Dale Hollow Lake Camping Trip

See the entire Dale Hollow photo album

May 17 - 21, 2015 was our annual spring camping vacation.  We had a group of five - Jason and me, Christina & Charlie, and Beth. This year we decided to go to Dale Hollow Lake in Burkesville, Ky since none of us had ever been before.

The day we left Charlie and Christina left a few hours before us.  We met up with Beth so she could follow us since she was driving solo. Upon meeting up with her, we realized her tail lights were not working. So we drove up to Auto Zone to get some parts. Jason spent a couple of hours working with the electrical wiring before they figured out it was all due to a blown fuse in the truck. Problem solved! But alas, our truck, Big Nasty, was leaking anti-freeze and fast.  After a phone call it was determined that Big Nasty should not attempt to make the three hour trip. So after some discussion and contemplating, Jason took the truck and the dogs back home and I continued to the campground with Beth and bunked with her, my gracious hostess, for the week.

Jason & Beth working on Beth's Camper

We stayed in the state park campground with full hookups. Since we were there during the week and school was still in session the park was almost empty. We had one other camper in our loop besides us and we barely saw them the entire week.  The park is very nice with sites arranged in several cul-de-sac loops. This made it so you didn't look directly at the back of your neighbors camper and instead looked into some dense woods, which was a nice change of scenery.

Empty Camping Loop

You can't see the lake from this campground, but it's a short drive away to the marina. We saw a campground on the Tennessee side right at the water's edge that we plan to go back to sometime.  We saw this campground the day that we rented a pontoon boat to go swimming and fishing for the afternoon. We brought lunch with us and had a pair of mallard ducks begging for handouts, which they received. They then proceeded to follow us everywhere we went while on the lake.

Our Feathered Friends

The lake had a ton of islands that you can camp on or just dock up to and go explore. We stuck to the water, but it would be very neat to explore some of the primitive woods out there.  The water was so clear we could easily see our toes and probably a good 15 feet below that while swimming. The water is also a beautiful blue green color, not the muddy brown that a lot of lakes tend to be.

Tiny Island

We didn't see any eagles on the lake but we did see a Green Heron, which was a new sight for me. I've seen plenty of Great Blue Herons, but never a green one.

Another day we decided to do a short hike up to a bluff outlook called Eagle's Nest.  It was a short hike but a very steep hike!  But it was 1000% worth the effort. The view was spectacular and stunning. We stayed up there just looking around for probably close to an hour before we headed back down to the campground.  While we were up there Christina got dive bombed by a brave humming bird and I found an eagle feather, which I kept as a souvenir.

View from Eagle's Nest

On the way back down the hiking trail it occurred to me that there were probably many geocache sites around the area. Sure enough there was one up on the cliff but we were already half way back down the trail so we chose another one near the parking lot. Charlie and I foraged into the woods for a good while and finally found the ammo box inside a fallen tree.  This was the first cache I've found that actually has items to trade out. So we signed the logbook and took a green glow-stick and replaced it with a pink breast cancer cause bracelet.  I also got the last geocache coin that was left in the box (it started out with 50).  There was also a baseball, a miniature frisbee, some pens, business cards and other small trinkets in the cache box.

Geocache Contents

The rest of our time was spent hanging around the campsites and enjoying the perfect weather. We had campfires, music, brews, good food and a great time. There were many banged heads on awning bars, Charlie stuck his tongue on the bug zapper, and beer bonging lessons went around until everyone was a natural. ;)

It was a fantastic trip. The only thing that would have made it better is for Jason to have been able to join us. But now Big Nasty is fixed and we just purchased two kayaks, so our next trip is sure to be just as fun!  Next stop - Taylorsville Lake!

See the entire Dale Hollow photo album

Camping at Big Bone Lick State Park

This past weekend Jason and I went camping at Big Bone Lick State Park in Union, Kentucky. This was our first trip out with the new (to us) Ameri-Camp fifth wheel camper and our first trip out for 2015.

We had perfect weather and had three RV sites with four other friends - Christina, Charlie, Beth and Lydia.  Beth had her new rig out for the first time and Lydia came for a night and bunked up with her. Charlie and Christina have their own rig and we almost always camp together.

Site #035

Site #034

Site #033

The park was very clean and fairly quiet for how busy it was.  There is a pool (which wasn't open for the season yet), a mini golf course, a dump station, a small camp store, a gift shop and a very nice bathhouse with three nice sized shower stalls and three toilet stalls.

The 62 RV sites offer 30 amp electric service and water hookups that are shared between two sites (50+ feet of water hose is a must for water hookups).  There are no sewer options on the sites, but there is a dump station on the premises.  No WiFi or cable here either, though we were only in the camper to sleep and prep food so that wasn't an issue for us for a weekend trip.  We did have 3G on our Verizon signal.

The park has access to a couple of nice hiking trails.  We hiked the trail down to the Bison viewing
area because we wanted to see the new baby bison that was born the previous week.  We were told momma bison was in labor for a week - yikes, poor momma!

