Campin' with the Cousins

This is gonna be a little long winded as I'm squeezin' 3 days in here.

We left Don & Jessie's on Friday morning, headed for Tionesta Recreation Area, at Tionesta Reservoir. We were to meet Diane & Denny there for our weekend camping trip. There are two campgrounds at the recreation area. We had decided to stay in the 'Outflow' camp, at the base of the dam. No hookups but Linda & I were the only'est ones there for most of the day. This camp has a brand new bath house this season. It's great because it is setup with four separate bathrooms, each with commode, sink & shower, so you have your own private bathroom. No worries about someone running off with any of your stuff. We have only encountered this in one or two private RV parks in all our travels.

The other campground is on the other side of Tionesta Creek at the base of the dam. It features all the creature comforts, water, sewer & electric, but the sites are squeezed in 'Awning to Slide'. We walked all the way around and through the other campground but found the bath house on our side much nicer. This Rec. area is operated by the Corps of Engineers and they get $25 for a site with hookups during season. The 'Outflow Camp' charges $10 for a site, no hookups as I said, but we like the feel better and like it uncrowded. After October 11th there is no fee in the Outflow, while the other camp closes until May.

Because it is a Corp park they do honor Golden Age & Access passes which cut the fee in half. Can't wait. The little woman hits the mark before me and we've already decided to be on the National Park Services doorstep on her Birthday.

Diane & Denny came rollin' in around 3 and we got them set up next to us. We chewed the fat some, then started the fire so's to cook dinner on it. Mmmmm, steaks with mushrooms & onions cooked over an open fire. They have a griddle setup Diane's dad made about 40 years ago.

 

Denny is cookin'  'shrooms on his grill while Bonnie supervises.

 

 

 

Cousin Bonnie came out to dine with us but would not spend the night. We sipped some Sambuca before dinner & had some wine with our meal. Ain't I gittin 'Continental'?  After dinner we chatted and then had Apple Pie, that Linda had made and Strawberry Pretzel Salad Diane made. The calories are rollin' up faster than the numbers on a slot machine. Around 11 we all turned in.

 

 

We be Campin !

 

 

 

 

Saturday I was up at the crack of 8 and the 'eatin' frenzy' commenced again. We had a breakfast of bacon, home fries, toast and eggs cooked on the grill. Someone, not mentionin' names, even had pie with breakfast.

We whiled away the afternoon and walked the 3 mile loop to the other camp and back, then went out for ice cream cones. We took a drive up where the tornado came through the area back in 1985 I think and Denny took us to Nebraska Bridge, that goes completely underwater when the reservoir fills in the winter. The water was right up to the bottom of the bridge today. As we're drivin' back to camp Diane say's "I wonder if Bonnie is comin' back out tonight for dinner"? Then the phone rings, speak of the devil! Bonnie & Scott are at camp waitin' on us. So we head back for some dinner with them. We spent the evening talkin' and foolin' with each other. Nothin' better than good food & good company in a beautiful setting.

 

 

The Girls enjoyin' the night.

 

 

 

Almost forgot to tell ya. Early Saturday, around 5:30 Linda wakes to hear this flutterin' out her window. Well she at first thinks it's the tarp we have up for an awning. Nope, no wind blowin'. Then she see's something hangin' on the screen & somethin' else flutterin'. Turns out there's two bats hangin' on the screen and one more tryin' to land there. After wakin' her groggy 'Knight in Shining Armor', I said "Close the window, they might chew through the screen".  I could just see what a mess we'd have with bats inside the truck camper. I can envision John Candy & Dan Aykroyd with wire trash baskets over their heads armed with tennis racquets trying to kill a bat in their cabin in 'The Great Outdoors'. So she takes her forefinger and thumb and 'twangs' both the bats hangin' on the screen, they fall off and she rolls over and goes back to sleep. Now I thought she follered my instructions by closing the window, I'm glad I didn't know cause I'd been havin' nightmares of bats gettin' me. Why do we always have such excitin' times? We were down the road from here right after Ashley left, to visit the emerging bats at the Hall Barn, a USDA site to breed bats. We stood in the flyway with them zoomin' over our heads for 30 minutes, it was cool. Maybe this was some o' them comin' to see our livin' space?

Sunday I was up at 7:30 stokin' the fire to get it ready for breakfast. We were cookin pancakes & sausage this morn. After breakfast Diane got a call from her Dad. He was just around the bend, so we invited him down.

 

 

Diane, her Dad Jim & Linda.

 

 

 

 

 

Denny, Jim, Diane & Carol, yours truly in the background.

 

 

 

Linda & I had not seen Jim since we had our Winnebago up here many, many years ago. He helped us get the front wheels lined up so they would track right. He made a gauge and he & I adjusted the alignment till we got it right on. Never did have to align it again & every set of tires we ran after that, wore evenly. He is the one that made the grill Denny is using. We visited with him and his wife Carol then made mountain Pizza's for lunch. Diane put mushrooms, pepperoni & cheese, on bread, in a pie iron then cooked them in the fire. They were delicious! Then we made blueberry pies in the pie irons for dessert. What a weekend!

 

 

Pizza in the makin'.

 

 

 

 

We had to break camp sometime as Bonnie had invited us for dinner. Diane said she always hates this part of the trip, THE END. So to not make her feel to bad I tried to break down our camp a little at a time. I told her I could sympathize because I always started gettin' depressed when comin' to the realization that the vacation, no matter how long, was comin' to an end soon and I had to go back to the daily grind of a workin' man.

Don't have that anxiety anymore thanks to retirement.

 

 

Breakin' Camp.

 

 

 

 

Well it was a great weekend with wonderful company and I hope we can do it again soon.

You can view all the pictures of our weekend at Campin' with Diane & Denny.

Until then, we hope to see ya' down the road as we're,

Dancin' on the Wind.