10/01 - 10/08 Jellystone Park at Birchwood Acres

The Last Hurrah

91 miles - 2¼ hours via route 17

A beautiful sky traveling over the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge

A pleasant drive with little traffic

Sites are spacious and very spread out with concrete patios.

Water/electric/sewer connections are placed to the very

rear of the site Sewer connection not always lower than

your discharge connection.

Site 519 - Roberta

Site 521 - Tony/Doreen

Site 523 - Johnny

Site 525 - Charlie

"How bravely Autumn paints upon the sky

The gorgeous fame of Summer which is fled!

Hues of all flowers that in their ashes lie,

Trophied in that fair light whereon they fed..."

From 'Sonnet: Written in a Volume of Shakespeare"

by English poet Thomas Hood (1799-1845)

It's jacket/sweatshirt time. A high of 66 and a low of 45 is all we're going to squeeze out of this, my last week of camping. Include a chance of rain each day and you've got camping on a different level. Some love it, some are ready to head south. Then there's me! I've always marveled at what Mother Nature has to offer each day. My feeling is, if I'm alive and well to witness it, I care less what kind of day it is. T'aint nuttin' anyone's gonna do about it, so sit back, go with the flow and enjoy it.

Then there's a very small but audible babbling brook along the back perimeter of all the sites on my side. I'm in the site where it all empties into a sewer grate. If my windows were able to be left open at the sound would be wonderful.

We each contributed to make sure we had enough.
Thank you, Johnny for picking them up.

With only three of us in attendance the first night, the usual duties of others (Jack, Tony, Larry) had to be taken on by each one of us. I replaced Jack with setting up the campfire; very difficult: paper, kindling, logs.

Johnny replaced Tony as....

...fire starter.

Roberta replaced Larry providing the "firewater,"
though not as potent as Larry's homemade delicacies.

No matter. We were warmed twice.
Real honey liquor infused with Kentucky straight Bourbon whiskey

Now's the time to put the steak on the attached
grill while the wrapped and buttered potatoes
are laid on the coals. That didn't happen but
isn't it nice to think about?

It's Halloween Weekend here at Jellystone with a big influx of 5th wheelers coming in for the weekend. Kids, bikes and noisy barking dogs all set to enjoy trick or treating, parades and scary presentations by staff of the campground. Yup and there's that one, you know the one, that little one who screams at almost anything and who has a pitch so high she'd shatter crystal. But she's having fun and that's what it's all about. As they're all young families, you know they'll be gone by Sunday noon because of the "W" thing mommy and daddy have. That includes Johnny who will leave Sunday morning before Tony and Doreen arrive Sunday afternoon after spending time at their grandson's soccer tournament in Jersey.

We set the bait (and filled it a second time)....

...and they arrived.

Our own private contest was to guess how
many little people would be stopping by.

Roberta and I were way too low with numbers under 40.

Johnny was the best at 100 and thankfully,
he had purchased enough candy to handle them all.

We were impressed at how may "older" kids actually
said "Thank you" without being reminded by their mother.

This is John, the landscaper, in the site opposite. He was right in there with
his three kids chalking up the road (that's a Mickey Mouse outline he's working
on and....

...rigging up a couple of "tow vehicles" to parade the kids around the campground.

Disney fans for sure

That evening's meal was special. Roberta prepared a HUGE casserole dish of lasagna which could have served the campground. Along with her sausage and Johnny's salad, we feasted and will enjoy with Tony and Doreen probably for the rest of the week. Oh, did I mention there was cherry pineapple dump cake with whipped cream for dessert? No? Then I won't.

Magnificent!

The following day, Sunday, as expected, our section emptied out and Roberta and I awaited the arrival of the remaining members of this week's group.

Tony & Doreen arrived Sunday afternoon. The
after dinner fire terrific as usual.
We finished the lasagna, a bottle of red and...

...enjoyed the blueberry torte Doreen
brought.

We had terrific campfires each night to ward of the dampness
and chill of the night. Timing was perfect. We said
our good-nights around 10:00 pm and once inside
my RV, the rains came and continued into the next day.

By weeks end, we burned it all. Yes,
even the large crab apple log from
Tony's backyard. In the morning,
all ashes.

With not-so-nice weather; a rainy, drizzly, chilly day outside for the next two days, we were driven indoors to the cozy comfort of Tony/Doreen's Class A rig, spacious and comfortable. To complete game play, they forced me into their beloved games. FIVE of them to be exact. Ugh....Ever hear of Mexican Train? It's Dominoes in disguise with rules that dwarf the Congressional Record. Anyway, proud to say as a first timer I showed superior tactics and strategies and came in fourth place. Tony came in a dismal next to last; Roberta, second from last and Doreen a more respectable third from last. They were good sports.

Pegs and Jokers

Quirkle

Rummy Cubes

Sequence

I did some "sprucing up" thanks to Roberta and her "just happened to have some" remnants that she cut to size and placed on my entry steps. Colors matched quite nicely as well. House batteries located under the top step are still accessible. Thank you, Roberta.

Bubba Burgers one night and
corn chips, refried beans, melted cheese and
salsa another night. Thank you Roberta.

Thursday morning breakfast. Doreen's three
cheese, onion and potato frittata... 

with my English muffins and crispy bacon.
Terrific way to finish off the week. Tomorrow?
Pack it up and hit the road by noon.

My stats for the 2021 season:

Campgrounds Visited - 8

Days RVing - 88

Miles Traveled - 2,510

Gallons of Fuel Used - 194

Average Diesel Price per Gallon - $3.162

Amount Spent on Fuel - $617.58

Average Miles per Gallon - 13

And so ends my eighth RV season. It's been terrific and I have these blogs/diaries/journals, whatever you'd like to call them, to remind me of the places, people and experiences I've enjoyed alone and in groups. For others, I have my "wish list" itinerary for 2022. All campgrounds are reserved and paid for. The one-nighters require full payment, the long stays have deposits. I hope to enjoy it as well. 

WINTER 2022

SUMMER 2022

Thanks for joining me this RV season. See you in January of 2022 for Season Nine and remember,