day one…

sunday evening and here we are at petersburg campground near appling, georgia.  the campground is on sperm thurmond lake (or clark’s hill if you live in georgia).  the lake separates the states and the folks in georgia don’t think as kindly toward mr. thurmond as those in south carolina.  it’s a corps of engineers facility and a really nice park.  big sites with ample space between and provide water and electric.  no sewer but, there’s a dump station.  not too bad for twelve bucks a night.

there’s some big news with the roaming gnome.  we have a new traveling companion.  she’s a nine month old catahoula hound. and as you can see modesty is of little concern for her.  these critters are the state dog of louisiana where they’re put to work herding.  hogs (yes, hogs) and cattle are what they herd.  she found her way into my life as a result of  one of those “these pets are available at your local pound” ad on the facebook.  it was love at first sight, for me anyway, and she reciprocated when i found her in her pen.  her name is “simple”.  this came from her human who acquired her as a very young puppy.  his intention was to train her to hunt.  raccoons was his prey of choice.  well this puppy wasn’t interested in chasing any coons, not that i could blame her…quite the contrary i took it as a sign of higher intelligence.  so, the hunter decided to give up on her and take her to the pound.  one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.  when the guy dropped her off he told the pound people “that dog won’t hunt a coon…she’s simple”.  the ladies at the pound found this very amusing and named her simple.  on my drive to the animal control center i was wracking my brain to come up with a name.  after my arrival and introduction it was apparent that she already had a name.  i’m not one to fly in the face of serendipity.  so, her name is/was simple.  my daughter belle has a puppy named trouble so perhaps there’s a connection there.  i suspect that there was little or no affection and certainly no love in her life with the hunter guy.  she has responded to me amazingly.  we were bonded before bedtime that first day and she’s become my shadow.  at my feet constantly nipping at my heels to make me take the path she’s picked out.  if you can’t tell…i’m smitten with this puppy.  and a puppy she is…not house broken nor crate trained.  i’d forgotten the joys of puppy parenthood.  it can be trying but, i’m willing to deal with it.  and yes, this is her first camping trip.  so far she’s adapting well.  quietly sleeping at my feet as i peck on this keypad.  i’ve missed this companionship.

 

today started early, very early.  four am!  simple decided we should wake then.  i escorted her to the back yard hoping she might empty her bladder and allow us to get back to sleep.  that was not her plan and a herding dog is not to be argued with.  so, i made a pot of strong coffee and waited for the sun to peek out and we could take our morning walk.  yeah, the puppy won that one.  then i set about finishing the hook up and making ready to hit the road.  everything went well until i disconnected from shore power (that’s camper speak for being plugged in to electricity) and the fridge didn’t seem to want to operate on twelve volts.  now this is my brand new fridge i installed to get away from that dismal excuse for a fridge that was original equipment with the casita.  needless to say i was more than a bit stressed.  i poked and prodded the wiring and really couldn’t find a problem.  well, after a half hour or so of panic things seemed to be working so we hit the road.  the wonderful thing of all this was the fridge temperature remained at mid thirties in nearly one hundred degrees with high humidity ambient conditions.  that’s a first for the little house.

and here i sit wishing i could put the sun on high speed as it heads toward the horizon.  i’m feeling like that’s another one i’ll loose today and i’ll be asleep before darkness falls.  i’m going to join simple on the bed and read for at least ten or fifteen minutes. 

good night.

 

day two…

monday morning here at the petersburg campground.  we slept well last night with the air conditioner keeping us cool.  so cool, in fact, i had to slip inside the rv superbag (more on that product later).  at some point during the dark it rained.  a gentle rain but enough to add that patter of water drops of the casita’s roof.  simple was a bit curious about that sound .  the first clue was me waking to the puppy sitting up staring at the ceiling.  she remained calm and all it took was a little love and belly rubbing to put her back in slumber land where we remained until five thirty or so.  that was when i discovered i’d failed to bring along the thermos.  now that item is essential to making our coffee.  the water heated in a small coffee pot and then fresh ground beans are dripped thru a cone filter into the missing thermos. this called for some innovation.  now we’re heating the water in a saucepan and dripping that thru the filter atop of the pot.  the pot remains heated atop of my simmer mat on the stove.  camping requires adaptation.  that, i suppose, is a camping tip.

by seven thirty i’d had a few cups of delicious bourbon flavored coffee, simple had consumed her morning meal and we’d taken a walk around circle c.  now it’s time for one of those over rated showers and then i’ll feed myself.

