Arkansas Camp-in at Petit Jean State Park July 28th and 29th

[caseydog]

Linda, you guys were gone before I got out of bed. I still have your towel.

I got home at 4 on the dot. Easy trip, no problems. I am now a major Diesel believer.

Great gathering! Thanks, Harvey, for organizing it. And, that venison was good!!!

And good Boudin balls, Jack. I generally like the shoulder portion of a Boudin, but the balls were pretty tasty.

When someone asks, "Do you want to go to the bottom of the falls with us?", the wrong answer is, "sure." The right answer is, "do you have a map?"

Can't wait till LCG in October.

Oh, and I experienced something quite rare. Rarer than a comet in the sky.

We're at the Lodge, and in the parking lot I see a marron Pontiac Aztec. Oooo, that's Madjack's car. So, for a giggle, I draw a little TD shape in the dust on the back window, and put a "MJ" in it. Hahahaha. Then, we turn around, and right in front of me is another maroon Aztec. I look at one, then the other, and see that the one I drew on has Oklahoma plates. Ooooops.

But go figure the odds. Pontiac only sold 114 Aztecs worldwide, and two of them are in the same parking lot -- and they are the same color? Standing halfway between them, I momentarily steped into the automotive twilight zone.

Oh, well. The guy who owns the Oklahoma Aztec will spend the trip home trying to figure out what the message on his window means.

CD

[WarPony]

I look at one, then the other, and see that the one I drew on has Oklahoma plates. Ooooops.

Pfffffffff haaaaaaaaaa!!! That sounds like something I would do...............

Dog, that made me laugh!!!!!!!!

Jeff

[Coca Cola Teardrop]

Jeff, It was rather funny when we realized there were two Aztecs. You should have seen Glenn drawing on the back in the dirt. The vehichle had been in the direct sun for a while and was rather hot while Glenn was doing his art work.
Wish you could have been there. We had a great time.

Glenn, don't worry about the towel. It obviousally is not one of our best. Just the ones we take camping.

Ditto on the right and wrong to say about "going down to the bottom of the water fall"

We had a good time even with the heat.

Linda

[diverguy]

i had a grat time also. i was great to finally put a face with some of the names. i saw a few pass on the road while i stoped at my mom and dads. cant wait til LCG. thanks to everyone for making it a great weekend trip.

[Loader]

We got home about 4, the drive was real easy until we reached Dallas, then traffic was a mess.

There was a minor crash at I30 and I35E which caused 4 lanes of traffic to slam on the brakes, luckily the semi behind me didn't have a trailer hooked up or I do think our Tear would have been a casualty.

We also had the chance to "leak check" the tear as we drove through some pretty good down pours, it passed, no water found it's way in.

It was great to visit with everyone, the food was great!

Like Linda, Ker and I agree with CD, never take a hike without a map!

We only have 1 complaint - the weekend went too fast!

[caseydog]

Of course, all of us HAD trail maps. They were in our cars, where they were of no use whatsoever.

CD

[Coca Cola Teardrop]

True Glenn, but it is much more fun to say "Way to go James"......as it was his idea and he and Joycalyne invited us to tag along.
Linda

[davel]

Cindy and I got home just before 6. Of course we stopped in Texarkana to see the Grandbaby and eat lunch. Had a great weekend with our extended family, wish we could spend every day camping with all of you great folks.

[Nobody]

