Trip to Germany and England

This was not a camping trip with our Scamp, but we did spot several campers in Europe! Since two of our sons currently live in Stuttgart, Germany, we decided to go visit them. Flights from Atlanta to Stuttgart ran about $1100 per person though! We found flights on Google flights for $440 from Baltimore to Munich. This worked for us since we could visit our families up in DE, jump on the airplane in Baltimore, and then tour Munich at both ends of our trip. The strangest part of the flight pricing was that the $440 flight from BWI actually put us on the $1100 flight from Atlanta! Trains are frequent between Munich and Stuttgart so that's how we got there. Had a great time visiting, and while there we all took a cheap flight on Ryan Air to England for a weekend, reliving old times from when we were stationed there with the Air Force. On our way back to the USA, we spent the night at a hotel in Munich, which allowed us to spend the previous day visiting the Dachau concentration camp, and the Christmas Market, and then catch an early flight back to the USA.

David Crockett birthplace state park "King of the Wild Frontier" rally.

12-15 Oct, headed to David Crockett birthplace state park in TN for the first annual "King of the Wild Frontier" rally. Site 70 was great! This is a new rally started by Maynard Waters and Larry Clift. We chose a water/electric site (they also have full hookups available). Ours turned out to be a great site, as they had a tractor show that weekend and several old tractors parked right next to us. The tractors had a parade the next morning, right by our site before heading downtown. We had lunch at the Old Pilot Mill general store one afternoon, and the tractor parade had just been there too! The park ranger is doing a good job with improving this campground. 15 Oct Headed straight home, may stop at Crockett Tavern for lunch next year.

Museum of the US Air Force, Niagara Falls, and on to Acadia National Park, Sept-Oct 2017

This was a 6 week trip in our Scamp, listed chronologically. 1 Sept, Blue Heron Corps of Engineers (COE) campground, KY site 43. Didn't get to enjoy this campground much, as we were just using it for an overnight spot between point A and point B. 2-4 Sept, Wright-Patterson FAMCAMP site 51. Campsite in better shape than before, nice and clean. This is a campground open to military right on the Air Force base. The host is really involved in creating a great atmosphere and they had a BBQ open to all the campers while we were there. The Museum of the Air Force is located next to this base, with 4 huge hangars full of all types of aircraft. It could take several days to look at every airplane and read all the histories. I highly recommend this free museum. 5 Sept, Shenango Rec area, PA. This was First come, first served (FCFS) campground. Reservations ended Labor day and CG closes next week! Nice campground and a good location for an overnight. 6-11 Sept, Letchworth state park NY fall gathering. Site 208. Letchworth is a beautiful state park with lots of hiking and a good waterfall. We had a group get-together of friends with fiberglass campers. Lots of good hiking available here. 11-15 Sept, Willow Bay NF site 62. Very nice site with good view of water. Friends John and Sta met us here and then my Sister Ann and Joe met us the last 2 nights. Used solar on this side of loop since we have it. Electric available on the other side of the road but we had a great lake view from our site. Visited the local area including a tour of the not to be missed ZIPPO museum, and the Eldred WWII museum in Eldred. This campground is also close to the Kinzua bridge state park, which features an old railroad bridge that was half destroyed by a tornado, but has been left as a great viewing platform for the valley below. 15-18 Sept, Niagara rally at Riverside campground on the Canadian side. Another annual gathering of fiberglass campers. Of course we had to visit Niagara Falls and take a ride on the sightseeing boat "Horatio Hornblower". I like viewing the falls from the Canadian side, because you are looking at the more scenic USA side which is not as commercialized as the Canadian side. The boat prices are less right now due to the favorable exchange rate. 18-19 Sept, Verona Beach state park, NY. Nice campground with beautiful sunset. Would have stayed longer but we had a schedule to keep at Acadia. 19-21 Sept, Rogers Rock state park, NY. This was a nice campground. Since we had an extra night here, we kayaked on lake George. The water was crystal clear! We were able to modify our travel route the next day to visit my cousin Jimmy up in Burlington, VT. 21-22 Sept, Lafayette campground at Franconia Notch SP, PA. FCFS and hiked the Franconia Notch gorge after we left. The gorge is worth paying the fee to hike. 22-24 Sept, Drove the Kancamagus hwy to Covered Bridge CG site 35. Colors not peaked yet. We could probably have fit across the covered bridge, but the height restriction is based on the lower heights on the edges rather than the higher middle height. Drove the long way around and came back the long way. Pretty little park. We took a scenic drive and drove our cars (without campers) up the Mount Washington road, not for the squeamish or faint-hearted! 24-26 Sept, Acadia NP, Seawall CG site 31. Enjoyed Seawall. Visited Bar Harbor night of the 25th, had lobster at restaurant. Marilyn had symptoms of potential stroke morning of 26th, took her to MDI clinic after 3rd episode. Clinic used ambulance to MDI hospital. MDI hospital sent her to Bangor hospital in ambulance with suspected seizures. 26-28 Sept. Camped 3 nights in the Eastern Maine Regional Medical Center parking lot. Glad I had some water and solar power for the camper. The hospital was very good about letting us keep the camper in the parking lot. It meant I could get some much needed sleep and still be nearby to visit Marilyn. 28-29 Sept, Finally made it to Blackwoods for the last 1 night of our 4 night reservation. We had called the first night and receptionist said our sites were safe because we paid for them, but when we arrived 3 days later the ranger said not true! Our site was still available but Ann and Joe had to use a different site, which was fortunately nearby. 29 Sept - 3 Oct, Schoodic Woods CG at Acadia NP. Beautiful campground with electric and good wifi. Site 30 was convenient to rest room (no showers). We enjoyed the quiet side of Acadia and did some hiking here. Met a couple (Morgan and Teri) with a Scamp 19'. 3-4 Oct, Harold Parker state forest, Andover MA. We chose to just show up, due to requirement for 2 nights if reserving. HUGE campsites! Electric and water but did not use water since outlet was too far from where we were camping. Stopped to see cousin Skip on way out next morning. 4-6 Oct, Melville campground RI. Private CG, well maintained. Site 117. We toured Newport RI and found out that PT boats were built nearby, and JFK trained here before becoming famous in the PT-109. 6-7 Oct, Gateway NP CG, Floyd Bennett Field NY. Sites on old aircraft parking ramp. No hookups but water available. Showers. They have a nice museum here with restored aircraft. Good place to visit if you're an aviation buff, but it requires a horrendous drive through Brooklyn streets to get there, and ours was during Friday rush hour on 3 day weekend. The turnpike would have been great but towed vehicles are not allowed to use it! We stopped in Mystic, CT and ate at Mystic pizza on way to this campground. 7-11 Oct. Stayed at my Sister Ann and Joe’s house in DE 11-12 Oct Stayed at our son Greg and Ela’s house in VA.

