RE: April Rally

[Nick]

 gsm x2
Have a safe trip Scott on Georgeann, we will see you all tomorrow night.  We wont leave S Vale till about 5:30PM so it will be late.  Good thing is Dave is leaving earlier and going to tow my PU down for me so when I arrive I ll be all set up.[]
 
 Surf,  gonna miss you not being there.  Without you or Larry I ve got no smokin partners.[>:]

[6Quigs]

 gsm x2
The Food update is not a Pot Luck
 it s a Pot Organised....?
 
 Have fun everyone,
 We ll be thinking of you as we spend the week camping by the beach

[Chez Way]

 g-whiz

See you at seven. Of course G-Whiz has the final call on whether the shot winds up in the scrapbook or in Webshots. She can be plied with marguaritas or good wine.

 Georgeann--
 How about a tasty Cadillac marguerita?  The bar will be open tomorrow evening.
 
 

[oldmoose]

 gsm x2
We re probably not going to get out of here until 1 PM. FYI, I have some lights and stands for the tables. I m also throwing in a couple of tarps, just in case. The car is partially packed and the frig is cooling in the trailer. I m ready to cook.

[griffsmom]

 Chez Way

 

ORIGINAL:  Chez Way
 
 

See you at seven. Of course G-Whiz has the final call on whether the shot winds up in the scrapbook or in Webshots. She can be plied with marguaritas or good wine.

 Georgeann--
 How about a tasty Cadillac marguerita?  The bar will be open tomorrow evening.
 
 
 

 The blender is packed and we ve got all the fixins for Margies too! [8D]
 
 

ORIGINAL:  Old Moose
 
 We re probably not going to get out of here until 1 PM. FYI, I have some lights and stands for the tables. I m also throwing in a couple of tarps, just in case. The car is partially packed and the frig is cooling in the trailer. I m ready to cook.

 
 We re going to try to leave around 8:30 a.m.  Hopefully, traffic will be light and we ll get there around 1:00 p.m. or so.  The last load of laundry is drying, the camper s packed, and the fridge is cooling here too!  Btw, if you re ready to cook, Moose, I m definitely ready to eat!![]

[Cottonwooder]

 griffsmom
My gosh, we re packed and C wood is down and ready to be hitched up!   This is the closest we ve been to a quick getaway!

[Chez Way]

 gsm x2
Baked some cookies (not tossed) and they are cooling.  Sounds like everyone is psyched up for the weekend...we are all pretty excited here.  I m off work at 2:00 tomorrow, will pick up the kids, get home (hopefully Chez Way will be ready to hitch up, dh is handling the final packing) and then we are on the road.  The drive is about 3--1/2 hours from our house so hopefully we will be there by 7 for our photo op!!!  YEEEEHAAAAA!!!!!!!

[Cottonwooder]

 Chez Way
Just realized that we ll be totally cut off from the news while camping.  At the rate things are happening in Iraq, that country will have morphed several times by the time we get back on Sunday afternoon.
 
 It s 2am and I m only just now going to bed.  That s what Bible reading while watching CNN does for ya!

[griffsmom]

 gsm x2
Well, Dave s getting ready, and Griffy and I are packing up the ice chest.  I think we may actually hit our 8:30 getaway time!!  First time ever!!![8D]
 
 We re looking forward to seeing old friend and making new ones at the rally, []and we ll miss those of you who are unable to make it!! []
 
 Take care, hold down the fort and chat with you on Sunday!!  We re going camping![][][]

[Cottonwooder]

 griffsmom
You ll probably get there before us.  Nearly 10am, and Mike is only now going to get propane, ice, and gas.  Karen still needs her bath.  Thank goodness we re already packed!  Cya later!  []

[Surfcal]

 gsm x2
Well,  what can I say except that at the very last minute I decided to attend the Great SLO Escape Rally.  I left San Francisco at around 9:00 pm on Thursday night and after a couple of wrong turns (due to bad directions around Arastradero & SLO) I ended up arriving at the campground at 3:00 am.
 
 Needless to say, I arrived at a whole campground fast asleep, but it did wake the Millers and they told me I scared them.  Scott and Georgeanne were both wondering why some lunatic (perhaps a dude from the nearby prison) would be driving around the campground at that hour and then leave.
 
 I left their area to pay for my spot.  And by the time I came back around, I saw two figures in the dark stealing away to the bathroom and who else could they have been, but no other than Scott and Georgeanne.  Soon, Scott brought me a beer, a vintage Scott gesture that has become quite familiar since I tend to arrive in the middle of the night and he does that every time!
 
 It was great to see a bunch of folks from the Southern area of the state.  SLO was truly a great selection as the site.  It took the folks from the LA area as much time as it took the NorCal folks to get there.  So taking everything into consideration, it was equal opportunity.
 
 As usual, Nick-Neff-Cough (and by the way, the Southern folks have gladly and honorably accepted to be called Nick-Neff-Cough members too) rallies have proven once again that although faces may change, campgrounds come & go, but the one thing you can count on is, tons of food, a lot of laughter, ceaseless neighborly conversations and above all, the bonds of friendship that become ever so stronger.
 
