Peaches to Beaches coming up soon!

I'm camp hosting at Stagger Lee Music Park in southeast Georgia. Half way between Hazlehurst and Baxley. The annual outage at Plant Hatch, which brought many workers to stay at the campground, is over and almost all of them have gone on to their next job site.

I have been enjoying the company of friends from the Vandwelling community. Ellen, who travels with her German Shepherd dog in a Coach House class B, came to visit me, stay warm, and catch up with herself. Ed Helvey stopped in on his northward migration. It's been a lot of fun.

The next thing coming up here is the annual Peaches to Beaches yard sale. This is Georgia's longest yard sale and runs for 200 miles along Route 341. We are located right off 341, so we are a convenient and economical location for shoppers with campers to park and shop the sales both days. Last year one couple arrived with their Class C motorhome, and their van and cargo trailer. The van and cargo trailer arrived empty and left stuffed to the gills the next evening with new stock for their shop.

Many vendors will be set up right at the end of our road, where it meets 341, at Ray's Steak and Ribs. Ray's, incidentally, makes some darn good ribs. Ellen and I ate there last Friday and can vouch for that.

Getting Stuff Done

I have been here 5 1/2 weeks. It's been cold, it's been almost hot, it's been wet, it's been beautifully sunny, and it's been fun. I look at my time here, at Stagger Lee Music Park in Georgia, where I'm camp host, as a vacation from my regular work, as a rest from my usually more frequent travel, as an opportunity to catch up with myself, and with my to-do list... and this year, with an old friend from work who now lives in a Coach House van and came to camp here and do a lot of the same things.

I think sitting in the sunshine doing nothing more productive than making Vitamin D is a perfectly good use of time. And actually, making Vitamin D is pretty darn important. But I was kind of feeling that I wasn't Getting Stuff Done. Mostly because I have so much more stuff I want and need to do. But I made a list.

Since I arrived her on 1/19, about 5 weeks ago, in addition to running the campground, I have

* Cleaned my entire house
* Organized under the couch
* Organized under the bedroom counter
* Rearranged it to accommodate a new fridge
* Removed carpet and Installed living room flooring
* Done several blog posts
* Visited with Ellen
* Finished knitting the slippers that were on the needles when I got here, and another pair
* Re-covered the ironing board
* Completed the mending. (Hand-sewing)
* Dumped - and filled twice.
* Replaced the water pump
* Finished at least two books
* Sorted and organized all the tool stuff, toolbox, step basket, bin in compartment.

And a few other things.
So that's as of 2/27. Hope to add to it.

Camp Hosting again - Settling In

The freedom to go and the freedom to stay are flip sides of the same coin. Sometimes staying put and catching up with yourself is the thing to do and the luxury you need. This was VERY true for me last winter and I was blessed with the opportunity to camp host at Stagger Lee Music Park. This winter I'm here again, and glad to be here. Especially considering the lovely weather the rest of the country has been having. We're having a lot - a lot! - of rain today, and the last major southern ice/snow event brought us a bit of icy rain, but we haven't had anything horrible here in southeast Georgia.

I spent the holidays in South Carolina, where we gathered at the home of Younger Daughter. That's where I did the kitchen counter from 2 posts ago. Since my parking place there is actually at her in-laws, 7 miles from her house, it was more convenient for everyone for me to mostly stay at her house. So I was regularly dropping in briefly to my motor home to pick up and drop off Stuff.


It got a little messy in there, so one project while here is Spring Cleaning. Of course, I have camp host duties, and a friend came to camp next door and we visit, so I'm not done yet but I can walk through the house now, and cook, and do stuff other than dig out the aisles.

There is nothing like taking pictures to show you where all the clutter is. If you're de-cluttering, when you think you're done, take pictures and you will be able to see what you missed. These are, of course, BEFORE pictures. I'm still decluttering. There will be AFTER pictures soon. I hope.



