A Wedding and More…

We went to Dawsonville, Georgia on Saturday, May 19, to attend an outdoor wedding that Jeff was going to DJ. A little background, you see the groom’s mother and sister were camping at River Vista in Dillard last Halloween and attended the dance Jeff djed that weekend. She recommended Jeff to her son and fiancee. The mom contacted us during the winter when we were at Rock Crusher Canyon after getting our telephone number from the River Vista office manager. Anyway, it took us two hours to get to the Payne’s home last Saturday and we didn’t have much traffic at all. We had stopped at Mc Donald’s in Clayton on our way there for breakfast. We got bogged down in Mountain City, which is about 10 minutes away from Dillard, due to the Warrior Race being held there. This is a race that anyone can enter. It is like an obstacle type race that had people racing in water, mud, and under ropes, etc… The local papers said about 30,000 people competed in the race. It was the fourth time that they had the race in Mountain City.

When we got to the groom’s parents’ home in Dawsonville we set up our equipment. It took us an hour and a half to complete the set up and sound test since we also put up a 10 by 10 foot covered canopy to protect our equipment and ourselves from the elements. The house sat on 6 acres and was on a creek. They had been putting the seat clothes with ribbons on the chairs when we got there. The groom was actually taking the tractor and getting some fresh mowed grass and clearing  it from the areas where people were to walk. We didn’t think they would get done by the wedding time of 4:30. Some pictures of the set-up follow.

  

  

  

After setting up we ate a quick lunch at Arby’s and then went to the Best Western Motel, which was about 20 minutes from the Payne’s home, to shower and get dressed. They were having a Scottish terrier dog show outside when we arrived. This was Kozmo’s first motel stay with us so we didn’t know how she would react. The room was fantastic. They had just remodeled it and we got a king suite which included the king size bed, TV, microwave, refrigerator, iron and iron board, safe, sofa and hassock, and a desk with a chair. The bathroom was spacious and very well equipped. We were very happy to stay the night there which only cost us $62 for the night. They didn’t even charge us for Kozmo. We thought it had to do with the dog show. It would normally have cost us $15 for her but they waved it.

We arrived at the wedding an hour early at 3:30 to play nice smooth jazz music as the guests arrived. It was a beautiful wedding with the weather cooperating fully for the entire time we were there. There were probably about 100 people at the wedding who were having a very nice time.

They had one of the sister-in laws prepare all of the dinner food which was absolutely fantastic! We did not eat it while we were there because we were not hungry but one of the sisters made us a huge carry out container to take with us. We did try the wedding cake and it was so moist and flavorful! We played until 7:30pm and then packed up and got back to the motel at 8:40. Kozmo was great during the wedding and reception, just laying behind the table where we were set up. We did sample some of the reception food when we got to the room and it was delicious. We had some grilled chicken, creamed corn, green beans, a pickled onion salad and a green salad. Again, it was all terrific-very flavorful! We slept very well in the bed. Kozmo had some difficulty getting to sleep. She was shaking a little bit and looking at the ceiling for some strange reason. But when we turned out the lights she stayed very close to us throughout the night.

On our way back to Dillard on Sunday we went a different route which took us through Cleveland and through Helen, Georgia.

   

They were having some kind of a car show that made traffic bumper to bumper at 11:30 in the morning- a Sunday morning at that. We went through the Lake Burton area which had a tremendous amount of damage last year due to the tornado that went through it. They are rebuilding but trees are still down around the area. You can still tell where the tornado touched down. If you click on and enlarge the picture below you can see the tornado’s path across Lake Burton.

All in all the weekend was a very nice one. It felt good to get away from the rig for a while because you appreciate it much more when you return. We did miss our bed but we were still comfortable in the motel, too.

The HWY 246 bridge in Dillard that was closed down starting on April 2 is now open. They were supposed to have it rebuilt by June 25 so they were a month ahead of schedule. It looks very nice and now we can make it to Dillard in four minutes or less rather than 12 minutes the detour took. We headed to Highlands today to the Bank of America and to see what was happening up there. People are checking  in for the Memorial Day weekend at River Vista for sure. When we got back to the campground many more people had arrived. Looks like we are going to have a full campground this weekend.

