Thursday, July 20, 2017

Lunch (and Other Places) with a view.....

Good Thursday afternoon all.  It's been a great couple of days here at The Holler.  

Wednesday was get up, fix a nice breakfast, hang out till midday, get up with Cousin Sharon, load everyone up in Levi, and head out to see new places, back roads, and have a picnic.   Followed by afternoon drowzies, or naps.  Then something yummy for dinner.

WOW!  What a day that was.  Thursday, well Thursday has been pretty much a carbon copy of Wednesday.  

One other thing the two days have had in common was great places to picnic, and great scenery all around.  The weather has been great too.  In fact, our drives have been with all the windows down, and no a/c going.  

Tomorrow is get up, pack up, hitch up, and head for the heat and humidity that is waiting for us in our part of North Cackalacky. 

Oh well.  Anyway, here are a few pictures of our adventures for you to enjoy.













Have a great day, keep cool, and as always......

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

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Life at Site 51H.....

Well hello there all.  It's Miss Anne here today.  I swiped the computer after Rob got his work finished this morning to try my luck with this blogging thing.   

Now I don't think we've been formally introduced, but I'm Miss Anne.  I'm a 2017 Surveyor 201RBS travel trailer that came to live with Mr. R and Mrs. T just a few short weeks ago.  Wow what a ride it as been so far.  My birthday is Jan. 5, 2017 incase anyone would like to know.

After sitting for several months on the dealer's lot up in Claremont, NC, the Mr. and Mrs. dropped by one Friday about lunchtime to look at new campers.  Next thing I know, a few days later, I'm being pulled out, washed, hooked up to shore power, and water, and all my systems are being tested and checked.   

Later that morning, I met not only the Mr. and Mrs., but Levi, the truck who will be tasked with the job of pulling me all over the place.   It is from Levi I learned a little about the Mr. and Mrs.  He told me about Pod, the cute little trailer they traded in for me, about how they love to go camping, a lot, and how Mr. R will keep me clean, in proper working order, and make a few changes called mods to me as we go along.

Just as Levi told me, Mr. R has washed me twice, waxed me once, has plans to get me my very own Camper Port, keeps me hooked up to power at all time, and has even done a few very nice mods along the way.   The Mr. and Mrs. have also decorated me very nicely inside, and have sorted and stored all of their camping gear in me.  

Some of the mods Mr. R has done to me so far is to add a built-in surge protector to protect my electrical system and electronics, a set of underbody lights for nighttime just because Mr. R thinks they look neat, a touchpad door lock, a second battery, rain covers for my vents, and a few other odds and ends.   He's looked, poked, and prodded just about every square inch of me just so he knows all about how I work.  He's even promised to update the blog over the next few weeks to tell a bit more about me.  

Now, as for today's blog title.  Well I'm parked this week at Raccoon Holler Campground in Glendale Springs, NC.  Levi told me this is one of the Mr. and Mrs. favorite campgrounds.  In fact, this is the second time we've all been here in just a couple weeks.  We're all in site 51H.  The "H" stands for hill and let me tell you, we're right at the top of the entire campground, and it sure is grand. 

This seems to have been a lazy week for the Mr. and Mrs.  They have been camping with the Mr.'s cousin Sharon, and her little doggie Murphy.  Sharon's camper is known as Splash T@B, whom I've not met yet, but I know I will soon.  Sharon's truck Splish, has been telling me all about Splash.  

Mr. R likes to take pictures, and apparently they all like to eat really good smelling food.  Mr. R has turned my rear rack into an outdoor kitchen, and I'm just betting there's a mod or two rattling around in  his head on how to make it an even better outdoor kitchen.  

Well enough chatting for today.  It's been great to meet y'all and I'm looking forward to more blog posts to come.  Before I leave you with some pictures of life from in and around site 51H, I have a question (well two.)  What exactly is a sticker?  And, should I be worried?













I think that's all for this post.  Thank you once again for the warm welcome and good wishes.  

Until next time, stay safe out there....Miss Anne

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

A Lazy Monday......

Happy Tuesday morning all.  We're back with our latest blog post this morning.  The title says it all.  Yesterday was indeed a lazy Monday for us.  But that's a great kind of Monday isn't it?

Our morning was quiet, Rob fixed a crockpot full of Mac and Cheese for a lunch event we were invited to here at the campground.  Showers passed through after lunch and stayed around for the next several hours.  So right on cue, we just took naps, and generally did a whole bunch of nothing until the sun came back out later in the afternoon

Dinner was left over salmon, corn salad, mac and cheese, and smoked cheeses.  It was just as good as the evening before, maybe better.

After supper we all loaded up in Levi for a nice BRP cruise.  We saw two deer and lots of beautiful mountain vistas.   Here are a few pictures of our day, not many because Rob just didn't take very many.







Well there's no telling what today's adventures will be, so you'll just have to check back to tomorrow to find out.

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

Monday, July 17, 2017

The Best Kind of a Monday Morning......

