A Lazy Gator Sort of Day......

Happy Tuesday evening all.  What exactly is a lazy gator sort of day?  Well let's play 20 questions and see if we can find out.

1.  Is it Jackson checking out the dental work of one very lazy gator?

2.  Is it looking at a front porch lined with rocking chairs and just smiling?

3.  Is it shopping at a store named, yup you guessed it, Lazy Gator?

4.  Is it a sign warning us not to be lazy and "Beware of Gator?"

5.  Or maybe it's stopping by our favorite seafood market to get something requiring minimal work but giving maximum taste for lunch?

6.  Something like Shrimp and Lobster spring rolls?

7.  That turned into a lunch like this?

8.  Or maybe it was pedaling on Thing 1 and Thing 2 with Cousin Sharon over to the Nature Center to see the skull of one very lazy gator?

9.  Maybe it was stopping on the causeway to take pictures of an "oyster tree" and laughing at the traffic jam we caused because people though we were taking a picture of something "good?"

10.  Oh I know, it was pedaling on to the front gate to take a picture of the state park sign from a different perspective? 

11.  Could have been taking a picture of Cousin Sharon taking a picture of the entrance sign?

12.  Or a taking a picture of the "campground full" sign?

13.  Or maybe it was deciding to use the timers on our cameras to take the same picture with us in it (four times to get it right)?

14.  Possibly it was seeing not one....

15.  But two different REAL lazy gators?

16.  Or maybe, just maybe it was watching Cousin Becky peel the shrimp for tonight's supper?

17.  Could it be watching Jackson get extremely spoiled by Trisha?

19.  I bet it was watching Cousin Sharon cooking Greek Sauteed Shrimp with pasta for supper?

19.  It couldn't have been the wonderful supper we ate outside on a beautiful evening could it?

20.  Or maybe it was watching Cousin Sharon gather up tonight's left overs to add to tomorrow's feast?

So, there you have it, a lazy gator sort of day.  But you know, it's looking more and more like we got the title of the blog post wrong. 

 It should have been, "A BUSY Gator Sort of day....."

Thanks for checking by today.  

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

What To Do......

Happy Monday evening everyone.  If you're lucky enough to be camping, then you're lucky enough!  This is our first full day at Huntington Beach State Park for Spring Break 2015.  

Just like the first sign you see when you've crossed the causeway and are about to enter the park proper, you realize there is lots to do here.

So to sum it all up in the fewest words possible, (we're tired after a long day of resting), we fixed sausage and egg sandwiches for breakfast, dressed for the day, went to the grocery store for a few items, stopped by the camp store for a t-shirt or three, had grilled crab cake sandwiches for lunch, took Jackson on a bunch of walks, and then fixed shrimp and veggie, quesadillas for supper.  

Along the way we took several pictures.  Here are a few of the sights of our day.  

Here's one last picture sent to us buy our friends John and Beth.  They took there very first official pod outing today to a local campground.  Their two daughters and Dixie their mini-doxie are also along, and at last report all were having a ball.  

Thanks for checking by today.  Right now we're not sure what's going to be the plan for tomorrow, but I'm sure we'll have fun.  

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

ps.  Hugs to our niece Jessa who flew in today from Italy to spend the next few weeks with her family in Washington state.  Have a great visit everyone!

It's Finally Spring Break.....

Happy Sunday evening everyone.  It's finally Spring Break!!  We pulled out of the driveway at 7:30 this morning, making a quick stop at the local cafe for breakfast, and arrived at Huntington Beach State Park about 1:00 this afternoon.   We had a beautiful drive down, although it was a cold morning.  

As a Facebook friend pointed out, Pod's rings seem to sparkle in anticipation of the week to come.  (Thanks Elaine!!)

The next couple of hours were spent setting up camp, getting everything just so, and even visiting with our cousins Sharon and Becky who are camping right next door in Splash T@B. 

Before we knew it, our stomachs were telling us we needed to be finding something to eat.  And on this particular evening, that something was going to be seafood from The Inlet Crab House.

As always, the food was just great.....