later that same day…simple and i walked for a while with our friends the browns and elvis their dog.  the puppies (well, elvis is a fifteen year old puppy) are getting along famously.  elvis has a lot of patience and basically ignores simple’s attempts to engage in puppy play. and speaking of puppy play, simple has discovered how much fun it is to play tug of war when she’s on the leash.  she plays for keeps and i’m amazed at her strength.  that game seriously impedes my photographic efforts.  due to her chewing fetish i’m reluctant to leave her unsupervised in the trailer.  in such a small space it wouldn’t take her long to wreak havoc in the cabin. camera stability is critically compromised with an insanely energetic forty pound herding dog tugging on her lead.  i do believe that living in such close quarters is having a positive effect on my efforts to house train her.  not a single “accident” so far.  let’s hope this experience helps at home as well. 

did i mention that it’s hot, very hot, here on lake thurmond?  how’s mid nineties with damned near one hundred percent humility sound?  whew!  our outside activities are, out of necessity, brief.  i’m happy to report that the casita’s air conditioner is performing exceptionally.  we’re at seventy four degrees in here and it’s dry air.  speaking of temperatures the new fridge is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.  maintaining mid thirties in this tropic summer situation is so very satisfying.  could it be that i’ve lost the major complaint pervasive in my wanderings?  this heat has only reinforced my aversion to roaming in the summer.  this trip was intended to be a test of both the new fridge and they puppy’s reaction to living the the trailer.  so far both seem to be very positive.

 

day 3…

it’s a cloudy wednesday here on the banks of sperm thrumond lake.  i think it rained off and on thru the dark time.  last evening the brown’s treated me to hot dogs for supper.  being in their rather large trailer made me feel as if i was in an urban apartment.  now, it’s not a huge trailer at twenty six feet long but it does have a slide out in the dining area and that adds to the impression of being huge. soon after simple and i arrived she simply peed on elvis’ bed.  the was the first “oops” of this adventure.  i suppose that was at least partially my fault.  rain was falling and my desire to remain somewhat dry overruled my inclination to allow the puppy to empty her bladder.  i’m learning along with her.

this morning it was my turn to treat in the food arena.  i created my famous and ever popular french toast and crispy bacon.  the fare was well received with no leftovers.  the toast was baked in my baby breville oven and the bacon was fried in their electric pan.  we enjoyed this breakfast in their trailer so everyone would have a place to sit and the puppies weren’t on top of each other.  we remained indoors chatting and telling tales  until noon when it was time to walk a bit and then retire to the little house to escape the brutal heat…did i mention it’s quite hot here?

while i was cooking simple found several targets for her chewing fetish.  she destroyed a sponge and plastic dish washing device, ate a portion of the lid to one of my collapsable bowls and removed several inches of the zipper on the rv super bag.  yeah, the one that i had to send back to the company that makes them twice (at seventy five bucks each time for shipping costs).  that trick caused me to become a bit unhinged and i’m afraid that i spoke rather harshly to the poor puppy who was simply being a puppy.  i recovered and spent some quality time being apologetic.  she seemed to accept my overtures of remorse.

and while we’re on the subject of that rv super bag… first of all let me say that it’s a great product.  a sleeping bag that has a light weight summer side and a heavier topping on the other side for use in colder weather.  it accepts custom fitted cotton sheets (i upgraded to three hundred thread count) that are held in place by velcro around the edges.  very clever, huh?  well, i purchased this thing in quartzsite, arizona at the giant rv show.  it was not an impulse purchase as i’d been interested in one for quite a while.  i opted for a single size since (ha!) traveling solo with a small casita “double” bed it seemed a perfect match.  well, there was something amiss from the get go.  i couldn’t make the sheets fit and there seemed to be a lot of extra bag on my small bed.  i figured it was my lack of experience with the product causing this issue.  then on the way home i found the zipper on one side was missing a tooth or two and wouldn’t zip.  back at home i called the company to discuss the zipper issue and spoke with the most insipid man i’ve ever had the displeasure of dealing with.  when confronted with my zipper issue this guy responded by telling me it was my fault because i obviously didn’t know how to operate a zipper.  now i’ve worn big boy britches for a long while and nearly all of them were equipped with zippers and seldom seemed to have serious issues operating that closing mechanism.  he reluctantly agreed to allow me to return the bag for his evaluation.  a month later the bag was returned (with a new zipper) and guess what…i had no problems zipping and unzipping.  but i did have one fitting the sheets.  back at home i had room to spread the bag out to see what i could do to make things work.  i put it on top of my queen size bed and it covered from end to end and side to side.  the sheets didn’t.  it was obvious i had a queen size bag.  another call to mr. friendly only to be told that it wasn’t his problem if i bought the wrong size product.  fortunately i’d retained the sales slip which indicated that i actually did pay for a single size and was given what was obviously a queen size.  that piece of evidence sorta took him by surprise and he told me to ship it back to him.  my suggestion that he foot the bill for shipping fell on deaf ears.  he wouldn’t simply send me what i’d purchased and insisted on “remanufacturing” the thing.  so, another trip to the ups store and another seventy five buck shipping charge was required.  then i politely suggested that perhaps he could include a spare set of sheets with the modified bag to offset all the shipping costs i’d incurred with this ordeal.  he never responded to this and i held little hope for satisfaction.  well, another month later i got the thing back without spare sheets.  i seriously considered doing everything i could to bring some misery to his life, but quite frankly was fed up with dealing with this guy who had obviously slept thru the classes on customer relations when attending sleeping bag sales school.  and yes, that is the very bag that simple ate the zipper of.  i’ll be damned if i’ll go back to this guy for repairs and if i have to i’ll use safety pins for closure or perhaps duct tape?  so, if you’re considering buying this product (which is a good one) be very careful.  rant over.