Good Monday morning all. This is the best kind of a Monday morning.  We're back at Raccoon Holler Campground, enjoying a peaceful, sleep-in, cool, mountain sort of Monday morning.

Miss Anne and the gang left home a little after eleven Sunday morning, and we were here about 1:30 or so Sunday afternoon.   We had an un-eventful drive here, in fact, we took the "long" way so we could enjoy a nice little BRP (Blue Ridge Parkway) drive before arriving at the campground.


It didn't take us long to set up camp and enjoy a couple sandwiches for a lite lunch.  About the time we were finishing our sandwiches, Cousin Sharon and Murphy, who are also camping here this week, drove up to visit.  

Now you may ask why drive over.  Well, it's like this.  Cousin Sharon and our campsites are on opposite ends of the campground.  We both have what many would consider the two of the top three sites in the entire campground.  (Insert a big dose of good luck, karma, etc. here as the cause to this!!)  But true to the NC mountains, it is uphill both ways between our two campsites...HAHA.

We even got a picture of cousin Sharon's campsite on the way out last evening to enjoy a BRP drive.  This was a drive by shooting of sorts.  If you zoom in, you can even see what cousin Sharon is watching on TV!!!



It was a wonderful afternoon of visiting and sitting around the campfire.  Supper was provided by the GMG, baked salmon and it sure was yummy.


We had a few technical difficulties at first with the GMG, but only because it blew a fuse upstream in the electrical connection that Rob didn't know about.  That was quickly remedied, and before long dinner was cooking.  Rob set the GMG up on the back rack of Miss Anne, and of course, he's already planning a couple mods to make an outdoor cooking area.....



After a wonderful dinner of baked salmon, corn salad (thanks cousin Sharon!!) and cole slaw, cousin Sharon went back to her place, and we went for an evening ride on the BRP.  


There are just too many beautiful views to take a picture of them all, but here's one for you anyway......


We arrived back to camp just on the edge of dark.  It was time for Miss Anne to show off her new underbody lights....


So far this morning, Jackson and Rob have been on a long walk, Rob has started something yummy in the crockpot for a lunch gathering here in the campground, and whop cinnamon rolls have been fixed for breakfast.  

It looks to be a great mountain day here, and we sure do hope your day is great as well.

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

Thursday, July 6, 2017

A Lazy Wednesday Here In The Holler.....

Good Thursday morning all.  It's a clear, cool, beautiful mountain July morning here in the holler.  It was 65 degrees when Jackson and Rob went on their first walk of the morning about seven-ish.

Just as we predicted, yesterday was a lazy sort of day.  It involved breakfast, showers, a trip to Lowe's, sandwiches for lunch, afternoon naps all around, dinner, and then some tv before bed.  

Wow, what a wonderful day.  We didn't take our Parkway ride due to the threat of severe storms marching through about 7:30 last evening.  They wore themselves out before they got to us, so all we had was a gentle rain shower.  That was fine with us!!


Below are a few pictures from our lazy day here in the holler.....





A breakfast of cinnamon rolls and square sausage...





Cooking dinner and the results...





We even ate inside this evening...



And finally Jackson, with his best 
guard/chilling/camping
doggie pose...


We're not sure what's happening today.  A trip to Mountain Outfitters was discussed last evening.  I guess you'll just have to check back tomorrow and see.  As always...

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

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Miss Anne is in the Holler.....

Good Wednesday morning all.  We slipped away from the heat and humidity of the piedmont of North Cackalacky yesterday about noon and made our way to the cool mountain breezes of the High Country.  

We're camping, our first trip with Miss Anne, at Raccon Holler Campground in Glendale Springs, NC.  So far it's been a great trip, with nothing very eventful happening yet.  

We brought the Miss Anne home a week ago yesterday, and so far we've spent the past week sorting, deleting, and packing our camping gear.  We've made one trip to Camping World, and so far only one package has arrived at the house for the Miss Anne, but that should change this week too.  


We've also done a bit of decorating inside Miss Anne to make her more "ours."  





Pod was largely decorated with things we had collected on our travels or "Camping Happy's" from other camping friends.   We of course used all of these favorites to decorate Miss Anne.  

This trip is serving two purposes, first a quick get away, and second, a shake-down trip to get any kinks worked out of the Miss Anne.  So far the only item has been that Rob needed to adjust the position of the spring bar connectors for the weight distribution hitch.  Otherwise, everything has worked great.  

It was a dark and stormy night as the great author Snoopy writes, we were tired and both slept good in our new bed.  Today involves breakfast, a trip to Lowes, and cooking something yummy on the Green Mountain Grill later today.  Plus, I'm sure there'll be at least one ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  

Finally, we'd like to leave you with one last photo.  This picture is of the rear of the Miss Anne.  We'd like you to notice two things.  First, the rear view camera system which Rob says is the bomb-diggity.  Second, we were able to transfer Pod's personalized license plate to the Miss Anne.  We loved Pod and had seven awesome camping season's with Pod, so we thought this would be a nice reminder of all that fun and adventure.  


As always......

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