Camp Kamp

Took the RV out for a little shake down trip up to the Buffalo National River here in Arkansas this past week.   Fortunately this river was hardly affected by the rain unlike the deadly flash flood in south western Arkansas.  Our River rose about 4 feet over night with swift currents.  This is a major floating river in Arkansas.  We are planning several more trip this year and needed to find out if all systems were working properly.  A little problem with the pressure switch on the Jabsco water pump but fortunately we had an older one with a good switch.  All systems worked well.

Sleepless night at LL Stub Stewart State Park. Left Portland today to travel around the NW for the Memorial Day Weekend. Man I needed to get away. Work has been a bitch lately. Never ending work. Well, I am away from that and exicted about traveling. I will be meeting my good friend Don at Anthony's Home Court this weekend. What a great place! Dan and Wayne I look forward to seeing you.

Hello Rainbow RV!

My partner of seven-plus years, Dustin, and I have had many exciting adventures.  I've often thought about documenting it or sharing it with others per the suggestions of friends and family along the way.

At one point, a few film students out of LA asked to travel with us to observe our lifestyle and share our "ostentatious" attitude along with the benefits and challenges that brings to one.  That was related to an idea of purchasing a small beach resort off the Northern Coast of Venezuela on Isla de Margarita (Yes, Jimmy Buffet's Margarita Island).  As things progressed, and after meeting with the Venezuelan Consulate in San Francisco; our illustrious President W.T.F. Bush and Chavez stirred up a pissing match and we opted to seek out the perfect location for 'something' here in the states.

I was born and raised 5th generation Southern Californian mostly in the Big Bear Mountain region, and Dustin - a barn raised organic Coastal Oregonian... we had many considerations to keep in mind in order to find the perfect place that we both could call home.

I met 31-year old Dustin when I was 21 and working as a Systems Designer & Business Analyst for an insurance software development company in Los Angeles, he was working his way up an Electrical Engineering Firm that specialized in high-voltage electrical testing for data-centers and power plants in the area.  Our relationship grew, our love for one another innate, and within one-year we were living together in his centrally located historic home outside of LA.

Hi y'all.. I just took some good pics of my "new" motorhome this morning, before the rain set in. It's been warm and humid here, rain off and on the past week. I've not made the progress I was hoping for regarding the waxing, tune up, oil change, etc. There's been alot going on around me with work, sending my parents on a cruise ( I put them on an airplane this morning at 4:30..), company coming in from Florida, etc. In the midst of it all, I needed a break, so I took off to see my new hunny over in Galax, VA. for a day. Wonderful guy, I don't know where he's been hiding all this time, but ecstatic we have gotten together... wish us luck ! LOL ! I hope this finds everyone well, and I will write something more substantial in a couple days.... till then ! Keep a song in your heart....

Well we finally took the plunge.  Closed on the sale of our business(28 years)April 19th.  We are now in a three month transition period which will mercifully end soon so we can get on with the real business of retirement.  We are planning a trip thru Tennessee over to South Carolina, Georgia, Missisippi to visit family around the end of July.  This should be the start of the next great aventure.  So far so good.  Have the motorhome in tip top shape.    Just puchased a new HP laptop with the verizon MIFI since we both have laptops.  George is in the MAC camp.  There are advantages to both.  We can use all the support/information you guys can give us. 

Wish us luck!

 May need some help on the "BLOG" thing.

Steve and George

Roy just let me know about a new promotion we are going to be running, so I wanted to share it with everyone. I think it is really important for us, being the new kid on the block to build up a long term clientèle, so we are offering year leases starting at $1295 for a little while. If you are looking for a place to try out in South Georgia, give us a try !

 Freddy ________________________________________________________________

  - We want you to be a part of our family at Roy's Hideaway!! We understand how important full timers are to a campground and we would love an opportunity to show you what we have to offer here at Roy's. That's why we are offering a very special discount to new long term guests who sign annual leases !!!

 We often have Potluck Suppers, BINGO and movie nights, or you can enjoy the solitude of your own site ! Take advantage of our amenties like our clothing optional pool & spa, fishing lakes and more Year Round !!

Nobody and I mean nobody can deliver, Blues, Gospel and Jazz like the one and only "GEE" Tomorrow night our clubhouse will be transformed into "Gee's Juke Joint".   

Gee (Gordon Michaels)  arrived yesterday and I spent the day setting up the clubhouse for rehearsal.  Frank is backing him up on piano and I sat in on guitar. I am going to play a few numbers with them in the show. (mostly the blues numbers cause I'm not much of a jazz player, but I am going to try Autumn Leaves). It was a lot of fun. I cant think of many things in life I enjoy more than playing with other musicians.  

It's a beautiful morning. I'm sitting in my living room naked with all the windows open around me, watching people start to mill about across the pond. I guess its time to get on my cart and make sure Gee has everything he needs and see about rehearsing again. 

