Here's Our Sign......

Happy Tuesday everyone.  In reading yesterdays blog post today, we realized we left out the sign part of the post.  Well, we just need to fix that oversight.

At the Blue Ridge Rally last week, we missed the sign making artsy-crafty project Cousin Sharon had for the rally participants who wanted to make a sign.  Rob had ordered a sign, and we brought the items we needed to complete our sign on Friday afternoon after setting up camp.  

It didn't come out too bad now did it??

Be sure to check out our camping friend Ella's "streaming" blog about the Blue Ridge Rally.  

Thanks for stopping by today!  Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T,&J.

Happies, Buttons, and Signs, or Home from the Blue Ridge Rally........

Happy Monday everyone.  We pulled out of Big Meadow Campground in Townsend, TN about 7:30 am Sunday morning.  We arrived home about 1:00 pm Sunday afternoon.  We stopped once for gas and Mickey-Dees.  Plus one other bathroom break.  It rained nearly the whole trip.  Rob said the road was wetter than any 12 yards of the bottom of the Mississippi River.  Now that's wet!!

In spite of the rain we had a grand time.  This afternoon, Rob hung out the visor, small awning mat, and door mat to dry.

He then emptied the Yeti, finished cleaning out Pod's fridge, and worked to finish the laundry before Trisha got home from school.

But we wanted to take a minute to shout-out THANKS to Ella for the "happy" (unexpected gift) she gave Trisha.  It makes a great change holder in Pod

Then we wanted to show you the neat camping buttons Cousin Sharon makes for everyone attending the Blue Ridge Rally.  Rob having spent many years in Scouting, says the buttons are like patches.  You should see Rob's patch collection!  We have hung our collection inside of Pod as mementos of our trips.

We don't have buttons from the first two rallies.  The very first T@B rally only Rob attended and it was a last minute thing when someone had cancelled.  The second rally we both attended but once again because of a last minute cancellation.   We're not sure but we may have been the only non-T@bbers at those first two rallies.

The last button is a very special button Rob received last year.  He is only one of four or five people who have been to the first five Blue Ridge T@B Rallies!!  He says he's working on his 10 year button now!!  

Well that's about it for today!!   Be sure to keep a check on Cousin Sharon's Postcards blog to hear all about the caravan several of the BRR participants are on this week!!  

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T,&J.

You Just Never Know......

What a day camping at a Blue Ridge Rally may hold.  The weather forecast called for a rainy dreary day and for once the weather men pretty much got it right.

This morning we were wondering what in the world we may have to blog about today.  Well not to worry, plenty of craziness happened to fill our day.

After a breakfast of bacon and eggs.  We got dressed, chatted with friends, and wound up heading to the grocery store and the Life is Good store.  Woohoo!!





But wait, before the shopping we learned the answer to one of life's most pressing questions.  Just how many people were in Spash T@B??????????

Splash T@B

(Click above to find out)

Then the world famous TINK put on a Black tank flushing demonstration with her Flush King!  Such Fun!!

Rob fixed his famous seven-layer salad for the BBQ dinner tonight.

Of course our good friend and rally neighbor Diane had to make us all jealous of her lake front campsite!!!

Then before we knew it, we were off to the BBQ hosted by Big Meadow Campground!!

The BBQ was great!!  

Plus Ella and Rob got in a bit of "dueling cameras!"





So all-in-all, there was a lesson to be learned today.  No matter rain or shine, when your camping just remember.......

It's back home tomorrow, and then just 29 more school days till summer break starts!!!  

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T, but no J!

The Pods Crash The T@B Rally.......

*****EXTRA*****EXTRA*****EXTRA*****

r-Pods sighted at T@B Rally!! More at 11 !!

Happy Friday from Townsend, TN.  We are at the 2013 Blue Ridge T@B Rally.  Tonight's post will be short mainly because we are tired after a long day of driving and then a wonderful afternoon and evening of visiting.

We left town this morning about 8:30 and arrived about 2 PM.  It was a beautiful day for travelling and traffic wasn't bad either.  We did get to travel about 24 miles on Rob's favorite road, the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Then 30 miles on scenic Hwy 441 through the Great Smokey Mountain National Park.  

