2013 WesternTrip Is Underway

Our long awaited RV trip out west is finally under way and with the house sitter in place, the grounds care arranged, and many other details dealt with I hope all goes well on the home front.  We packed all we could think of for the four people and four dogs making the trip.

Our first several days are mostly driving just to get us out of the East as shown in my previously posted plan .  Our first night was at Duck Creek RV Park and it was a nice little basic campground for an over night stay.

As always seems to be the case, I seriously injured my computer on the first night out and hopefully it can be repaired or at least the data recovered from the hard drive.

Our second night was spent at the Yogi Bear Jellystone Campground in Goodfield, IL and we arrived with high expectations for it but we were really too big for the campground, so our site wasn't too good and the tires were off the ground after leveling.

We continue to experience nagging little manufacturing issues with the coach which is a real disappointment so I'm currently wishing we had bought a different brand but hopefully that will change.

After three 300+ mile driving days we rolled into the Neshonoc Lakeside Camp Resort for two nights - the RV and my rear were ready for a day off.  The campground is situated beside Lake Neshonoc and is one of the nicer places we’ve stayed.  It obviously caters to families with trailers as there were only two big rigs in the whole place.  It has excellent facilities with a nice playground, pool with a kiddy pool and large hot tub, concrete basketball court, etc.

Many of the sites are occupied by longer term campers and the one section on the lake is for tenant owned places – the campground owns the land which is leased to the tenant who can provide a more permanent structure if they choose.  This is a shot of their lake view.

We utilized our down day to take care of a couple of issues, with the main one being my injured computer.  Following a suggestion from Madison’s boyfriend, we went down to Best Buy and one of the Geek Squad confirmed that the computer was fine and the problem was the screen then confirmed it would work with a TV by buying a $25 cable.  So I bought the cable, went back to the RV and hooked it up to the small TV we had used for outside use in the old RV– it worked fine and was a major relief as most of our trip info is on this computer.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/11 - 8/13//2013 event date

Honesty

My buddy Joe and I were sitting around watching BBQ Pitmasters, sipping margaritas, and philosophizing about honesty after we saw a commercial about sportsmanship (the basketball kid who admitted he touched it last before going out of bounds).  Joe and I grew up in a world of good sportsmanship (it’s not whether you win or lose but how you play the game) before the era of winning is everything came along – eg. the football wide receiver who puts on a big show of catching a pass that he knows very well he trapped.  Unfortunately this mentality seems to apply to all facets of our society.  Ever wonder what it would it be like if everyone in America suddenly had a high level of integrity?  I, for one, would sure like to experience it for a little while.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

Picnic At The Lake With The Kids

One of the traditional activities when Kathy comes to visit is a picnic in the Smokies where we grill burgers and fry potatoes in the cast Iron dutch oven and the kids play in the creek.  It’s a fun time but a big effort to prep and haul everything up to Cades Cove.

Fortunately, the kids are older now and preferred another day on the lake but we prepared the same meal – it’s just a lot easier to take it to the lake with a fridge and grill than to the mountains.  Eric decided he still needed a mountain fix though and took a little trip up to Look Rock by himself.

Potatoes fried up crispy in cast iron are hard to beat.  Seasoned with S&P and Montreal Steak Seasoning and covered for about the first 15 minutes to soften up a little.

Eric gave me a few camera lessons and then took several shots while I went off to cook.

Sofia and Eric ready to pull the others on the tube - I took this one.

Kathy giving the very intent Lauren driving lessons.

Fun in the water for Sofia, Lauren, Jennafer, and Matthew.

Katelynn and Matthew.

The way a kids face is supposed to look at the lake.

Sofia the towel model.

Sweetie says ho-hum to it all and finds herself a quiet place to hang out, but Eric found her.

The families are Kathy, Katelynn, Jennafer, and Lauren Roden from the San Antonio, TX area and Eric, Ann, Matthew, and Sofia Doolittle from the Baltimore area - Madison wasn't feeling well and stayed at the house.

