GA Campers : October near Chattanooga

[ALANSD]

I have deleted most of the old posts and left the after the event posts to make this more navigable.

[ALANSD]

here is a link to the park site
http://www.gastateparks.org/info/cloudland/

[davidz71]

I guess I am one of the first forum members back home after the Cloudland Canyon rally. The colors were absolutely beautiful, the rain held out until Sat. night, the visiting with forum members was outstanding. There was picking Friday night until late, some made the over 4 mile hike through the trails to see the two water falls (my legs are still a little sore), the potluck dinner Sat. night was something like I've never seen before. Spicy sausages, several types of chicken enchiladas, various baked beans, a cajun LA. dish of rice with shrimp, scallops with spices, chili, and so many other types of dishes I can't even remember. I was stuffed before I hit the dessert table which consisted of several types of cheesecake (one with cherry filling for the top), Italian Creme cake, fudge, another type of cake I can't even remember. My eyes were crossed by that time.

I'm sure that Alan will add to this but the following attended during the weekend:

87MH
ALANSD
Andyfuson
davidz71
Jimmickle
Josephhh
Jpurdy
Kposey
LeeMo
minnie&minnie'smate
PizzaChop
swebster
tcwilliams
tnsue
wb13798

I hope I haven't missed anyone. I enjoyed every minute of the weekend. It was not without incident for me, however. My tongue latch slipped and hit the second joint of my left thumb as I was hitching up. It is slightly swollen as I type this. I also avoided something in the road on the interstate and the roadside trailer tires ran over it. I heard air escaping and a sudden loud hissing sound. Whatever it was didn't do anything to the first tire but it cut into the radial tire and the wire ply seperated. I removed the tire, travelled 10 miles further down the interstand on the side of the road and another 15 miles to the house. No damage to the trim or underneath of the trailer so I am lucky there. Even with the damaged tire I was totally pleased with the weekend. Pictures were taken by a number of people. Mine are at Walmart now being developed and put on disc so those with digital cameras will probably be posted sooner.

Alan is already talking about another rally next spring and I can't wait. You will let me come to that one won't you?

[ALANSD]

I have to say it was a terrific weekend. The hike to the two falls was awesome. A little bit of rain on the "tin" roof ws a nice touch last night, and it dried up pretty quickly. Made it home with no problems...enjoyed the fellowship and seeing all the motorhomes and trailers together. Hope next April we will do it again...location to be determined later. Pictures will be coming tommorow.

[wb13798]

we made it home OK. it was a great weekend. I'm still stuffed and i didn't get any of the cheese cake. didn't have room for it. i don't know who made the payea but it was goood. and those hot sausages wow, get the fire extinguisher they were great.
sorry some of you missed the window channel demo . with all the activities Saturday it didn't get done. we did the windows for lemoo or was it the other guy . any now both are checked out on the window repairs. Atlanta has two experts for r&r cockpit windows.

[TomW]

DavidZ71's post summed up the whole weekend a lot better than I could ever do, so I will just "second" everything he said about how great it was meeting everyone, and enjoying the outstanding food everyone brought & KPosey made her site available for us to enjoy.

I would like to extend a special thanks to Dennis for supplying placards & forum decals to everyone that attended. I thought they were just too cool.

Here's a few shots of several members getting the lowdown on 87MH's brake issues (see another post; BTW He did leave on Sunday with brakes), and, to give you a general idea of fall color, a shot of DavidZ71's rig being admired by my wife.

Tom

[wb13798]

Josephhh has the motor home that received the window r&r not leeemo.
i think leemoo is going to post some jpgs. he kept getting in the way taking them. hopefully he got some good ones but he didn't have much to work with, the channel was almost all rust. not much cloth, and lots of glue . the fuzzy sledge doesn't require glue if it is done correctly. provided the window channels aren't damaged.

[davidz71]

Thanks Tom,
I was getting a little long winded and wanted to add that some of Kathy's previous posts on Cloudland Canyon made me decide that I couldn't miss the activities and Alan's organizing sure helped make everything run smoothly. What can I say about Dennis? The forum signs he had made which identified each and every one of us by forum names was icing on the cake. Thanks Dennis. It sure made it easier to pick out the forum members at each site rather than trying to guess who was there.