We are headed for Clayton tomorrow to see if we can get a new deep cycle battery for the golf cart. After testing each battery, one of them was at 10%. We would charge it up overnight and then just be able to drive it for five minutes before it goes dead. We are hoping that we only need to replace the one because they are very heavy to get out and they cost between $150 and $200. We had our neighbor help us and it was still a hard task to perform. If we have to replace them all, we will call our repairman Eddie who has a golf cart shop in the Tallulah Falls area to do it for us. We are hoping it won’t come down to that though.

Our bird in the nest that is in our covered coach house must have laid its eggs because Momma bird is keeping the nest warm almost nonstop. I want to take some pictures of the nest when Momma leaves but Daddy comes by almost automatically. So here is the picture from afar with a zoom lens.

Thanks to our good friend Pat Gregory we now have found a new TV show to watch. It is called “Swamp People” and is on Thursday nights on the History Channel. It takes place in the Louisiana area in swamp land. People hunt for gators and make it look so creepy. I’ve had one nightmare already from watching the show. Thanks Pat!

We hope your Memorial Day weekend is a nice one. We will be thinking of all that made the ultimate sacrifice for us, all of our veterans and all of our military people currently serving our nation for us to be a free nation.

River Vista has some activities going on this weekend. We will take part in the cookout Saturday afternoon and a live music show by a local band, “The Ram Cats”, later in the evening. Monday afternoon our homeowners association is having a cookout and covered dish meal as well. There will be barbequed pork, beef brisket and assorted dishes brought by all lot owners. Jeff will supply some music as well. It should be fun.

‘Til next time….

What We’ve Been Up To Lately

Retirement is GRAND! We can do whatever we want, whenever we want, and not feel guilty about doing just nothing at times. Since the last blog we have been enjoying life in general.

We met our good friend, Pat Gregory, a couple of weeks ago. Pat and his wife Sandie live in Brandon, Florida. He was in North Carolina visiting their RV site at the Great Outdoors RV Park in Franklin for about 10 days. Sandie stayed home because they are remodeling their kitchen and she needed to be there to make sure everything was going as planned. We met Pat at his place and then went out to eat at Lucios, which is an Italian restaurant in Franklin. It is a great place to eat. On Wednesday and Thursday evenings they have a special for two people. You get an appetizer, all you can eat salad, garlic rolls, and the two entrées for $24.95. It was all delicious and I had plenty to take back home to eat for the second day. Pat even had cocktails with chips and dip for us when we got to his rig. He was a perfect sommelier! The conversation was fun and we wished that Sandie was here to partake in the festivities. Just a side note, Pat was once MY boss when he was Principal of Mann Middle School in Brandon, Florida. As a matter of fact, he brought me from Dowdell Middle to Mann back in the day.

Jeff was asked to DJ a Cinco de Mayo event on May 5 here in the campground. We had a homeowner’s association meeting in the morning and they said we could start at noon time or whenever. We started at 1 pm and stopped at 7:15 pm.

We wish we could say there was a crowd, but there wasn’t one. The campground had a taco bar buffet which was fantastic! They even had the owner of La Cabana Mexican restaurant come with his frozen margarita machine to serve virgin drinks which were delightful. We had many requests for songs from people who were at the pool but no takers on dancers. There was a rally going on but they had scheduled a dinner out so we didn’t get that crowd. Pat joined us again and we had a great time talking. It got to the point that I was sitting there reading my book and Kozmo was sleeping while Jeff played songs. However, there was a dance contest to the Electric Slide song and I won. That was because no one else was there to dance with. Haha

We started making a list on what we wanted to buy to get our vegetable garden started and which flowers we wanted to plant. We went to Lowe’s and found a kit called “My First Garden”, which is a two foot square barrier that you put together and then put your seeds and dirt into. We bought two of them. Unfortunately the weather has not been cooperating with us the last three days. We had steady rain on Sunday and most of the afternoon on Monday has been consumed with drizzle. We hope to get it out and done on Tuesday since the rain will end tonight sometime. We are going to plant carrots, burpless cucumbers, green onions, lettuce, and summer squash. I will also grow tomatoes from a tomato plant that has already been established. Last year I started from scratch and had 50 cherry tomatoes that were absolutely delicious! So now with “My First Garden”, we just might get a salad together out of the vegetables we plant. We also bought two hanging baskets of ferns to hang out on the deck. They were a steal at Home Depot.

