Been a long time since we rock and rolled.....After our last outing in May, June and July were jam packed with non camping trips....NC, TX, Fort Lauderdale, VA, & GA.    Then school started and well....too busy to camp.    Luckily this year no hurricanes for us although some other folks didn't make out so well....

The coach had only been out for a trip around the block after it got anew chassis battery 2 months ago.  I pulled it out earlier in the wee and ran up yo BJs to get gas and a battery for the wagon.  Its about 11 miles each way and about an 8-9 mile interstate run, so a good check out drive before a trip.  She ran like a champ.

Friday, I finished work around 3:30 and as I preloaded my week with some extra hours slammed.o I could beat rush hour out of town.   My daughter got home from school and her friend came over and the three of us were on the road by 4:30.  We beat traffic in the nick of time as any later and the interstate would have been slammed.

Two hours driveway to park gate with no stops.  It was dark for an hour already but the coach is quick to set up (plug in and hook up water).  A cold front was coming but a lot slower than usual.  I had thought Fri night would be rainy so I didn't bring a ton of wood.  As it turned out it was pleasant and breezy

Inaugurated the new Pineapple LED and the spinning disco light on the telescope tripod.  First time I ever cooked pasta and meatballs in marinara sauce on a camping trip, but it was quick and easy and the teenagers loved it.   Had a nice little fire and I knew ahead of time the approaching front would make astronomy impossible.

Tommy got his drink on in the coach after the fire died down and we went to sleep as we were booked onto the 8:30 buggy ride. 

Woke up and rousted the girls up.  On the way over to the ranger station they called to say the impending line of showers was going to be bad and cancelled the buggy ride.  I knew arguing was useless so we rode the bikes a few miles up to a spot that usually has gators.

As it rained the night before, there wasn't any dust which was nice and only a few puddles along the way.

One of 4 wild turkeys we saw near the ranger station.  Over the course our stay we saw over 20 this trip.  THe sun came out for a bit and so did the alligators!

This guy on the bottom pic is the same one with the pair of eyes at the top.  He was the biggest around 9ft.  More and more of them started hauling themselves out to sun and warm up. 

This cardinal landed in this tree about 6 ft away and was checking us out.  I pedaled away and missed these deer that came within feet of the girls.  It was a long pedal back and somehow Naya got a flat tire.  Luckily she only had to push the bike half a mile...

 Back at the camp site, the crows decided that candle wax was fun to poke and eat.  My friend Mike also has a 23' GMC and lives an hour from the park.   As others were supposed to come and couldn't he came over Sat afternoon for the night.  Finally the line of showers came (2 hrs after the end of the cancelled buggy ride so we'd have been fine).   

I watched it advance across the prairie and packed up all the chairs then watched my daughter and her friend not pay attention and then have to run 100 yds back to the coach leaving a bread crumb trail of UNO cards that were falling out of their blanket.  I was entertained.  It ended up only raining for 10 minutes and then there were more turkeys right outside the coach.

A few min later Mike arrived and we were twins!

Those paying close attention will notice they are different despite the fact they are both 23's and yellow.  Ours is a rear bath, where his has a bed in the back.  Lot's of other differences too but these too look more alike than many of them.

Shortly later Lucy arrived as you can notice the T-bird in the second shot.  We cooked a steak dinner over the open fire and while the front was mostly through the high clouds didn't clear so it looked like we wouldn't be able to use the telescope.  Around 11PM it just cleared up in a hurry so I dragged it all out and set up the scope.

Mike had gone to sleep right before the clouds cleared but I was only going to wake him if we found the comet.  Unfortunately the quarter moon was really bright and before it set, the dew set in so I had to pack up the equipment as I don't have heater strips to keep the scope warm....

Sunday morning we were going to have pancakes, but everyone slept really late and Naya had to cook on her homemade stove that worked pretty well.  The stuffie patrol watched from the coach as she cooked up bacon on a steel can.  Mike packed out pretty early and we weren't too far behind....or so I thought.  It took 2 hours to pack everything up and dump the black tank.

Sandhill Cranes 

Seldom seen GMC stalking prey on the prairie 

The girls saw more wildlife and went geocaching with Lucy.     I picked them up and we rolled home with no issues, landing back at the house around 3:15PM.

Cleaned her out and gave her a quick hose down to get the mud off, then back into space dock until the next mission.