RE: General coughing and rousing

[RTurner]

 Red neff Barchetta
Hey Jeff,
 
 Sounds like a great trip coming up.  With all of our home chores (backyard, concrete and planting) we won t get away until Tahoe.  September is so far away.
 
 On the musical note, have a great time at Iron Maiden and Dio.  Dio holds a place in my heart because I saw him way back in 1984 (with Whitesnake as opening act) and had a big party after!  We already got our tickets for the November Y &T show in Petaluma (going Sat night).  Wish I could go to the Meniketti show in August but Paso Robles is a long ways to go for a concert.

[SactoCampers]

 Red neff Barchetta

 

Brian -
 You ll appreciate my next concert you fellow 80 s dude you;
 Iron Maiden & Dio, lol.  A couple buddies and I are going to check it out.  Should be a trip.
 

 No, I wasn t a Rocker. I was still a young pup in the early/mid 80s and the rockers smoked, so that scared me. I was into the 80s MTV bands.  That s right, Duran Duran, the Police, Def Leppard, etc. That picture of AC/DC on the highway to hell album gave me nightmares as a kid, I was 6 or 7 when that came out. I was into music at an early age, but remember, you ve got a few years on me. [].
 

[Red neff Barchetta]

 oldmoose
Brian -
 Wait just a minute there!  I don t remember smoking that green stuff that you would hang up in a closet to dry and then carefully cut away the seeds and stem.  Then crush the remaining leaves and roll it compactly into a thin cigarette or put it in a little bowl of a pipe and inhale a large amount and then hold it in your lungs for as long as you could stand it before passing out from lack of oxygen.  What makes you think I would know anything about such ill repute?!  Nope, don t know nuthin  about it.  Just like I don t know anything about playing records backwards or stuff like that.
 Btw, I always liked the Police and the first 2 Def Leppard albums.  You re on your own with Duran Duran.  You might want to keep that quiet you know.
 
 RTurner -
 The Y&T gig sounds like fun!  Are they playing with Montrose again?  That might just get us down there.

 Red neff Barchetta
Hey, duran Duran is cutting a new album/CD and are on tour in the UD.  All you bay area types, have you been Montalvo in Saratoga for a concert?  The DW has been having 70 s withdrawls and Earth Wind and Fire are in concert there.
 
 Campinggeek
 AKA Jon

[SactoCampers]

 Red neff Barchetta

Wait just a minute there! I don t remember smoking that green stuff that you would hang up in a closet to dry and then carefully cut away the seeds and stem. Then crush the remaining leaves and roll it compactly into a thin cigarette or put it in a little bowl of a pipe and inhale a large amount and then hold it in your lungs for as long as you could stand it before passing out from lack of oxygen. What makes you think I would know anything about such ill repute?!

 Actually, I was talking about cigarettes, [], but whatever. I don t know what you re talking about with the other stuff [].
 
 

You re on your own with Duran Duran. You might want to keep that quiet you know.

 Don t try to act like you were above Duran Duran back then. Everybody was into Duran Duran. I m man enough to take it. Sudden case of amnesia?
 
 Jon,
 
 I read about the whole DD group getting back together and touring on CNN.com. I m quite surprised they made it through the 80s. They re probably the only big band that did. Well, except for Motley Crue.

[Hybrid Holly]

 oldmoose

Jeff Beck and BB King were amazing if anyone cares.

 Neff, I want to hear more about it.  I saw Jeff a few years back...maybe 14 years ago...ouch....anyway, it was awesome.

[griffsmom]

 oldmoose
The first great love of my life was a guy I dated in college who was from santa Rosa.  I used to fly up to his house on Christmas and summer vacations and just spend time with him and his family.  One year, we went into the city to see the Tubes.  You remember them don t you?  " White Punks on Dope"  and " Talk to You Later" --that sort of thing? [][]
 
 FWIW, we ve got tickets to Eric Sardinas with Blues Gone South at the House of Blues in August, and then REM at Hollywood Bowl in September.  Now if I could just go to another Dave Matthews Band concert and Oingo Boingo would come out of retirement for Halloween, this year would round out nicely! []
 
 PS Brian--I m a product of the eighties as well and loved " Double D"   I still have quite a few of their albums, alhtough Ihighly doubt I ll be seeing them in concert this time around.

[Red neff Barchetta]

 oldmoose
Lori -
 I wonder if you dated one of my friends, ha.
 There was a period where all we listened to were The Tubes, Oingo Boingo (I have a cd of " Only A Lad" ), Agent Orange, and the hot new band The Red Hot Chili Pepper s, etc...
 Man, the 80 s were a weird time, lol.
 
 Btw, Eric Sardinas is terrific live!  Have fun.

[Red neff Barchetta]

 oldmoose
Well, everything is put away and all I can say is; What an amazing campground and w/e!!!!!  French Meadows is so amazing that you forget quickly about the serious bit of driving for 35 miles at or under 40 mph between Forest Hill and French Meadows.  If my cg rating system was based on one of Spinal Tap s amplifier s, French Meadows would be turned up to 11.
 This is the best cg and experience we have ever had!  Crystal clear skies, water, and air, breathtaking views of both french Meadows and Hell Hole reservoir s, a cg which was only 25% full, warm reservoir/lake, great hikes and exploring, relaxing, quiet, the water spigots are even threaded so you can fill up the first 26 gallons with a hose upon arrival, perfectly working PU, raided by a bear last night/this morning, but all he wanted was some baby carrots while I was armed ridiculously behind the flimsy plastic PU door with a fire extinguisher and panic button for the TV, lol, great find of an even emptier cg called Big Meadows near Hell Hole reservoir, relatively flat cg loops for bikes, one night of fresh high Sierra light rain, Wait!!  Forget I ever said anything.  This place is horrible!!  Don t anybody go there.  You ll hate it!  Wish I had never gone!!  Yeah, yeah, that s it, what a wasted w/e!  Don t bother.