When I got here, I discovered that cleaning wasn't all I had to do. I opened my pantry and discovered that the little supports for the adjustable shelves had adjusted themselves out of usefulness. All my shelves were catty-wompus. So that was the first order of business. Everything out. Shelves replaced. Everything back in neater.

With all the cold weather this winter, I had drained my fresh water system in November before the first freeze. I hate repairing plumbing. Apparently I hadn't got it all out - something in the water pump decided to spray water all over my compartment when I filled the tank and checked it out on arrival here. Not amused. Inside, my coach is well designed, as coaches go, so I don't know what they were thinking when they put the water and sewer and electrical hookups all in the same bay. Electricity and water really don't get along.



I ordered a replacement pump from Amazon, waited 'til the next round of freezing weather ended, and installed it. What an awkward job! Even the RV tech who installed the last one hadn't been able to get all 4 bolts in. Too much tank-washing and surge protecting and sewer emptying Stuff in the way! (you can't see all that - these pictures are just ones I took close up of the old pump so I'd know how the wires hooked up in case I forgot.)



If you read my blog regularly, you know that I also have a Van, which I take to Rendezvous and in which I also like to go AdVANturing in the woods. Much as I love this Holiday Rambler, I can only drive one thing at a time, and it's kind of costly being responsible for 2 large engines, so my next RV will be a trailer I can tow with the van. Can't afford it yet. Saving up. Beginning to look and think and dream, though. It will be either an existing travel trailer toy hauler, or a cargo trailer I convert into an RV myself. Anyway, I stopped off at an RV dealership on the way down here, and if I'd had the money I would have bought this one. This was a travel trailer toy hauler with an enclosed Vee nose. The kitchen and bathroom were up front in the Vee, which made for a very nice arrangement and lots of room in back where there were 2 beds that went up out of the way when not in use. I'd have removed the couches and put cabinets for the music and crafts supplies. Notice all the counter space. And the cabinets and drawers are all storage space, not blocked by stupid arrangements of plumbing pipes and what-not.



Oh yes - parked for a while, I get to blog :)

Then and Now

I haven't stayed in one place for three whole months in a long long time. It was lovely.

Today I loaded up the motorscooter and stowed most everything.
Then we had a chili dinner and played music until we'd worn ourselves out.

A last look at my campsite - if you look closely, you can see the trees turned green and the flowers are blooming in front of the wall.
I actually would have enjoyed staying a while longer - but there are family and friends to visit and vehicles to attend to... The road beckons.

The Beaver Lodge

Lori and I took to the water,

with 40 acres of swamp to explore.



Which Way? We eventually went both ways.

Baby cypress trees.

Beaver HQ

Springing Forward

As I prepare to spring forward from here, I take this moment to review. March and April. The sleepy brown world waking to yellow - and purple - and green. Here in Georgia, the sun is shining. Birds are singing. Snakes are slithering (only when I don't have my camera handy). I'm winning the battle of the swamp. The water level is down to where the dock is just above water

and the hill can be reached without wading. I have seen the beavers' house - but that's the next post. Here, I give you Spring in Georgia.


Why did the beaver cross the road? He had work to do downstream.

They block the culverts

I clear them, they block them again.

And again.

Good to look up sometimes.

Spring blooms Purple

And

Yellow.

Tonight's Yard (March 28)

View from the Hill

Water flowing in spite of the Main Dam.

Beavers dig mud off the bank and use it to build dams and block culverts.

Sometimes you're not sure which way is up.

Beaver Dam Patrol

This morning I found the Beavers had put a bit of extra effort into stopping the drains last night. Usually at least some water gets through, but this morning nothing at all was getting through the pipe. Of course, I fixed that in short order.

The owners of the campground at which I'm hosting came in today for a brief visit. They are very cool people and it was great to see them. They brought me food from the family reunion they'd just attended, and also presented me with this tee shirt. I will wear it with pride.


If you'd like to see beavers in action, this is a great little film.