We have done our fair share eating out. Our favorite place right now is called Annette’s. We have eaten there for breakfast and lunch on several occasions. It is located in Dillard in the antique strip and has a very down home atmosphere. We also found the Main Street Pizza place in Dillard which makes a fantastic stromboli and  great pizza. Even though we have eaten out more than usual I still manage to fix us wonderful meals in the rig. Just this past weekend we had grilled steak with a spinach salad which was very good! Even Kozmo got some of the steak and enjoyed it.

On Saturday of this past weekend we went to Hillside Orchard Farms for their buy one get one fifty percent off deal. We bought some sweet and crunchy dill pickles, pickled beets, garlic salsa, blackberry preserves, strawberry preserves, and pumpkin honey butter. Even though it was drizzling on Saturday, the place was doing a great business. The “online store” is a great way to order items they make and sell in the actual store. Check it out!

We have a bird’s nest in one of the corners of the coach house. Jeff wanted to get rid of it but I said no. The nest is a big one for small birds. We don’t know what the birds “nationality” happens to be but they are small birds. Kozmo is mesmerized with them and just watches them as they fly very near our heads to the nest. At least, under the roofline, on a rafter, it is protected from the weather. When we go outside on the deck the “guard” makes all kind of noise until we sit down.

We are headed to Dawsonville, a little north of Atlanta, this Saturday for Jeff to DJ a wedding. It will be his first wedding. The groom’s mother happened to be at the Halloween Dance here at River Vista last October and got Jeff’s number from the campground office folks while we were in Florida and contacted him. It is going to be an outside affair at the groom’s parents’ home and they have selected a few songs for him to play and he’ll fill in the rest. We are planning on staying at a hotel for one night while we are there since the wedding starts at 4:30 and Jeff is slated to play for three hours which is his minimum amount. Thank heavens it is not a formal affair. We wouldn’t have taken the gig if it were formal-we don’t keep clothes in the rig for that.

We hope all you Moms out there had a very nice Mothers’ Day. The park managers came around on Sunday and delivered carnations to the women in the campground. That was a very nice touch!

So that’s a quick synopsis of what has gone on with us the past few weeks. We’ll try to post a little sooner next time.

Until next time….

The Beautiful Mountains

We left Crystal River on Wednesday, April 11 for our summer RV site in Dillard, Georgia. We bid goodbye to our friends Judy and Roger, our neighbors in Rock Crusher Canyon, on Monday, who headed out before we did. They were a joy to be around during the winter/spring snowbird season. We will miss them but know they will be back next season to enjoy again. We said goodbye to Jim and Russ, our other neighbors. Jim brought over some Jack Daniels blond brownies that were absolutely delicious for us to enjoy on our trip. We wish them well on their travels back to Michigan and especially their cruise to Alaska in the summer.

We didn’t travel far the first day. We just went two and a half hours north to Jennings Outdoor Resort Campground, which is located in Jennings, Florida, a little bit south of the Florida/Georgia line.

 

We had stayed here a few years ago and enjoyed it. They gave us a pull-thru site near the clubhouse and pool area. The place has a pond with mallard ducks floating around. You can rent paddle boats if you wanted to. Kozmo didn’t pay much attention to the ducks, but she was into squirrel hunting.

The only thing they could change is to update their sites so they are more level. The concrete and asphalt is broken in a lot of places and the streets are very narrow but we managed it all right after moving a picnic table. I opted to do a load of laundry in the laundry area that was very big. It had six washers and six dryers. The dryers were the bargain at $1.00 for 45 minutes. There is also a large cat cage that houses a huge 33 pound cat named Fudge. They used to have three cats in there but the one lives with its owners in the campground and the other one passed on.