 

day 4…

another overcast muggy morning on the lake.  simple and i were up before dawn and after a quick trip outside for the puppy to relieve herself i settled in for some serious coffee drinking.  shortly after sunrise simple enjoyed her breakfast and then a longer walk in the quiet morning that let her enjoy her morning dump.  this has become a regular morning pattern.  i’m hopeful that we can take that pattern home with us. 

after that second walk i had my breakfast.  a couple of frozen waffles heated in the little oven and topped with peanut butter and sliced bananas garnished with honey.  having that little freezer in the fridge is so cool.  it sure opens up the culinary delights available.  delights that were impossible with that old poor excuse for a fridge.  will i ever cease to complain about the fridge that was?  after the morning meal i showered and even put on clean clothes.  my friends will most likely appreciate the clean new me.

one new gizmo on this trip is a pair of walkie talkies.  now i sorta thought they’d be particularly useful  when traveling and camping with others.  in reality they’ve proven to be not so great.  mostly they were put into service just because they were a novelty newly available.  now, i didn’t actually spend money for these radios since i cashed in some credit card points to “pay” for them.  perhaps on a longer trip they’ll be handy to have.  if not, they may very well wind up on craig’s list. 

the photographic opportunities here are pretty limited.  trees, empty campsites and a few glimpses of the lake are pretty much all that are available.  and even those meager chances for decisive moments are made more difficult with the blurry inducing effects of simple’s tugging on her lead.  i’m certain that someday that puppy will become an able photo assistant (a camera caddy?).

last evening, acting out of curiosity, i gave netflix a try.  with at most two bars on my phone i didn’t expect much.  well, the surprising results allowed me to view a couple of episodes of one of my current favorite dramas “mindhunter”.  it’s a rather gruesome tale of the fbi’s first attempts to profile serial killers.  it’s a docudrama that chronicles the origins of the behavioral analysis unit of the top cops.  and…according to this series, gave birth to the term “unsub” (unknown subject) used so often in the series “criminal minds” which is another of my favs.  yeah, i watch a lot of cop shows on the box. 

day 5 and beyond…

friday morning here at petersburg campground.  it seems that momma nature is in a bit of a rut.  playing the same tune every morning…cloudy, hot & muggy (concert for perspiration in be flat majorly). it’s not an uncommon tune in the south east summer.  just to keep the repetition theme flowing simple and i performed our well rehearsed morning dance.  a quick trip outdoors before sunrise, coffee consumption (sans bourbon), breakfast for the puppy, a bit of wandering on the www and then our walk around.

this being our last day in these woods i then set about making ready for departure.  about half way thru the unhooking and hooking stuff i was interrupted by a nice guy on a bicycle wanting to talk casita.  it had to happen, right?  i’m always eager to discuss the merits of the little house and this morning it was especially welcome to have a half hour to allow some perspiration evaporation.  a retired guy traveling about in a van full time.  he’d decided it would be nice to move upstream a bit to have more in the amenities department.  i gave him the grand tour and answered all his questions and gave him some of my expert opinions on his decision.  i expect he’ll be visiting rice, texas before long. 

on the way out of the campground we stopped by the dumpsters and the dump station to shed all of our waste.  then we were on the road.  i let thomas guide us on the fastest route which was about thirty miles on two lane blacktop toward augusta and then onto the twenty.  that freeway takes us to within three miles from the dude ranch.  we were in the driveway by about one in the afternoon.  sad to say we’d not driven out of the the heat and humidity.  i made the prudent decision to unpack only the necessary stuff and postpone a full docking until the “cool” of the morning.  every time i try to do that it results in a dozen or two subsequent trips for forgotten essentials.  fatigue and heat do not make for clear thinking.

so anyway, we’re back at the ranch.  i’d say this trip was a huge success.  the new fridge performed flawlessly and the temperature was held constantly in the mid thirties and kept my biscuits and waffles frozen.  what more can one ask of a fridge?  simple adapted to the confines of the little house extremely well and i sure enjoyed what she added to the experience.   those were the primary excuses for the trip so i’m happy.  the puppy is pretty darned tired as am i. 

thanks for riding along on this brief adventure…

 

 

the gnome (who spent all his time hiding from the oppressive heat)

simple the puppy

and your intrepid vagabond