Lenora & I 'hung around' 'til everyone had gone (had a really nice visit with Pat & Woodyperk6), gave a couple more tours of the TD to passers by, & finally got on the road about 1:30 PM. Home just before 3 & barely beat the rain. Got the ice chests unloaded & a tarp thrown over the extra wood & the smoker, then the 'bottom dropped out' so we still haven't unloaded the TD . Decided I'd go ahead & process my pix so I created an album at Yahoo Pictures (guess I'm gonna have to join Flick'r or one of the other hosts when Yahoo closes in Sept ). Have quite a few pix of the gathering there. Anyone wants to see 'em just follow the link & click on slideshow (or click each one individually to see 'em longer). Here's the link http://tinyurl.com/3abvc3 . Even tho the weather was hot (actually wasn't that bad for Arkansas in July) we had a great time, met several new folks & lotsa old friends, saw some nice TD's, ate more'n I should (as always ), & really, Really,REALLY, hated to head home. Thanks to all who attended, & for the last minute cancellations & no shows, we missed ya . Hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did. We had by my count, 40 folks (including the 4 who stayed at the lodge or B&B), 20 TD's + 1 tent, & 3 dogs. Not too shabby for a first effort by a coupl'a amateurs like Pat & me. Thanks much to Eddie (new attendee) for helpin' me set up the shelter for the potluck 'n 'party site' . Pat, you da man for gettin' this started. Was an honor helpin' you out! Lenora & I have several things scheduled for the next couple of months but we're already plannin' 'n lookin' forward to October & LCG-II - Here again is the link to some pix - http://tinyurl.com/3abvc3

[Rickxr2]

Where do I start! What a great weekend! Lots of new faces, lots of fun, and more than enough food! Thanks to Harvey and Pat for the work they put into this. Petit Jean is a beautiful campground. Thanks to Gary and Trudy (birthday girl) for breakfast! And how about the south sea charm Eddie and Linda brought! Great margaritas. Can't forget Caseydog and his bananas foster, mmm mmm good! Thanks to all for a great time.

Here are photos from the weekend!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8125510@N05/sets/72157601085632154/

Rick & Linda

[Catoosa Grani]

We made it home o.k. Got a few sprinkles and saw heavy clouds but no rain. We had such a good time and enjoyed seeing everyone. It was so nice to visit with everyone and meet all the new ones. Everyone who had anything to do with the gathering did a fantastic job and was very appreciated. All the ones who were unable to be there were certainly missed. Todah, alright, what was the surprise that we didn't get to see?

Mad Jack and Marlene, it was so nice to finally meet you both. It seemed like we already knew you.

Thanks again to Harvey, Lenora, Trudy and Gary, and anyone else who had a hand in this gathering. Looking forward to the next one.



Grani

[Rich S]

Like everyone else Mary and I had a great time. We just wished it could last a little longer.
Being that this was our first gathering we did not know what to expect.
We will be a little better prepaired the next time.
We made it home safe in around five and a half hours. Stoped for gas in Springfield and only a tiny bit of rain.
Looking foward to seeing everyone again soon.
Rich

[oklahomajewel]

Whhhheeeee!!!! What a great weekend !!! I'm glad everybody doesn't mind sweaty hugs!! hahaha

I followed REO-Ron back to Oklahoma and we stopped around Altus, AR about 30 miles before Ft Smith and went to a winery for lunch and a little tasting ... mm mm mmm Made me start thinking about a wine theme for a teardrop !

The weekend was beautiful and the park the same - despite the heat and no wind. I 'll bring a box fan next time.

Me and Ron both hit a little rain on the way home , so that makes a South Central campout complete!

I got home about 4 pm , backed up the teardrop just beautifully in my driveway !!!!! YEA!!! and emptied the ice chest and promptly threw away the Techni Ice.... I won't miss it.

Thanks everybody for the hugs and laughs and the "eat, drink, and be merry" part of the weekend.....especially to the trailer backers, and the EZ Up helpers...

[reo-ron]

first THANKS to Pat and Harvey and anyone else who helped kick this thing off! The visit was great and the trip home was pretty uneventful except for a couple brief showers and a nice lunch at Wiederkier (sp) winery. I've been buy that exit on I40 for more than 30 years and never stopped. I SHOULD HAVE! It was started in 1880 and seems to be a really neat place . I think I'll go back and do the whole tourist thing. The last sat. of Sept they have a Grapefest ,kinda like octoberfest. Sure sounds like fun.
Thanks Again to all
REO-Ron

[RAYVILLIAN]

Gary and I just got home and he is off to unexpected work. Contractor he works for called Sunday and he was having an open house on the house that Gary and I had just finished and when he got there someone had busted out 4 of the windows ... broken glass everywhere !!!

We really didnt want the weekend to end. What a wonderful time we had and couldnt have had a better bunch to spend my birthday with. You are all family to us ... new and old friends.

See you all soon.