After the laundromat closes at 10 pm, they open the cage and Fudge roams around the building until the next morning. He was a very affectionate cat when I talked to him and petted him.

The second day of travel was even shorter being only two hours and five minutes. We stayed at our favorite campground heading north on I-75 in central Georgia, called Twin Oaks, in Elko, just south of Perry. They are a Passport America campground so we got to stay there for $19 a night. The weather was a bit chilly with us waking up to 41 degrees but it felt nice for a change. Twin Oaks has changed owners and they have done a great job in their landscaping and cleanliness of the park.

The third day was a long one travelling four hours and fifteen minutes to Dillard. We stopped at Eatonton, Georgia, at the Eagle Truck stop which is probably the halfway point between Perry and Dillard. We love this truck stop because they are so friendly and clean. We actually stayed here about an hour and not only topped off the tank with diesel, but also got some lunch at their restaurant called Chesters. Jeff got chicken strips with two sides, fries and black eyed peas, and cornbread for $6.75 and I got their shrimp with two sides, fries and collard greens for the same amount. The collard greens were VERY GOOD! The only downfall was the price of diesel gas at $4.19 a gallon. We had seen gas at $4.09 at other places but since we didn’t need that much and like this place, we were willing to pay the extra cash. Before leaving I took Kozmo on a walk to stretch her legs and do her business. After leaving there we arrived at our site in Dillard at 2:45. I am happy that Jeff saw the flashing sign on HWY 441 in Rabun Gap just before Dillard telling us there was a detour that we needed to take. They are replacing the bridge at HWY 246 and they started it on April 2. So people who want to head to our campground at River Vista or go to Sky Valley or on up to Highlands, North Carolina must detour 1.6 miles on a two lane paved road in order to get there. The Dillard House in Dillard has already felt the impact by saying they are down 20% in the people who are eating there. We usually got the paper down at the gas station on a daily basis and now we won’t be doing that. They say it should be done by June 25, so time will tell.

After setting up our site, we ventured out on Saturday to Mishima Express, which is a Japanese hibachi cuisine place that is located in Clayton, Georgia. It is attached to a gas station and is one of our favorite places to eat. We usually get the hibachi chicken which comes with brown rice with mushrooms and delicious sweet carrots. We can walk out of there very filled up for less than $20.00, which includes the tip.

Sunday, Jeff put up our stereo system on the deck and hung two speakers in the corners of our coach house. We listened to smooth jazz and had some vegetable dip and crackers while enjoying the beautiful weather which included a high of 70 degrees with a cool breeze. We had a great dinner of meat loaf with two sides, garlic mashed potatoes and black eyed peas. Earlier in the morning DirecTV came by to install a Slimline SWM satellite dish on our shed and give us a new high def dvr receiver. This will enable us to get high definition on the tv here, record one program while watching another AND with only one cable coming in our fiver. Last year we had Radio Shack come out and put a satellite dish on the shed but it wasn’t high def because we brought our standard def dvr that had been in the bedroom of our Valrico house. We had to pay for that last year. DirecTV gave us the new dish and new hi def dvr receiver free with no increase on our bill. They say it is because we are longtime DirecTV customers. The picture really looks great now.

We ate breakfast at Annette’s Restaurant in Dillard Monday morning. We joined one of our neighbors who was eating by himself. This place is in its third year and is a great find! Their breakfast was even better than our regular breakfast spot, Kim’s Cafe, in Homosassa. The prices are quite nice also. Jeff had two eggs, two sausage patties, fried taters and wheat toast. I had scrambled eggs with cheese, taters, very crispy bacon and wheat toast. We both had coffee and we got our little Kozmo a biscuit with bacon for waiting patiently in the truck enjoying the nice breeze. We left the place by paying only $14.48, not including the tip. Their lunches are to die for also according to our neighbor. We met the owner who also waited on us and gave us our food. The coffee and water came freely and the waitresses were very friendly. We can’t wait to go back again for breakfast or lunch. They are closed on Tuesdays and we are already feeling withdrawal symptoms. :-)

