A Lazy Weekend on the Mountain and Ooops

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

For one reason or another, I haven't taken the T@B out since Stone Mountain. I was getting antsy and Defeated Creek is still almost a month away. So decided to just go local and go to the State Park right in town. It's a mere 15 miles from the house!!

Thursday evening, I loaded the essentials, hitched her up and on Friday morning headed for work. I was planning on dropping the camper at the campground at lunch, and working a full day, but a deadline popped up, so decided to work through lunch to make sure I met the deadline, and was able to leave the office about 3:30 :)

I get to the campsite and get checked in and setup. I didn't pull the camera out on Friday evening. About 8:30 that evening, realized I didn't have any garbage bags, and also discovered my cell phone, had crappy coverage, so no chance to use it for internet. So I hopped in the truck, ran back to my office and got the MiFi, and ran to the store and picked up garbage bags :)

I know, most folks don't go camping to get on the internet, but relaxing in a camp chair under the trees and stars on the internet is much nicer than sitting in a chair in the house on the internet!!

This was the first trip to this particular campground in over 10 years, and back then it was the primitive sites with Scouts. First time I'd stayed in one of the regular campsites with the trailer!!

It also actually got chilly enough for me to put on a fleece on Friday evening. VERY pleasant!!

I finally turn in, and fell asleep watching RTV which is one of our local stations secondary channels showing classic television. I'm sure we get this channel on our local cable, but we never seem to watch it. With only antenna stations available, it was enjoyable to watch!

Now here is my Saturday wandering

First off pictures of the site.

I was in Site 62. It was a loooong pull through (water/electric only) back near the entrance to the Primitive sites. Probably about a 5 minute walk to the bath house. What's funny is there are some Full Hookup sites with sewer, but they are the sites closest to the bath house. I guess it was easy to put in sewer plumbing closer to the bath house, but those that need the sewer generally don't use the bath house, and vice versa :)

You can make reservations at the State Park, but you can't reserve full hookup sites, but once you arrive and if there is one available, you can spend the extra money and get it.

Now here I'm walking along the camping loops. (There are only two loops and about 90 improved sites in the entire campground, and about 30 primitive sites in a 3rd loop).

Here is a typical back-in site.

A playground near 1 of 2 bath houses

It does look like the bath houses have been upgraded since I was here last. They have installed laundry in each of them, I'm thinking new floor tile and new stall separators. This one got a new countertop.

They were not sparkling like the Fort, but perfectly acceptable, and good water pressure and plenty of hot water.

Continuing my stroll, I see three satellite dishes on one site!

Why would someone need 3 satellite dishes!! But then I saw the cables running up the tree and across the path. The sites across the way apparently couldn't get a signal from their side of the road.

Here is a cute little trailer

I don't know if you can tell, but that trailer was on 1 half of what they call "neighbor sites". The utilities aren't reversed, but the sites are very close together and both picnic tables are in between the two sites in a common area. Pretty nice for folks camping together.

Here is a huge Class A

This guy is apparently the state director for the Good Sam Club

There is a pavillion in the campground

Also, it looks like there was a Good Sam gathering going on.

Here is the other bath house. This counter looks like it DIDN'T get an upgrade, but really needs one!!!

Here is an Empty Pull Through Site

Looks like some Scouts built some birdhouses in the campground

For Nicki, a couple of Airstreams

These folks look like they've about moved in.

And here we are back at my site.

Time to take a breather and have a bite to eat before I wander the primitive loop.

That's coming next.

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

I'm so glad you were finally able to get away and camp, Carol. Your site is HUGE and the area looks very peaceful. Ready for more! :)

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm in.

That is a very nice looking campground. Nothing fancy. Lots of nature, and clean comfort stations. What else do you need?

I am jealous that you enjoyed some cool weather. That is still a long ways off for us Florida Fiends.

TCD

[SCTigerCock 171]

Cool.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Thanks for the Airstreams. I saw a rpod today and it reminded me of you but it's in storage.....

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Time to continue on.....

