CJHokie

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.

7 hours ago, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

Ouch, I almost feel bad for the Noles. Almost. 

Lol, that was awesome. An added bonus was we didn't have to hear the tomahawk chop the entire game.

On 9/14/2016 at 2:07 PM, Helmsey......Todd said:

 

For the record I'm not real happy about that either, but I think you are right.
We have started SLOW this year...again. We returned 17 starters from last year, and our O line performed fantastic last season. However so far this year they seem to have forgotten how to black all the people coming at them at once.

I agree y'all started slow. Pretty sure we gave you the Battle at Bristol with our 7 million fumbles.

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.

21 hours ago, Helmsey......Todd said:

Man, I go away for a long weekend without technology and miss an interesting kickoff weekend! Still trying t get caught up on all I missed....
I'm not sure what the heck was wrong with my Vols Thursday night, they had me in a panic. At least we fared better than several other SEC teams this weekend...sheesh.

Hopefully they will still be off this weekend. ;-)

Here's an article with a little background on the prep work going into the BIG game this coming Sat.

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2016/09/06/theyre-gonna-play-a-college-football-game-at-a-racetrack-and-its-amazing/

I may have mentioned here before - I grew up in the Tri-Cities, about 30 min from Bristol, and I went to VT, but I am not going to the game and never really had a desire to. This article kinda makes me wish I was going.

1 hour ago, fladogfan aka Gretchen said:

Aw Ellie, so hard to say goodbye and so many things will remind your people of you.  Run free beautiful girl.

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. 

I'm so sorry, Gretchen.

3 minutes ago, NLPRacing said:

She was almost 10 years old.  We got an Australian Shepherd about a year before Shelby passed and she was able to teach her some good (and some bad) habits.  :)

Ellie just turned 10 in June. We had talked about getting a puppy before she got sick so she could help socialize, but it never happened. Thinking about getting 2 next time.

18 hours ago, NLPRacing said:

Sorry to hear that.  Our golden retriever, Shelby, passed away back in June from cancer.  She was a great dog.

Sorry to hear that as well.  

Goldens are amazing dogs - just have that stupid, pesky cancer. How old was Shelby?

19 hours ago, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

CJHokie, I'm so sorry to hear this.  Kassie passed away in June, and it's gonna be hard going to the Fort next week without her.  She loved camping, too.

PM me if I can do anything to help.

I hope you have a good time and don't miss her too much.

Thanks, guys, for all the kind words. We know they aren't going to live forever (as we're not either), but it's still hard. 

Yes, Ellie, the Golden Retriever that is in 95% of my pics on here. Took her to the oncologist this morning and while she wasn't sure without a biopsy, it seems she has a pretty aggressive cancer. She still seems pretty normal except for a bad limp, where she has a giant tumor on her back leg. Has a new tumor on a front leg, skin lesions multiplying daily, swollen lymph nodes, and possibly something in her abdomen. 

She was a great camping dog, and we always joked that she liked camping more than any of us. 

Found this old puppy pic on Photobucket.

On 8/21/2016 at 7:27 PM, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

Looks like they have made some upgrades since we stayed there.

Yes, the park models and new pavement are new since last year. I think that bar has been there as long as I've been going (maybe 3 or 4 years?), but maybe not that huge deck area.

Took some pics of the campground this time instead of just my campsite!

So, there are 3 levels here. The rows are dead-ends and tight. We stayed on Level 2 the first time and would have never gotten out to leave if the sites across from us weren't empty. The lake front level is all pull-in. The road down to lake front used to be filled with gouges so we never wanted to try that tier. They have repaved and I don't see any gouges in the new pavement, so maybe they made the angle better.

There are 5 or 6 terraced pull-in sites right when you come in the gate. We have gotten one of those the last two times. Then Mr. CJHokie just backs all the way out of the gate to leave.

One other note - wi-fi works as good as our house.

From our site:

Our site:

Levels 2 and 3:

They are putting in some park models.

There is a bar with a large deck area, and boat slips you can rent.

12 hours ago, Beckers said:

I've never had captain crunch. Interesting.

 

 

I don't think I have either. Not because my parents banned sugar cereals or anything - I was a Fruity Pebbles or Fruit Loops girl. 

