the way back. Brady hiked all but about 1/2 mile. Helen is a town that mimics a Bavarian Oktoberfest type of town, and they have German restaurants and an annual Oktoberfest celebration. Swam in the beach area of Unicoi lake and also hiked up to Anna Ruby falls. Ela wanted to stop and look at BIG campers on the way back so we stopped at Camping City. They had a buffet at the Unicoi lodge while we were there, with all you can eat trout available! Yummy!

Foster reunion, Tickfaw state park LA, Coleto County park TX, Galveston Island state park TX, Lackland AFB, Cajun RV Biloxi MS

Headed to the annual Foster family reunion in Victoria TX. Marilyn's Mom's name was Foster, so it's her side of the family. We stayed at Tickfaw state park in LA the first night, then Coleto Creek county park in Victoria, TX 2 nights, where they held the reunion. Tickfaw was about halfway between our house in GA and TX, and they have a small but fun water park area for the kids. You can also kayak or canoe in the adjacent river. It sure was nice having our own air conditioned place to stay before, during, and after the reunion! After the reunion, we headed to Goose Island state park in TX for 3 nights (inner site 1st night had too many skeeters there so we moved to beach site next 2 nights). The area with trees has lots of shade, but it also blocks the breeze that keeps the mosquitoes at bay. The sites along the water had a constant breeze and the mosquitoes stayed away. They have shade shelters over the picnic tables. We had a sidewall split on the left rear Dakota tire, replaced free at Sam’s club. We then parked 2 nights in Marilyn's sister Debbie’s driveway in Floresville, TX, and then a week at Lackland FamCamp with full hookups so we could visit Marilyn's family in San Antonio. Headed to Galveston Island state park via historic TX revolution back roads for a night, then took a free ferry from Galveston and headed to Cajun RV campsite in Biloxi, MS for a night. Toured Biloxi before heading home.

GA Veterans state park, Cordele, GA

GA Veterans state park, Cordele, GA . Nice campground and they also have a small military museum and a golf course here. Camped here so we could take the SAM shortline train from Cordele to Plains, GA. The train ride itself was pretty bland, but the stops were interesting. From the train we got to visit and have lunch in Americus, and then headed to Plains to tour Jimmy Carter's boyhood home, and Billy Carter's gas station. Also visited Andersonville civil war prison on the way back. Need to reserve early if you want a lake site.

St George Island state park, FL and Providence Canyon GA

St George Island state park, FL. Camped on the secluded beach campsite. Nice and quiet with lots of empty beach. St George island is not built up as much as other beach areas, but it’s getting there! Relaxing, we visited the lighthouse and toured Apalachicola. “Help wanted” signs were up for workers to clean the beaches after the BP oil spill further West. Kayaked in the sound but did not see any oil, just some booms that were ready for the oil if it got that far. First trip with the new tires. Stopped at Providence Canyon state park to view the Canyons on the way back. These canyons are sometimes referred to as "The Little Grand Canyon of GA". Used the Dakota, T-bar, and foam pad under kayak.

George L Smith state park, Twin City, GA

There were a bunch of kayakers getting together for kayaking at George L Smith state park, Twin City, GA. Marilyn was helping Ela in VA during Greg’s Korea/China TDY so this trip was on my own. Tried the shower in the Scamp for the first time, it works! This was a nice campsite with cypress trees that seem to chase the skeeters away, and I was able to park the canoe right by the campsite. Used our Green Scanoe and a T-bar rising from the back of the Dakota, along with foam pads under the gunwales to carry the Scanoe on the Dakota. I loved canoeing here, they have marked trails that pass through several cypress trees so you are in the shade a lot. My large Scanoe seemed almost like an aircraft carrier compared to all the nimble kayaks surrounding me. After camping here, I stopped by Magnolia Springs state park to canoe that lake too! Many do not realize that Magnolia Springs was also the location of the largest Civil War prison at one time, Camp Lawton, built to relieve overcrowding at the infamous Andersonville.

First Scamping trip to VA and PA

Our first Scamping trip! We headed to see our son and Grandkids in Springfield, VA. Towed with the Dodge Dakota, which handled the Scamp really well. When we picked up the Scamp from the seller, the tires were only inflated to only 32 lbs, so I figured they may need replacement (they were also probably 5 years old or more). I just thought "one more trip before replacing". Wrong idea, should have replaced them with what I wanted before we left. We had a flat on the door side of the Scamp minutes after refueling in NE GA. Did not even feel it, just noticed the belly band was no longer level in the mirror. We put the tiny 13" spare on and then looked for another spare, but the Goodyear store did not have our size, or even the slightly wider (and greater capacity) tire we wanted in stock, so we would have had to wait til Monday (this happened Friday evening). We ended up stopping at a Northern Tools to get one the same size as what we had. Stayed at a WalMart that night since we were running too late by then to make it to our planned overnight campsite. Our first WalMart camping experience! Glad we had the built-in propane heater to take the chill off, since we didn’t have any 110 volt connections at WalMart. In VA we stayed at Pohick Bay Regional Park campground, nice campsite not far from DC, with water activities and playground for the kids. No water connections so had to fill fresh water tank via jugs. Nice campsite. Drove through DE to PA and parked the camper in my Sister Ann’s back yard up in Lansdale PA. On the trip back we stayed at Fairy Stone state park in VA. Saw some deer here and drove just a couple miles on the Blue Ridge parkway enroute. We were on I-81 and saw a sign for the Blue Ridge Parkway, so jumped off I-81 above Roanoke to get to the parkway, once we got off we passed a sign that stated "not recommended for trailers" but the curves were no problem for our little 16' Scamp. Thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in the Scamp and looking forward to many more trips in the future.

We bought a Scamp travel trailer!

We have been looking into fiberglass campers for a few years now, and went to a "Scamp Camp" in Sebring FL last week in our Coleman pop-up to look at all the fiberglass campers. We wanted to see if they would be big enough for us. After we made the decision to buy a fiberglass camper, we went looking for something used, but in good condition and a reasonable price. We contacted a few ads for Casitas and 5th wheel Scamps, but all were gone fast! We were lucky enough to respond to one ad quick enough to be first in line when the owner reviewed her emails from top to bottom (ours was on top, but last one received). We coordinated a good faith deposit, which was sent directly from our bank (although the check didn't arrive at her mailbox as we drove into her driveway). Picked up Scamp in Citrus Springs, FL and drove it back to GA behind our Dakota after stopping at the FL DMV to get it registered. Had a wiring problem on the way back, but it was due to bad connection in the Dakota wiring. Hit some snow on the ground in GA on way back. (390 miles) Our Scamp is a 16' Standard, layout 6, with a side dinette. It also has air conditioning, heat strip, propane heat, awning, microwave, shower and toilet, and dual propane tanks. Although the ad said it was a 2004 model, it's actually a 2005 model.

First Blog attempt

Just trying to figure out what all the blogging is about, this is my first entry and I'll see if I can find it out there in Cyberspace.