Wahoo Rally - Townsend, TN 11/1 to 11/4/07

We attended our first T@B rally the first weekend in November. We had read and heard from others who had attended rallys in the past how much fun they were. The rally took place in Little River KOA in Townsend, TN just a hop, skip and a jump from the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. There were attendees from NC, SC, GA, VA, AL, NY, WVA, TN, IL (a total of 15 T@B trailers and one T@B wannabe). A great time was had by all! We toured each other's trailers on Saturday morning and made note of many interesting as well as functional modifications T@Bbers have done to their trailers. Saturday evening we enjoyed a potluck dinner. This may have been our first rally but it definitely won't be our last. We made many new friends whom we look forward to seeing again! Following are some random pictures from the rally and some fall scenes from Great Smokey National Park. Enjoy!



Bob and Shirley's Great Graphic


Saturday Morning T@B Tour (it was VERY cold)


Our Campsite Along the River


Little River (almost dried up)


Another View of Our Campsite



T@B Row - there are at least two more that are hidden from view



Bob and Shirley's Kitchen


Matthew & Rebekah From Asheville


Our campsite neighbors-Diane, Jill & pups


Jerry, Cheryl and Mackenzie


Group Time Around the Warm Fire


We warmed up every night (and morning) around Geo and Liz's fire


Geo & Liz's T@BMahal



Beautiful Fall Colors in Smokey Mt. National Park


Cades Cove



Of course this is not "our Bob"



Gorgeous fall colors





We spotted a T@DA on the way home at the Elkmont Campground. (It's a new, bigger version but certainly not as cute.












Where's the T@B?



On the way home we stopped along the Blue Ridge Parkway to take some pictures.











The End

Outing #2 to Mountain Stream RV Park, Marion, NC (9/26-9/28)

Our second outing in T@Bouli was a short trip to an RV park near Marion, NC. We made some new T@B friends there (Sharon and her sister Becky) whose Splash T@B is visible in some of our pictures. We had a great time, but have promised ourselves that our next trips will be at least three-night trips. Mountain Stream RV Park is located near Marion and is about 5 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our site backed up to a rocky stream - the sound of the water was so relaxing!



This was the view from our campsite - a beautiful mountain stream!


Bob working on dinner - chicken in foil, broccoli and fried leftover sweet potatoes. It was delicious!


We hiked to the top of this peak - Crabtree Pinnacle - it was not as high as it looks.


This was the view from atop Crabtree Pinnacle.

This trip was not planned - we went on the spur of the moment. Wow! It's fun to be retired! Bob made B&B reservations in Glendale Springs, NC and Floyd, VA (both on the Parkway) a few months ago (before we bought the trailer) to celebrate my 60th birthday. Back to the Blue Ridge but T@Bouli stays home this time.

Maiden Voyage - Trip to Hanging Rock St. Park (NC)

We took our first trip in our new T@B this week and had a great time! We went to Hanging Rock State Park in NC. There were only five other campsites being used when we arrived on Tuesday and only two others by the time we left on Thursday. On Wednesday we had beautiful weather and hiked up to Hanging Rock. The hike was described in the brochure as "moderate." We decided that if this hike was moderate, we would not take any strenuous hikes on this trip! After lunch, we hiked to the Upper Cascade Falls only to find a trickle of a waterfall (due to the drought). Today, before we left for home, we hiked to the Lower Cascade Falls and found a lovely waterfall.

Last evening, the ranger stopped by to see how we were doing and asked if we had any questions. He commented about Bob's t-shirt (Eno River) and said his sister, Jenny Nygard, had designed it. It turns out that his mother was Margaret Nygard, one of the founders of the Eno River Association and a long time advocate of making the Eno River a state park. Thanks to her efforts and others, the Eno is now a beautiful, stable river with many parklands from Hillsborough to Durham, NC. Margaret Nygard was a hero for conservation efforts on the Eno.


The view from the top of Hanging Rock was spectacular.


The drought has affected the waterfalls - but the Lower Cascade Falls were worth the hike!


Here is Bob preparing breakfast.


Susan making homegrown tomato sandwiches for lunch.

All in all we had a great first trip in our T@B. On the way home, we were already planning our next adventure. More to come!

Introducing T@BOULI, our 2007 T@b that we purchased in July. We towed her home to NC from FL in August. We had originally planned to stop at a campground along the way, but with no AC and the temperature in the high 90s to over 100, we decided to stop at a Hampton Inn instead. We did enjoy the interest several people showed when we stopped at rest stops and for the night in Brunswick, GA.

We have been "outfitting" the trailer and tried her out in the driveway (slept in her a couple of cooler nights, sat under the awning in the morning with a cup of coffee, etc.). We're excited about taking her out to Hanging Rock State Park next week for a few nights. We've enjoyed cooler weather lately and hope it sticks around. More to follow after our first camping experience with T@BOULI.