I cant wait to see his show. He is an old school "entertainer" who knows how to work a mic and knows how to work a crowd. He is doing selections from all of his one man shows to give is the full "Gee" flavor . The show is called "Listen to My Heart". That reminds me I also have to make sure the cupcakes and cookies get made to serve during the show !!  Dorothy and Gee wanted to do that together later today. 

Its a good day to live at  gay campground, the pool should be hopping this afternoon. I always enjoy my time with Gee. He's funny and filled with sass and that southern "attitude". Give me a call or just cone on out if you want to join us. 912 225 3900 

I wrote an article on the front of the website about Tim Dennis and his adventures.  His stay here at our home in Romoland was quite curious because the entire time my gaydar kept going off.  My Tim told me that I suspect everyone who has an RV and  an extra $40.  That is not true, I recognized the caring unselfish qualities TimDennis had, and oh yea, the way he checked out the Jockeys who exercise horses at a ranch across the street from our house.  

Not long into the first day TimDennis revealed to me that he was a member of our club. Club? did he imply the Rainbowrv Camping club? or  is "He's a club member " some type of British idiom equal to our saying "she's family".  Well a quick check of the website gave me the answer however not as definitive as you would think.  Tim Dennis is a Rainbowrv member with the screen name  RambelingRat   .  Check out his profile and accept him as a friend.  I wish Tim all the luck with his adventure and work. We hope he will attend some RainbowRV functions while in the states and make many wonderful friends.

Here is a pic I took of Tim just before he left us for his trip to Montana. The Kilt doesn't even give me a clue, He's a Scot??  Interesting person for sure.

I am about to turn 40 in August. It's a time of reflection. Where am I ? What's important in life ? 
Somehow my journey has brought me from my hometown in upstate NY, to being a resident of New York City, to Nashville, and now here to ..... South Georgia ?  For the past 8 years I have been the organizer of a music festival celebrating the Bear community called Bearapalooza, it has taken me all across the country and 4 years ago it brought us to our first GLBT camp experience at Sawmill in Florida. Every year when we went there, I would tell my partner how wonderful it would be to live and work at a place like that. Well in 2009, Bearapalooza was booked at Roy's Hideaway, a new campground in South Georgia. Roy and I hit it off well and he suggested that my experience booking events in the community might be an asset to his camp and that this might be a good base of operations for my musical endeavors.  - I dove into the idea and my partner and I left Nashville behind. I don't have a lot of "stuff" and I don't have money in the bank, but I am rich beyond compare. I wake up every day and see the beautiful ponds, see the Canadian Geese, hear the bleat of our goats. I do my work outdoors by our beautiful pool and go swimming naked. I get to plan fantastic music events and connect musically with our guests. I meet wonderful people every day. I am a part of a family that cares deeply about making a welcoming safe place for GLTB people to relax and play. Roy, Eduardo, and Dorothy have made my partner Jay and I much more than employees and I feel we are all blessed to have this wonderful experience. Any endeavor like this will involve hard work, and some days it's a challenge, but I am fortunate to be here and to be doing what I am doing.  I want to share that with new guests and give everyone great memories.  I'm going to be sharing interesting things that happen to me, events I am doing here, pictures and more. I hope you enjoy it !!

 Freddy 

Hi y'all. Today was a BEAUTIFUL day here in east Tennesse... sunny, breezy, about 71 degrees. I was at work at 7:30 this morning, I had 3 appointments for new owner orientations.. an 8 a.m., a 10 a.m, and a nooner. This is the one part of my job that I truly love.. being able to connect with other like-minded people, share information, teach them about their new units and share some stores and laughs. So by two o'clock, I wrapped that up, and headed for our service area parking to continue waxing  "My Time". I named the motorhome "My Time", because I'm getting to the age where I say things like " I want to take My Time and go to".... or, " I'm taking My Time and .... so it seemed like a fitting name.( My previous motorhomes were named "Tempo" and "Tempo II", " Blue Baron", and Miss Fitz".) But I digress...... so I opened the windows and awning, put on some music, cracked open a Rolling Rock beer, and went to work. I'd hunted high and low for a good, easy to use product for removing the light, hazy oxidation and grub from a gelcoated surface. Everyone I talked to recommended GelGloss, so I bought a $6.49 can and tried it. All I can say is WOOOOOWWW ! I am EXTREMELY pleased with the results ! It's easy to use, smells good, and requires very little rubbing to produce a very sharp, glossy shine I've done about 28 feet of the door side, and the stainless steel wheel covers in about 3 1/2 hours. From awning rail down to the beltline where the compartment doors begin, and between all the vinyl striping. I will take pictures tomorrow and post here, and perhaps a video so you can see the results (If I can figure out how to do that..  I'm technologically challenged with such things..LOL ) I hope everyone is doing well and I'll write more tomorrow... keep a song in your heart !

