Memorial Day Reports Here ? :)

[robpoe]

I'll start.  27 scheduled in our group for Memorial Day.  2 PUP's, 1 Hardsided TT, one toy hauler, one RV, 3 tents.

Got setup thurs night (it's worth the $16 for the elec site to get the whole CG set up IMO).  Got here Friday night, looked at the radar and there were storms in Western KS.  (We're east of Topeka, at Perry Lake).  

Buttoned everything that we could down, about 2:30 it started raining.  At 4:00 it started RAINING.  And blowing.  And MANY MANY lightning flashes and close booms.  4:30, I started feeling "drip, drip, drip" coming from the canvas above my PUP bunk cover.  The hole -- which has been duct taped for 3 years... Wasn't any longer.  (The hole is about the size of a quarter.  Only had a good constant drip.  

Iassic (friend's 8 y/o, who wisely chose to sleep with me in the camper, instead of in his mother's tent - which ended up being a river) woke up and told me his blankets were wet, which they were.  I gave him mine (of course), and he curled back up in the non-wet part of the bed.  I pulled a plastic drawer out of my organizer and put a towel in it (avoid splashes) under the drip.  Curled up in my mostly dry other blanket and (tried to) sleep for another 2 hours or so.

Rained until about 8 ..  Don't know how many inches we got.  The lake rose between a foot and two (I'd have to go check my logs that I keep on the lake level that I download from the U.S. ACE site) to tell you how much it REALLY rose.  

Breakfast (MMmmm.. French toast, eggs, sausage egg and cheese muffins!).  For lunch we went to the local gas station that makes pretty darn good pizza, then found a laundromat (the other one we used to use .. is .. gone).  On the way back we stopped by the spillway.  They're draining 10000 cubic feet of water per second.  That's 74500 gallons.  WOW!  Pretty neat.  I've seen more (36000 CFS) before, but 74.5k is pretty huge too.

Finally the sun came out and I gorilla taped the holes on both sides of the roof.  A better repair will happen in Camp Driveway.  

30-40% chances of rain between now and Monday.

Laptop battery running out, so I'll sign off and update later .. as things progress.  

--
Rob

[MJohn]

I'll start.  27 scheduled in our group for Memorial Day.  2 PUP's, 1 Hardsided TT, one toy hauler, one RV, 3 tents.

Got setup thurs night (it's worth the $16 for the elec site to get the whole CG set up IMO).  Got here Friday night, looked at the radar and there were storms in Western KS.  (We're east of Topeka, at Perry Lake).  

Buttoned everything that we could down, about 2:30 it started raining.  At 4:00 it started RAINING.  And blowing.  And MANY MANY lightning flashes and close booms.  4:30, I started feeling "drip, drip, drip" coming from the canvas above my PUP bunk cover.  The hole -- which has been duct taped for 3 years... Wasn't any longer.  (The hole is about the size of a quarter.  Only had a good constant drip.  

Iassic (friend's 8 y/o, who wisely chose to sleep with me in the camper, instead of in his mother's tent - which ended up being a river) woke up and told me his blankets were wet, which they were.  I gave him mine (of course), and he curled back up in the non-wet part of the bed.  I pulled a plastic drawer out of my organizer and put a towel in it (avoid splashes) under the drip.  Curled up in my mostly dry other blanket and (tried to) sleep for another 2 hours or so.

Rained until about 8 ..  Don't know how many inches we got.  The lake rose between a foot and two (I'd have to go check my logs that I keep on the lake level that I download from the U.S. ACE site) to tell you how much it REALLY rose.  

Breakfast (MMmmm.. French toast, eggs, sausage egg and cheese muffins!).  For lunch we went to the local gas station that makes pretty darn good pizza, then found a laundromat (the other one we used to use .. is .. gone).  On the way back we stopped by the spillway.  They're draining 10000 cubic feet of water per second.  That's 74500 gallons.  WOW!  Pretty neat.  I've seen more (36000 CFS) before, but 74.5k is pretty huge too.

Finally the sun came out and I gorilla taped the holes on both sides of the roof.  A better repair will happen in Camp Driveway.  

30-40% chances of rain between now and Monday.

Laptop battery running out, so I'll sign off and update later .. as things progress.  

--
Rob

Man just wanted to let you know I've been there. We have a new camper now but had a used one with seveal problems the previous owner "forgot to mention".  Hoping the rest of your trip is dry.
                                                            MJ

[robpoe]

Rest of the trip was really enjoyable.  We were scheduled to leave tomorrow, but the weather started looking serious again, the attendants came over and freaked everyone out with talk of tornados "in the area" -- I'm not a meterologist, but weather is a hobby of mine.  I saw nothing like that, just huge rain dumpers - (and the gust front which I'll talk about in a sec).

I actually saw a doppler indicated tornado before National Weather did (about a month or so ago) -- by about 4 minutes - of course they were looking at a storm 80 miles north of the one I saw but I digress

I saw a gust front coming out of the storm line, and some back of the napkin calculations said 40-65mph .. (it was about 45)

My friend's wife (who occupy the PUP with me on trips) got freaked out and decided she was leaving.. Since my friend helps a lot with setup and break down (and he has the truck with the hitch - my new TV doesn't tow yet) we left too.

It's still raining at the CG, the PUP is folded down and not getting wet (rain forecast for all day tomorrow too, we'll go tomorrow and get the PUP.  Other than a little moisture from the A/C unit on the canvas -- it's at least not soaked.

It'll still get popped up here, I have a bunch of little maintenance items todo on them.

All in all, great trip!

[harleywolf]

We usually make a point not to camp on Memorial Day weekend simply because here it is the most camped weekend of the year. Most of your

[miss kathy]

We usually make a point not to camp on Memorial Day weekend simply because here it is the most camped weekend of the year. Most of your

[ForestCreature]

my dad found they had dumped margaritas all over his TV.
 

OMG !  that's alchohol abuse! :yikes:

We camped at camp driveway at FILs with the family...the rowdy people there just would not go away!

[PattieAM]

I too have grown away from the holiday weekend camping trips.  But, this year I almost camped the weekend....took the PUP, my daughters washing machine and her dog and mine and went to her new home at Ft. Bragg, NC...I'd found a place to camp (not a campground) at Art's RV Sites in Fayetteville, so I met up with my daughter on Bragg Blvd., and we went to Art's, set up and then left her truck and took mine with washing machine and dogs and went to her house on base - by her driving my truck, no delays for search!  Unloaded/installed the washing machine, she got her dog settled, and we had a nice dinner, then back to Art's for her truck and I enjoyed my PUP.  Art has 12 sites in his back yard, 10 of which have full hookup, two were power/water (in the process of receiving sewer).  The sites are about a block off a major commercial road - Skibo Road, but there was little road noise (other than some jack... yokel in the development 'peeling out' near Art's driveway at 10pm).  I utilized my Passport America membership, so nightly fees were only $12.50 with no restrictions!  And, only a 10 minute drive to base.  My daughter works about 3 blocks from Art's, and her hours are 3-11am....so it worked out great...she'd swing by when she got off work and we spent time together - one day at her community pool, another some brief shopping and sightseeing (trying to figure out which roads went where), had a nice dinner out, and the morning I left, we had breakfast out.  Very enjoyable trip - with lots of rest....and quality time with my daughter and her husband.

[Shredder]

We usually make a point not to camp on Memorial Day weekend simply because here it is the most camped weekend of the year. Most of your

[Mike Up]

We usually make a point not to camp on Memorial Day weekend simply because here it is the most camped weekend of the year. Most of your