Tuesday, we went to Clayton to my favorite grocery store called Ingles. Jeff and Kozmo stayed in the truck in the 74 degree weather. Jeff played on the tablet and Kozmo napped he said. But before I shopped I brought back a mocha frappucchino for Jeff to enjoy from the Starbucks that is located right inside the store as you enter. I brought my chai tea frappucchino on my shopping spree and loved every sip of it. I love Ingles. I could spend a half of a day in there and eat lunch and still yearn to be there. Maybe I should get a job there someday??? After Ingles we headed to Zaxby’s for a delicious salad. We then proceeded to Home Depot to pick up an outside storage unit to put at the back of the deck, against the shed, to house our stereo and odds and ends. By the time we got back to the rig, the rain was about to begin falling, so we managed to get everything inside and put away. We may need to visit to WalMart soon to buy a new compact refrigerator for the shed. The old one must have died within the last day or so. We have had it for three years. It comes in handy for soft drinks and things that don’t fit into the refrig in the rig.

We plan on just enjoying the mountains and relaxing the next day or so.

‘Til next time…….

Winding Down

Rock Crusher is beginning to look like a ghost town except for the die-hard snowbirds who wait until they think it is warm enough up north to leave the heat here in the state. We had a few rigs come in for the Easter weekend-families. There are many rigs being left down here this year by the snowbirds compared to last year. We are seeing many fifth wheels being left behind, probably due to the gas that it takes to bring their rigs back home. We will miss our RV friends like Lee and Mary who have their great dogs Chip and Murphy to keep them company. If you are reading this Lee and Mary, we hope you get a chance to come to Dillard when we are up there. Our neighbors Brenda and David, with their dog Bandit, left over a week ago. We will miss them. We usually remember names of people based on their pets’ names, if they have any. Larry and Ann and Zack, their black lab, are from Maryland and left this past Sunday. We were introduced to their good friends Jerry and Sarah and their black pomeranian named Puddles who are also from Maryland. It was very cute to see their dogs interact with Kozmo while on our daily walks. Our neighbor friends, Roger and Judy, who are from Massachusetts, are a very delightful couple. They put us to shame with all of their energy. They are parked next to us for the season and they have been very instrumental in getting this girl (Barbie is writing today obviously) to work outdoors raking leaves. I think it was a contest to see who could rake the most on any given day :=) Our other neighbors, Jim and Russ, who are from Lansing, Michigan, have been next to us for the last three years. We hope to get up to see them and also visit Shipshewana, Indiana, when the gas prices go hopefully down a little before November. We went out to eat breakfast with them this morning at a place called Red’s, which was 30 minutes away and always has a crowd. We can see why. I had corned beef hash with two scrambled eggs with cheese, spuds and toast. Jeff had biscuits with sausage gravy with a side of bacon. Everything was very good! Russ had eggs benedict which looked very good and Jim had a combination of biscuits with sausage gravy and poached eggs and spuds. Great company with a great breakfast!

Speaking of great meals, Jeff and I ate at a place in Dunnellon called the Front Porch Restaurant and Pie Shop on Sunday, March 25. We sat outside and had very good meals. They serve good old fashioned down home meals. Jeff had the pot roast and I had the meat loaf. There were many good sides to choose from- the collard greens were great. We followed with a slice of their wonderful pie. I had the pecan and Jeff had the peanut butter chocolate. Kozmo sat in the truck with all the windows down watching us eat since we were only 10 feet away from the truck. Another nice place that we will go back to eat again.

  

We made our last trip for the season to our Valrico house on Wednesday. We only stayed one night. I cleaned the kitchen, bathrooms and dusted. A good thing we learned from one of the sales people at our complex was that you should put down Saran Wrap on the toilets so that the water will stay in there and not evaporate. We did it last year and it works. We also shut off the water to the house on the outside, in addition to moving the thermostat to 79 degrees. Since we have gravel stones surrounding the perimeter of the house, I sprayed Round-Up extended control over them so that the weeds will not grow up and cause a problem. Our small flower garden will be watered by one of the landscapers in the park so we got lucky there. I even managed to wash my car, by hand, and took three piles of clothes and a comforter to Goodwill before leaving on Thursday. I got caught up on our laundry also by doing five loads. Now I have to save up my quarters again for doing laundry in Dillard.

