Trip 4 2011 - Mothers Day/Anniversary Camping

Platte River Valley Observation Tower

Sometimes the harder you push the slower you go, there's just no two ways around it.  The one part about camping that stresses me a bit is getting out the door and on the road to our destination.  There's always something that comes up or that doesn't go a quick or as smooth as planned and it slows us down.  It's not really a problem for anyone else but me and its my stresser, I need to take a load off and relax when were trying to get out the door BUT getting there and getting set up before dark is always my goal AND the sooner you get there and get set up the SOONER you can relax and enjoy...   SOOOO enough about that...

Pond and Waterfall along the trails at Mahoney

 Mahoney State Park is very beautiful in the Spring, new leaves, flowers blooming, the smell of the great outdoors, waterfalls, streams, ponds and nature in general.  Its a great time of year to visit this park and its not so crowded that it becomes a tourist trap type of place.  We've visited Mahoney several times in the past and always try to stay here OUTSIDE of the season.  The season being between and including Memorial Day to Labor Day...  This park is SO popular and there is SO much to do here including a wave pool, theater, horseback riding etc. that it often becomes a "tourist trap" to me and not so much fun when all the people are right on top of each other.  Don't get me wrong, this is a great park and fun to visit, its just that I don't like it when its filled to capacity...  Which wasn't this time...



Our Home for the Weekend #15



When we reserved this campground last week there were only a few reserevable sites left so we chose this one cause it had an open spot on each side of us and we hoped our camping friends could come.  Turns out Jodi and Bernie took the site on one side of us but the Johnsons couldn't make it and the site on the other side of us stayed open.  The sites were none too big but I was able to hang off the back end of the site just enought to make it all comfortable, coundn't have gotten anything any further back in the site cause of the hilly landscape, but then again I didn't need to. 



A couple of HAPPY Campers



We celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary this weekend during the campout as well as celebrating Mother's Day.  I LOVE, I repeat, I LOVE the fact that Valerie wants to camp for these occasions and wants and likes to camp in general, I am a very lucky guy to have someone like her.  She loves me for who I am and loves me for who I am not as well...  She really should be up for sainthood sometime down the line because contrairy to popular belief I am not the easiest guy in the world to live with (okay maybe I'm pretty easy) at times.  With that being said I am also a LUCKY guy to have a daughter who loves to camp as well.  I saw more smiles out of here this weekend than I have in a long time.  Yahoo, lucky me...



FARKLE



 It was fun to hook up with Jodi and Bernie again, we always have a good time camping together.  Beers and food and games and visiting and movies, its always good shared with people you like spending time with.  Just a side note I was the FARKLE champion for the weekend and that makes me the WIDE WORLD of CAMPING FARKLE CHAMPION of CHAMPIONS - Come get the belt if you got it in ya...  :-)

Hitting the Trail

 Saturday was a TOP TEN day of the summer, it was upper 70's with a slight breeze.  Alyssa and I took the opportunity to take a little bike ride which was nice.  She got tuckered out and I went off on my own to explore the trails at the park for an hour or so.  They really do have a nice trail system around Mahoney, it circles all the way around the park and touches all areas of the park.  Nice ride and it was nice to get a few miles in for this summer, God knows I am way behind in logging miles and exercising on the bike but I felt this was a good start.



Flying Old Glory and the SKERS too

 I do like to fly the flag on our campsite when we go, its kind of nice and it does make it easier to get back to your spot when you're out and around.  I picked up a solar powered spotlight that seemed to work well at getting light on the flag overnight so that was nice.  Now I really need to find a CUBS flag to add to the conglomeration and I'll be set with that.

Its going to be a few weeks until we get out again to camp, Memorial day to be exact but that will be more of a "roving hotel" type of a campout as we are traveling to Beemer for Valeries 25th high school reunion so there will be a LOT of activities not related to camping going on then, none the less we'll make the best of it...

Until Next Time - Safe Travels

BC

Easter Campout - 2011

Our Easter is traditionally spent at family south of Plattsmouth each year, it includes a big Easter Egg hunt and a gathering of all or most of my wife's family.  This year was no exception.  We've kind of made it a tradition to camp over Easter at a park south of Omaha near their home, or at least within 20 minutes of their home.