I can't move on without saying thank you to tnsue. I loved your trailer and see why you enjoy it so much. So cozy. You kept me in stitches all weekend and I really enjoyed your laugh. Take care on your trip to Bobby Brown and CA. and hope to see you at the next get together.

[Minnie's Mate]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the great visit we had. Everyone was so nice and welcoming. Even though we don't have our Airstream yet, you all made us feel welcomed and part of the group.

We especially want to thank Sue (TennSue) and Kathy (KPosey) for sharing your hospitality and showing us your Airstreams. You both have beautiful coaches. Also I'd like to thank Craig (Davidz71) for the tour of your unique coach and for the conversation we had after. And thanks to AlanSD for the tour of your motor home. You have really made it a wonderful restoration. I told my wife if I hadn't know it wasn't brand new, I would have sworn it was.

Again, thanks to everyone for the gracious hospitality. We are looking forward to getting our own Airstream and making these rallies a regular part of our camping life and becoming official WBCCI members.

[swebster]

What a great weekend! It was so nice to put faces on the names we see all the time on the forum. This was out first "rally" of any kind and we weren't sure what to expect. We were not disappointed. The impressive turnout, the great attitudes and the "come as you are" casual environment made a great campground even better.

I have to agree that the hike in to the falls as one of the big highlights for my eight year old and me. The get together was fun and we enjoyed poking our heads in other people's trailers as much as showing off our own motorhome.

I'll sum it up by simply saying that when I walked the dogs around the park late at night and saw all of those shiney trailers and motorhomes I just kept smiling. Very cool to bring some reality to some of these virtual friendships.

Special thanks to Alan for organizing the whole thing and to Dennis for the spiffy signs and other "gifts". Sign us up for the next one in April no matter where it is.

[kposey]

I want to second, no-that's third, no-maybe it's fourth, oh well, I just want to say how wonderful this weekend was. Enjoyed meeting everyone. Had a great time at the pot luck and especially enjoyed all the great food! We had so much that we had to set up extra tables just to hold it all!

Thanks to everyone who helped make this a successful rally! The signs were awesome and the fellowship and music was too! I'm already looking forward to next April!

Had no mishaps getting home from this trip. Sorry, Craig, about your flat, but glad you made it home in one piece.

[ALANSD]

This park is truly a gem for anyone who wants to experience some beautiful mountain scenery; the gorge, the falls, and the upper level pond area are great.
Also in true Forums fashion there was a lot of sharing going on...parts traded and given, tech help in abundance and general info shared.
A group of us enjoyed a strenuous hike down the gorge twice to see the two water falls at the bottom, while others sat, cooked, and visited.
I hope we can arrange a spot for our Spring thing that will accomodate even more interested Forums folk.
What do you all think about trying FDR State Park in April? Its supposed to be a great place. I would suggest mid- late in the month. After the spring breaks are over.

[jpurdy]

This was our first rally also. It was great to meet everyone.
It was great to sit down to talk and eat at the pot luck. so many stories and experiences. wow it was just great.
I must say that the hike was great. the camp ground was so quiet while you were all gone. it was very relaxing

A special thanks to Steven and Dennis for helping me with my "Carb" problem. we made it about 60 miles from home before we needed a tow.

it was a great weekend ...thanks

[PizzaChop]

Had a great time with the kids @ Cloudland. Didn't hike the canyon but had a great view Sunday from the overlook and had a really nice visit with many fellow 'Streamers. Tennessee Sue was one of the only ones left Sunday so she accompanied us to the canyon.

Found out she was going to Bobby Brown State Park the next day so I invited her to stop and visit as she'd be passing within a mile of my house. After a late start and terrible traffic (including a traffic blocking, fatal wreck 5 miles from my house), she arrived after 5:30.

After feasting on "World Class Quality Pizza", we realized it was too late for her to reach BBSP before dark.

Guess who's camping in our driveway tonight? (I'll post pics of our mini-rally)

Had a great evening tonight watching Charlie Brown with the kids (she got to meet my wife Brenda, who spent the weekend in South Georgia and my two youngest children, who will all be attending next time (I think)).