We met our great friends Linda and Bill Forrest in Leesburg at the Red Lobster last Saturday. Linda is retiring in June so we wanted to treat her to a good meal with great conversation. They live in Auburndale, Florida and I picked the Leesburg area since it seemed to be the half-way point for both of us as we drove from Crystal River. We had a great time and I hope Linda has the time of her life in her retirement.

If all goes as planned, we will leave and head north sometime next week. We decided to take two nights on the road to Dillard. We changed our minds about going to Brunswick, Georgia and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina now. We might go there during our seven month stay in Georgia. Everything is up in the air with the high gas prices. We really want to get to Dillard to enjoy our new covered deck and plant some vegetables this year. Since I did a fantastic job with tomatoes last year, I hope to branch out and grow some other kinds of vegetables. Plus, Jeff’s cousin Rick is planning to stop and see us in Dillard on April 20 when he and his girlfriend head back to Pennsylvania after their trip to Florida.

It’s time for Happy Hour!

  

Until next time….

2 Great Weekends in a row

The past two weekends have been awesome! Last weekend in Homosassa a Dragonboat Regatta was held. And, today was the ShrimpaPalooza Festival in “Old” Homosassa.

There was a good number of out-of-town guests in town and crowds of spectators gathered along the Homosassa River at McRaes boat docks  and the Riverside Resort by Monkey Island for the third annual Homosassa River Dragon Boat Races. They began at 9 am Saturday, March 17, on the river in front of Riverside Resort.

Besides the local Natures Coast rowing teams, visiting teams from Tampa, The Villages and Hawthorne, competed in three types of races. Two of the races were straight sprint races, one 300 meters long and the other a 3000 meter one. These races originated in China nearly 2,000 years ago. Its popularity has been growing all over the world for the past three decades. For these sprint races,  five teams  raced up and down the river. Each boat held 20 paddlers, 10 on each side, along with a steersman and a drummer who  kept the beat and everyone focused. The third race was a dragon boat barrel race. This unique race was a big crowd pleaser on the Homosassa River for sure. In this race, the 44-foot boats had to cut tight corners which tested the teamwork and skills of every team. Below are some pictures taken at the event.

  

  

  

Thank goodness “The Shed” at McRaes is nearby.

   The Shed

The day’s great weather and activities made many of us thirsty! What a great outdoor atmosphere and event.

Here is a video of the barrel race.

 

This morning, after stopping first for a Hardee’s Drive-thru Breakfast, we went to the Homosassa Public Library. You see they held their annual Friends of the Library Book Sale. Barbie couldn’t resist checking it out. There was a line waiting to storm the event 20 minutes before they opened the doors! Barbie spent 35 minutes searching for her finds. She came back with 4 paperbacks that cost her a total of ONLY $2! All paperbacks were 50 cents each and hardbacks $1. Not only did they have books but DVDs, CDs, and puzzles. She enjoyed herself while Kozmo and I waited in the truck. We were resting up for the excitement of the FIRST ShrimpaPalooza Festival in Homosassa!

After leaving the library we made the 8 minute drive to “old” Homosassa to check out this new event. The Rotary Club of Homosassa Springs organized this event advertising it as  Mardi Gras Homosassa Style! It actually kicked off Thursday and Friday night with Palooza Parties at the local bars, which we did not check out not knowing what to expect. This mornings’ activities started with a 10:30 am Parade down Yulee Drive. Unfortunately, we just missed the parade. People were still walking around the streets but we knew we must have missed the parade as everyone seemed to be wearing beads-we had none.  It was about time for the event to kick into full gear with live bands, lots of food and plenty of arts and craft vendors to visit. We did run into our Rock Crusher neighbors, Roger and Judy, and they saw the parade-they had beads!  We’ll get the scoop from them later. There certainly were plenty of opportunities to enjoy some great seafood, arts & crafts, live music and all the fun one could handle!

