Whitetail Ridge COE Campground - LaGrange, Ga (3/30 - 4/6/09)

Monday, March 30 - We got up about 7 AM, packed up, and were on the road headed to LaGrange, Ga at 10:10 AM. It was a beautiful drive with many flowering trees in bloom including dogwoods and azaleas. We tried to stop for lunch at a truck stop in Alabama, but it was far too smoky. They showed us the non-smoking area, but it was just as smoky as the main room, so we left. We had a sandwich on the road and arrived at the campground at 3:40 PM after driving 251.9 miles. There are not many campers here now, but it is supposed to be full by the weekend. The lake, however, is very full of water. We had dinner, showered, and setteled in for a quiet evening. We have decided that we will not try to drive so far again, because it is very tiring to break camp, drive nearly 5 hours, and set up again. This happened this time because we could not get into Cottonhill Campground near Ft. Gaines, Ga.

Tuesday, March 31 - It rained off and on all day today, but we were able to get in a nice walk and fish from the boat dock and shoreline. We caught a few bream, but none of them big enough to keep, especially two that John caught that were only about 1 1/2 inches long. It was fun anyway. The weather people are calling for some more rain in the night that is supposed to stop about noon tomorrow. The pollen is really thick here. There is a coating over everything which got stirred up when the mowers came around with their blowers cleaning off the streets. So far we have not had any problems except for some sneezing.  

Wednesday, April 1 - We got the forcasted rain in the night which was fairly heavy, but no wind and little lightning with it. We finally were able to get the kayaks out, which we were able to launch from our shoreline. We fished the bay that is closest to our campsite and managed some small bream and one nice bluegill that John caught. A few more of these would have made a nice dinner. We went out again in the evening after dinner without success. John had one on that slipped away. We have new neighbors who went out for crappie, but only managed a couple. We are expecting more storms tomorrow evening that are predicted to be strong. We will have to keep a close ear on the the tv, cell phone, and weather radio. 

Thursday, April 2 - Another storm rolled through during the night and woke us. Even though there was little wind, the rain was tremendous, and there were a couple of really good lightning strikes. Thankfully, they missed. It rained most of the morning and got quite windy early in the afternoon. We had to tighten some of the lines from our tarp and lower the awning. There are some substantial storms headed this way for our evening entertainment. We would really love for them to go north of here. (Some pictures added)

Friday, April 3 - Yet another storm in the night. This time it was brief, but contained a powerful wind gust. Again, thankfully, everything stayed in place. This morning the sun is shining once again and promises to warm us some. There is a washing machine and dryer in the restroom building and Joan is going back and forth doing a couple of loads. We were quite tired from the previous nights antics, so we decided to not take the kayaks out and fished from the boat ramp and dock instead. John caught a very nice crappie (see pictures) and lost another one. We brought it back to camp and John filleted it. We sat in our recliners in the evening and enjoyed the view of the lake from our front yard. 

Saturday, April 4 - Finally, a quiet night. We slept like rocks and woke up to the sound of many, many boats on the water. With the weather cooperating and being the weekend, all the crappie fishermen in the area are here to try to fill their live wells. It is a little cool this am, getting us ready for the predicted 30's on Tues. & Wed. mornings.  We did our morning walk after breakfast, delivering our trash to the dumpster and then hiking the other loops.
Taking advantage of the nice day, we headed out in the kayaks for a little fishing. The lake was a little rough, as there was a bass tournament going on, and the the fishermen were zooming from one spot to another with one of those spots being a cove very near to our campsite. The best is yet to come with an overnight tournament that consists of fishing for carp from AIRBOATS!!! For those that don't know, airboats are the loudest and most obnoxious craft there is, and to think we will be able to hear them all night.  

Sunday, April 5 - Our worst fears were realized with airboats racing around the lake near the campground. We were not able to sleep much past 3AM. On the way to church, we complained to the host who wasn't able to sleep much either. He said he would be talking to the ranger to see if anything can be done to prevent future tournaments like this one. The worship service was nice and they have a new pastor. The music was familiar, but nice and the pastor's message was very personal and relevant. It began raining when we left, and promises to rain all day and night. We were planning on moving to Sweetwater Creek COE Campground on Altoona Lake tomorrow, but will most likely delay our departure for at least a day. 

Monday, April 6 - We had a quiet night except for the wind coming up. It has cooled off significantly and the wind continues. There is talk of snow fluries tomorrow. We extended our stay here until Wednesday when we will leave for Trackrock Campground near Blairsville, Ga. Meanwhile, we will be getting things ready to leave. Joan has been looking up things to do this summer while we're in the Blairsville area. 

