Who Wants To Try a DIS-Meet At Gulf State Park In May-June 2016?

[Flametamr]

The lego guys look about right.

 

[tiggerdad]

This might be a "during" picture

 

[Teamubr]

And then there's this:

And this,

j

 

[Teamubr]

Obviously S.AL.5er and Tiggerdad with their hands up. Mean while, Ed and I are quietly standing there acting like pine trees.



j

 

[tiggerdad]

Speaking of SouthAlabama5er and myself, we got us a small Dismeet starting tomorrow at Foscue Creek Campground. We'll be there through Tuesday. We'll post some pics and adventure tales as they develop.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Nev-R-Adjust?? How the crap do 3 tires have Nev-R-Adjust brakes and one has standard manually adjusted brakes?

I can see how this could happen, It must of been installed on a Friday and they were one Nev-R-Adjust brake short, so they just throw what ever they had laying around on there, I guess be lucky you had any kind of brake at all on that #4 spot. Quality control on a are is a joke more or less, the service tech at the dealer where we bought our 5er from, told me "there's not enough money in the world for him to own a camper. Problems are all they are." That says a lot about the attitude of working in the RV industry.

 

[Flametamr]

Anything put together with staples will never stay together when it sways going down the road. The trim inside my Open Range it literally popping off. And not to mention the lovely crack in the dicor I found on my front seal. Same exact place my last camper leaked. Now I get to wait and see if water got in and the mold starts. If I didn't love camping so much and believe life is too short to not enjoy I would never have bought another large camper.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Obviously S.AL.5er and Tiggerdad with their hands up. Mean while, Ed and I are quietly standing there acting like pine trees.

Haha, it would probably end up something like that!

 

[tiggerdad]

Randy and I have settled in on the banks of the Tombigbee river. Our wives went to a local family owned pizza parlor and came back with so many pizzas that the manager closed up early for the evening.

I managed to have a tire on the rear of the truck start to come apart on my trip over. Nothing like changing a rear tire on a truck with a camper hooked up. Oh well, it is what it is and nobody was hurt. By the time we both got setup it was dark so the group of us built a fire and tried our best to eat the mountain of pizza. Then we discussed things such as flooded rivers, barges, how I was planning on financing everybody's trip to GSP, Randy's recent trip to the Fort, burned marshmallows, and things our children have done and survived.

I'll get you some pictures tomorrow.

 

[bama_ed]

I do a good imitation of a pine tree Jim. Bama Ed

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

It's been a great weekend here on Demopolis at Foscue Creek CoE Park with Michael and his family, another great DIS meet, Bama_Ed would be proud,

The view from our camper towards Michael's and down the Tombigbee River towards Demopolis Lock & Dam.

We rode around to the other end of the park at the Dam, very cool. I think the river crested this weekend 15 to 20 ft above normal.

This campground is very nice and quite if you like peace and quiet, this is it. No cable, phone service is ifie, but the sites are nice, very roomy, playgrounds for the kids, pently of bike path, we will be coming back here, it's not the Fort but it is in my personal top 5 campgrounds.

Of course being on the river yoi get to see so tugs and barges up close, so close you can talk to them as they pass like I did last night.

This one passed by as Tiggerdad and I (more him than I, I was just the support staff) was frying up a Cajun style turkey in his new electric turkey frier. It was pretty darn good too.

This tug passed by last night as we sat out by the fire talking about Disney, trucks, kids in the world today, ideas on GSP pranks, Disney and their FP system, Bama_Ed, campers, the Behind the Steam tour, Teamubr (what is that guys first name?), world politics, ice cream maker, the other topics on the DIS, planning a trip to the Fort together sometime soon and SQUIRRELS! (Of course)

I'll try to get some more pictures of the campground and share today.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Ohh yeah, the good news is so fat there's only been one hiccup.... check our Michael's cool looking spare tire on his truck.

 

[tiggerdad]

Should have been there for the roadside tire changing.

Speaking of the turkey, here's a little before and after.




Notice the slice taken out for Randy and my sample.

Got several pictures. Will wait until we get home Tuesday to post them up. Weather been great so far.

 

[Teamubr]

It's been a great weekend here on Demopolis at Foscue Creek CoE Park with Michael and his family.