  

Not knowing what to expect, we didn’t stay in the area long as we had our furry, four-legged GPS with us. We couldn’t just leave her by herself and wander around.

‘Til next time………………….

Chili Cook-Off

The Chili Cook-Off for Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park was held this afternoon.

   CLICK to enlarge.

There were SIX chefs (one gentleman and five ladies) that prepared their finest chili. THIRTY taste-testers sampled the chilis, submitted their ballots, and sipped their favorite beverages. I found out today that I enjoy Michelob Lager pretty darn well. I’d never had Michelob Lager before. I’ve had regular Michelob, Michelob Light and Michelob Ultra but no “Lager.” Barbie prepared her “Rock Crusher Red” last evening and let it simmer in the slow cooker all night. I woke up in the middle of the night and the aroma permeated the fifth wheel for sure.

The cook-off began at 3:00pm in the clubhouse. I’m certainly glad I remembered to take a Zantac tablet before we went or I’d be paying for it with a severe case of heartburn by now I’m sure. Since I suggested the event at an activities meeting in December, I was co-chair of the event. Before we began sampling I explained the procedures to all in attendance.  The chilis were labeled A,B,C,D,E, and F. The testers needed to sample all six and award each a score of 5,4,3,2 or 1, to each chili, with 5 being “great” to 1 being “not good.” See below.

CHILI COOK-OFF

SCORE EACH CHILI 5-4-3-2-1 (5=best)

CHILI SAMPLE	SCORE (5-4-3-2-1)
A
B
C
D
E
F

We had Ritz crackers and saltines to add to the chili if desired. There was iced tea for those who did not bring a beverage with them. None of the cooks conferred but each was different. There was a “Thanksgiving Chili” which included as main ingredients turkey, pumpkin pie mix and butter beans. It was unique for sure and really did taste better than it sounds. Another unique one, “Special Blend White Chili” was made with grilled chicken cut up very fine with black eyed peas as the major ingredients. This chili had NO traditional seasonings you’d find in chili at all, but was very well seasoned, good and so different. Another, “Summer Chili,” was a red chili with the beans and seasonings but made with sausage and not a ground beef. “Chetas Chili” was so named by it’s chef because she said she cheated by using pre-packaged ingredients instead of mixing individual ones. Huh??? That’s what I thought until it was explained to me that she used salsa in jars instead of tomatoes, onions, peppers etc. It was good as well. The final chili was “Grannie’s Chili”, which was as you’d think, a long time family recipe that has been passed around for years. As I said, all were quite good in my opinion-it’s just a matter of personal preference I guess. I looked at the ballots only to unfold them to make it easier for the three ladies that served as the “official” tallyers. Most scores were 4’s and 5’s, with a few 3’s. Only ONE ballot I saw used all 1’s and 2’s on his/her ballot-- my only explanation for it was, that person just doesn’t like chili at all!

The managers donated 3 prizes for upcoming campground food events to be given to the top three favorites: a free breakfast coupon, a free ice cream sundae, and a free strawberry shortcake. They also provided certificates. As co-chairperson, and not knowing the managers made certificates,  I also prepared certificates for the Champion and all 5 other participating chefs. Once the ladies had concluded tallying the results they gave them to me to announce: 

Third Place – SUMMER CHILI

Second Place – GRANNIE’s CHILI

2012 Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park Chili Cook-Off CHAMPION

ROCK CRUSHER RED

Yes, Barbie’s chili won! Isn’t that a sharp looking certificate I made for my wife! :-)

Well, that’s the big news around here for now.

‘Til next time……

Time’s Flyin’-But Not Much Happenin’

I can’t believe it has been two weeks plus a couple days since our last post. Just like many of you with blogs, when you stay at one location for an extended time, we seem to write less frequently. Day-to-day regular happenings don’t seem worthy enough to write about and the days just pass on by. Isn’t retirement great-you do what you want, when you want to-or do nothing at all. I must admit, I’m getting anxious to make plans and get ready to head north again. It’s been a great winter here at Rock Crusher Canyon but it’s about time to head north. Our rough plans have us leaving here probably right after Easter weekend. We’ll make one or maybe more stays on the way up to our site in River Vista Mountain Village, in Dillard, GA.