Solar Eclipse, Twin Lakes Corps of Engineer campground near Clemson, SC

18-24 Aug 2017, Solar Eclipse trip to SC and family visit in VA. With all the hype about the solar eclipse, we decided to go see it! We were late looking for reservations at any campgrounds directly under the eclipse path, but finally found one near Clemson, SC. We went to Twin Lakes COE campground situated on Lake Hartwell. Total eclipse was fantastic! We got some amazing photos and it was like a party atmosphere. I got a short video after the eclipse started and it was fun watching it as it quickly got dark and everyone was hooting and hollering! Normally when it starts to get dark yo see shadows getting longer and a sun descending on the horizon, but with an eclipse overhead, the shadows never stretch out and the sun is straight above you! Our son Greg and family traveled down from VA and stayed at a hotel nearby and spent the eclipse day with us. Kids enjoyed kayaking in our big green sit-on-top kayak. Nice campground! We then headed to Rocky Knob campground on the Blue Ridge parkway for 1 night. We used the RV loop, since the other loop had sites too small to fit both our 16' Scamp camper and the tow vehicle (it would fit one or the other, but not both). We had a pull through site, many available this time of year. Headed to VA for a couple of days with our son and family, and then home.

My Old Kentucky Home State Park, Bardstown, KY

8-11 June, 2017, My Old Kentucky home rally, Bardstown KY This was a fiberglass camper and friends rally organized by Troy Hawkins in an area of KY that has several distilleries. It was a nice rally with lots of people we know and like. Site 9 was a bit tight so we’re glad we have just a 16' Scamp and didn’t have a 21’ camper! Make sure you check the site sizes on Google maps before you select one. We had a free tour at one of the many local distilleries, and toured the downtown area. Stephen Foster was a composer of a lot of familiar songs (including "My old Kentucky home") and the main street is named after him. We enjoyed it enough that we also have reservations for the 2018 rally. We stopped at our friends John and Rebecca’s house on the way up in Cookeville TN for the night, and drove straight home to GA after the rally.