We didn't take too many pictures today.  In fact, it wasn't until after fixing burgers on the grill and eating supper, that Rob walked around and took a few pictures of the campground.   Rain is supposed to move in tonight for the rest of the weekend.  UGH!

So OK, here's a few pictures of T@Bs too!!

If you look closely, you'll notice most of the T@Bs don't have up awnings, screen rooms, etc.  This is because rain of forecast for the rest of the weekend, so most everyone packed up and got ready for the bad weather.  

Thanks for checking by today.  We're not sure what tomorrow may hold.  So you'll just have to stop by tomorrow and see!  

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T, but no J !

Pod Done Gone Wild.......

Hi everyone, it's Pod here today.  I'm taking over the posting duties today for Rob.  If you'll check over on cousin Splash T@B's blog, you can read about how Splash's camper mom decorated the neatest trash can for Splash.  

I told Rob I wanted one too, but just not those colors.  So today, Trisha and Rob went to Wal-Mart (Rob NEVER goes to Wal-Mart on the weekend) and bought a trash can for my very own.  Rob said it took them awhile to pick out the color duct tape to wrap with with.  He said he wanted CAMO  (ugh!) and Trisha wanted some pretty flowers (double ugh!), but when they saw the color they came home with, they knew it would be perfect.

Here are a few pictures Rob took while fixing it all up for me.  I am so excited.  

1.  Here's the actual trash can before he started:

2.  Next Rob disassembled it to make it easier to apply the duct tape.

3.  Here's a picture of the duct tape being applied to the trash can.

4.  And before you know it, I have my very own "walk on the wild side" trash can!  Woohoo!!

Yup, it's me all over.  Thanks for checking by today.  We are leaving Friday for the Blue Ridge Rally up in the mountains.  Check on the trips page to read all about it.  I think we are all excited to be going camping again soon.

Until next time, stay safe out there......-Pod (for the rest of the gang)

Spring Flowers and Camping.......

Happy Wednesday everyone!!  You may wonder what spring flowers and camping have to do with one another.  Well let us explain.  

You see Rob is the un-official, un-leader of the 2013 North Carolina r-pod, and friends Rally at Raccoon Holler Campground, June 12-16, 2013.  So today when he got home he called and made sure one more time everything is all set up.  Then he made our reservation.  After doing all that, he sent out a notice on the r-pod Nation, and the Facebook r-pod owner's group.  The he emailed Splash T@B's camper mom, and some other T@B friends to let everyone know it was time to call and make their reservations if they were planning on coming to the Rally.

After getting those details all taken care of, then he went outside and mowed the grass, trimmed, and whipped the yard back into shape.  Then it was aeration, seeding, and fertilizing, the parts of the yard still lagging a little behind.  

Finally the work was done, so he grabbed the camera to make this spring collage of some of the spring flowers in bloom now in the yard.

Have a great rest of the week!! The weekend is almost here.  Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T,&J.

Equipment Report......

Happy Sunday everyone!  Here in our part of the world, the weekend has been just wonderful.  We spent the better part of yesterday putting out those 40 bales of pine needles pictured in our last post.  Whew!  What a job!  But it's all done now, and the yard is shaping up nicely.  

Along with all the spring flowers, trees blooming, etc., we have all the yucky yellow pollen.  It is all over everything!  Another week or so should see the worst of it behind us.  Thankfully, we are having some rain every few days to help keep it washed away.

If you go all the way back to a February 2013 post by clicking  HERE, you can read about a wireless internet repeater Rob bought for the pod.  You can also read about a little netbook computer Trisha had which was set up for dedicated pod service.  Here's a picture Rob took today.

And here's a picture of all the repeater components Rob ordered.

They consist of: 
                               Repeater (Long-Range USB Adapter)
                               Repeater Holder w/ Suction Cup & Window
                                  mount   
                               Mono-directional antenna
                                  (the repeater comes with a standard antenna)
                               Connecting cable for repeater
                               5 meter powered USB cable.