Week Old Bison - Photo by Christina

On the way back we were told by hikers passing by about a large snake in a tree up the hill.  Sure enough there was a large black racer slithering around the branches just beside the trail. Apparently the park staff keeps moving him further into the woods, but he keeps making his way back to the trail paths and is spotted often.

Some other areas of the park that we didn't get to check out were the lake, the museum and the church that is known for ghost hauntings.  Hopefully we can go back again and check out the rest of the park.  It was a very nice park to visit and we would definitely visit again.

We took all three dogs with us on this trip and they all did great!  We set up their XPens around a tree for some shade but where they could see us no matter whose site we were at.  They need a little bit of work with barking at passing dogs, but they get better with each trip and we're working on the barking.  The last thing we want to do is annoy other campers. Overall, they do great and they love to go with us on our camping adventures!

See all of our trip photos in the Big Bone Lick camping photo gallery.

Our New Camping Rig

Yesterday we finally got to pick up our new fifth wheel camper we purchased before the Thanksgiving holiday. We had to wait to bring it home until we were able to get the fifth wheel hitch installed in Big Nasty (our Ford F-350). So now it's home and in the driveway waiting to be leveled so I can start stocking it up for our spring camping adventures!

Here she is just after getting the hitch installed and awaiting our final walk through.

These are Derby City RV dealership's photos. I will be updating with my own once I get it stocked, decorated and personalized a bit.

Exterior w/ awning. The slide is on the other side.

Superslide w/ dining room table & chairs and hidabed couch

Full kitchen

Entertainment center with tv (to be replaced with LCD) and surround sound speakers (installed in ceiling throughout) Hallway to bedroom & bathroom

Hallway stepup to bedroom and bathroom

Queen bed w/ nightstands on both sides

Full stand up shower & sink

Bedroom closet storage & tv shelf

Water closet (literally!)

Vacation Rocks!

This is the view from our campsite at our first stop of our camping vacation at Nashville Shores in Hermitage, Tennessee.  This campground overlooks Percy Priest Lake and the view and weather is perfect, especially for May!  More to come later on our trip - it's been an interesting one already!

Ky River View

This was the view from the picture window in the back of our camper.  Our site (sort of) overlooked the Kentucky River.  Unfortunately, this was the only pretty view to be had from the camp site.  It was pretty much a parking lot campground and looking to the left of the nice river view was a great view of the junkyard.  Read my full review on this campground.

Giant Dawg is Content Camping

We took a last minute camping trip over the weekend and got to try out the XPens for the dogs for the first time ( instead of having them all tangling on everything with leads ).  They worked out awesome!  As you can see, Giant Dawg was quite content with the situation...as were the other two.  The camping trip itself was interesting, to say the least, and you can read the campground review here.

Impatiently Waiting Out Winter

This year we bought a Passport America membership to help with discounts on campgrounds we plan to visit.  I've been flipping through the catalog and yearning for spring so we can get out and about and do some camping!  I've got a closet full of goodies to get organized inside the camper, but until it decides to stop snowing so I can put the slide out and get warm enough so I can putter around in the camper, I'm stuck just waiting and dreaming.  37 Days until spring!

2004 Jayco Eagle Travel Trailer

I finally got around to getting photos of the new travel trailer!  It's a 2004 27 foot Jayco Eagle with a Super Slide.

Here is the front - you can see there are two doors - the main one in the back that walks into the living rom and another one in the bedroom.



This is the back side that shows the slideout where the couch, dinette and closet resides.



This is the view from the main door stepping into the living area.



This is the living area.  The couch folds down into a double bed and the dinette set converts to another double bed. Behind the dinette is a large storage closet with room to hang clothes and 6 drawers at the bottom.



The kitchen has a refrigerator, microwave and stovetop.  There is no oven in this one, but we have a toaster oven that we prefer to use anyway since it can be used outside and won't heat up the inside of the camper and will use electric instead of propane.  The fridge can run of of electric or propane as well.  All cabinetry is solid oak.





This is the view looking back towards the living area from the bedroom doorway. I love the picture window in the back!  All windows have pull down day and night shades.



This is the bedroom with a Queen size pillow-top bed.  To the right is the other entrance door and to the left is another window and a fold down shelf.




The bathroom has a sink, toilet and a bath/shower.






And finally, this is the view from the couch of the entertainment area.  We need a TV with a HD tuner in it, but no rush on that as I don't think we'll really use the TV much anyway - we didn't in the past, but it's nice to have for a rainy day to watch movies.





 Hope you enjoyed our little tour of The Eagle!  We have an upcoming camping trip planned so more RV posts to come!  Sadly it's already getting really, really cold here in Kentucky so we may only make it out once before having to winterize, but we will play it by ear.

The New Rig

Today we picked up our new Travel Trailer. We met the seller in the strip mall parking lot where the county clerk's office was located.  It was a simple title transfer and since the seller brought the camper with him, we were able to swap hitches and head on home with our new toy.