What a great forum and a great bunch of people! Thanks to everybody who had a hand in organizing this for such a great fellowship!

[gardener]

Even though we visited for just a couple of hours Saturday morning, AND are still wannabe's, we enjoyed the warm welcome at the rally. Sorry we didn't get to meet everyone, but we got acquainted with a few couples, and enjoyed visiting JPurdy's rig - thanks, Judy.
Unfortunately, we rousted someone out of bed trying to get info - please forgive. You were courteous, but we will try to pay more attention to signs people are resting!
And Cloudland in the fall - wow! Pretty sure we'll be going back there!
Thanks again.

[davidz71]

Forgive me for not listing you in the earlier post. I was up by a little after 7 a.m. but not really functioning until at least 9 a.m. Hope you had a chance to talk to a few people while you were there.

[josephhh]

Hey All! I too had a GREAT time with everyone at Cloudland Canyon. Leemo And I made it home in two-ship formation with no problems. Many thanks to Al for the great job replacing my cockpit window tracks! No rattles now! And we open and closed them all the way home just because we could. Thanks again Al. I will pass the technique on to other loose/stuck window sufferers.
The food was great. Leaves were beautiful. Everyone was most kind and we really enjoyed looking at all the cool units. Thanks to all the planners and executers.
(might have been better if we had a little ceramic frog in the picture) :-)
Where are we going next?

Josephhh

[kposey]

FDR looks beautiful! Where is it? I'm already ready to go again!

Gardner, sorry I didn't get to meet you. With us living so close, I will be interested to see what you are looking at when you go to buy. I just love to see folks come into the Airstream "fold." I really enjoy my Airstream and use it every chance I get, sometimes even in the driveway.

Sue, glad to hear that you made it to Pizza Chop's place. I was thinking about ya'll being on the road yesterday.

The Mickle's head for Florida tomorrow. We'll keep you in our prayers for a safe trip!

[ALANSD]

I am open - but thinking FDR State Park in April...possibly the weekend of the 15-17. Not been there yet myself, but hear terrific things about that park. It would be a good location for Al, Tn,Ga folks and might entice some western Fla people, and others as it is closer to some than the N Georgia campgrounds..

I would love to see us hit 25 or more units for a weekend, but that would mean settling on a spot and making an early reservation.

[LeeMo]

Hey Y'all!

I gotta say this rally was somethin' special. My newlywed wife, Lynn, and our little pup, Chi-Chi enjoyed it too. The hike to the Waterfalls and scenic overlook of the canyon were spectacular--definitely a "must see".

I enjoyed a great 3-Unit convoy up from ATL with ALANSD and Josephhh. I got a pre-departure picture below. You should have heard all the chatter from the Truckers as we flew in formation. It was a hoot!

I must express my appreciation for the skill and effort Dennis took to make everyone's Customized Rally Signs--very cool. As always, it was nice to meet more nice Airstreamers, swap stories, and learn more about Airstreams--I learn something new everytime.

Josephhh and I spent a lot of time identifying and trying to resolve some systems problems on his unit, but our efforts paid off in the end. We are energized once again to adopt improvements and ideas we gleaned from the rest of you guys.

A big thank you to Big Al for teaching us how to install the schleagle track liner for our front windows. Trying not to get in the way, I did get a few pictures but they were not a detailed as I would have preferred. I will post them soon. The process was fairly simple and AL showed us a few tricks tol help the process go smoothly.

The Pot Luck dinner was a huge smash and thanks to kposey and friends for supporting the event. There was so much good food, and the host of friends was truly magnificent. Hat's off to all the contributors and participants for making it such an enjoyable event.

Thank you to Andyfuson for the info on Stone Mountain State Park & Campgrounds. It sounds like a happening place, that might warrant consideration for a future rally as well--just a thought.

Josephhh and I were lucky enough to get two camp spots side-by-side; thanks to ALANSD for finding and holding them for us. I threw in a couple of pictures of Josephh's and my 24 footers.

We enjoyed meeting everyone! Let's do it again soon!

LeeMo and Lynnie