Georgia Tearjerkers Gathering - Florence Marina State Park, March 21-23, 2008

This last weekend was the first 2008 gathering of the Georgia Tearjerkers. The gathering was located at Florence Marina State Park in Omaha, GA. http://gastateparks.org/net/go/parks.aspx?LocationID=41&s=0.0.0.5

When I originally planned to attend, I was going to be off from work the entire week and was going to come home from my last campout on Tuesday, clean the camper and restock on Wednesday, and head out again early Thursday morning, but "The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men" called for me to work on Wed - Fri, so I didn't head out till after work on Friday, so it was about 10:30 when I arrived Friday night. I got my camper in Site 4 by pushing it in with the help of some folks that were still up and quietly got set up. The Florence Marina sites are very nice with Water/Electric/Sewer/and Cable. The pull-through sites have concrete driveways, and the back-in sites have chert/small gravel driveways. The comfort stations were clean, but the hot water heater left something to be desired.

The weather for the weekend turned out GREAT. A little chilly overnight, but bright sunshine and warmed up to the low 70's during the day.

On Saturday morning I met Marvin and Jennifer and we had breakfast together and looked over each other's campers and also gave a few tours to other folks in the campground.

We then when out and did some exploring in the area.

We dropped by Providence Canyon State Park and took a few pictures of the beautiful canyon. Unfortunately, this canyon was created by poor farming practices, but it was beautiful.

Marvin has some great pictures of the canyon at: http://flickr.com/photos/47726343@N00/sets/72157604217782272/





We also went to Westville 1850 Village (Admission $10). It is a very detailed working village of life in the 1850's. Marvin has some great pictures at: http://flickr.com/photos/47726343@N00/sets/72157604219255706/

We stopped for lunch at a place called 4-Way Stop Barbecue which was a little Barbecue Place right at the Four Way stop of this little town. It was goooood eatin though.

We then went back to the campground for naps, book readin and just relaxing. I took a few pictures of my setup and Marvin and Jennifer's setup and a few pictures of the campground.

Marvin also has some great pictures here:

http://flickr.com/photos/47726343@N00/sets/72157604223488671/

We were still pretty full from lunch, so we got together and had a late dinner. I made some chicken and dumplings from a little box mix I had and Marvin and Jennifer made a salad and some other side dishes. We then sat around the fire for awhile and called it a night.

The next morning Jennifer made some great Hamburger Gravy (SOS) and we both broke down camp, said our goodbyes and headed for home. Going home I thought I would try some of the backroads to enjoy some "teardrop time", but by the time I got close to an interstate, gave that up, and continued on home on the big roads. I am just not a backroads kind of gal.

Well, it only takes two trailers to make a gathering, and we proved that!!

Coming next, in April we're going back to Point Mallard Park in Decatur, AL to spend the weekend with one of Rick's coworkers who has a camper. We're going to do some fishing, throw back a few, and put some really thick steaks on the grill!

(520 miles)

Thanks for reading!!

Carol

Georgia - Alabama Cycling Trip- March 15 - 18, 2008

This trip was to help out our Scout Troop as they cycled the Silver Comet Trail and Chief Ladiga Trail through Georgia and Alabama. The folks that cycled covered almost 100 miles by bicyle over 3 days.

On Saturday, we met at the school parking lot and loaded up. We had two cargo trailers, my camper and about 5 other vehicles.




From there, we took the Troop to the train depot in Anniston, AL where they got to experience riding the Amtrak to Atlanta. The folks driving the vehicles headed on to Atlanta to drop trailers, check into the hotel, and meet the Troop at the train station. I headed over to Stone Mountain Campground to stay the night. I had site 441 which was water and electric pull through, and had a beautiful view of the water and the backside of Stone Mountain. I did minimal setup since I was leaving again the next morning.






I did get to try out my wheel leveler for the first time!

After getting unhitched, I went into Atlanta to the train station to pick up the troop.


After getting them dropped off at the hotel, it was back to the campground to get some sleep. The next morning when I got up it was DARK, DARK, DARK, still at 7am. This early DST is rough on the Eastern Time Zone folks.

We headed to the trailhead and unloaded bikes and got the folks their lunch ready and got a group pictures before they headed off.


After they got going, the drivers headed for their stop for the night which was The Rock campground in Rockmart Georgia. The first leg for the cyclers was 37 miles.

I was in site A4 which was 30 Amp electric and water. Back in site, and a pretty area. http://www.rockmartfestivals.com/




The troop was in the group camping area, just on the other side of this bridge.


The next morning they all get ready to go again for a 50 mile stretch to Piedmont, AL

After the cyclers got going, the drivers headed on to our next stop, which was the Piedmont SportsPlex. We got permission to camp there from the Piedmont Parks and Recreation department. I wasn't expecting to have electric, but we did find a light pole that had a 20 Amp GFI plug on it and got permission to use it.

After setting up, I decided to try a little cycling, so I borrowed an extra bike and went down the trail to meet the group. I ended up riding about 9.5 miles. This is some scenery along the trail.



This is the kitchen setup for the troop.

This is right near the SportsPlex and the trail.

The next morning, the cyclers headed out again for 15 more miles and we met them at the trail ending at Weaver, AL. We loaded up the bikes and came on home.

It was a fun trip, made much more enjoyable with the T@B. I had vowed off a long time ago on traveling trips with a tent. Setting up and breaking down each day, especially with the chance of having to put stuff up wet is something I won't do anymore, but the T@B made it easy. Open the door, put out the step, and I'm ready to go!!

As everybody also knows, abundant energy is wasted on the young. These boys bicyled every day, set up camp every evening and broke it down each morning. They cooked dinner every evening, and breakfast every morning, and cleaned up, and also still had the energy to play some frisbee, tag football, and soccer every evening. All I did was drive 600 miles round trip and park the camper each day, and I'm beat!!

Thanks for reading!!

Coming next. A weekend with the Georgia Tearjerkers at Florence Marina State Park in Georgia.

(600 miles)

Carol