My Vacation Kicked My Hiney

FabGrandpa and I went on a little trip to Atlanta last week. Our daughter, Becky, gave us tickets to a concert, and two nights in a swanky hotel downtown. We had lots of fun, but I'm tellin  ya, that trip kicked my butt!  

 

We stayed in our hometown of Douglasville for one night before heading to the Big A. While we were in town, we we stayed at Hotel Palomar. It was fun to be pampered for a couple of days.

I got to go to my favorite place in Atlanta, the Dekalb Farmer's Market, and to Whole Foods, where I found the most divine chocolate bar ever, Mo's Bacon Bar. 

Yes, you are seeing correctly--it IS chocolate covered bacon--food for the gods!

The concert was fun, the whole reason for the trip, Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa. Frank Zappa's son playing his father's music. It was a great concert.

 

But now that I am home,  I am having trouble gettting back into the swing of things. I don't know if it is the blood pressure meds the doctor put me on, or the hectic pace of the trip, but I slept for 14 hours the last night of the trip, and have done nothing but veg out since we got home. 

I am hoping this lethargy will leave me alone soon, because I have so much to do!

We're Looking For A Home...

No, we are not going to stop living in our trailer and working at wonderful places like the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. But with the prices of real estate what they are right now, we would be crazy not to buy a house if we find the perfect one.

So, what is the perfect home for the FabGrandma? I am looking for a little white frame house, with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom, and 1.5 to 5 acres, out in the country. A sweet little grandma house. One with a yard big enough to park our 34' trailer in while we're there. Something like this. Or this. Or this.

We want something ready to move into, no fixer uppers for us, please! We are looking in the west Georgia, east Alabama area, from roughly Franklin, Georgia, to Lineville, Alabama to Anniston, Alabama to Rome, Georgia. Roughly the area outlined in blue on this map:


That is a pretty big area, I know, but we don't want to limit ourselves to one place and miss out on a good opportunity. We do like the Franklin area, though it is not the only area we want. If anyone out there reading this knows of a nice little place that fits the descripition, and is under $40,000, let me know! We could wind up being neighbors for the winter.

A Day In The Life Of A Volunteer Camp Host

So, just what is it that a volunteer camp host does? And why do we do it? Here at Unicoi State Park in north Georgia, we are required to work 24 hours per week. The things we do vary from week to week, depending on what they need done. Most often, we do the normal campground duties, like cleaning out fire rings at the camp sites. We are amazed at the number of people who burn their trash in their fire rings. It is hard to believe that they enjoy the aroma of burning plastic. We wind up cleaning out all the leftover paper and plastic debris, so that the next person who uses that site won't get toxic fumes in their wieners and marshmallows.
We also pick up all the trash left behind. All of this rubbish came from one site. I know to some people it doesn't look like a lot, but if everyone left this little bit behind and it wasn't picked up, the campground would soon look like a dump. And no, those cigarette butts don't break down and disappear. They are still just as ugly to see next year when you come back if someone doesn't pick them up. And what about all those little bare feet running around next summer? If they stepped on those bottle caps it could ruin a nice vacation.
One of the camp hosts does a site check twice a day to document which sites are occupied and by whom. We give this information to the front desk at the lodge, so when they have new arrivals they will know which campsites are available, and so that they will know where each guest is camping in case they need to contact them.
The is always a project list of little things that need to be done. Here, Jim is attaching colored reflectors to the sign posts so that campers will know what color campsites are available on each road in the campground. The sites are color coded to designate what utilities are available and/or how long a of a camper will fit into the site.
In the camp store, called The Trading Post, there is always something to be done. Keeping the t-shirts folded and neatly stacked, stocking shelves, and sweeping the floor are things that need to be done every day.
The volunteers who are assigned to the trading post also ring up sales, give out trail maps and hiking information, and directions to other points of interest in the area. We meet a lot of people who come in for the day or to camp with us over the weekend.
The park hosts a huge arts and crafts show every year. The show takes place in a couple of weeks. Getting ready for it means a lot of very important, but little, tasks need to be done. We stuff envelopes, make name tags, and prepare parking passes for the show.
Although not a part of our official duties, we like to help guests when they need a hand. This young couple, Brian and Jude and their cute little dog, Russ, hiked down the mountain from Anna Ruby Falls, a 5 mile trip one way. It was getting late in the day, so Jim and I drove them back up to their car at the top of the mountain. They are a very interesting couple--she is from England and he is from Atlanta. They are getting married soon, and going to the Phillipines where she is going to teach in a British school there. Cool!
We do a lot here, but the Georgia State Parks give us a lot of perks, too. In addition to that spiffy black hat Jim gets to wear, and a certificate good for five free nights of camping at any Georgia State Park, we get a very nice full hook up site. We use the Toro cart to get around the park while we are on duty.
We get to use the laundry facilities free of charge to wash our clothes, and we get a 50% discount at the lodge restaurant, where the buffet features fried trout every night of the week. And, oooh, that dessert bar is quite yummy, too.
Best of all, we get to work with all the nice people who are on the paid staff. This is Scott and Ellen. Ellen is the person we go to with any questions, and who assigns the jobs we do. We have already signed up to come back next winter. They have five camp host spots here, so if anyone wants to come, let me know, and I'll send the info on how to sign up. Oh, and did I mention that we get to live in this beautiful place for a few months, where most people only get to visit for a day or two?

13.3!