I don't think I mentioned it, but the name of the State Park is Monte Sano State Park. They mostly have walking trails, a few picnic areas, playground, some cabins, an ampitheater and a lodge. The lodge is not currently a hotel, but it used to be. For my entire childhood, it was a burnt out shell with just a couple of stone walls remaining and some fireplace remnants. A few years ago, they rebuilt the lodge, but not as a hotel, but as an event place. Folks can have weddings, meetings, etc. My 30 year class reunion was held there, and it looks like my son may have his wedding there next year.

There is also Burrit Museum and Observatory. There are some really interesting things there. I had well laid plans to visit some of these places and take pictures Saturday afternoon, but if you notice there was an "oooops" in my report title.

I return to my campsite for lunch and a sit down, and hear some beeping coming from the trailer. My propane leak detector was beeping, and so was my radio. That could mean only one thing, low battery power. Uh oh, what's going on.

At Stone Mountain, my converter fan was running a lot!! I was thinking my battery was bad, so after Stone Mountain took it to the battery place to have it checked. The battery was fine, and other Fiends suggested that maybe because it was really hot, the fan was running more, so I didn't worry about it.

So why was my battery almost dead. I checked the breakers on the converter and reset those, still nothing, checked and replaced all the fuses, and still nothing. I tried just turning off the battery and letting the 12V stuff run off the converter alone, everything really quit at that point. Got online with my T@B friends and did some troubleshooting, and it appears I have a bad converter. I needed battery power to keep my fridge running, and didn't want to head home. So instead of wandering the rest of the State Park, I sat at the campsite for a couple of hours with the truck running hooked up to the 7-pin to recharge the battery. Not really how I wanted to burn that 1/4 tank of gas, but not really any option there unless I just gave it up and went home. The power distribution portion was still working, so I still had electric plugs working and the AC still worked, so once I got the battery charged back up, everything else worked normally.

So now my afternoon was gone, but I still had time to wander the primitive loop, so here I go.

This is one of the smaller primitive sites

Here is a family set up on one.

The primitive sites are pretty much, just a partially cleared area and a fire ring, nothing fancy. Very popular with Scout Troops cause there are lots of hikes they can take.

Here is a larger one

Here is a small Scout group set up on one of the sites

Here is a huge site. I think this is the site our troop used often

Now just some views of the woods

and here I am coming back up upon my site

More to come in a bit!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Looks like a very peaceful spot. and nice that it's close to home! We have no where to camp whatsoever that isn't at least 45-60 minutes away. Well, other than the driveway.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Carol,

our converter went out on the way to the Fort two years ago. We discovered this at 10pm....

[fortpartyof4 108]

Wow, that IS a long pull-thru!!

It looks like a beautiful park. I have 2 scouts, and can tell it's a great place for Scout groups. My boys would love that playground.

Congrats on your son's upcoming nuptials!!

[SCTigerCock 171]

Sorry for the troubles, but glad you were able to overcome them.

Nice looking park.

[4Brians.....Todd 103]

We lost our converter our first time out this spring. I feel your pain...

[photogal06...Sommer 10]

I thought that place looked familiar! We love Monte Sano! We've stayed there twice, both times when we traveled to Huntsville for a gathering of Nikon photographers from the online Nikon Cafe group. Gosh, I miss those days! We did the Burritt tour and just fell in love with the place. We spent long times standing on the overlook near the campground, just staring out at the skyline. The first time we stayed, there was another Cafe family in the site next to us, and we had so much fun walking through the Japanese garden there together. Both years, we hosted a a campfire night for all the Cafe families, and everyone came up on the mountain with us and had hotdogs and pizza and s'mores. Anyway, enough of my stroll down memory lane! It's great that you live so close and can visit there often....such a beautiful place!

[BigTom 76]

Just installed a new converter last Saturday in mine.

[Disneyzombie-Brenda 10]

Nice and relaxing! Except for the battery part.

[alexwyattmommy 181]

It does look like a beautiful place.

I am glad you were able to work with your ooops so you didn't have to go home.

Looking forward to more photos.