The food was good, the weather was good, the water was good, the water toys worked, and the neighbors came down about eight with homemade ice cream - what could be better than that.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/06/2013 event date

Weekend Humor

..and God said...

God said, "Adam, I want you to do something for Me."

Adam said, "Gladly, Lord, what do You want me to do?"

God said, "Go down into that valley."

Adam said, "What's a valley?"

God explained it to him. Then God said, "Cross the river."

Adam said, "What's a river?"

God explained that to him, and then said, "Go over to the hill...."

Adam said, "What is a hill?"

So, God explained to Adam what a hill was. He told Adam, "On the other side of the hill you will find a cave."

Adam said, 'What's a cave?'

After God explained, He said, "In the cave you will find a woman."

Adam said, "What's a woman?'

So God explained that to him, too. Then, God said, 'I want you to reproduce."

Adam said, "How do I do that?"

God first said (under His breath), "Geez....."

And then, just like everything else, God explained that to Adam, as well.

So, Adam goes down into the valley, across the river, and over the hill, into the cave, and finds the woman.

Then, in about five minutes, he was back.

God, His patience wearing thin, said angrily, "What is it now?"

And Adam said.... *            

              

(YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE THIS!!!!!!)*

"What's a headache?"

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

Hawaiian Pork Re-Do For The Kids

After the brisket and egg breakfast to begin the day, we had the other meat I’d smoked to wrap up the day at the dock (we ended up with a party of 13).  The meal was composed of pineapple and regular ribs, Hawaiian pork with pineapple salsa, grilled potatoes, coleslaw, and chocolate chess bars for dessert.

I cooked the pork the same as we had for the blogger party back in May and we made a batch of Pineapple Salsa for it using the recipe from Marguerite at Cajun Delights.  Please check out her site for the recipe and a photo.  Wende (daughter) took the photos with her phone.

I thought everything was very good and it seemed to be a big hit with the diners, especially the pineapple ribs with the grand kids.  Of course, after playing hard on the lake all day, they would probably have eaten about anything :-).  Bev and I enjoyed the leftovers the next day while the others went to Dollywood - it was a nice day for R&R.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/04/2013 event date

A Texas Breakfast For The Kids

While the kids are visiting, I decided it would be a good time to cook up a bunch of Hawaiian Pork (my header shot is some of it from the blogger party) while I still have banana leaves and store it in the freezer for winter.  And of course while the smoker was running, I cooked a brisket and some ribs per a granddaughter request.

As usual, I cooked the big meat overnight and it was done by the time we were ready to eat breakfast so Bev said she’d like brisket to which I quickly agreed.  I had split the brisket with a friend and I kept the fattier deckle end – most folks prefer the leaner flat muscle.  I was in a big hurry and got one blurry shot and not much of a plated presentation - there were 10 folks in line with plates in hand.

We added scrambled eggs, mango, and toast for a mighty fine meal – the brisket was delicious.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/03/2013 event date

I Almost Got To Say “The Gangs All Here”

No two old folks need a 4000 sq.ft. house to wander around in and keep up, but when we built ours, we did so with the idea of entertaining friends and having it’s location on the lake attract kids and grandkids.  Over the 20 years of living here, we have done our fair share of entertaining and have had the kids and grands often, but this time we were within two days of them all being here together for the first time.

Kathy (daughter) and her three girls came in for their annual visit on Thursday evening and late that night, Rhett (son) and Beth came in later for an overnight to pick up Reese and Riley.  They had to leave early Friday for Michigan to spend time with Beth’s family.  Eric (son), Ann, and there boy and girl are coming late Saturday and Wende came over from Oak Ridge. 

We didn’t have clear sleeping arrangements for the first night and Kathy said not to worry as they could sleep anywhere – this is what I found in the living room next morning, so I guess she was right.

This is the Walkers as they depart for MI.

Since no one will be in the military after next spring and stationed who-knows-where, maybe we’ll get more opportunities to have them all for a big family get-together.

So over the next five days, we’ll be feeding and entertaining 11/12 folks – please stay tuned for the results, assuming we don’t run away from home that is.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/1/2013 – 8/07/2013 event date