Looks like a great trip. The barges on the river and being able to camp that close is pretty neat. Looks like a great weekend.

Teamubr (what is that guys first name?)

Ha, ha... That's kind of funny. I have never hid it, but I guess I never say it either. Ed knows. If you've ever had a PM from me, you probably know because I sign them with my name. A hint is in sig. I've used a lower case "j" on every board I've ever been on... Back to the Prodigy and GEnie days.

We also had an impromptu campout this weekend. My wife's aunt died and the funeral was in southeast Missouri where there is literally nothing. The town the funeral is in (where DW's dad grew up) has one old motel that doesn't look very good and no other hotels for an hour in any direction, but there were a couple of state parks within 30 minutes. Weather was supposed to be 60s during the day and 40s at night so we took our new "hotel room" and stayed at Johnson's Shut-ins State Park. After the funeral on Saturday, we decided to sightsee some more and stayed until today.

Missouri has some really neat geography. The shut-ins are a narrow rocky section of a river. Johnson's Shut-ins has a long recreational history. There is another state park pretty close called Elephant Rocks. It is an area with huge granite outcroppings that you can climb around on and some nice hiking trails.

Here's the campground. There were a couple of other campers in, but it was mostly empty. They don't start running water and have anything open until April 15.

I did get a chance to break in the grill that came with the new 5er.

Here's the shut ins. Not only is this in a narrow canyon, but the river has eroded down to the hard volcanic granite leaving these formations in the river.

A couple from Elephant Rocks.

And a rare one of me.

jim

 

[Sundancer330]

This tug passed by last night as we sat out by the fire talking about Disney, trucks, kids in the world today, ideas on GSP pranks, Disney and their FP system, Bama_Ed, campers, the Behind the Steam tour, Teamubr (what is that guys first name?), world politics, ice cream maker, the other topics on the DIS, planning a trip to the Fort together sometime soon and SQUIRRELS! (Of course)

Since Randy has the ice cream makers would any of you GSP campers be interested in some Dole Whip mix to bring a little Disney to the party. You can serve it straight for the kids or add some rum for an adult beverage. PM me if you are interested.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Well we made it home, had a great time with Michael and his bunch. I left Michael with the squirrels,

I know this is what everyone had in there mind, he was in his zone so I got up and quietly left him to do what he does best.

 

[bama_ed]

And a rare one of me.

jim

He Man MOUNTAIN Climber. Good picture, Jim. Nice to put a face with a name.

Bama Ed

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Teamubr, that looks like a pretty nice place to stay, if we ever venture out that way I will have to check in to staying there.

 

[perdidobay]

Though maybe some of y'all would be interested in this news since you visit Gulf State Park fairly often.
This is from the Orange Beach Community website via Facebook:

Mr Gulf State Park Hugh Branyon Dies at 77

He started with Gulf State Park nearly 60 years ago when it was a small, sleepy, undeveloped area -- no pier, no lodge, no trails. He retired as 33-year park superintendent in 2009. Now, Hugh Branyon has gone to that great park in heaven. __Jim Zeigler

Here is a 2009 Press-Register piece by Guy Busby:
GULF SHORES, Ala. -- More than 50 years after he started work at the site as a teenage summer worker, Hugh Branyon will retire after 33 years as director of the Alabama Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores.

Branyon said that in that period, he has seen the park go from an isolated facility with a few visitors to a site that attracts about 250,000 campers a year. The Gulf State Park, at 6,500 acres, is the largest park in the state system.
Branyon, 70, will leave the post at the end of December. He has worked full-time for the Alabama park system for 47 years, including service as director of four other parks and state maintenance director.

As maintenance director, Branyon helped oversee the construction of the Gulf State Park's fishing pier in 1967 and resort hotel in 1974. He directed the repair of the facilities after Hurricane Frederic in 1979 and their demolition after being badly damaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

The pier was replaced earlier this year. Branyon said state officials are still working on plans for a new resort hotel.

Branyon is also Southwest District superintendent for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources State Parks Division, overseeing five other parks.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Thanks for sharing that perdidobay, that cool it started out as a summer job and stayed at it his while career.