Eggs on the Hiawassee rally in Hiawassee GA

We attended the 2nd annual Hiawassee fiberglass rally at Riverbend campground in Hiawassee GA this past week. Riverbend campground is a beautiful and well maintained campground right on the Hiawassee river. Most sites have full hookups and the shower rooms were beautiful! Friendly folks at this rally, with so many brands of fiberglass campers that we lost count. More Olivers than we ever saw at one time, plus Scamps, Casitas, Bolers, U-Hauls, a Little Snoozy, a Parkliner, and Escapes in several different shapes and sizes. The campground put on a fish fry on Thursday, and we all bought sides to go with the fish. Robin and Cindy Fortner added the necessary "chips" (French fries on this side of the pond) to go with the fish. We had to leave early Saturday before the potluck due to a funeral we wanted to attend, but the rally was great and the weather cooperated most of the week. Already have our reservations for next year (May 30 - June 1 2018), but we will bring a kayak or canoe next time due to the great paddling options.

Bluebonnet rally, Bandera, TX (19-23 Apr 2017) and more.

Once again, we attended the Bluebonnet Casita rally (they allow Scamps) held in the cowboy capital of the world in Bandera, TX. This year we decided to go early so we could catch some of the Bluebonnets that bloom in early April in Texas. We were not disappointed! Our route from our home in GA to Ennis TX and their Bluebonnet trails (available at their visitor center) included a stop on the Natchez Trace at the free National Park campground at Rocky Springs near I-20, and ended at a Corps of Engineer (COE) park at High View, a pretty little site near Ennis and actually not far from the Casita factory. We followed the map from the visitors center and were treated to several fields of bluebonnets and great photo opportunities. Being retired also gave us time to head down to the Waco TX area, where we camped at Midway COE, a great spot for visiting Waco and the Texas Ranger museum, Dr Pepper museum, and Chris and Joanne's Magnolia place (a hit HGTV show). We have to admit that we never heard of Chris and Joanne until my sister saw that we were in Waco and asked if we had visited them! Spent a few more days at Inks Lake state park, and then at Cedar Breaks COE. Recommend both of those as well. We also toured Longhorn Caverns state park, which is just a short ride from Inks Lake. Didn't see as many bluebonnets in this area, but we did find some good food at Coopers BBQ in Llano, Bluebonnet cafe in Marble Falls, and Black's BBQ in Lockhart. Spent Easter weekend at our daughter's house in San Antonio and then headed to the Bluebonnet rally. The Bluebonnet rally is huge! They usually get almost 200 campers here. Most are Casitas, but there are also a variety of older and newer brands, including Scamps, Trilliums, Bolers, and Escapes. It's a very well organized rally that always has a waiting list, and they always seem to have great door prizes for everyone. It's normally held at Skyline Ranch RV park and everyone involved is just so friendly and inviting that it's easy to want to go every year! Following the Casita rally, we headed back to San Antonio for another week with family and friends. The rally coincides with San Antonio Fiesta week, so we enjoyed going down to San Antonio and the Fiesta. (travel hint: get an all day pass on their VIA city bus for less than $2 senior price and you can ride all day, even on their city trolley buses or to the missions). We were able to meet up with several of our camping buddies on this trip (Fred and Dora, Dave and Linda, Ken and Bonnie just to name a few). Our trip home involved back country roads to avoid the hustle and bustle of the interstates, so we were able to enjoy two more COE parks on the way home. Sandy Creek COE was on Steinhagen lake near Jasper TX and very peaceful, and then Service COE near Coffeyville, AL was right on the Tombigbee river, and we could watch the barges, tugs, and yachts pass right by our campsite as they traveled up and down the river and through the nearby locks. This was our first trip using our new Dodge Durango pulling our Scamp. We got about 17.1 MPG with our V-6 and 8 speed combination, and it handled well. Not quite as much cargo room as our Dakota quad cab pickup (V-8 with 6 speed) but it does use less fuel than our Dakota's 14.5 MPG average towing.

