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I enjoyed both the people and the weather at the camping outing. Both can only be described (in my vocabulary) as “GREAT”!!!  (At the beginning of the gathering, the partial government shutdown caused many National Monuments and National Forests to close.  The campground of the gathering has a road that terminates in a small lake that is used by local fishermen. The Forest Service couldn’t close the campground due to the public road through the camp, so the group was able to gather without being inconvenienced.  The shutdown ended after I returned home. During the campout, we had to manage our garbage because there was no trash pickup service. We had a local who helpled recycle aluminum and I returned to Atlanta with the glass to recycle.)

Cuzzin Dick is the most-gracious host ever!! He provided many conveniences for our gathering – some of which was,  (a) location, (b) tarp canopy, (c) double-burner campstove and propane, (d) wood for campfire, (e) storage of food overnight, (f) a donation by Dave from Virginia provided us with groceries for several group meals and was co-ordinated by Cuzzin Dick.  I have to also mention that there were many campfire discussions about improving the world in which we live, and Cuzzin Dick made a most-excellent moderator. Note that he also moderates at least six yahoo groups for spam and undesired topic content. He’s the “Man”!

Dick placed a blue, plastic tarp on the ground and everyone was encouraged to bring and display items that they would like to give away or trade. I had a couple of items that were uninteresting to others, but several items were of interest to me. I need to thank Dick for the Verizon MiFi, and portable 3G wireless router.  Also, Joey decided that he no longer needed a card-table and I returned with it for use in my house.

The “man” mentioned above also provided us with excellent camping weather. It could not have been better. When I drove to the campsite, I wasn’t able to detect many trees changing color as is usual for the north Georgia area for the second week in October (the usual ‘time’ for autumn tree color to exhibit itself). Several days later, on my return trip to Atlanta, the changing colors were most prominent – and helped to provide beautiy during the drive home.

I have to tell that my wonderful digital camera (Canon Powershot SD900) exhibited mechanical problems a week before leaving on the trip. I took it to Batteries Plus and purchased a new battery (cost was $37 – Ouch!).  The salesman and I tried to get the camera to ‘open’ with the new battery, but there was no luck with the try. I asked the salesman for a repair recommendation and he told me to take it to Peachtree Camera (and cellphone) Repair.  The location is 15 miles from my house and with the terrible traffic in Atlanta, it is not worth the drive to only take the camera for repair and return later to pick it up. So…  I left the camera for the repair on my way to the outing, and picked it up on my return home. It is now working and, of course, I was unable to take any pictures on this trip. However, on several previous posts, I have uploaded many pictures and I hope that the reader will allow me a ‘pass’ on this post with respect to the missing pictures.

I met many new people on this trip and enjoyed the company of everyone (including some of their furry-travelling-companions). I DO have a new rule of my participation in group camping. If I ‘step-in’ something which is brown and smells awful -and- “should-not-be-on-the-ground” in camp due to a negligant furry-companion owner, I plan to leave immediately. I just cannot put up with others who are inconsiderate to the group.   Also, I much prefer that all furry-companion owners keep the said furry-companion on a leash for the protection of the others who camp.  Many years ago, I was a member of another camping group who allowed furry-companions to accompany owners. A dog was known to everyone, -yet- for some reason that is unknown to me, the dog bit another camper. The camper sued the owner and the group, and the group now hosts outings that NO furry-companions are EVER allowed on a trip – PERIOD, End-of-Story.     <<As a teenager, I was bitten by a dog and my parents collected some money from the insurance policy of the owner. I had to go to a doctor and ensure that I didn’t contract a disease as the skin on my leg had been broken.  (I did not entice the dog to any kind of threat as I was riding my bicycle and holding a tennis racket across the handles.)  It wasn’t pleasant and I do NOT want to be bitten by a dog again.  I will say that if I am bitten by a furry-compnion on a camping trip, I plan to sue. >>

Note: When I go camping, I do NOT have access to email. I do NOT have a smartphone or DATA plan, and can only use wi-fi when travelling. Also, it takes me a few days to catch up reading email after I return from a trip.

Note: WordPress has begun adding advertisements to posts. I do not insert any code to cause this to happen and I cannot control any content. I use wordpress as a blog host because it is convenient and provdies a lot of great tools for posting and administration.

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