CJHokie

Just spent the weekend at Carowinds Camp Wilderness with a couple of other camping families. I didn't take any pics whatsoever, not even of our campsite. It rained all day Fri. and until about 4pm on Sat. As mentioned before, I had driven through, so I knew what it looked like. I think my husband was pleasantly surprised and will go back (hope so, as I bought 2017 season passes for me & the youngest). We were right near a brand new bathhouse. It had 4 individual rooms with toilet/shower. The sites are paved and pretty level. I think they are all pull-through. Ours was long enough for

LOL, that's exactly what happened to us in '04. They told us to stay in room for 24 hrs. At one point we started hearing people in the hallway, so my husband went to check it out and there were tons of people & characters in the lobby.

A few minutes ago I saw the weather channel guy in Jacksonville Beach say they were leaving for the mainland and when they leave, you should leave. Of course my SIL and her family are staying.

:D They did that in '04 when we were there during Jeanne.

Checked in with my SIL in Jax Beach. I offered for them to come up and camp with us this weekend. She says it is too late. I haven't really watched any TV today, so I don't know what the roads are like already. I told her Ft. Wilderness wants everyone out by 11am tomorrow, and she said that might be too late. She is on a tidal creek off the intercoastal, and her daughter lives a couple of miles from the beach and was "evacuating" to her house. She says a lot of people there are skeptical about anything (boy who cried wolf syndrome).

Surely someone was there during Frances and/or Jeanne in '04. I was in Wilderness Lodge so have no idea what they did with the Ft people.

My husband had to use regular the other day because the 2 stations around us were both still out of premium and mid. I was wondering how SC was faring with gas after I heard the gov say to make sure your gas tank was full when you evacuating the coast.

We were staying in the Wilderness Lodge during Hurricane Jeanne the same year. My dad was concerned the whole time leading up to our departure, and I kept saying that a hurricane had already passed through Orlando, what were the odds another one would. Pretty darn good actually! We got there the day before the eye went through. We were confined to our rooms for 24 hours, though people started going to the lobby. Luckily we had adjoining rooms with my parents, so that gave us a little more room (my kids were 4 & 2 at the time). The parks opened back the next day, and it was the most a

The last couple of times I tried to drink wine, it made me really flushed on my face. I can drink ciders though no problem. My eye dr and dermatologist say I probably have rosacea, and alcohol can be a trigger of that. Craft stores don't bother me, but I don't like to go into Bath & Body Works because I start sneezing and get congested right away.

I am right near the speedway in Concord, and sure enough we have pumps that say racing fuel around. BTW - my very first vehicle was a hand-me-down Mazda B2000. Had it for part of college (which is kind of a curse since you end up hauling everybody's stuff everywhere) and then for a year here in CLT. It wouldn't idle low enough to pass the emissions test so I gave it back to my dad in VA.

Sorry to hear, bhall.

We have one vehicle that takes premium and two that take regular. FTR, you're supposed to only use the grade your manual says. We had a friend who put premium in her Ford Explorer while the manual said regular, and after her it broke down the mechanic said it was due to using the premium gas. ETA: Of course googling this shows it shouldn't damage your car but everything I saw says you're wasting money if your car doesn't say to use it.

Interesting. Pretty sure it is coming back here as they had signs printed and taped to the pumps. I don't remember what they said but it seemed temporary.

On our cross country trip, we booked a site at a casino campground in Carson City, NV. We got there late (about 11pm). We were never, ever going to be able to get into the pull-through site we were assigned, due to people parked out in the road and boulders on both sides of the site. The only other site available was a back-in right at the end, so they switched us to that. The night guy at the hotel was in charge, and he came out while we were trying to back into that. We would have eventually gotten in, but he could tell we were frustrated and told us to just park in their lower lot. He also

Went to the gas station closest to my house yesterday and they didn't have premium or the mid one at any pump. I thought the shortage was over? Guess not.

WTH? Lowe's already has Christmas stuff up in Sept? I just went in one this week and didn't notice anything. Will have to go in and check it out!

I noticed this morning the one closest me had bags on all the pumps. There were a couple more stations about 10 min away that I didn't see any bags on handles, but my friend said those only had regular (perfect for my car).

Yeah, I didn't run out and fill mine up, but they were both low, almost on E, so I had to get gas anyway. But I totally agree with your preparedness thing. When I was in college we had 2 bad ice storms one winter with long power outages. The 2nd one was a few days before spring break, so everyone just left early for that. I was driving my dad's car down to FL and it was on E. We went to station after station but nobody had power. Finally found one right at the interstate, and I know we were running on fumes.

I don't actually remember it. I was alive, but not driving. But I do remember hearing about it. I can remember a couple of other shortages since I've been driving, but I don't remember what caused them. I assume I was living in Charlotte since I've been here my whole adult life.

3 down, 5 to go!

Finally made the row Derek sent me. It's hard to tell in this pic, but turned out very cute (if I do say so myself.)

I filled up 2 cars in the last few days. Both stations I went to had some empty pumps. I looked at one when I drove by tonight and the price was 2.29, whereas it was about 1.99 just a couple of weeks ago. Mr. CJHokie is driving back from CO/UT. Not sure how it will affect him. I read the other day there some ships had left from TX to go to East Coast. Not sure when they'll arrive. Also, the same article said NJ, etc. is getting gas from somewhere else so it isn't affecting them.

We always lock them, but we have expensive mt. bikes. I could totally see someone taking a bike. Heck, our friends we camped with last Christmas at FW had their sway bar stolen from their campsite.

Let's see, today I have already 1) waited for her to run up to me during a thunderstorm 2) looked behind my rolling chair to make sure I didn't roll onto her tail 3) almost left some dropped chicken pieces on the floor for her to get. Thanks again, everyone. With so much crap on the internet, it's nice to have a good community with people who care.

Had to make a tough call on Ellie yesterday. Her tumors started getting infected and the vet said antibiotics would be an uphill battle. Plus she wasn't eating and could barely get up off the floor. We know it was the best for her but very sad. Random things make me cry, like seeing a potato chip piece on the floor under the kitchen table. She got to spend her last days doing her favorite things - swimming and hanging out with us.