Still stuck!!

Well we are still stuck in Elko GA. 

We could not find anyone locally that had tires for our camper, and we did not want to waste money on something cheap just to get us back to Florida, so we went online and order 4 new Goodyears and are having them shipped here to the campground, only problem is.... they come from California, so they are scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday.  We are hoping that maybe they show up on Tuesday but that's doubtful.
So in the meantime we have made some friends here, there are 27 year round rigs here, so it doesn't take to long to get know the people you see every day.

The camp host, Lisa and Mike, invited us to come join their bonfire Saturday night, so we did, they are very nice people and enjoy the family atmosphere here, they are very dedicated to this park and keeping it friendly and nice.  They live on sight full time in a small house, and we learned how the previous owners almost ran it into the ground, having times when the power was shut off due to them not paying the bills, and how nervous they were when they had new owners, but to their delight the new owners cared very much about keeping the campground open and taken care of, so they were happy!
After the campfire we decided to take some wine and go check out the hot tub as it was very chilly and perfect weather for it

It was really nice!! They have blue lights hung around the pavilion, made for nice ambiance.  We stayed for a few hours.  The next day we decided to take Jemma for a walk outside of the campground, and we happy to find a fairly untraveled dirt road not far from the campground we could walk down

 

Its been pretty boring here, but we have had time to run to Camping World to exchange our surge protector, it was a hummer and driving us nuts, the new one is super quiet, we have gone to the auto parts store to get the tools we need to take the tires off when the new ones come in, our neighbors were nice enough to let us borrow their jack stands so we can do all 4 tires at the same time.  We also have free wifi here so we have been catching up on the shows that we have missed along the way without satellite signal.  We are completely out of firewood so no fires.

Shane saw a 4wheeler driving along the fence line of the campground right behind our spot so today we walked over there to see if it was a road we could walk Jemma down, and it was

 

It actually ended up being an access road to a large hay field, but it was a nice little walk

 

So that's pretty much it, not a whole lot to tell here, just waiting on Wednesday for the tires to get here.

 

Headed to Veterans State Park

So we were on the road, we had about a 2 hour drive to our next stop, and I was killing time by talking o my mom on the phone, when I saw something come flying out of the dually, I noticed that it was the cover to one of our generators, I was tempted to just let it go because we were on the highway doing 65, but I knew how much Shane loved them covers, so I quickly pulled off to the side of the road, and ran back to pick it up.  Then i called Shane to let him now he owed me one, and to slow down because I had some catching up to do.  He had no idea of any it.
I finally caught back up to him, and then I was staring at the passenger side tire of the camper, I thought I was seeing things, or my mind was playing tricks on me because of the tire issue we had already had, but I could swear I could see a tire wobbling back and forth, I thought it would be best to just call Shane and have him stop so we could take a look at it.  Better safe than sorry right.  So he pulled over to the side of the road on an exit ramp, and we both got out to look at it, and sure enough we had a tire that was getting ready to blow out, we could tell because the tread was bubbled up, instead of being flat, UGHHHHHH!!!!  So we got on our phones and started trying to find somewhere close by that would have tires for us, and of course, no carried the size we needed.  So now what??  Well, I happened to look up at the sign by the exit and it said Twin Oaks Campground .2 miles away, perfect someplace close we can go until we can figure out where we are going to get our tires from.  So I quickly looked them online, got the number, called to make sure they have openings, they did, and we headed in.  Paid for 2 nights, and explained our situation to the campground owners, they were very nice, and put us in a spot that we could stay longer in if we had to, also gave m a couple numbers of some nearby tire places that maybe could help us out.  Unfortunately, we had no luck locating the tires we needed, so we opted to order them online, and have them shipped to the campground, which the owners were also fine with.  Only 1 big problem...... 6 days..... Yikes, I mean this is a nice park and all, but not that nice!!  And we are in one of those towns that has not much to it, Elko Georgia, need I say more?  Anyways, we are stuck here until Wednesday.  Tires are supposed to be in on Tuesday, we are hoping to be able to get them all mounted and balanced before Wednesday so we can get back on the road.  Until then we are just catching up, and running some errands.
I will right in a day or so and let ya know how things are going then.

Good Sams Rally, Atlanta Georgia

So we were headed to Atlanta motor speedway, and we were about 15 minutes away when we decided to stop at a shopping plaza so I could use the bathroom.  As we were getting ready to pull out, I noticed that a tire on the camper looked funny, it looked like something was stuck to the side of it, so I honked and had Shane pull over, and we got out to inspect it.  Sure enough one of our tires had a tumor!!