Death Valley National Park to GA and places in between

We left Quartzsite AZ on the 12th of Feb after the rally and headed out on a 385 mile trek to our reservations at Furnace Creek campground in Death Valley National Park. February is an ideal time to visit Death Valley (unlike the time in June when we drove across the desert). 12-17 Feb: We joined John and Kathy Roeder here for the week, and took day trips from here to visit the park extremities (Scotty's castle is still closed due to last year's flooding). Furnace Creek allows reservations and it was full so it was good we got them. They also have two other campgrounds just across the highway, one of which was mostly empty (no shade) and the other, Texas Springs, is first come first served but is a pretty campground if you enjoy rock formations as a backdrop. We might try for Texas Springs next time. There are several great hiking trails and driving trails within Death Valley. Being an aviation buff, I really enjoyed looking down as the F-18's flew through the valley under us at Father Crowley overlook near Panamint Springs. We also enjoyed watching dogfights and air to air refueling when we visited Ubehebe crater at the Northern end. It was dry, since they only get about 2" of rain per year (I think we got that much the day we left though) 17- 20 Feb: We stayed at Desert Eagle FAMCAMP in Las Vegas. Not big fans of Las Vegas, although we did join up with John and Kathy to take a night tour of the strip and see the lights. We prefer the nearby attractions, like Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire state park, and Red Rock Canyon scenic drive. The FAMCAMP is nice, they are friendly there, and if you get lucky you get to see the Thunderbirds in the traffic pattern. 20 Feb: Our need to get back for scheduled doctor appointments required me to break the last 2,000 miles into long driving chunks that we don't usually like to do, but we did it. Looking at the map, Holbrook AZ looked to be a good stopping point, and a check at campendium.com revealed a free campground at the South entrance to the Petrified Forest National Park! Crystal Forest free CG south of Petrified Forest entrance was actually a pretty nice place to spend a night, with a covered picnic table. No hookups, but another campground across the street has hookups for a small fee. The campground is right at the southern entrance gate, so you can watch as they come in and unlock the gate in the morning. We figured it would only take about an hour or two to go through the park (after all, how many petrified trees can you look at). This turned out to be much more interesting than we expected, so we spent most of the day taking small hikes around the petrified trees and geological formations. This is a beautiful park! We even crossed paths with another Scamp from GA, Linda Fisher Crowley! 21 Feb: This was a late drive to Kirtland AFB NM FAMCAMP. It was getting dark as we arrived due to our long stay at the Petrified Forest, so we just picked a spot and left in the morning. No reservations, but they had plenty of room. 22 Feb: Another long drive brought us to Caprock Canyons state park, TX. We arrived late in the afternoon, but early enough to hit a trail and get some good sunset pictures over the canyon. 23 Feb: We stopped to visit our adopted family June and Pat in Rockwall TX and parked the Scamp in their driveway overnight. Nice being able to visit once in awhile! 24 Feb: Twiltley Branch COE MS. Nice place to kayak. Unfortunately, due to our fast moving schedule we didn't stay long, but this is a pretty campground and we had a long pull through site. We actually thought we were on one of the campground roads, but it was just a really long site! 25 Feb: Arrived home in time for Saturday church.

Quartzsite boondocking

John and Kathy Roeder talked us into attempting boondocking at Quartzsite, AZ for the first time ever. Not the first boondocking for us, but the first time we traveled to Quartzsite. We were a little bit wary of the unexpected, having no idea of whether we would even find the "boondocking" area, but we decided to forego our usual FL trip to try out AZ for a change. We already had a 90 watt solar panel that I added on top of our Scamp, and we also had a portable 90 watt panel for an extra charge if needed. I did decide to upgrade our 100 amp "marine" battery to a 155 amp "golf cart" battery just to give us an extra margin of watts for my CPAP and the heater fan, but as it turned out, it never really got cold at Quartzsite and we had plenty of sun all week. The fiberglass group gathering this year was held between Feb 6 - Feb 12 and was the 10th anniversary of the fiberglass gathering there. The weekend before this was superbowl weekend, so we stayed at Arizona Oasis RV park just before the rally so we could be sure to have TV coverage. I had my Falcons shirt and my GA bulldogs hat on, and when the USAF Falcons overflew the stadium, it was a good omen for the Falcons, and they surged to an unbelievable halftime lead! Alas, they forgot they were playing against Mr Cool, Tom Brady and the Patriots. Arizona Oasis also provided up with the opportunity to empty our tanks and fill our water tanks and extra water jugs to maximize our boondocking capabilities! (There are no toilets, dump station, hookups or water at Quartzsite BLM) We left Arizona Oasis and soon found the area right along I-10 that we were looking for. We checked in for our free 14 day camping permit, and then headed to whatever spot we felt like occupying in the BLM Dome Rock area. Picked a spot on an upper ridge, set up our Scamp and screen room, and kicked back for an enjoyable week with many friends old and new that camped nearby. The weather was great as far as I recall (I'm writing this 3 months later and tend to forget any bad stuff), although it was windy enough at times that I did not even attempt to put our awning out. Our Coleman screen house did just fine though. Fortunately we were able to make it through the week without having to dump or refill, and the battery filled up with solar energy very quickly every day. Quartzsite boondocking might not be for everyone, but we enjoyed it and plan to be back next year! We got together with different friends and enjoyed pizza and beer at Silly Al's pizza, and some great burgers at Bad Boyz Cafe. Best part of Quartzite is the laid back atmosphere and good winter weather, and getting together with friends.