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Sorry you had a glitch but glad it didn't spoil your weekend!

[Big Kahuna aka John 71]

I 'm in... The park looks simply relaxing... One of those weekends you just slow down and recharge.... Sorry for the convertor problems, but I'm sure you'll be up and running in no time.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Carol- Does your fridge only run on battery? I thought most campers come with 3 way fridges? I wonder why T@b didn't use those, or at least one that runs on AC or DC?

TCD

[MLM5.. aka Judy 97]

ho hum, sorry we didnt make it up, you have NO IDEA how much I wanted to sneak out the back door and run up the mountain!! lol

[Sheraugh ~~~ Sheila 21]

Glad you got to get away, but sorry to hear you had an "oops". At least you knew what to check and how to fix it, so you could stay. I would have been totally clueless and :panic: would have set in. Can't wait to hear how the rest of your week-end played out.

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Carol- Does your fridge only run on battery? I thought most campers come with 3 way fridges? I wonder why T@b didn't use those, or at least one that runs on AC or DC?

TCD

T@B has two types of fridge. They do have a 3-way, but the way it vents, couldn't be used in a clamshell, and from the reports I've read, I don't want one anyway, it's a finicky little brat.

Mine is 12V only, and relys on the converter to run on electric. No muss, no fuss.

[stefa70 205]

Were you all alone Carol?

Looks like a nice quiet getaway. Bravo to the folks in tents, in the primitive spots. We did that once in Croom, and the damn raccoons ripped into our tent! That was after Trevor chased one off with a 9 iron! Too many critters to be that low to the ground. ^-^

Bummer about your converter, but at least you worked around it.

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

I'm in.

That is a very nice looking campground. Nothing fancy. Lots of nature, and clean comfort stations. What else do you need?

I am jealous that you enjoyed some cool weather. That is still a long ways off for us Florida Fiends.

TCD

It is a very simple, nice campground!!! And the cool weather was a wonderful surprise!!! Cause it has been rather hot here!!

Cool.

Yes it was!!

Thanks for the Airstreams. I saw a rpod today and it reminded me of you but it's in storage.....

I thought you would enjoy that!!!

Looks like a very peaceful spot. and nice that it's close to home! We have no where to camp whatsoever that isn't at least 45-60 minutes away. Well, other than the driveway.

That's a shame, cause sometimes you just wanna NOT be at home, and it's a pain and usually involves time off work when you have travel some distance!

Carol,

our converter went out on the way to the Fort two years ago. We discovered this at 10pm....

Yikes!!

Sorry for the troubles, but glad you were able to overcome them.

Nice looking park.

Yeah it wasn't too serious, but fortunately I wasn't right on top of the neighbors, they probably wouldn't have appreciated listening to the truck run.

We lost our converter our first time out this spring. I feel your pain...

Just installed a new converter last Saturday in mine.

Wow, sounds like the electrical gremlins have been busy!!!

Nice and relaxing! Except for the battery part.

It does look like a beautiful place.

I am glad you were able to work with your ooops so you didn't have to go home.

Looking forward to more photos.

Thanks for reading along!!

I'll have one more update soon and this one is done, unfortunately not too many more photos.

[jjbescher 17]

My converter went bad in my new RV. Luckily it was replaced under warranty, then when we got that back, something else was wrong with my fridge, so it could not be used in electric. So I had the RV back in for work the next Monday. Once again fixed under warranty, but what a pain.

Glad you were able to figure out what it was and that you were able to charge the battery through the 7-pin.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Mine is 12V only, and relys on the converter to run on electric. No muss, no fuss.

Except when the converter fails.

Were you all alone Carol?

Looks like a nice quiet getaway. Bravo to the folks in tents, in the primitive spots. We did that once in Croom, and the damn raccoons ripped into our tent! That was after Trevor chased one off with a 9 iron! Too many critters to be that low to the ground. ^-^

Bummer about your converter, but at least you worked around it.

Why did Trevor have a 9 iron at Croom?

And why did he select that club?

I always use my driver to clobber raccoons.

TCD