Now we do have a spare tire, so we thought it best to change this tire immediately, only problem is.... Shane didn't have a socket the right size for our lug nuts :/  luckily we have roadside assistance, so we made the call and then had to sit and wait.  We waited a couple hours for someone to show up, but they finally showed up and we were on our way again. 
We were going to the rally to meet up with Howard and Linda, they are full timers that write a daily blog, that Shane has been following for years.  They had mentioned that they were looking for another team to join them in weighing RV's.  Shane had emailed them and they were interested in talking with us, and asked us to meet them at this rally to see exactly what they do, and how they do it.
So we got there and they directed us to our "sardine" spot, they really cram people in these things

We got set up, and headed to inside the track to get registered and meet up with Howard and Linda.  After we met them, we headed over to Walter and Amy's rig (Walter is the executive director of the company that does the weighing), and we had a couple glasses of wine and got to know everyone.  Then we went out for dinner, and then came home.
The next day we were to go to the tire safety seminar that Walter was giving, and after that we were to join Howard and Linda in the booth to start signing people up for the weighing.  I guess you could say we picked it up pretty quickly, and before long they let us take over, this helped us learn everything we could possibly learn about the paperwork part of it.

 

 

After two days of signing people up at the booth we were ready to start the weighing.  We had gone with them to choose the weighing site.  It has to be on level ground, and has to have enough room to accommodate multiple big rigs, so they had picked out an exit road with three lanes, and this is not a very popular exit so it is not to busy.  All set up and ready to weigh

They have 4 scales, one for each tire, the RV pulls up, we align the scales in front of the tires, then they drive up on them, and we read off the weights.  This is done to insure that the RV is not overloaded, and that they are carrying the correct air pressures in the tires, its all about safety, and having the knowledge about the correct air pressures and knowing what it could cause if you don't.  After the first day of weighing, we wanted to see about moving our rigs over close by where we were weighing, that way we would be right there, and have a close bathroom to use.  So Shane called security and asked if we could, and they were fine with it, so we moved over there, and so did Howard and Linda

We had to be up and out by 7:15, and it was brisk that morning.  Over the 2 days of weighing, we weighed 86 rigs, mostly motorhomes, but quite a few fifth wheels and some travel trailers.

 

Overall we thoroughly enjoyed this experience, and we are ready to take on this duty!!  So we discussed with Howard and Linda about meeting up at the next stop to go over the final paperwork, and we decided on heading to Indian Springs State Park about 30 miles away.  This was a pleasant change from the sardine situation we were in at the rally.  We got together for dinner that night and then hung out by the fire, then we called it a night, as we were all pretty tired from all the weighing.

The next day Howard and Linda were approached by the neighbors Ricky and Tresa, they are also followers of the blog, and Linda offered to show us girls some Tshirt braiding because I had asked her about the shirt she was wearing

It was awesome!!  I loved it, and its super easy, so now I can pass it on too!  The guys were hanging out over at the neighbors site, gossiping while we were making shirts

 

 

We just hung out for the day, a little later Linda went over the final paperwork with us while Howard went on a little walk to get some pictures for his blog

 

and then we all had dinner together, and then had Ricky and Tresa over for a fire

The next day Howard and Linda invited us to go paddle around the lake before we left that campground, and we said yes.  They wanted to head out early so we were on the water by 8:30

 

 

It was quite chilly but we sucked it up to see the lake

 

 

 

 

We had a good paddle, we were out for a couple hours, and then headed back to camp to get packed up to head out.  We decided that we were going to make Georgia Veterans State Park our next stop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Four Paws Kingdom, Rutherfordton NC

So we arrived at Four Paws Kingdom campground, on Friday and this campground is ALL about the dogs!  So Jemma will have a great time!  We will only be here for the weekend, as it is quite expensive.  We got set up in our site and set out to see what the campground was all about.

They have one small dog area, one big dog area, one area with a pond in it for swimming, one area with agility toys, one private area (in case your dog is not very friendly with the others), one area with a creek running through it, and a couple of nature walks.  We started at the pond area because there were a couple other dogs in there.

Jemma had fun playing with the other dogs, and doing a little swimming.  This is really more popular with the big dogs but they didn't mind having an ankle biter chasing them around :)
The next day they had a sausage bobbing contest for the dogs, so I decided to see how Jemma would like it, and I thought it would be fun for her.  So we headed over to the small dog park and entered in it.  Shane took a video of us doing it but I couldn't get it to upload to my computer :(  But here is how it went, they had 4 dogs per round, they put tins down and added some water and then dropped 4 pieces of sausage in the water, and then say go.  Here is a picture of one of the final rounds

The winner finishes all the sausage first.  Jemma struggled with this because she has a short nose and she didn't want to stick her nose underwater to get the sausage, so we lost, but they still let her eat them afterwards, and it was fun.
Afterwards a few of the dogs stayed back and Jemma made a new friend, that she played with for a couple hours strong.  He was a young dog, only about 4 months old, and his name was Wicket, he is part shih tzu, he was very cute.

But she made friends with many others also

 

 

And she played around on some of the toys that were there

 

She had a great time, and we spent hours there playing around.  Then we had to go back and get ready for the evening festivities.  The owners of the campground are German, so they were having an Octoberfest celebration for all the adults.  It started at 6:00 with a traditional German dinner, it had different sausages and brats, and sour kraut, and some other things that I don't recall the names of, all I know is that it was two huge plates full of food, and most of it was very yummy.  i had a couple glasses of some German wine that was delicious, and then they put on a show for us, with singing, dancing, and games.  The singing included some costume wearing which was too funny

 

One of the games I thought was hilarious was a game that involved couples, then men stand on the stage, and the wives have to take a tennis ball and work it up one pant leg and out the other side, it was soooo funny

 

We had a great time at the Octoberfest, great food, we met some super nice people, not something we get to do very often, so it was a pleasant surprise.