[Hybrid Holly]

 oldmoose

I was armed ridiculously behind the flimsy plastic PU door with a fire extinguisher and panic button for the TV, lol,

 Did Amy get a picture of this?  That would be a great sight!
 
 It sounds so awful that I think NNC should go check it out!

 Red neff Barchetta
You re suppose to lock that food up at  night.....if it isn t bears in the sierras then it s racoons at Mackerricker.
 
 Sounds like a great time.
 
 We re try out a new spot this w/e.  Spicer Reservior up off 4.  I ll let you all know.
 
 Campinggeek
 AKA Jon.

 oldmoose
Good Morning from Vancouver Island!  What a gorgeous place.  We are staying with friends at Quaicum Beach and today we will all go out to the western shore to camp for a few days.  
 
 Kevin: Funny you should mention going 55 on 880.  There is none of this 55 with trailers business in OR or WA or BC.  So Lon has to keep his eye on me as I am the one that tends to drive too fast.  He is especially vigil now since we discovered that I apparently have lost my liscense somewhere along the line.  We went to cross the board and I went to find it...no there!
 We have seen several starcrafts and Jayco s and even a twin Viking, but have not seen one  Coleman in Canada.  Odd huh?
 
 Mike:  no problem with the ferry.  It is $$$$; but they make it very easy.  You will love this part of your trip.
 
 Jeff:  Congrats on the new girl in the family. Girls rule; boys drool.
 
 Larry & Rita:  Sadie keeps jumping out of the car at campgrounds and looking around for familiar faces and doggie friends.  She is so funny.  We are now with our friends who have the 6 month old Border Collie ( which I thought they said was an Austrailian Shepard)  Any way they are sooooooo much alike.  They have become great friends.  She is Sophie []
 
 I don t know when I will get to a computer again, so wanted to see Hey, to all our friends at NNC and PUT.  We are having a ball.  
 
 Hugs to all
 

[OC Campers]

 oldmoose
I just wanted to say hi, it has been awhile since I have posted here.  
 
 We are headed up to Bridgeport this weekend for our annual fishing trip.  We will be there 8/9-8?17.  I don t know if anyone is planning a trip up there that weekend  but if they are we are staying at Paha.  Would love to have visitors.
 
 Jacqui

[Red neff Barchetta]

 Guest
Dianne - Sounds like you are having a great time!  I think Oz scared away all Canadian s from buying Coleman s with his roof thread, lol!  We sure were happy with ours last w/e during the rain.  Nice to know I will NEVER have a leak coming through my one-piece roof (especially since we don t have a/c).
 
 Holly -
 No, Amy didn t get any pictures, but they would be pretty funny.  She was probably more calm than I was.  We put each kid in the middle of their beds without waking them up and we got to listen to the bear chomping on carrots.  It was actually pretty cool!  We were more worried about people in their tents than ourselves.  About 20 minutes later we heard yelling and a car alarm across the cg at another site.  That evening we had taken down the screen room like we usually do the night before we leave to speed up popping-down.  I think the screen room was a deterrent for the bears the previous 3 nights because I guarantee they checked out our site every night.  Just part of mountain camping.
 
 Jon -
 The bag of carrots were left in the netted area in the underside of the cooler lid.  The bear was actually pretty gentle in getting the carrots out of that area.  He didn t even rip the netting.  I was impressed.  The rest of our food was either in the fridge (the gallon milk mod. worked great btw!) or locked in the TV (with the windows rolled completely up) covered with a blanket.  Thankfully, we had wiped off the outside stove and I had emptied the grey water tote before we went to bed.
 Have fun this w/e!
 
 One other site we saw which made a huge impact on us (as opposed to just reading or hearing about on the news) was our drive right through the heart of the " Star"  fire scene between the 2 reservoir s on National Forest Road #2.  Thousands of acres burned to a crisp.  Very stark and the landscape is totally scarred.  Complete devastation.  The ironic part is that the only area s which are being re-seeded are a few acre s that are privately owned.  All of the national forest areas affected (about 95% of the area) cannot be re-seeded thanks to nature activists who got a law enacted that says nature must take care of itself.  Well, they never thought about forest fires (this one was started by 2 morons getting stoned) and the need to turn the soil and re-seed.  Now this area will remain stark like that for at least 20 years before the soil will repair itself enough for things to start to grow again.  This fire was centered in a canyon (with Red Star ridge on one wall) where the winds shift back and forth every 4-5 hours so the fire was constantly getting agitated back and forth so the fire truly burned everything to a crisp.  Right to the core of the trunks of the trees.  The soil is like a glassy film right now.

[Ab Diver]

 Red neff Barchetta

Well, everything is put away and all I can say is; What an amazing campground and w/e!!!!! French Meadows is so amazing that you forget quickly about the serious bit of driving for 35 miles at or under 40 mph between Forest Hill and French Meadows. If my cg rating system was based on one of Spinal Tap s amplifier s, French Meadows would be turned up to 11.

 (snippage)
 
 

Wait!! Forget I ever said anything. This place is horrible!! Don t anybody go there. You ll hate it! Wish I had never gone!! Yeah, yeah, that s it, what a wasted w/e! Don t bother.
 

 Wow, a Bipolar, Schizophrenic camper. No wonder neff fits in with this group so well. []
 
 So, Mr. Barchetta... where is this place of wonder and disgust?
 
 (gollum, gollum)