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 9 - Two Rivers State Rec Area

It was nice to be able to camp over the long holiday weekend but it all seemed kind of rushed and last minute. AHHHH, Well, I guess that's because it was. As mentioned in the previous post we got the last campsite available and it wasn't real pretty, but it worked.

We spent time on both Saturday and Sunday wading in the river just on the opposite side of the campsite, it was fun but it was a workout.

We revamped the flag pole and got it back up during this trip and even had a little HUSKER decorations for the first HUSKER game.

Two Rivers has a unique set up for CABIN camping in that they brought in 6 or 8 cabooses from UP and converted them into Cabins. I understand they are nice and you can read more about them by hitting the link in my LINKS area on this blog. Might be something neat to try sometime.

What's camping without some SMORES...

Alyssa was a great helper this trip as she was more than willing to get up on the roof and sweep off the slide as we were getting ready to ship out.

One of the FIRSTS for me was having to wait in line at the dump station on our way out of the park. I realized that with this weekend being a holiday and the park being full that we would probably have to. We didn't hurry around and get out of there early and by the time we left at one minute before the checkout time our area was pretty empty. There was hope but ALAS it was not to be 45 minute in line wasn't really that bad as everyone ahead of us didn't dilly dally around doing their duty.

I really enjoyed the face time with my girls as school is starting and fact time will no doubt be harder to have during the school year.

Until Next Time - B

More Two Rivers Pictures

River Access

SMILE..

Campsite for next time...

DUH Lumpy...

Lets go explore...

Hanging out having fun...

Trials and Tribulations of Finding a spot during a Holiday Weekend

Our MO is short trips to local areas most of the time. Somewhere we can get in an hour or two at the most especially if its a standard weekend or a long weekend. I like the travel and getting there but its more economical to stay close and there is PLENTY to do and see within 100 miles of the BIG O. With all the planning and details associated with our big family vacation I screwed around and didn't get a reservation for Labor Day. We were supposed to meet up with the Thomas's at Louisville so when I didn't make our reservation in time I figured I'd line us up with a first come first served site, hey, at least we'd be at the same park even if we weren't neighbors. WELL, I called out there bright and early Wednesday morning and the lady at the desk told me she just sold her last site on Tuesday night. HUH, the park is FULL already!!!! Come to discover you don't actually have to pull your camper out and set it up at the site but you do need to go the the Campground and register and pay for a site ahead of time and OH yes pay for the night you may not plan on staying just to be sure you have a site.... After she explained this to me it made more sense, in all reality Louisville is way less than half full on Wednesday and maybe more like 25% but all the reservable are reserved and all the first come first served are paid for and tagged even if they are sitting empty.... NOVEL idea, my knowledge is now expanded. The proximity of Louisville to Omaha really leave this as a easy thing for campers to do, drive down a few days early and get a spot, and evidently a lot of them do. 15 minutes south of 144th and I-80 is an easy quick drive out after work for anyone who seriously wants a spot.

SO, in one last ditch effort to land a spot I called TWO Rivers on Wednesday morning. This campground is the same distance and is located out by the little town of VENICE south west of Elkhorn. I am thinking NO way, probably the same story second verse. The man on the other end said YEP, 13 electrical sites left but you better hurry. AWESOME BABY AWESOME... This was at 10AM mind you. I decided to run out to the campsite at lunchtime and left the office around 12:15. I pull into the park at shortly there after and ask about his 13 sites, well, now were down to TWO and you have to go take a look at the site before I will rent it to you. WHAT, just what does that mean! SO, I take a look at the site and I understand why they make you take a look, there has been some dirt work done and basically these last two sites could be classified as the worst sites in the park. HEY, live and learn I guess. I decided to take one and when I went back another guy was taking the other. The catch is this, the park had probably 10 campers on location for around 75 or so sites so the proximity to Omaha played a factor in filling this campground too. OH WELL, we are camping and we'll make the most of it and really are looking forward to more "face time" with the family.... Stay tuned for our post trip report.

Until Next Time - B