River Vista Mountain Village is located between Clayton, Georgia and Highlands and Franklin, North Carolina. It is located about one mile south of the North Carolina state line and about one mile east off of HWY 441. River Vista sits in a beautiful valley surrounded by the Smoky Mountains to the east and Blue Ridge Mountains to the west. Picnic tables and meditation benches are located along the banks of Slick Rock Creek and Mud Creek, which border the Resort to the east and southeast. Our clubhouse/office offers a full kitchen, TV and reading area, card/game tables, computer stations, fitness room, and rocking chairs and checkers tables on the front porch facing Little Estatoah Falls in the Smoky Mountains. An outdoor heated pool and spa are located at the main pavilion which also features a large fireplace with wooden rocking chairs, community tv, picnic tables, and restroom facilities.

 

 

 

There is also an indoor heated pool and spa building adjacent to the pavilion area. In addition, there is a large Mountain Center Clubhouse  with double commercial kitchens, stage, two-sided fireplace and wall partition. This is the area that Big Daddy DJ has hosted dances, both in the street and inside the Mountain Center.

INSIDE MTN CENTER

OUTSIDE STREET DANCE

The campground is open all year, has 144 lots to choose from as well as five 1 and 2 bedroom rental cabins. The rv sites have gravel pads with full hookups (water, sewer, 30 and 50 amp electric service), cable television with premium channels and has free wireless internet throughout the resort. Kozmo reminded me to also mention the resort is pet friendly. Part of the resort is the original 99 site owners section, Falls View, where we bought our site in 2004.

That section is sold out, although occasionally an owner resells a site. Of these sites, about two-thirds of them have built park model cabins on them. The campground itself is now also selling sites and a few have been sold. Can you tell I love that area and am getting antsy to be there?

So what have we been up to the past two weeks? The weekend before this past one we drove over to Ocala Sun RV Resort in Ocala to visit with the Roamin’ Rigs, the FMCA rv club we were active members in from 1997 until we sold our motorhome in January of 2011. Although we were made honorary members, we no longer attend the rallies since we no longer have a motorhome. It was great seeing all of our friends and sharing a traditional happy hour with them.

After the happy hour we stopped at a Tijuana Flats Restaurant in Ocala for dinner before making the hour long drive back to Crystal River. We love Tijuana Flats but unfortunately the closest one to Crystal River is the one in Ocala.

Last week we drove down to the sticks-n-bricks home in Valrico for 4 nights. I had my 6 month doctor’s visit to review blood tests etc. All the blood work looked great, cholesterol good, blood pressure good. Bottomline, he said I’m good to go for another 6 months. He did reiterate that dropping some more weight would help take some strain off my back. Yeah, yeah, tell me something I don’t know. :-) I try believe me. We also bought some landscape bricks, some soil and plants and put a 6’ X 3’ planter in front of the house. We had a robellini palm out there in a planter for years but it died about a year and a half ago and we got rid of it.

    BEFORE

We needed to add something out there so the planter it was.

    AFTER

While in Valrico we also ate at China Palace, our all-time favorite Chinese buffet restaurant!

Finally, I’ve got to comment on the weather. Those of you in Florida certainly know this but the past week of weather around here has been crazy. We had temps in the 80’s for several days before that wicked front came through here that caused all the tornados and damage in the midwest. It was really quite windy here with gusts up to 50 mph but no tornados. It rained really hard here in Crystal River Saturday night/Sunday morn from 4:00-4:30am and then quit and started turning cool immediately. This morning the low here was 42 degrees and we had the heat pump on. Crazy weather, but give me this over the tragic stuff that other parts of our country has experienced.

Well. that’s the Cliff Notes version of our lives for the past two weeks. We hope each of you are happy, healthy and enjoying life! Thank you for following our adventures. We leave you with the Kozmo picture of the month…she bonded with Elmo in Valrico!

‘Til next time……..