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

Louisville State Rec Area

We made our first trip of the year to Louisville, we always like this park as its close to home and has a nice layout. The Thomas's camped next to us and we had visitors on Saturday, Rauerts and Travis and Mark stopped out. Sharing our camping makes it all that much more enjoyable. The Weather was a bit hot with the temp hitting 99 on Saturday and lots of scattered thunderstorms on Sunday. It made it a bit interesting getting packed up and out of there on time. Anyhow, enjoy the pics from our latest trip...

Two Smiles at the same time... :-)

Cool panaroma of our campsites

And about 90% Humidity...

Swimming was a good way to keep cool, and another smile...

Lots of action on the river as well...

SMORES anyone???

The Thomas Abode...

Yummies around the campfire...

Dont think the heavy stuff is gonna come down for a while...

Good times, good times...

Safe Travels until next time...

Trip 6 - Louisville State Recreation Area

It seemed like it had been too long since we last camped so we were all excited to get out of the house on Friday, work has been stressful for both of us so we needed some time away to do NOTHING and de-stress. I got off a bit early and had the camper back at the house and ready to load the girls stuff into and the dogs (we always love taking those two along) and get on the road. After about a 30 minute drive we pulled in and quickly realized that they had a LOT of water standing in the campground and some minor flooding was still evident from the previous weekend. I'll post some pictures of that shortly.

Once we got everything set up with no troubles we settled in and had a nice relaxing evening including roasting hot dogs for dinner around a nice campfire.

Usually when camping its pretty hard to sleep in and Saturday was no exception and we were up by 7am. Valerie made a great scrambled eggs and sausage breakfast with coffee. There's something extra special about a good cup of coffee or three when you are camping. Alyssa had wanted to go swimming Friday night but it was too late once we were all set up so she and I headed down to the swimming lake and pretty much had it all to ourselves at about 8:30 on Saturday morning, the water was COLD, lets just leave it at that. We sat up our new screened in tent and spent some time lounging in that after our early morning swim.

The plan was for the Hildings to join us this weekend and they showed up around noon on Saturday ready for the camping experience... We grilled up some lunch and we had a good time throughout the day on Saturday with swimming and bike riding taking up parts of the day. Val and Michelle went to our nephew's surprise birthday party in Omaha on Saturday night and left the kids with Matt and I. Guess what, we all survived. Part of the reason for camping close was so our families could be represented at the birthday party so that all worked out well.

Once the girls had left we had the first of two rain storms on Saturday night. Eric had come down and the three of us huddled under the awning watching the rain for a bit. Bret and Brooke were in and out enjoying the rain with us and Alyssa was pretty much glued to the movie she had playing in the trailer. I try not to get the TV out much when camping, we usually reserve it for bad weather and this certainly qualified for bad weather. We had huddled everything under the awning and put a few things away in anticipation of the rain so everything stayed pretty much dry except for me and Bret. I realized that the awning wasn't slanted quite like I wanted it after the rain started and I adjusted it and as I was tightening the tie down the water came off the awning and DRENCHED me, this was no small drenching. Bret thought that was rather funny and he indulged in the drenching as well. We had a great time.

This rain only kept up for maybe 20 minutes or so but it was fairly heavy at times. It cleared up, the girls made it back, and actually our fire flared back up so Eric, Matt and I enjoyed roasted marshmallows and adult beverages around the fire for the rest of the night until Eric hit the road.

The storm on Saturday night was the same storm that produced an F2 tornado just 15 miles north of us in Omaha. The first CRASH of thunder at 2:20 AM had me sitting straight up in bed in a split second. Now if you know me you know I could sleep through a hurricane so you know this was loud. I listened to the weather radio for a bit and heard Tornado warnings for Omaha but no warning exactly where we were at so after about 30 minutes I went back to sleep. There ended up being quite a bit of damage in the Millard area of Omaha and not that I wish anything bad for anyone I thank GOD that those tornado's weren't 12-15 miles south because they would have gone RIGHT through the park.

Sunday we relaxed, had some wonderful breakfast and Matt helped me get things packed up and ready to go. They took off around noon and we did a few more things, took a trip through the park and were through the dump station by 3pm.

I think everyone had a pretty good time and I am glad it went well. We had a little "anti-coordination" with sleeping arrangements but we'll know better how to handle that next time.

Until Next Time...

More Pictures of our Trip and the Flooding



Yes, thats us.








Lots of Geese with babies around








Our campground was dry but it was close








Other Sites weren't








No dry fishing here?









Want to build a Fire?

Usually Sand Bars spot this river

Relaxin

Just WHO is the BOSS?

PS: You know Eric calls my blog the HAPPY CAMPER blog and he;s right, I am. Maybe a name change is in store for this blog.... hummmm...... Nope, dont think so...

Trip 3 - Louisville State Rec Area

We visited Louisville SRA this past weekend and had a very enjoyable time. This SRA is close to home is is very economical on the "gas budget". Its about 12 miles straight south of the 144th st exit off of I-80 in Omaha.

I was a little surprised as we first pulled in at the number of campers already at the park. The reservable sites on the west end of the park were fairly full and the non-reservable sites on the east end were pretty full as well. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised as the weather forecast called for great weather on Saturday and Sunday. Friday night was a little chilly but it more than made up for it on Saturday as the high in the ballpark of 70 with a slight breeze.

I got to try out the new flag pole I recently fabricated out of 1.5 in and 2in PVC pipe and I couldn't have been more pleased with how it turned out. I may make some adjustments down the line to the mount but as it sits now it is working very well. I have TWO more 6.5' lengths that can be added to this as well but in retrospect I probably will never use those as this pole at 20' works very well. (see pics below)

The Mackey's came out for the day on Saturday and we all enjoyed biking, fishing and going for ice cream at the snack shack. Sabra was convinced that she could definitely get into "this" type of camping. Heck, convincing the wife tends to be the harder part so its ONE down and ONE to go (well Trav??? )

Brother Corey also stopped by with his new TOY. Wow, what a SHARP ride. My wife insists that I spent my motorcycle money on a camper and I agree with her (for a few years anyhow).

Alyssa was the fishing champ for the weekend hauling in 5 fish with Mom taking second place with 4 and Dad getting skunked. I enjoyed watching all the girls fishing on Saturday and having them all have a good time. The 10 minutes I did get to fish I played with one fish in particular that continued to snag my bait and spit my hook back at me. He won this time but better watch out next time.

I got an unexpected surprise this weekend when one of my buddies I met online through the Open Roads Forum pulled through the park on Friday night. He and his wife and kids were camping up on the west end of the park and I got to meet him in person for the first time. Kind of a small world, I look forward to getting to know them better and sharing many camping experiences with them as well. He has two girls who are 9 and 13 so that could make a good mix with Alyssa. (Thanks for the poker, my turn to buy next time :-) )

All in all it was a great weekend as I finally feel as though I have this thing down. We actually pulled the awning out for the first time, lit the water heater and pretty much have mastered the basic knowledge of this trailer. One thing we did learn is that we need to ration water a little better. We've got 50 gallons to start with but when you run it like you do at your house it doesn't last nearly as long.

POWER PROBLEMS UPDATE: I did end up replacing the GFI receptacle and all is working well. I wouldn't have expect the receptacle to go bad on a brand new trailer but then again it was a pretty easy fix and all is working like new now...

Some more pictures of the flag pole...

Next up: Tuttle Creek COVE - Manhattan Kansas - Colbert Hills golfing trip...

Until next time - B