Once we got it home we immediately leveled it and opened it up - slide and windows since it was a beautiful, crisp October day.  Jason got the radio working and I got busy with stocking it with the few camper supplies we already had.  While I did that, I first brought Lois Lane into the camper with me.  I think she remembers camping with us before because she settled right in after taking a good smell of the new place.  Next I brought in L.B.  I don't think he really knew what to think - he sniffed around the same path that Lois did and then took his spot on the couch for a nap.  Next I brought in Buddy (aka Giant Dawg).  He did the same sniff and explore and then settled in to nap in front of the couch.

We made a Wal-Mart trip to get a few things - tire chalks, blankets, roasting sticks, table top grill, dishes, etc.  I spent another couple of hours gathering extra household items that we didn't need in the house and transferred them to the camper.

I was hoping to book a weekend trip next weekend for a trial run with the new setup and the dogs, however the timing isn't working in our favor.  Since it is Halloween season and perfect camping weather it seems all campsites are pretty much booked solid.  I'm still hunting around, but due to our busy weekend schedule in the next several weeks we may not make it out until mid-November at this point.  I am determined to get out at LEAST once this year!

Here are a few phone photos I got from today's adventures.

The initial pick-up:

Interior:

Lois Lane:

Giant Dawg:

L.B.

Travel Trailer Acquired!

Well, almost!  We found a "new to us" 2004 Jayco Eagle 278 Travel Trailer on Craig's List and put a down payment on it yesterday with plans to pick it up on Friday.  We were initially looking at Fifth Wheel campers but decided we're not sure if we need that much space.  So we went with a lower cost travel trailer for now and if we find we use it more than expected and need more room, we will upgrade down the road.

The Jayco Eagle is a very nice 27 foot travel trailer with a 15 foot super slide out.  It has an outdoor shower, surround sound speakers, pillow top mattress, bathroom with full bath/shower, awning, fridge/freezer, stove top, rear picture window, day/night shades and the couch and dinette make double beds, if needed.  It's in pristine condition with real oak cabinets and floors that are so clean you'd never know it was pre-owned and tons of storage.

We're going to try to get it out at least once before it gets too cold this year.  We have an eventful couple of months planned so hopefully we can work it out for at least one test run before we have to put it up for the winter!  More photos to come once we get it home. Now I get to focus on researching pet friendly campsites and accessorizing the RV!  Camping here we come!

Here is the floorplan diagram:

And here is a photo of the outside from the sales ad:

Dog Woods After the Storms

Jason and I took a trip up to Dog Woods (our 6 acre campsite and get-away) yesterday to see if there was any damage from January's ice storm and last weeks wind storm.  We expected a few trees and limbs down, but were shocked to see that nearly 50% of the trees throughout the property were either down or severely damaged.   Two trees barely missed hitting the camper and the dog kennel is buried under one of them.  The brand new utility pole we had put in at the end of last year was snapped in two and laying on the ground behind the camper.  The utility company had come out to put up a new pole, but we have to call someone else to reattach the box and meter, so until then we have no power to the camper.  There also used to be a nice line of trees behind the camper shielding it from the road and the driveway, but now there are only a couple left.  The main power lines that run along the easement are only about six feet off the ground right now so I looks like the utility company still has some work to do as well.

Needless to say, Dog Woods did not fare well through the storms and we have a LOT of work to do.  The upside is we will certainly have enough firewood to last us for the next decade.  I think once the weather warms up a bit we're gonna have a tree cutting party and invite any friends and family that cares to help.  *hint hint*  ;)

Hopefully this spring and summer we'll have enough coverage to make it nice and secluded as it usually is.  However right now you can look through the trees and see the hillsides, whereas before you couldn't see the hillside at all, even in winter.

Birthday Camping Recap

This is Dog Woods on a camping weekend with great friends and perfect weather!

Even though we pulled up to four trees across the driveway and many more down around the campsite due to the windstorm Ike brought in, we had a blast - and needless to say, plenty of firewood. The electric company had already been out to fix the downed lines. Jason and Eric were on tree removal duty while Teena and I unpacked the vehicles and started piling up brush and twigs that were all scattered around the campsite. Paul joined us on Saturday afternoon and stayed until we packed up to leave on Sunday.

We had fires going all day all weekend, played cornhole until it got too dark to see the blue bags winging at us from out of nowhere, and when it got too dark for anything else we had some drinks and chatted around the campfire.

We ate good all weekend and had Jason's birthday dinner on Saturday beginning with fillet mignon and sauteed squash on the grill and ending with an apple cobbler that Paul cooked up in his Dutch oven. We have got to get us one of those!

The dogs did great. We had our three and Logan, a four month old chihuahua. At night we put glow necklaces on them, each with their own color, so we could always see where they were. Worked like a charm!

We're already planning our next weekend out since there won't be too many more this year before it gets to cold. We have some other friends that are hoping to join us on some of those weekends as well. More good times!

Go here for all photos.

Birthday Boy

Blue is at home in Dog Woods

Me and my camping hat

Eric & Teena playing cornhole

Paul Twittering

Little Logan in his camping sweater

Teena manning the fire