It was only 13.3 degrees on Thursday night, the coldest I have known it to be in Georgia before Christmas. The wind was howling outside, but we were snug and warm in our new trailer. I could notice the difference right away, because whenever the wind would blow when we lived in our Starcraft, it was LOUD and there was usually a breeze or draft going through the trailer. In this one, though, I could barely hear the wind outside, and there was no draft inside.

Before I forget, I have to let everyone know how much help Gary and Faye were to us on the day we moved. After we signed all the paperwork and did the walk-through, they arrived ready to work. Faye and I were in the old trailer, handing stuff out the door to the guys until most of the things that were boxed up were moved. Then I went over to the new one and started putting things away. Faye stayed over in the old one and packed things up to be moved. You know, I thought I had gotten rid of a lot of stuff! But, the truth is, I still have too much. I have been throwing stuff away for three days now, and making a pile for selling on ebay too. I was truly embarrased at how much was packed away in that little starcraft! It only took half the day to get things signed and moved.


After we got back to Unicoi, I spent the rest of the day trying to find things. At about 6 pm, Gary knocked on the door with a pan of burritos. They were absolutely delish, so good that Jim said he was going to ask Gary to marry him!!

Ok, the top pic is a closeup of one of the window treatments in the kitchen. The next one is the bedroom, or at least part of it. That is me with the camera, and Big Jim in the mirror.



Next is the sofa in the living area, I hope you can see the window treatments and the cabinets over the sofa. Jayco calls this color scheme "Spring Willow", which sounds like it should be green, but is more brown and beige, very little green in it. The next pic is a closeup of the sofa fabric, so that you can see more of the colors. If you click on the pictures they will enlarge so you can see them better.

Yesterday we went down to Gainesville to
Target so we could get some throw rugs. The rugs I got are mostly orange, brown and beige, with a little bit of dark green in them. They all look pretty good in this new place.

We also went to Lenscrafters and got new glasses. Well, we ordered them, they will be in next week. I will post of pic of me in new glasses when I get them. It is still cold, with a forecast of high teens for tonight, and relative humidity of 15-20%! BRRRR. I want to go to Mexico!!!

I started working in the Trading Post at Unicoi State Park a couple of days ago. It is a small camp store, not very busy compared to the store at Bethpage, but interesting. Between customers I can read all the books that are for sale there or listen to the radio. I was afraid I would have forgotten how to do things since last year, but it all came back to me pretty quickly. I only made one itsy bitsy mistake the first day, and it was fixable.


Last night it was 29 degrees. Today the high was about 40 and there were a few spits of snow, not enough to even SEE really, but still snow, in Georgia, in November. Last year when we were here it snowed four times. There was enough to make the ground white when we woke up in the morning, but it was always gone before lunch time. I hope we don’t get a lot if it this year. We bought some groceries and decided to leave them in the back of the truck because it was colder than the refrigerator.


Several people who came into the store today told me they saw a bear last night. I have not seen it yet, but I have seen signs of it. The bears around here are the small black bears, but they are still bears and I am afraid of them. I have read those stories in Reader’s Digest, so I ain’t crazy enough to think I could pet one. If I see it, I will be heading for the nearest building or get in my truck. And there is no way you could get me to camp in a tent here either. Even with it as cold as it is and bears roaming around, there are a lot of people camping in tents! They must be crazy!

Yeterday Was A Travel Day...

OK, so we live in a travel trailer that is 30 ft long. There are AT MOST two steps from the bed to the toilet. Every night when I get up to go use the toilet, my husband asks me “Where are you going”? HUH? One of these nights I am going to answer him “I am going to Las Margaritas, do you want me to bring you a bowl of soup?” just to see if he is awake.


The trip to Georgia was uneventful, and took less than two days. It was 574 miles from Bathpage to Unicoi. We went through Westpoint to I-64 west, to I-295 south, to I-95 south, to I-85 south, to Georgia 17 north. We stopped for fuel at the Sadler Truck Plaza in Emporia, where diesel was $2.319 if you paid with cash, but they consider a debit card to be the same as cash. The price of fuel in North Carolina was the highest at $2.499.


We stopped for the night in Concord, North Carolina at Fleetwood RV Resort. I don’t know why they get to call it a resort. It is behind an RV dealership, and right next to the Lowe’s Motor Speedway, a NASCAR racing facility. Our site had an excellent view of the speedway stadium, but no cable TV and no Wi-Fi. It was $25 per night for a pull through on gravel and pavement. Oh, and they were running laps til after 11pm at the raceway, so if you stay there expect noise. I could close my eyes and imagine it full of NASCAR fans. I am so glad I don’t work there. We woke up at 4:30 am and decided to “Just leave”. (that is for Lynn and Mary, hehehe)


We arrived at Unicoi State Park around 11:30 am yesterday to begin our winter Volunteer Camp Host job. Even though the host spaces are first come first served, we go the space we wanted. It is right next to a little creek, Our view out the window is of the forest, very nice. We ran into Gary and Faye at the lodge when we went up to check in with Shirley, the retail manager. They have been here about a week. Shirley was as usual happy to see us. We go tomorrow for an orientation session. We didn’t have to do an orientation last year because they did not have an onsite volunteer coordinator. The new person in is Ellen. We met her when she came by our trailer to introduce herself to us.


We can’t wait to go to Doodle’s, the coffee shop in Helen. They have free Wi-Fi, and good coffee, but the owners, Stan and Linda, are really nice and we got to know them pretty well last year. We are looking forward to seeing them again. We also like to go to Betty’s County Store. They may be a little expensive, but they have good meats and a nice produce department. They make home made breads, and have a good selection of snacks. Yum!