Watson Mill Bridge State Park, Comer, GA.

Hello! I promised to try to keep up with my postings on this trip, so here's the second installment. Yesterday, we headed about 175 miles north from Beaver Run RV Park, and wound up here at beautiful Watson Mill Bridge State Park in the little town of Comer, Georgia. This place is SO cool! There are two entrances into the park. The northern entrance is in the town of Comer itself. If you have a large RV that is taller than 9 feet or weighs more than 3 tons, you have to enter from the north. Luckily for us, Dodge and I are both much shorter than 9 feet, and even both of us together don't weigh 3 tons, so we were able to enter from the south. That enabled us to cross over the magnificent Watson Mill Bridge, and that was a real treat. Sometimes it pays to be a little guy like me. Traffic was light, so Gary was able to park me at various places inside the bridge and take pictures. It was a little scary hearing some of those old boards squeak as we rolled over them, but I was too excited to worry very much. Once through the bridge, we stopped at the visitor's center to check in. Inside was a really sweet girl named Lindsey. She was very helpful and answered all of Gary's questions. Once Lindsey got us squared away, we headed back to the campground. It is small with only 22 campsites. Some were taken, but we rolled through twice to check them all out, and ended up in campsite number 11. It is at least 95% shady all through the day. We like that. The temperatures have been mild on this trip, and after the grueling Florida summer we had, this is exactly what we've been looking forward to. It hasn't gotten hotter than 78 degrees so far, and last night it got all the way down to 51 degrees. I don't think Gary moved the entire night, and when he sleeps well, I do too. After Gary got me settled into our campsite, he decided to go for a walk and check out the park. There's a trail within the campground that follows the curves of the river, takes you past the site of an old hydro-electric power house, and eventually you wind up at the covered bridge. From Gary's many pictures, the whole thing looks very picturesque. I wish I could go to all the places that Gary does, but it's easier for me to hang out and watch TV or feed the squirrels. He always takes enough pictures that I get all of the enjoyment without doing any of the work. For a lazy guy like me, that is just plain perfect. You can get down to the briskly flowing river from either end of the bridge. There's a 2-1/2 mile walking and bicycling trail on the side opposite the campground. Picnic areas are abundant, a lot of them with scenic views of the bridge and the water. In a separate area near where we came into the park from the south, there is an equestrian camping area. There are also primitive camping areas (if you're into that kind of thing) near the main campground. Gary says the restrooms are pretty nice. There's a washer and dryer between the men's and women's restroom, and for the big boy campers, the dump station is appropriately located right next to the restroom. There's no TV or internet connection in the campground, but free WiFi is available at the visitor's center 24 hours a day. I sent Gary over there to type this up for me. We are really enjoying being here, and I wish we could stay longer than three nights. Now that we know what an awesome park this is, there is no doubt at all that we will come back here again someday. Georgia has a lot of GREAT state parks, and this is one of the best that we have been to. It's off the beaten path, but well worth a visit. When you get here and check in at the visitor's center, don't forget to tell Lindsey that Toaster sent you. She will know EXACTLY who you're talking about.