Swamped

During the time the campground was filled up with people working the local nuke plant shutdown, it rained. It rained a lot - enough that schools were closed in the area due to flooding. It was definitely not normal weather for here, and it presented "interesting times".
Part of the land here at the campground is wetlands preserve. It's inhabited by at least one alligator, fish, frogs, turtles, and beavers. The beavers thought this extra rain was great. The humans were not so amused. Remember the picture I posted of the pond with the canoe? Here it is again. Except I'd moved the canoe to higher ground.

The road to the campground crosses water. When all that rain hit, the road got muddy and the swamp got deep. I was concerned that it would wash out the road but it didn't. I spent a lot of time making sure the culverts under the road were clear.

On one of my culvert inspections, I found this turtle held fast against the mouth of the pipe by the suction of the rushing water. I got him unstuck, and found another one at the other culvert. When I freed that one, he woooshed through the pipe and I found him again, on the other side of the road, stuck upside down on debris. Flipped him over and he was on his way.

While the road didn't wash out, it was under water for a little while. When the waters receded, I found this fish still alive on the sand. He got real excited when I picked him up, but I didn't drop him despite his best efforts at escaping, so he was happily headed downstream last time I saw him.

Every morning I clear debris from the culverts, and every night the beavers put it back. They particularly like to try to block this one culvert, so the mounds of debris are piling up quite nicely.

It's been a while since the mini-monsoon, and things are back to normal.

A week ago I arrived here at Stagger Lee Music Park.

I thought I'd get a blog post up before this but I've been busy with park stuff and trying to get my motor home cleaned up. Between the very fast travel schedule I keep while merchandising, and the holidays, I had an amazing amount of clutter. Anyone who tells you A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss: they lie. Staying put for a while is going to be great: I need to catch up with myself.

Now I'm settled in.

I unloaded the scooter, which pleased me by starting right up.

I set out my patio furniture and inversion table.

I hung my awning lights.

So - campground pictures.

It is winter, so the park is pretty much empty. That's about to change, though, because workers for a local plant shut-down will be staying with us and we hope to be busy.

That's right, folks - RV camping is not just for retired people who planned right. There are construction workers and travel nurses and all sorts of workers whose jobs take them to many places for relatively short periods of time. They build highways and refurbish plants and staff health care facilities and install gas lines - and live in their RV's while they do it.

Yes, I've been out in the canoe already. There is an alligator, but I haven't seen it.

Things can change - quickly - and that's a good thing.

I was up reading facebook at 11:30 pm one evening in January when another member of a FB RV group I belong to posted that he was looking for a new camp host for a campground in Georgia. I sent a PM for more information, and to make a long story short, I'm it.
I'd been wanting an opportunity to drive less - the cool traveling job I've been working for the past 8 years kept me on the road almost daily and I wanted time to catch up with myself! Even for Gypsy Jane, there is such a thing as too much traveling. And I have weight I want to lose, which I found difficult faced with the interior of a supermarket every workday.
So this popped up as the answer to my prayers.
I had planned to head south from the Gastonia NC, area where I was visiting Younger Daughter and her family, on Saturday but something I ate did not agree with me at all. Thus I did not head south until Sunday morning - with a quite welcome aversion to food.
I reached the town near the campground (it's between Baxley and Hazlehurst) after dark and had errands, so I spent the night at the local Walmart.
In the morning, I added Stabil to a full tank of gas because I do not intend to drive for at least 2 months, then drove to the campground and got settled in.
My awning is out, my patio furniture is set up, my inversion table is ready for use - YES!! My back is gonna love this.
The day was spent finding out what is where, who is who, what needs to be done, confirming reservations, getting familiar with paperwork, conferring with the owner. I fell into bed around midnight.
Woke up this morning to another beautiful sunny Southern day - this is the first time I've managed to be south for the winter in years, and OMG! do I appreciate it - and realized I actually have space to do yoga. Not IN the rig of course - what motorhome has floor space? But my patio area is perfect. Will it become a daily practice? I'm not gonna tempt fate by saying yes, but I can certainly hope so.
And so begins the latest chapter in the Adventures of Gypsy Jane.