Good Old, Close By - Stand By Park - Louisville SRA

Why can't you camp and still honor your spiritual beliefs, you know there is a Catholic church within 20 miles of everywhere in the US... 

The weather was supposed to be 55 and rainy on Friday but we planned on going anyhow, thats why we have a camper and not a tent.  We'll by the time we pulled out of Omaha on Friday it was 70 and sunny, BONUS... (We were at site 154) 

I got a second bigger dutch oven over Christmas and really want to start doing more with the dutch ovens, the food is ALWAYS so good cooked in the dutch oven.  We made it a double stacker on Saturday night, peach surprise in the smaller dutch oven and cheesy augratin potatoes in the larger one.  They both cooked up pretty well using the stacking process.  You have to be aware of your heat and length of time to cook when you go stacking ovens and both of these called for about the same heat and about the same time so it all worked out well.  The cobbler could have used 5 less minutes and the potatoes maybe 5 more but part of the fun of cooking with the ovens is learning as you go.  It was very quiet at supper and everyone liked it so it was good.  I want ONE more so I can gook three courses at once for meals so we'll be shopping for another one soon... Probably looking for one right between the sizes I have now.

We had a guest on this camping trip, the first time this guest has come along.  Brandon came along with Alyssa and I believe they both actually had a pretty good time, bike riding, watching movies, sitting by the campfire.  The possibility exists that they may have been a little boared or at least Brandon may have been but I think its more understood that part of camping out is SITTING AROUND with your feet up not doing a whole lot....   That understanding probably comes with age.... LOL...  Pat, Brian and Noah stopped out for a bit on Saturday afternoon as well, its always good to visit with them.  I know their camper is coming home soon so maybe next time they can join us.  :-)

We didn't get a chance to thow the fishing lines in the water this trip, we were going to but noticed a LOT of FISH carcases around the lake we were set up by.  Upon further review this lake and one other at the park really suffered from the freeze this last winter and basically we were told that almost all of the fish in these two lakes died off due to lack of oxygen and the hard LONG winter freeze.  With my patience for fishing I wouldnt have lasted long without at least getting a nibble or two every now and then...  :-)  I guess the plan is to "shock" a couple of the other lakes at the park and bring some fish into these spots...  ANYHOW, if you at Louisville check in to see which lakes will have fish and which ones wont before you go about your business...

As it was Easter Sunday we did plan to attend Easter services Sunday morning.  Our initial plan was to drive to Plattsmouth for the 8am Service.  After a late start and a wrong turn we found it to be about 5 minutes to start and we were still 20 minutes away according to Maggie.  PLAN B - a couple phone calls and a re-route and we ended up in MANLEY Nebraska (actually closer to the park than our original plan) for the 9am service.  VERY nice little small town church in Rural America, we had a nice service and Valerie and I were VERY glad we made the extra effort to make it happen...

After the service it was back to the park to pack up then off to Judy and Daves for easter lunch, easter egg hunt and all the fun that goes with bringing the family together...

Sunday was a pretty long day as once we got home we cleaned up the camper and ended up taking it back to the storage facility, but the time we made it back home it was close to sunset and we were all pretty worn out...  MUCH more relaxing on weekends that done include extra plans on Sunday but it was all worth it..

Happy Easter and Safe Travels, until next time... Bc

2010 - The First Trip - Spontaneity at its FINEST....

3:30 PM Thursday afternoon and Alyssa sends me a TEXT, "Hey Dad, let’s go camping!" I hit the reply button and start to put in reasons why we can’t go camping and then it struck me, hey, we can go camping!!!! Valerie and I had already taken the day Friday off because it was Alyssa's last day of spring break but we did have Saturday plans. Fast FORWARD 36 minutes, it’s now 4:06 and I get a hold of my wife... "Wife", I say "Let's get out with the camper tonight, I don’t have the new tags on the camper yet, can you get to the DMV and make it happen all before they close at 4:30?" I hear a silence and then a profound "YES" and she's off... 4:33pm I receive a text "The Eagle Has Landed, I repeat the Eagle Has Landed..." and we're off.... Backing in and setting up in the twilight at about 7:15pm has got to be the quickest preparation and execution of a trip we've made to date.... It helps when your wife has been "frothing at the mouth" to do some camping.... :-)

Two Rivers is only about 16 miles from our house and about 8 miles from where the camper is in storage. We unwinterized and since no facilities were available at the campgrounds yet and everything seems to have weathered the LONG COLD WINTER just fine.

Did a little fishing, sat by the campfire, you know the routine. Biggest problem we ran into is that the dump station (which was open when we pulled through on Thursday) was closed on Saturday morning so we just skipped it and pulled the camper home, we'll hit one on the way out this weekend - Louisville so we can be in the proximity of Judy and Daves for Easter on Sunday...

Pictures to follow - Until next time..... Safe Travels

Fillin Up the Fresh Water Tank

Our Site - Lakeside #22

Now thats a FIRE....

Friday morning 7AM - And everyone else is headed to the office...  Oh Yea...

Our coffee maker died so we did it the old fashioned way...  Not TOO Bad...  :-)

Trip 15 - Fremont State Lakes

Our trip to the Fremont State Lakes this past weekend was to celebrate Mother's Day as well as our 17th Wedding Anniversary, as if we needed a reason to go camping.

The weather was pretty nice outside of the strong winds on Friday night that actually took the power down in the park for a few hours, never did find out what actually happened but it appeared to be more the power in the area than isolated to the park, anyhow we are none the worse for the ware...

We actually got our fishing licenses and did a little fishing this trip. Alyssa really enyoys it but she has the patience of her dad at times so sometimes we are both challenged when it comes to fishing, patience is the key and we lack that at times. We even got Valerie into the mix this trip too, there was a stretch where Dad was baiting hooks and taking fish off hooks for 15 or 20 minutes before I was able to get my line back in the water. 12, maybe 15 bluegills was our haul.

The park was in pretty good shape although they appeared to miss their mowing schedule this past week... :-) Oh, well, I know times are kind of tough now and if a little long grass is the price we have to pay to help keep our State Parks open then it is sure worth it to us...

Here is proof that Valerie and Alyssa had a good time, smiles all around... :-)


I had put a front receiver hitch on my truck and this was the first trip trying it out with the bike rack. People ask me WHY in the world would you want to haul your bikes off the front of your truck, why not put a receiver on the back of the trailer. We'll those folks usually arn't people who have campers. The receiver worked flawlessley and the set up in the front was STURDY and STRONG. I feel good about this set up and it gives me a nice sense of security in actually seeing the bikes riding along. The ONLY thing I will change is that the bike rack is a BIT too high, maybe needs 6 inches taken out of it to give it a better balance between covering the lights and my line of sight. We'll tackle that task next weekend.

I finally got a chance to use the new cast iron cookware the DW bought me for Christmas, I love it and plan to to a LOT of cooking over the fire and in the Dutch Oven moving forward.

Rob and Linda and the girls and Rob's his Uncle Larry and his family and Tim and Barb and their son were all part of the group, we sure had a nice time. Actually JACK and SIR Windsor visited Rob and I on Saturday night, we tried to fight back, honestly.... :-)

My new "favoritest" picture of the set up....

Two weeks until we are off to NESHONIC Lake and Resort in West Salem WI over Memorial Day weekend. We can't wait to get up there cause the real reason for the trip is to visit that new NEPHEW of ours, William Robert Clements... YAHOOOOO

Until NEXT time... Bc