The Fall Camping Season Begins

The long hot summer is over, and the fall camping season is finally here. Dodge and Gary and I have left the Green Acres Garage behind for awhile, and headed into Georgia in the early hours of this October day. We stopped for a couple of hours of sleep at the Georgia Visitor's Center in St. Marys, just barely over the Florida/Georgia line. There were a lot of big rigs there, and due to the excessive noise, there wasn't much sleep going on. We left home during the night in dry conditions, but the morning was overcast with misty rain. Although the rain wasn't good, at least the temperatures are. We are definitely enjoying the low to mid 60's after the miserable summer we had to endure. Weather wise, things didn't improve as he headed to our first actual campground, Beaver Run RV Park in Metter, GA. Like all the places we are going to this year, this is the first time we have ever camped here. The park looked nice on the website, and we are not at all disappointed. We are nestled in under tall pine trees among the many much larger and newer travel trailers and motor homes. The staff here have been very friendly and helpful. Gary was offered some fresh, hot baked cookies when we arrived (as are all the guests here), but he turned them down because he's trying very hard to stick to his diet. Just when I thought he would forget about his diet on this trip, he surprised me once again. Good for him! The rain stopped after awhile, and Gary got out to take a few pictures. I've included a few of them here so you'll have an idea of what the park is like. There's cable TV, so I'm having fun watching some shows I can't see at home. Gary tells me the restrooms are immaculately clean, not that I care, but that's something he enjoys. There's a good sized lake, a couple of tiny cabins, a recreation hall (not pictured) and much more. Gary and I enjoy re-purposing things, so we like that they have used old truck wheel rims as fire rings. That's pretty clever. Road noise from Interstate 16 is highly noticeable when you're outside like I am, but Gary hasn't complained about it at all when he's been inside. Overall, Beaver Run is very well kept, and we would highly recommend it. We are going to come back here on our way back home in a couple of weeks. Next time, we are staying here for three nights instead of just one like we're doing this time. There are lots of antique stores from Metter all the way down to Douglas that Gary has been to before and would like to see again. Our three night stay will allow him the time to do that. Tomorrow, we head further north to Watson Mill Bridge State Park in Comer, GA. for a three night stay. If we have an internet connection, I will blog from there. The fun has just begun, so check back often for updates as we travel through parts of Georgia and Tennessee. Happy Camping!

Late September Update

Time is running out to get everything done before our upcoming camping season. To say that Gary has been busy is a major understatement. He's been putting in some LONG hours, but things are coming together. He promised me that he would polish me, and he followed through with the promise. Even after he de-oxidized my skin with six full cans of carburetor cleaner and a whole package of steel wool, there was still much more oxidation left that the Mother's Metal Polish drew out of me. Look at the difference between that new blue applicator pad and the one next to it. And all of that nastiness came off of just a small portion of the metal under my rear window. YUCK! It took more than a dozen clean rags and a full roll of paper towels to get me looking good. Gary's arms and shoulders were plenty sore after all that work, but the end result was definitely worth his efforts. I look SO much better! It's been five years since Gary stripped all of the layers of paint and roof coatings off of me. At that time, I got new edge trim with the red vinyl insert trim in it. The vinyl has faded considerably, and it's shrunken in length on both ends by a few inches. It looked shabby, so off it came. Gary had a new roll "in stock", so now I have brand new vinyl to compliment my shiny skin. One thing that time and weather has not destroyed is the awesome Eternabond sealing tape over the seams in my roof. It looks as good as the day that Gary installed it. That stuff is the BEST product to keep your camper free of water damage. I haven't leaked a drop. The last thing to be spruced up on my exterior was my tongue. It had a lot of nicks and chipped paint on it. Rustoleum Safety Red is my color, and now my tongue looks as good as the rest of me. After a couple of years of not looking my best during our travels, I won't be embarrassed at all this season. Lots of other things that I haven't already told you about have been checked, fixed, or spiffed up. Mechanically, all systems have been tested, and all is well. There's just a couple of hours of interior cleaning to be done, and I will be ready to hit the road. Am I excited? Oh HELL yeah!!! We head to Georgia and Tennessee VERY soon, and I will write and post pictures from every stop. Signing off from the Green Acres Garage in beautiful St. Augustine, FL., this is Toaster. Thanks for reading my blog. Over and out!