With Cousin Sharon providing the entertainment with her peel and eat spicy shrimp.....

And even though we all made fun of her, I think she was enjoying her supper way to much to even care!!

After supper, we all made a quick stop by Russel's Seafood Market for some fixings for tomorrow's meals.   Then the cousins stopped by the grocery store, while we made a stop by Twister's for soft serve ice cream.   

That's about it for today.  Be sure to check back by tomorrow to see what our Monday holds in store for us.

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

Trip Page Update.....

Happy Friday evening everyone.  Just a short blog post this evening.  Spring Break 2015 officially started today for us.  Tomorrow we have a ton of stuff to get accomplished so we can pull out Sunday morning for our trip to the coast.  One of the items on the list is to drop by our new pod friends The Kirks, and help them get ready for their very first podding adventure coming up this week.  

This evening, Rob updated the 2015 Trips page.  If you'll jump over there, you can see all the trips already on the books for this camping season.  A quick tally has us scheduled for 45+ nights of camping so far this season.  We're sure to have a couple of last minute weekend trips thrown in for good measure.  All in all, not a bad camping season planned.

To go along with tonight's post, here's a picture of our very own, long, long, trailer.  Yup, you guessed it, that was our very first travel trailer.  We enjoyed it, but we're so glad it has gone on to other adventures.  

Our next post will be from the beach, so be sure to check back Sunday evening and see what's going on.

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

PSA: Check Those Detectors.....

Happy Sunday afternoon everyone!!  It's been a busy weekend around here, and we've accomplished quite a lot.  By this time next week, if all goes as planned, we'll be all set up for our Spring Break at Huntington Beach State Park in Murrel's Inlet, SC.

This will be one of those trips where the whole Team R&T will get to participate.  Along with Pod and Truck, Chillbert (the ice maker), little and Big Yeti, Miss Molly (liquid fueled Coleman Stove), Things 1 & 2 (folding bikes), Kari the Beach Kart, P-Nutty, PI, and stinky (the sewer tote) all get to make the trip.  Of course Rob, Trisha, and Jackson will be going too.

But back to the PSA part of today's post.  Pod's Carbon Monoxide (CO) detector has been acting strange since the last trip of 2014 and then again the first trip last week.  It would alarm when there should be no reason for it too.  Rob replaced the battery and this really didn't seem to help at all.  Then he got to checking and found out the CO detector was at the end of the designed service life for this unit.

The factory installed CO detector.

The "replace by" date on the factory
installed CO detector.

The new CO detector
bought from Lowes.

New CO detector installed.

This was about a 10 minute job.  So this item of Pod maintenance should be good to go for another five years.  Everyone with a camper five or more years older should check to see if the CO detector is out of date, then change it, or if there isn't a CO detector in their camper, add one. 

Thanks for checking by today for this short PSA blog post.  It's important to keep up with all these maintenance items. 

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

Kings Mountain Camping Happys......

Happy Sunday evening everyone.  We're back from our season opening camping trip.  In spite of some damp weather, we had a grand time.  If fact, here's a group picture Cousin Sharon had us all pose for this morning before we all went our separate ways.

What a great looking group of campers we are!  And boy did we all have fun too!

But, back to the title of this blog post.  What is a "Camping Happy" you ask?  It is a totally unexpected camping gift one or more of your camping friends gives you for some special reason or just no reason at all.

Our first camping happy was from Cousin Sharon.  She was as excited to give it to us and we were to get it.  She had painted us a very special watercolor of Truck and Pod going camping.  She said it was for all the times we have fed her while camping, like we'd let her go hungry or something.  Haha.   Rob plans on having it matted and framed.  We will find that special just-right place to hang it too!  

Our other camping happy from from a new Podder Mary whom we met on her first Podding adventure back in September 2014 at Mountain Stream.  It was a balloon Mr. Wuf.  This is way cool!!

Our afternoon was spent doing laundry, ironing school clothes, and then while Trisha did some schoolwork, Rob took advantage of the beautiful afternoon to wash Truck, the CR-V, and finally Pod.  

That just about wraps up our weekend.  Thanks for checking by today once again.

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