Wednesday, October 16 thru 29, 2019, Move to and Stay at Clark Creek, North, Acworth, GA

We moved from Clark Creek South to Clark Creek North, the other side of the water and a nice even 1.0 mile (95,365.1 total). We made our reservations online with no problem but we received a knock on the door from the county parks administrator a few days into our stay. He told us the two separate Clark Creek campgrounds were considered one and we were not supposed to stay more than two weeks in the park. He allowed us to finish our stay but wanted us to know we could never do it again.

The fall color was starting to show and we really loved early mornings when the water was glassy and fog was lifting into the cool air.

Finally, the leaves were changing. The fog on the lake was an added bonus.

Our friends, Della and Barry from Washington State, were making a grand loop around the country in their motorhome and were in Savannah, GA. They had some open time in their schedule and drove all the way to Acworth to spend a few days in our campground. Barry helped me get acquainted with our gas grill (the very first time I used it). The weather was nice as we enjoyed good food, good friends and a crisp autumn afternoon/evening around the fire ring until some drizzle drove us indoors.

What a great meal with great friends! Della is an amazing cook and Barry seems to be an accomplished grill master.

Meanwhile, as Joani, Sara and Jon worked on the bathroom walls and tub tiling I was hard at work taking care of sweet little grandbaby.

28 days old

40 days old

43 days old

Are you noticing a pattern?

She's dreaming of sleeping on Grandpa's belly while napping in her Boppy.

Friday, October 4, 2019, Happy Birthday Jon! Alpharetta, GA

Jon decided he would like to have his friends over for a "Taco Night" on his birthday. Joani and I hosted parties many times where everyone enjoyed building their own plate with beef and chicken tacos and all of the sides. We spent the afternoon prepping and quite a few of Jon and Sara's friends joined us for an evening of food and fun. I wish I could remember everyone's name but there were over 15 people and we stayed busy feeding the masses so I will not even try to list them all.

Below you can see Sara, her father holding sweet baby girl, Hannah behind the lens snapping pictures and Sara's brother Joe taking pics with his phone.  

Sweet baby girl stole the limelight at Jon's birthday gathering.

The "other" grandpa (see, I can share baby time) seemed mesmerized by sweet baby girl. I know Ira and Mary are just as thrilled to be grands as we are.

16 days old

Grandpas are just made for napping.

Happy Birthday, Jon! (Daddy 1.0)

Everyone ate their fill, topping it all off with one of Jon's all-time favorite sweets, Chess Bars. We had to call my mom for the recipe. Joani did not remember just how easy the deliciously decadent treats were - they were a hit with only one wrapped up and saved for Jon the next day. I think everyone had a great time especially the new dad!

Thursday, October 3, 2019, Happy Birthday Kate! Kennesaw, GA

When we offered to take Katie out for her birthday she opted for one of her favorite Indian restaurants. I had the spicy Chicken Vindaloo. The owner seemed a bit worried that my dish would be too spicy but it was just right. Kate and Mike chose some milder vegetarian dishes and Joani had Chicken Masala. Since it was a weekday and we were dining very early we had the restaurant to ourselves.

Kate had taken an interest in woodworking and wanted to set up space in the garage as a workshop. We talked about ideas and looked over workbench options. She sketched out some plans and we headed out for lumber. I had Kate do most of the cutting and assembly so she could get familiar with her tools. She did a great job!

You want a plug on the wall behind this one...

...no problem!

With the workbench assembled, ample lighting installed and custom-built storage shelving, Kate was looking forward to getting started on some of the many projects she had been thinking about.

Happy Birthday, baby girl!

Wednesday, October 2, 2019, Move to Clark Creek South, Acworth, GA

On the plus side, moving on a regular basis meant the coach didn't sit too long and my driving skills got a little bit of a workout. Today's drive was not long, a mere 3.0 miles (95,364.1 total) along some narrow, winding back roads that barely brought the engine up to operating temperature.

Our site in Bartow County's Clark Creek South campground was very nice. Level and shady and a close walk to a nice bathhouse. The only negative was its proximity to Jon and Sara's house - about 30 miles. I had to count one day and almost wish I hadn't - there were 64 traffic lights on the drive to their house. Some days the traffic was not too bad and the drive was only 50 minutes. Our worst time, during the dreaded rush hour, was an hour and 45 minutes.

As soon as we arrived and I saw the kids and grandbaby all thoughts of traffic vanished.

 By day 22, our granddaughter had learned that grandpa's belly was made for napping.

She has grown 2.25 inches in her first month.

Sunday, September 29, 2019, Move to Holiday Harbor Marina, Acworth, GA

Our plan of park hopping two weeks at a stay was interrupted when we were unable to secure a reservation back at any of the Lake Allatoona Corps of Engineers parks over the weekend, so we had to fill in three days at Holiday Harbor Marina Campground ($47 per night). The direct route would have been too much traffic so I opted for something a bit longer, 63.6 miles (95,361.1 total) that stayed on more major highways.

We were warned by our daughter (and reviews) not to expect much at this campground. They were right - the place was pretty run down (nasty bathrooms and muddy sloping sites) but sometimes you find yourself in a bind. I suppose the campsite shouldn't really mean that much when we were planning on spending as much of our days as possible with the kids. It did, however, hurt my sensibilities that this park was 3 times the rate we were paying at COE campgrounds - hopefully, we will never have to return to this campground.