 I was only there for a day and a half, but in the short time I was there, the rally had seen its share of heart cloggers being served by the Nikoleys, delicious DO cooking by oldmoose and blueberry by Naomi.  I brought a package of Hostess cupcakes (the chocolate with the white squigly stripe on top) and the kids devoured it.  Why they choose synthetic stuff over real cooking is beyond me.
 
 Friday night, a group of us went to a local spot, the Bayside Cafe and had a ball.  We even got another group at the next table Rabble Rousing.  We are in the preliminary plans of organizing a rally in Italy with that group.
 
 After that, upon arrival at El Chorro campgrounds, it seemed that by then, everyone had arrived or were in the final phases of setting up and getting things together.  But as the night wore on, more beers and drinks were consumed and people were visiting each other from pop-up to pop-up, sort of like bar hopping, but Nick-Neff-Cough style.
 
 All in all, a great time, but by the time I was leaving, there was a chill in the air and there seemed to be a storm approaching.  We re just going to have to wait and see what they report.
 
 So, for this rally, I Pulled a Sacto, then I Pulled a Reverse Sacto.  I also Pulled a Surfcal, by leaving early again.  I also took a spot the first night that wasn t mine (and really didn t mean it), and I arrived late and woke everyone up again.  And I also did a peculiar thing, I didn t even bring my pop-up.  I just crashed out in my truck.  Wow, kinda went the minimalist route.
 
 And, to all my newfound friends from SoCal, it was very nice to meet you.  And Stimpy, glad to have another member for the northern section of Nick-Neff-Cough.  To SimiRich, it was great you joined Nick-Neff-Cough for the very first time.
 
 Man, those rallies are the best things going.  It was again, a blast.
 
 I ll see you all on the boards soon enough.
 
 Surfcal
 

[Red neff Barchetta]

 gsm x2
Cough -
 You are my hero!
 You will be presented with a 12 pack of your favorite brew for your awesome 3:00 am rabble rousing!
 Thanks for the review.  Glad to hear it was going well when you left.
 Did you at least deploy your awning on the side of your truck?

[Surfcal]

 Red neff Barchetta

 

ORIGINAL:  Red neff Barchetta
 
 Cough -
 You are my hero!
 You will be presented with a 12 pack of your favorite brew for your awesome 3:00 am rabble rousing!
 Thanks for the review.  Glad to hear it was going well when you left.
 Did you at least deploy your awning on the side of your truck?
 

 Yep, in fact, that was a hit.  I had a lot of people come by to party down under the awning.  At one point, there was Nick, G & GSM, Griffsmom & Griff s Dad and DuaneFamily Momma and I under there.  It felt like some sort of underground/after-hours bar.  It was real cool.
 
 And since I had to clear out the truck bed for sleeping, most of the stuff I had in the back, all the coolers & those Action-Packer cases had to go up on the roof tied down by a cargo netting, the truck looked like I was on a Safari.  And as a capper, I brough a real bike this time and that also went up on the roof.  It was pretty populated up there.
 
 I d forgotten how cool it was to camp that way too.  I definitely felt like a free spirit.
 
 Surfcal
 

[gsm x2]

 gsm x2
We is home.  Our popup is on the street getting rained upon.  If we can just have it stop raining for 45 consecutive minutes, we ll be able to get it put away dry.  If not, we ll resort to Plan B which is to offer cookies to our Carport Nieghbors so we can use three spots to open, dry, and put away our camper.
 
 Ray s reditition was always accurate as far as it goes, which is 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.  Here is " the rest of the story."
 
 After Ray left, most of the families went off on various adventures.  With wine tasting, elephant seals, nine mile hikes, beaches plus Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo, there were lots of places for them to go.  Georgeanne and I and a few others just hung around the campground waiting the potluck.
 
 Unfortunately, the rain couldn t hold off any more.  Would that deter the NNC-NEPH-COFF from having a jolly good time???  Of course not.  Word to the wise:  Invest in Dutch Oven stocks....after the feasts that Moose prepared, the stock has to go up.  Lots of other excellent food also.  Happy Birthday to Bonny and three types of dessert left us all stuffed.
 
 The rain did dampen the spirits some and soon after 8:00 p.m., most the campers were tucked into their respective Lodges on Wheels.  The thought for the night was, " Heck, rain is one of the reasons we have popups instead of tents."   So bring on the rain.
 
 Rained most the night, but stopped in the early morning.  There was in fact a window of opportunity to dry a popup and get it down.  Griffsmom and Griffsdad (and possibly Rick) seized the window and got away early.  No one else was as fortunate. The rains came, came hard and didn t let up.  Suddenly Bonny and Lute s motorhome looked pretty nice.
 
 We got away at 10:00 a.m., had light traffic considering the rain, and were home about 1:00.  Once again we had a small window of opporutnity to pack away dry, but once again missed it by about 20 minutes.  I am afraid now that the front is HERE.  We ll get it away one way or another.  I ll be interested to hear how everyone accomplished it.
 
 I am putting 154 pictures on my hard disk.  G will grab some of them for WebShots.  See you later,
 
 Scott

[g-whiz]

 gsm x2
All I can say is AWESOME time, even in the rain!  I ll post the pix later after we eat some reheated chili!