We camped at Louisville SRA over the Easter weekend this year and really had a nice time.  The weather was a little suspect at times but when the sun did come out it was PERFECT spring camping weather. 

Jodi and Bernie Kupper met us there and it was really good to see them again.  They love to camp just as much as we do and we've really formed a camping "BOND" with them over the last couple of years.

I tried a new recipe in the dutch oven this trip and it really turned out pretty tasty.  Pineapple Dr. Pepper spare ribs.  Usually you never want to run short of "juices" when cooking meat in the dutch oven and I was actually a little "LONG" on juices but it didn't effect the taste of the rips and they were tender, juicy and tasty...  MMMMMM MMMMMM GOOD...

The camper got a projector for Christmas this year and this was the first trip we had the opportunity to check it out.  I was really pleased with it.  You can get a movie big enough that you can sit around the campfire and see it just fine.  This pic doesn't show it well but the picture came out well and we all really liked it.  I do need possibly a new cheapo DVD player to go with it as the one we brought was old and had been used at the kids TV at our house previously.  So I am now looking for the smallest, most lightweight DVD player out there to "Give" to the camper for the next holiday - Actually I think this Friday is "National Arbor Day" sounds like a good holiday to give a gift to the camper to me.  The screen will be adjusted a bit now that we know it works and I wont tape it to the side of the camper next time, will fabricate a screen hanger of some type out of PVC for the next time...

That's it from our neck of the woods...

Until Next Time - Safe Travels - Bc

Up North

We took a trip to West Salem Wisconsin this past weekend to visit my brother and his family.  It was his youngest baptism and 2nd birthday all wrapped into one big weekend celebration. 

We decided to pull the camper along, the logic behind it was that we wouldn't have to kennel the dogs or rent a hotel room which would save us around $300 bucks, PLUS we just love any excuse we can find to pull the camper around.  

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Thursday was our day of departure and upon getting the camper ready and starting to hitch up I discovered a flat on the inside rear drivers side tire on the Great White Buffalo.  Sometimes its hard to notice a flat on a dually and I am REALLY glad I noticed this before we got out on the road.  It delayed our leaving by about an hour and a half (finally pulling out of Omaha at 5:30pm) but all and all it really wasn't that bid of deal, but it sure could have been.  Thursday was the toughest driving I have ever had pulling the camper, not that there were any "near misses" or anything like that, just the weather elements.  We had 425 miles to go and were bucking a 35 to 40 mile headwind for about 275 of those miles and although we were NOT trying to set any land speed records it was a struggle just to keep it at 60 mph on the interstate.  The other 150 miles were straight north with a 35 to 40 mph cross wind...   HUMMMM, more interesting at times, wind pushing you left, trucks overtaking you pulling you left even more and then hitting an underpass where all wind stops for about 2 seconds where you shoot back to the right - my knuckles were white...  I am adventurous as it gets (once driving 17 hours in one day just to get where we needed to go) but I almost called it quits a couple times ;-).  During one stretch of the trip between fill ups we actually dropped down to 5.1 MPG (WOWZERS) We pulled into West Salem at 2am, visited for an hour and then slept like babies...

Tri-CLEM plus One



Friday we got the camper to the campground, got it set up and spend the day hanging with Rich and Beth and the kids, played, went swimming, hung out, ran some errands, fed the kids a lot of sugar candy (like a good uncle should), ate pizza, had some beers and had a really good time.

Willy's Baptism


 Saturday was more of the same, after waking up to the ground being white and a great breakfast that Beth made for us we eventually made it to the swimming pool at the hotel again.  Beers, swimming, errands, rain, snow, food, fun, kids and even a bit of tequila were what consumed most of the day.  The Baptism went very well and Will was quite the character, going along with everything without once even throwing any kind of fit.  Back to Beth and Rich's for food, birthday cake, ice cream, beers and the such afterwards.  We were back to the camper and in bed fast asleep before 10:00pm, I must be getting old.