Our trip over Spring Break was the perfect time to try out this equipment in the "Real World."   The campground at James Island County Park had a pretty standard WIFI system.  If you were lucky enough to be within about 50 feet or so of either the office or one of the bath houses, the WIFI worked pretty well.  We were further away from both, so while our smart phones barely got the WIFI signal, the netbook didn't see any signal at all.  

After hooking up the repeater, we could normally get a signal strength of 85% plus.  (4 to 5 bars).   The only real problem with this set-up wasn't with the repeater, but with the netbook itself.  It is slow, very hard to type on with fat fingers, and generally made a 20 minute blog posting process into about a 45 minute to an hour process.   Rob will most likely be taking his full sized laptop from now own.  

Rob says if you want anymore information,  just let us know and he'll post all the particulars.  

That's it for now.  This was a busy week, but the one thing good about it is we are now one week closer to Summer Break!!  Thanks for checking by today.  Until next time, stay safe out there....-R,T,&J.

Busy Day.....

Happy Friday to all!!  Here the morning started off cloudy and cold but by this evening, the sun was shining bright, and the temperature managed to climb into the upper 60's.  

Our morning started off with errands and chores.  Trisha went to her parents, the hair salon, Sally's Beauty Supply, and back to her parents.  Rob unhitched Truck from pod, stopped by the cleaners, barber shop, gas station, took his mom out for lunch, to Merle Norman, and then to her hair salon.  

In between all of these errands, were several loads of laundry, and house cleaning.  Then this afternoon Rob cleaned the inside of pod, washed and dried the outside, then cleaned-up Truck too.  We're not sure where all these "To-Do" items came from, because we were all caught up when we left last Friday for Charleston.

One major "To-Do" was waiting under the carport for Rob when we got home yesterday.  It will take Rob several days to finish this one!

That's 40 bales of pine straw stacked up neatly waiting on Rob to spread on the flower beds.  UGH!  

We told you yesterday there was a package waiting on pod when we got home.  Check it out.....

We just couldn't resist ordering this doormat when we saw it online.

Well tomorrow holds another "To-Do" list we want to get wrapped-up because before either of us will be ready for it, the ugly Monday Morning back to work  monster (the after Spring Break monster is especially ugly too) will rear it's ugly head.  

Thanks for checking by today.  We hope everyone enjoys their weekend.  Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T,&J.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity, Jig..........

Yes, you guessed it, we're back home this evening.   We pulled out of our campsite a few minutes after nine this morning.  Then we rode around the other loop to tell as many of the gang who were out and about good-bye, etc. 

Not long after getting out of Charleston we hit rain.  Further up the road we hit even more rain.  Soon Rob was beginning to have thoughts of Truck deploying flotation devices like below......

But as it was we just pushed onward, and eventually got home around 2:30 this afternoon.  Traffic wasn't too bad, although there were a lot of people traveling today.  

We had an awesome trip, and plan on returning to JICP sometime in the future.  

And since Rob only took 350+ pictures this trip, here are a few more for you to see.....

Thanks for checking by today.  We hope this rain moves on out tonight as forecast, so both pod and Truck can get a much needed bath tomorrow.  Also, pod had a package waiting for our return, so you'll have drop back by to see what it is.  

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T and back home with J!

Our Last Day........

Well today was our last day here at James Island.  We are pulling out about 9:00 in the morning.  We did manage a few minor adventures today.  

We started at The Lost Dog Cafe for a late breakfast.  There were 8 of us, so we had a bit of a wait, but the food was good.  

After breakfast, we walked with Sharon and Becky down to the Folly Beach Pier.  It was a nice morning for a walk and a little shopping.  All we bought was a Folly Beach sticker for pod's collection.  Here are few of the sights we saw....

Then it was a quick stop for gas,  then "The Pig"  (Piggly Wiggly)  for the fixings for crock pot mac and cheese for a covered dish supper at the campground, and back to camp.  We actually broke camp today, due to rain moving in tonight for Thursday.  As we sit here this evening, we are all packed and hitched-up. All we have to do it break the utility connections and bring in the slide.  Then we hit the road back home.  Here you can see a picture of us taken about dark, all ready to hit the road in the morning.

Check back in tomorrow to hear more about our time here.  Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T, but no J.