Traveling from GA to Quartzsite AZ via Big Bend TX and Arizona state parks

This year we decided to try the free BLM camping at Quartzsite, AZ. Since it's over 2,000 miles from our home, it's definitely not an overnight trip. I've decided to jot down a few notes about how we got from here to there. Departed home 4 Jan after Marilyn’s doctor appointment. We stayed overnight in the MS rest area on I-10 at the LA state line. Arrived San Antonio on the 5th and camped in Jen’s driveway. Departed Jen’s house on the 17th and stayed at the following places; 17 Jan: Seminole Canyon state park TX. This park is on Hwy 90 (we like hwy 90 vs the little bit shorter I-10) and has some petroglyphs that can be seen on the canyon walls if you take the ranger led hike. If this is your first state park visit in TX and you plan to spend a few more nights at TX state parks, you can buy an annual pass that covers the daily entrance fee for you and your companions, which is a good deal. 18 - 23 Jan: Big Bend NP Rio Grande village. Site 43. We love touring Big Bend. Last time we stayed at Chisos Basin but waited to long to make reservations so this year we got a spacious pull through site at Rio Grande village. This trip the weather was warmer than last year's winter storms so no ice on the step to test my balance (although strong winds knocked me over on one of the canyon trails this trip). We took the international ferry (rowboat) to Boquillas Mexico for a lunch and a beer (don't forget your passport). Had a scare as this was on inauguration day and some Federales came roaring into town in their Humvees, and we were worried they were closing the border! 23 - 26 Jan: Davis Mountains state park. Scenic tour and Ft Davis. Their is a 73 mile scenic loop where you can drive (or take your bike if you are so inclined) that goes through various topographies of this region. Fort Davis is a good place to visit and see what the Buffalo soldiers had to endure. The McDonald observatory is also in this area, so you can sign up in advance for one of their star parties and have an unbelievable view of the night sky. 26 Jan: Aguirre Springs NM. Beautiful but steep curvy drive. The National Recreation area first come first served campsite is fine for little 16' campers like ours, but 20' and longer might be pushing it. The campsite has hiking trails and a good view of White Sands missile base. No hookups, but you can collect drinking water at the host station at the entrance. Nice cool site up in the hills. 27 - 29 Jan: Catalina state park, AZ. Nice CG, visited Allen and Aurora Glasgow who live close by (I worked with Allen and we shared an apartment at my first Air Force base in 1970). Nice hiking trails at this campground, and we got to watch the Roadrunner, followed by Wiley E Coyote pass right through our campsite! Spotted a golden eagle on one of our hikes. 29 Jan - 4 Feb: Lost Dutchman state park, AZ. Site 64 was looong! We could have fit another entire Scamp or Casita ensemble in our campsite! This is a really pretty state park with a great view of the Superstition mountains. There are several trails with increasing difficulty levels for beginners to the pros. Lots of mining history and scenic drives in the area. We also got to visit another coworker from my Air Force history on our way through Goodyear, AZ, John and Glenda Pannell. 4 - 6 Feb: Arizona Oasis RV park. Stayed for the super bowl, ATL lost a heartbreaker. See next blog for more details. This campground accepts Passport America rates!