No Vacation For The Oxidation

It's my lucky week! I not only had a bath this week, but Gary is now in the process of removing years of oxidation off of my skin. De-oxidating is the bare aluminum trailer version of human skin exfoliation. Basically, Gary is attempting to get all of that yucky, pore-clogging gunk out of my skin by using fine steel wool, spray carburetor cleaner, and a whole lot of rubbing. He will do this to all of me, and then he will polish me with Mother's Aluminum Polish. I should look pretty spiffy for this year's camping trips. It's amazing how different my skin looks and feels after the steel wool/carburetor cleaning process. See all that black stuff on my skin and on the polishing cloth? That, my friends, is oxidation, and this year, it's going to stay home and not go with us on our travels. In the second photo, you can clearly see that the upper portion of my side has been de-oxidized, and the lower portion has not. The de-oxidized part is MUCH more shiny. If I had fingers, I would be able to tell the difference by feel. Gary says that the de-oxidized skin is smooth to the touch, and the "dirty" skin is as rough as 100 grit sandpaper. That's a BIG difference. We don't want my skin to have a mirror-like shine like an Airstream. A dull shine is fine with us, and it's a lot less of a hassle to take care of. This is only the third time in the last five years that I've been de-oxidized, so Gary isn't into anything that he has to constantly clean and polish. As long as I'm not covered and dirt and poop, I'm perfectly happy. But on those rare occasions when I'm clean AND polished, I REALLY feel like a stud. Look out girls, here I come!

Mid-September Update

Hello, everyone. I know I haven't posted much lately, but all of that will be changing soon as our camping season gets underway. You know how much I like to talk, and I have SO much bottled up inside of me, I feel like I'm going to EXPLODE!!! That being said, I'm going to relieve a little of the pressure, and tell you all about the latest happenings here in the Green Acres Garage. As I reported last time, my buddy Dodge got a lot of work done on his interior. That should help us be more organized during our travels. Gary has been loading Dodge up for our first trip. He's written everything down so he has a good inventory of the dozens of odds and ends that we carry, and he's even assigned locations for each item so he knows EXACTLY where they are. As far as other happenings with Dodge, Gary spent a solid week doing mechanical work to him. He replaced the leaky power steering pump, installed new power steering hoses, installed new transmission cooler hoses, and did a complete rear brake job. All of Dodge's vital fluids were checked, and everything was greased and lubricated. He even removed the interior door panels, and lubricated all of the moving door lock parts. Even though Dodge has 242,000 miles on him, we feel perfectly safe taking him (or him taking us I should say) absolutely anywhere. He's beyond awesome. I have been a VERY patient boy this summer. Gary has been EXTREMELY busy with many projects, and I have sat quietly waiting my turn to get some of his attention. As the time gets closer and closer for us to hit the road, the chances have gotten better for me to be worked on, and that finally happened yesterday. For the first time in months, I got to see sunshine. I've had bird poop on my roof and my rear bumper since our last trip in the spring, and the dirt was so thick on me that you could write on me with your fingers if you wanted to. I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture, but there were cobwebs between the marker lights on my roof. I was SUPER nasty to say the least. Gary scrubbed me top to bottom, and I swear I lost a few pounds of dirt (and other unpleasant things) before returning to the garage. I'm supposed to get polished next, and I'm looking forward to getting several years of oxidation off of me. I certainly do feel better the way I am right now, and I'll settle for the nice bath if nothing else. As I mentioned back on New Year's Day when it happened, my cool little clock quit working, and it hasn't been fixed until now. Gary bought a replacement motor for it for $4.97, but the little white stem that the hands attach to was too long. Looking online for a replacement for the replacement, Gary couldn't find one that was right. So, he went to Wal-Mart and found an entire clock for a measly $3.88 that had the correct motor in it. He removed it from the new clock, installed it in my old one, and remounted my clock in it's place over my front bed. It's GREAT to have it working again. I haven't known what time it is for MONTHS!!! As for our first camping trip of the season, our plans changed considerably. We're not going quite as far north as we originally were, but we're still going to places we've never been to before in Georgia and Tennessee. Our starting date has been pushed back a couple of weeks, so Gary feels less stressed about getting everything done that he needs to do before we go. I am SO excited about getting started. October just can't get here soon enough. That's the latest news from here. I hope to be posting some pictures of my shiny self very soon, but if not, I'll definitely write from the road as we go from place to place. Have a GREAT day!