Being new to grand-parenting, we were both soaking up as much "tummy time" as we could. At this point, there were a lot of unfinished projects we had volunteered to tackle but there was lots of time before we planned to hit the road (at least that's what we kept telling ourselves). I think Sam was remembering when he was the center of attention if I was reading that look on his face correctly.

12 days old already. Sleep is still her activity of choice (during the daylight hours).

Our friends Bill and Darlene spent their summer exploring the northern states and the northeast. On their way back to Florida for the fall/winter, they stopped in Atlanta and we were able to meet for lunch. It was great to see them and hear about their travels. We last saw them in April in Mesa, AZ and they had been to so many places since then.   

OK, the park might be a dump but sunsets on the lake were still nice!

Sunday, September 15 thru 28, 2019, Move to Bald Ridge, She's Here! Grandbaby's first week, Cumming, GA

Our stay in Georgia was scheduled to continue at Bald Ridge Corps of Engineers Campground on Lake Lanier near Cumming, GA. The drive was not long, 50.3 miles (95,297.5 total) but it was challenging at times. To avoid the traffic around the square in Cumming, GA we traveled a few back roads that had me nervous. One had a sign telling us no thru traffic was allowed and several times we heard low branches hitting our antennas and air conditioning units.

The drive was worth the effort. We had actually been here once before many years before full-timing but it did not look familiar. After thinking about it for a while and looking at old pictures we realized we were at the site right across the drive from our current site.

Bald Ridge is a fantastic campground with beautiful spacious and level sites.

Our Son and Daughter-in-law were scheduled to have labor induced on the following Monday the 16th, so being situated on Lake Lanier was much better (17 miles to the hospital-28 minutes) than Lake Allatoona (35 miles to the hospital-65 minutes).

Sunrise on the 16th - expecting a Grandbaby today! But the Powers That Be had other plans!

Everything is ready! So much more complicated than when we did this 38 years ago!

This monitor shows the contractions of three mothers-to-be in three different rooms. I'm not sure which one was Sara's.

I don't know about Jon and Sara but I'm ready! Oops, we are soon to find out, alas, not today, not yet. The tune for "Patience (Herbert The Snail)" is playing in my head as I recall this day.

Our granddaughter finally made her appearance on the 18th. Poor Sara! She went into the hospital very early on Monday morning and Sweet Baby Girl made her appearance nearly 60 hours later.

Our kids are leery of having pictures of the baby with a name and birth date on the internet (and rightfully so). Joani wanted to use the pseudonym ANnie sweetPea, but I guess she read my facial contortions as a "maybe not."

Just a few hours old in Daddy's arms.

Sara was amazing! After 60 hours (3 hours pushing) Sweet baby girl was born!

Just 1 day old and she already has Grandpa wrapped around her tiny little finger.

Mom, Dad, and 2-day old angel are ready to go home, but first, the hospital provided a "congratulations" meal.

A big yawn...

...and then back to sleep. It's been an exhausting adventure so far!

8 days old with Auntie Kate.

My brother Don drove my mom down from Tennessee to visit her latest great-grandchild (my nephew now has two little boys). They stayed for a couple of days and even spent their last night in the coach since it was conveniently on the way home. It was great to spend time with them!

We found a really great route to Jon's house that took as little as 25 minutes - I will certainly miss that as we struggle with crosstown traffic from campgrounds around Lake Allatoona.

Sunday, September 1 thru 14, 2019, Move to and Stay at McKinney COE Park, Acworth, GA

During our stay on the northwest side of Atlanta, we were able to meet a few times with our friend, Bob, to enjoy some wine and lively conversation. We visited Buzzy's Grill where I enjoyed a nearly perfect burger and great fries. We were able to visit Kate and Mike, only 8 miles away, several times and check out the new accommodations with their friend Josh.

We tried to find a conveniently located, long term park but we had no luck. Our fall-back plan was to make use of the many Corps of Engineers (COE) parks around the area. COE park regulations only allow 14 days (in a month) in each park so it was necessary to move from park to park every two weeks. If you follow the rules to a tee, you are only allowed 14 days on Lake Allatoona at any COE park. But when they canceled our reservations at Sawnee COE Park on Lake Lanier it became necessary to flaunt the rules to avoid moving from Walmart to Walmart for two weeks. They either didn't notice our infraction or didn't care. Either way, we got away with it.

Today was not our typical moving day.  Check-in at McKinney (COE) Park was 4:00 and it was only a few miles away so we couldn't start too early. Instead, we headed out for some shopping and a free day-after-birthday meal for Joani at Golden Corral. After we had our fill of sirloin steak and St. Louis ribs we were a bit slow about packing to move. It was a beautiful day and once we had all of Joani's rocks stowed we checked to see if our next site was empty. It was, so we raced over to McKinney campground, 6.3 miles (95,247.2 total) down a few narrow winding roads to our home for the next two weeks.

We settled into site 102 before noticing there was a dead pine tree with large limbs above our coach. Walking Sam, I noticed several more trees leaning precariously in our direction. 

I thought they would be a hazard if a storm blew through and the Ranger agreed so we were moved to site 105. There were no dangerous-looking trees threatening our coach but I noticed out our front window we looked directly towards a gravesite - I guess there's always something, right?

Mary, Wife of G. H. McKinney, a young woman that was born in 1832 and died in 1858. Fortunately, she was not haunting the grounds as far as I could tell so we were happy.

We didn't spend a lot of time in the park since we were here to visit with the kids and be around for the birth of our first grandchild. The days blurred a bit with projects keeping us busy at both Kate and Jon's places making the time seem to fly by faster than usual.