Another great breakfast on Sunday with all three of us Clements boys (whom we affectionately call Tri-CLEM) and our wives and families brought us to the end of our time in West Salem.  Corey, Kim and Gaby hit the road, we went to the campground, packed up, stopped back for one last good bye and headed out.  The trip home was MUCH more relaxing and everything went off without a hitch, gas mileage was good, actually better than normal, we made it home before dark and all is good... 

All 6 Sharing a Meal



I've always had a great heart for family and as I get older I come to appreciate times like this EVEN MORE than ever.  Its not often we all three get a chance to catch up and spend quality time together like this...  This is what "Living Life" is all about....

Until Next Time - Safe Travels and LOVE YOUR FAMILY LIKE THERE's NO TOMORROW...

Bc

Spring Camping at its Finest...

FINALLY....  The winter always seems SO long when the one thing you and your family really enjoy doing is camping.  Having a window, and the weather looking okay, and it being the first part of spring break so Alyssa didn't have to miss any school, we decided to get rolling on our 2011 camping adventures.

I picked up the camper at O Dark Thirty on Friday, got it home and spent Saturday morning "unwinterizing", getting it ready for the road, and packing up.  It became very apparent that new tires are much needed on the rig this year, and probably before our next trip, but that's a story for another time.  The Grey Wolf handled the winter with no problems, all pipes, water, furnace, holding tanks and everything worked just as fine as it did when we sent her to hibernation last October, that's ALWAYS a good thing.

Louisville SRA is just over 20 miles down the road from our house and is a nice park and a logical location for our first trip on 2011.  Site 161 was the site we chose and was very nice and BIG, a great yard, 65 to 70 feet in length and flat. 

Saturday was mostly spent getting things organized, we did get a good campfire going as the sun started to set and roasted hot dogs over the fire for our first nights meal.  The high was in the 50ies with the low in the middle 30ies on Saturday.  The campfire wasn't just for looks on Saturday night...  :-)

Saturday night the moon was in what is called a "Supermoon" phase and was as close to the earth as it has been since 1993 - Unfortunately it was cloudy Saturday night but we did snap a few pictures of it on Sunday night, it was pretty impressive to say the least.

SUNDAY WAS SO AWESOME - High in the mid 70ies and Sunny, it was definitely t-shirt weather and the sun actually felt warm at times.  We spend the day outside where Valerie dominated at Yahtzee and fed me drinks throughout the day - What a women, she really rocks...  Alyssa rode her bike and trekked around the park a bit, I think she had a good time, the past few months she made several comments about wanting to get out and camp.  I know she was a little bored at times, next time she'll bring a friend along...  :-)

Sunday I made the "soon to be famous"  Chunky Irish Chicken in the dutch oven.  A concoction of potato, carrot, garlic, onions, cream of chicken soup, chicken gravy, sliced up chicken breasts, cheese and spices.  It turned out pretty good for the first attempt, I'll definitely make it again with some slight cooking modifications. 

Monday was a little cooler and more cloudy but was still in the low 60ies.  Scrabble was the name of the game and it was my day to get revenge for the butt kicking I took yesterday.  YES, I AM the reigning MASTER of the Clements clan at scrabble...  That usually doesn't happen cause Valerie is the spelling master so I have to RUN WITH IT when it does happen.  We may not play again this year, I might not give her a chance to beat me, that way I can reign supreme as the KING for 2011...  :-)   Monday afternoon the girls put in the movie Eclipse so naturally I napped...  LOL  I actually watched it and enjoyed it with them, (or at least watched part of it).  We had burgers on the grill and beans on the campfire and then watched a few shows we like and sat by the campfire a bit more on Monday night.

I got the opportunity to try out the new outdoor camping stove over the weekend and I really, really like it.  The opportunity to be outside cooking (when the stove is needed) is nice, much better than being cooped up in the camper trying to prepare a meal.  I look forward to putting it to good use in the future.

Kind of a leisurely, relaxing first trip of the year and it was just what the doctor ordered.  We look to get out as often as possible this year even if it is just shorter trips, they say $5 gas by mid summer, that would hamper longer trips but would still get us out "close by".

Until Next Time, Happy Camping - Bc