Is it peanut buttery or am I thinking of something else? When I was in college, the dining hall always had cereals and soft serve, so one of my favorite things to do was get chocolate ice cream with rice krispies on it. I remember trying something else if they were out of rice krispies that may have been cap'n crunch. So maybe I'm lying. Doesn't matter - I can't eat it now so I wouldn't be ordering the chicken anyway. 

Finished the 2 others I was working on. Could not find my patterns for these anywhere. They are free, but you have to email the lady or sign up or whatever, which I had already done, so I just got my 2 and copied the pieces onto this papery stuff. So they may look slightly different in spots. Still cute though. 

I also did much better on the binding on the first one I finished (gray binding). I think maybe the gray fabric was a better fabric than the red. 

Anyhoo....

Finished another row. Now just 6 to go and the actual quilting (which I'm not sure how to go about).  I'll let you guess where this one is from. 

It was a LOT of cutting and piecing but the pattern had great step-by-step instructions, so even a n00b like me was able to do it. 

PS - it looks a little uneven in the pic but that's just the angle. It's hard to fit these things in a picture.  And in case you were wondering, I have a flannel sheet hanging on the wall to make a "design wall" and that's what it's hanging on.

4 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

I don't know where you heard that, but I have heard nothing of the sort.  Certainly not from any of the "experts."

Speaking of experts,  I heard Phil Steele on the radio last week, and he said Tennessee isn't going to lose a game this season, but he also picked Alabama to repeat as SEC champions.  I'm not sure how that is going to work, as I think that would mean Tennessee would have at least two losses.  The guy also predicted that FSU will win the National Championship.  Which really surprised me.  All of a sudden, the ACC is good?

TCD

Of course we are playing UT when they are good again and we are bad again. 

And I agree, there is something wrong with Phil Steele's math.

I'm not ever near I-75, but others have mentioned some good app resources. We have never overnighted at a Flying J/Pilot but usually fuel up at those and have rested for a bit at some. The last one we stopped at had a separate RV lot. We have a 40ft Class A and were really too big for those spots, but we stayed for a little while. That is the only one I remember seeing a separate RV lot, and it had a sign that said 3 hr. max. So, I wouldn't count on those unless you can find out before hand.

The myPilot app tells you the number of parking spots, but I don't see that it specifies if there are any RV specific ones or the RV islands (fuel, dump station, etc.) that some of them have.

The Allstays app shows Wal-Marts, Cracker Barrels, truck stops, RV dealers, campgrounds, state parks. The Wal-Marts show as overnight parking allowed or not allowed, and there are user comments which can be helpful determining safety, where to park, etc. It seems you should always speak to the manager first to make sure.  This app also shows info like # RV spots at Cracker Barrels and truck stops. It was an expensive app, but we have gotten our money's worth. 

Have a great trip!

On 5/23/2016 at 4:34 PM, GaDawgFan.....Kelly said:

Burn. I don't think I've made it a secret that I don't like him.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Funny, I sometimes refer to him as my boyfriend.

And I've just spent too much time trying to add a pic of me and him. I give up.

On 5/24/2016 at 3:09 PM, Tri-Circle-D said:

Speaking of the off-season, here's a fluff article that lists the top 15 college football towns.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2641172-ranking-the-top-15-college-football-towns-in-the-country

They are, in reverse order from 15-1:

15. Morgantown, WV

14. South Bend, IN

13. Gainesville, FL

12. Baton Rouge, LA

11. College Station, PA

10. Auburn, AL

 9.. Clemson, SC

 8. Tuscaloosa, AL

 7. Knoxville, TN

 6. Oxford, MS

 5. Lincoln, NE

 4. Athens, GA

 3. Ann Arbor, MI

 2. College Station, TX

 1. Madison, WI

Nice to see Tennessee and Georgia beat the Gators at something.

Does anyone have a town to add?  Or think one listed doesn't belong?

Go Gata.

TCD

 

No Blacksburg?  Maybe I am biased.

Wow, that is very impressive.

14 hours ago, Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie said:

Oh mercy me those a sooo super cute. You should try and sell them, I would buy a couple. I guess I could make myself some but the little guys have me too busy right now. Lol on your pup, mine is the same way, kind of comforting kind of annoying.

I would LOVE to sell stuff, justify a better sewing machine, etc., but I have this problem where I am a perfectionist who lacks the skills to make something look perfect enough to sell.