 

 

The next day we headed out to Sadlers Creek State Park in Anderson South Carolina, we will stay here until we have to head to Atlanta.  We got there and the ranger picked us out site number 5, he said it was the most sought after site, so we headed back into the park to our site.  We started to get set up, and we were thinking to ourselves... this isn't that great of a site, then Shane came around and said ummm, you put us in the wrong site!!  I was like, whaaat??  But sure enough I misread the numbers and had us in site 4 instead of 5, CRAP!!  So we had to pack back up and move over one site.  Now this was a much nicer site, it was out on a little peninsula and right on the lake, with a little path down to the water.

 

AHH, super nice spot, that night a couple other campers came in and set up camp, when we got up the next morning, everyone was gone!!!  We wondered if we stunk or something, LOL, but it was so nice to have the whole campground to ourselves!!  Jemma didn't need a leash, and Ivy was free to roam wherever she wanted to.

Jemma was digging the lake too

 

  We were in heaven.  Unfortunately the weather was not so great, it was windy and chilly, and cloudy, so basically just spent our time cleaning the vehicles, and the camper, and I cleaned inside the camper.  We did a couple hikes on the trail they had, and had a couple campfires, but not much else, then we had to pack up and head out for Georgia on Wednesday!

 

 

 

Stone Mountain State Park, Roaring Gap, NC

Well we made it to Stone Mountain in Roaring Gap, NC, and because of the government shut down and the National Forests being closed they were pretty booked up, but we were able to secure a spot in the non electric area of the campground, and honestly these were the best sites.  They were big, and had a nice little creek running behind our site, with a little path that led down to it.

 

We really liked this park, it was huge and again, lots of trails.  The first day there we took a little drive to see what all we could see, and found a nice short trail to widows creek falls, I didn't have my camera on me but it was a nice little waterfall that many kids were using as a water slide.

 

The next day we headed out to the trail that takes you to the other falls, the first one we came to was the Stone Mountain falls, and this was a sight

I could totally see how fatalities could occur, as you walk out onto the top of the smooth rock, and some areas were wet, and I bet people have tried to use it as a water slide in the past, but it is way steeper than it looks from the top.

You start at the top and work your way down to the bottom via 380 stairs :/ but it was worth it

We took a little brake at the bottom, let Jemma get into the water and sat there taking in the scenery, and listening to the falls, it was serene!  Then we decided to get a few shots of us

 

We continued on to the Middle falls, and the lower falls.  The trail followed along the creek with many small water falls along the way as the water flows over large rocks.

 

This was a very interesting trail, there were a couple of spots that we had to cross over the creek, most of them had rocks for easy crossing.

As we continued on, we came to the Middle falls, this was just OK, you couldn't see much of it

And then there were some rock statues that were interesting, I guess someone decided it would be cool to climb out there and arrange them, kind of cool, but also kind of creepy I thought.


There was however one last crossing right before we got to the last falls, that did not have rocks for easy crossing, so we had to take our shoes and socks off, cross the creek, and continue on to the lower falls, which was our last stop on this hike.  It was not as big as the first one but still very cool

 

We sat and hung out here awhile, just taking a breather and enjoying the views

Then we headed back to camp, we were getting pretty tired as this hike ended up being 4.5 miles round trip, it was a blast though, and just plain beautiful here!!  Cant wait to hit the Mountain trail tomorrow!!



The next day we headed out to the Mountain loop trail, we knew that there were many stairs on the side that we had already been to, so we decided to head to the backside and hit the trail head from there, thinking that if we had to do stairs its easier to go down them than go up them.  HOLY CRAP WERE WE WRONG!!!  There were also stairs on this side, I think more of them than the other side, and they were big steps, it was exhausting!!!

And these were the nice stairs!!  After a few breaks to catch our breath and rest our legs, we finally made it to the top of the mountain, and then had to take a long break!  So I took this opportunity to get some pictures.  We sat at the top and just could not believe how awesome it was!!

 

After we felt like we were rested up, we headed back to the trail, we figured we better keep at it as this was a 4.5 mile trail also.  A little further up the trail we came the actual top of Stone Mountain

So we went out to check out the views here also

It was beautiful!!  The rest of the trail was nice but nothing I felt was worth taking pictures, then we came to our half way point

I know this because we saw it the previous day, then we had allot of down hill trail and finally made it to the bottom and the trail leads into this open field, and I look to my right and I see this

It shocked me as I was not expecting it, it was grand!!

And then we were done, 5.2 miles later, pheew... what a day, and we were tired!!
Tomorrow we will be heading out to Rutherfordton NC to Four Paws Kingdom, the dog park campground!!