See picture at:

Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park - Niceville, FL (March 23-30, 2009)

Monday, March 23 - We got nearly everything packed on Sunday, readied the house to leave, and were on the road by 7:40 AM. The truck and camper are crammed tight. We drove 368 miles and arrived at the park at 3:15 EDT. We got everything set up and finished dinner just in time to take a walk before it got dark. This is a very pretty park with large sites and nice access to the water for our kayaks. Every site is filled with hopefully considerate people. We met a nice couple with two kids (David, Diane, Taylor and Savannah) from Illinois who are here enjoying the warmer weather for spring break. 

Tuesday, March 24 - We had a nice quiet night's sleep and woke up to a beautiful, but breezy morning. We took a walk down by the boat launch and met and visited with a nice couple (John & Wendy) from Canada. We enjoyed trading favorite spots with them. We came back to camp and had pancakes & sausage for breakfast. Because it was so breezy, we opted to leave the kayaks on the truck and put on waders instead. We were somewhat protected near shore and really enjoyed fishing this way. Sadly, we only managed one pinfish that John caught on a glass minnow fly. These fish are commonly used for bait. We took a break in the afternoon and dozed in front of the tv. After spaghetti dinner, we took our flyrods down to the boat docks, but jeven though we enjoyed the beautiful evening on the water, we came back empty.

Wednesday, March 25 - After breakfast we went on a hike on the Rocky Bayou Trail, one of the trails here in the park, and another along Puddin' Head Lake. We fished a little, but came up empty. The weather is changing with considerable wind and clouds. We are expecting several inches of rain over the next couple of days. It was just too windy to get the kayaks out yesterday or today. Today is John's son Corey's birthday. Happy Birthday Corey! After dinner, we went for a walk around the campground and stopped to talk to our neighbors who are here in a large family motorcycle group. The couple we were talking to have a campground in Georgia near the Florida border near exit #1 off I-95. We found out they used to camp at Trackrock for about 35 years and know the Alexander family very well. We wished them well and headed over to John & Wendy's and shared their fire and had a nice time visiting.

Thursday, March 26 - We heard wind high in the tree canopy and some rain in the night. John received a couple of weather warnings on his cell phone of sever thunderstorms and a tornado warning. We got dressed and walked around the campground to make sure that folks had all gotten the warnings. Several had not including our new friends John & Wendy and David, Diane, Taylor, and Savannah. Many campers met at the restroom building to watch it pass by. There was heavy rain and lightning, but thankfully not much wind. This weather is forcast to continue for the next couple of days. We sure wish they could get some of this in Tampa where it is severe drought conditions. We took it easy in the afternoon and it rained nearly all day. We drove into Valpariso and had dinner at the Boat House Restaurant. We got the early bird specials, which were sirloin tips and rice. It was excellent. After dinner we went over to Lincoln Park and tried to fish but it was way too windy and chilly. It looks like there is more severe weather on the way. We will keep a close ear on the weather radio and watch the weather channel. 

Friday, March 27 - There were tornado warnings, heavy rain, and lightning early this morning and rain and lightning all day today. We watched dvd's that John had recorded from cable earlier. The rain finally let up enough to take a walk around the campground late this afternoon. Most of the sites are occupied by Airstreams that are apparently here for a club outing (nice choice of dates.) We will be staying close to the weather alarms on John's cell phone and the weather radio tonight for a repeat performance. We will head down to the restrooms again if there is treatening reports. We will be very happy to see an end to this rain. 

Saturday, March 28 - There were no tornado warnings during the night, but we were under a watch and John received many, many messages from weather.com on his phone. Finally, about 2PM the storms passed and the sun came out. We took a nice walk and a hike on one of the paths near the boat ramp. It was great to be able to get out without the unbrellas. Wendee and John joined us to watch "It's me or the dog" on Animal Planet tonight. We think they picked up some ideas on handling their dog, Slider. 

Sunday, March 29 - We stopped at the "Coffee House" in Niceville for a very nice breakfast, then went to the First U.M. Church for a contemporary service. It was truly an outstanding worship experience. They have three contemporary and two traditional services as well as a wide variety of other ministries each week. We will surely return there when we can. We stopped at Wal-Mart in Fort Walton to pick up necessities and did some packing today. A couple who are campers here informed us of flooding on Walter F. George lake near Fort Gaines, and the closing of one loop at Cottonhill Campground, causing the other loops to fill with campers. We have decided to jump up to Whitetail Ridge in LaGrange, Ga tomorrow.