The Goodyear GST614RST trailer tires have a max rating of 110psi cold inflation, which I have always kept them inflated.  A friend recently suggested that in hot weather driving I should keep only 105psi to give the tires greater room for expansion due to heat. 

I always thought that even at maximum inflation the tires are designed to handle the additional psi driving on hot roads.....trying to avoid blowouts and appreciate any advice on best psi.  Thanks, Peter

Hello everyone ( well, anyone bored enough to read this.... you know who you are ! ) This is my first attempt at "blogging", so bear with me until I get the hang of it.  Summer apparently is upon us here in Tennessee. Everything's come to life and starting to bloom, it's been HOT....and prime camping season is underway. As many of you may or may not know, I work for Tennessee RV here in Knoxville, and our season started about mid-March... as if someone opened a floodgate. It's shaping up to be a busy, BUSY summer.

 When I've been out "motorhoming" this past year, I've always used one of our stock units ( the Foretravel Grand Villa with the LOVELY lavender awnings.. hehehehe ) It really is a pretty coach, great floorplan, handled like a sports car.... and I just LOVE the smell of a Detroit diesel in the morning....LOL.  I've been motor-homeless for quite awhile now, as I never needed to own one while being in the RV business. It's always been in the back of my mind to buy again, but wasn't a priority. Until last week..... I bought another coach of my own. Nothing grand, just a 33 foot Seabreeze 133 Limited, by the now defunct National RV. I wanted to hold out for another Foretravel, as I've had several through the years, but this was too good a deal to pass. It has new carpet, upholstery, tires, belts, hoses and brakes. All the work was professionally done and the owners were very meticulous and spared no expense to make it a useable coach. Their needs changed, and they went into a triple slide Georgetown 374, because they're going to be full-timing.

So I made an exploratory trip to Timberfell Lodge, a gay resort about 50 miles east of Knoxville, so I could test everything out, see how it handled towing a car, check how it handled, listen for squeaks and rattles, etc. It performed almost... ALMOST flawlessly. I'm experiencing the "454 spark plug fade", as Eray was with his Airstream. I was expecting it, as I've had the 454 in other coaches, and quite frankly would have been surprised if it DIDN'T do it. So first on the "to do" list is a new set of plugs and Jacobs ceramic-booted plug wires.

I also need to add some vent covers, a sewer tank flush, an Ultra Guard, a light above the electric step, and later in the summer, new A/C shrouds... ( they're intact, but old and prone to blowing off going down the road ). Camping World has a high-volume vent fan, much like the MaxxAir fan, except this fan, called a Vortex, replaces those little dinky bathroom fans. All you need to do is remove the interior bezel and screen, remove the little tiny fan from the vent opening, make your 12v electric connections, and screw the fan into place. There's no need to remove the roof portion of the vent and break it's seal to the roof. I'll let you know how the install goes when I get it done. I'll try and get pictures of things on here too. I alone am not that fascinating, so I have to rely on pictures..LOL

I'm hoping to use this blog for such things, and to tell about our group outings as well as my own misadventures. I once went out to have the LP tank filled on the motorhome and didn't return home for 6 weeks, but thats a story for another time ! Until then, keep a song in your hearts..Mike

I had a wonderful time in Julian with the group.  Glenn W always puts on a great event.  The road up to Julian is two lane for the last 60 miles and changes elevation about 4,000 feet. At the top, Camp was a brisk 48degrees when it was warm!  Temps got down to 31 but the warmth of the group kept out the hypothermia. 

Tim and I  pulled the new RainbowRV Van Behind our motor-home.    On our freeway part of the trip it was fun to get thumbsup from passing community members who understood the color scheme and term " PRIDE " to imply 'Gay and Lesbian family member driving'.

Larry of Northern Cal who made the 10 hour trip to be with us  in Julian took a bunch of photos . here is one of our group taken during the warmest hour of the entire trip

  I am looking for a way to post them in the chapter group page or some other manageable tool for site enjoyment and critique.    This new member author tool will help share the fun we all have every time a chapter gets together. Hopefully other members will update their adventures by blogging On RainbowRV 

Well.... Our  Club Website is built using a new sum of 18 programs to help organize and protect the data.  One of the issues we have with adding user features is I build the site first on a test platform at TimGreg.com then test it on this server at rainbowrv.com/dev1.  after every thing works out,  I then copy it over to this live side.   When I update and add features I often work on several tools at a time . This week I installed our simple classified program and our members blog program. thanks for your patience and look for video's on how to  host a Blog.  Blogs are fun and a cool way for you to share travel experiences and helpful hints with friends across the country.

The image below  was taken in our backyard, how gay can you get, check back and I'll show just how gay it does get.  I first need to prune the roses

Greg

BlogBlog Blog

I hope the changes help

Mike