What’s camping and racing without a special logo for the Jayco Camper.  Here’s the final cut that will be put on the camper and Gosh Knows where else this year.  Kansas, Michigan and Atlanta here I come.

So if you drive north out of Demopolis , Alabama you’ll find some unique art in a field about 8 milesoutside of town.  I drove over to take some pictures of bails of hay that spoke no evil, heard no evil, and saw no evil.  A tinman towered above the hay to stand watch.  A sailboat, a few miles from the water, sailed on a sea of hay.  I found this on the web, “Jim Bird doesn’t fancy himself a poor man’s Picasso, but he’s built quite a reputation by making hay out of hay. His reward isn’t monetary. It’s the exposure he’s gotten locally and around the world as a result of his hay bale architecture during the past 15 years. Motorists driving along U.S. 43 between Demopolis and Eutaw in Alabama’s mostly rural western Black Belt region do a lot of double-takes as they gaze over at Bird’s pastures to see all sorts of strange critters created out of the bales. You name it and he’s probably made it or thought of making it—from a Betty Boop bale to a spider, a caterpillar, Atlanta Braves cap and even a boat “floating” above several bales that represent waves.”  You kind of have to be looking to find this, as there’s not a lot of anything else in this part of Alabama.

 You can read more about this man in Dem,opolis and his art here!

Well, let me tell you.  If you want a great camping location, the Foscue has got to be it.  Now I was in site 49, which sits right along the Tom Bigby Waterway in Demopolis.  The best sites on the ground are 49, 50, 51 & 52 which are right on the waterway.  Lots of river traffic to see right from your fireside location.  Now the rest of the campground winds around the creeks on the site.  It’s all very nice, with winding road great for walking or riding your bike.  Full hookups for just $20 a night.  I understand the park went thru a redo in the last two years.  Now, one thing I was surpirsed was the lack of places to get firewood.  Gosh, back in Opelika every supermarket and several drug stores have wood out front for sale.  Not in Demopolis.  There is a Hickory wood mill up the street from the campground that will sell you a load of wood pretty cheap, under $30 from what I understand.  Of course, I didnt’ find that until I was leaving.  I did find some locals that will deliver a half load of wood for $32.50.  Duwane and Courtney deliver to the campground, but I’d be sure to ask if some of that wood is split.  Their truck was broken when I called, so I got a load of wood from their yard.  You can find them at 334-289-4035. 

I was probably more familiar with the term “Snowbird”, but according to some folks we sat on the front porch with on Sunday, the regulars of the river call them loopers.  It could be because many make the trip down from Ohio and Tennessee to the Gulf of Mexico and then around Florida up the East Coast.  First light on the river this morning showed only a light mist hanging over the river.  Not the heavy fog of the past few days.  Apparently a large number of folks that own the really nice pleasure craft have stipulations in their insurance policy that they cannot go below the 33 Degrees North until after Nov 15th or the end of Hurricane Season.  A couple from Ohio told us to expect a lot of Southbound river traffic in coming days.  It looked like six or eight boats went thru the lock first this morning as a group.  Sorry, I barely got my pants on to look outside, let alone find the camera.

If you live in Auburn and get on Higway 14 and head west, then keep driving until you almost run into Mississippi,  you’ll be at the Tom Bevill Lock and Dam Visitors Center.  It was a shorter trip up from Demopolis today.  The Visitor’s Center (unfortunately) is closed on Saturday and Sunday, but we parked and walked around the closed gate and wandered around for a few pictures.  If you’ve never seen a old paddle wheel “Snag Boat”, they have one in permanent display.  It’s the Montogomey.  Unfortunately, since 9-11, the Army Corp of Engineer’s doesn’t allow easy access to the lock area.  Before that you could watch the operations of boats coming and going from the locks.  Now you have to be back a bit.  This visitor center allows a pretty good view of the top pool.   After this it was off to a nearby marina, then up the Warrior River (well along side by car) to yet another lock and dam just north of Tuscaloosa.   Grabbed some wings and a coke (that’s right no Sunday Beer sales here) at the Hooter’s.  It’s one of my favorite family resturants.  I hope to take some pictures in a Hay Field tomorrow, unlike anything you may have seen before.

It’s about a three hour trip thru Montgomery and Selma to Demopolis.  And my eyeball estimates are that the nearly 180 miles were made with an average 12 miles per gallon pulling the camper with several boxes of firewood.  Along with the idea of total relaxation, I have a goal to shoot some video of the barges and other craft traveling down the Tom Bigby River.  I’ve borrowed a sweet Sony video camera, tripod and ready to shoot some HD movies for YouTube.  I’ll get some pictures post to this a little later in the day.  There’s a pretty heavy fog that I suspect has brought river traffic to a standstill this morning.  The Campsite, when I picked it was about 75 feet above the river looking down on traffic. However, the recent rains and brought river levels up so traffic will be eye level.  Friends from Opelika and Camp Hill joined me last night to burn thru about half the firewood and most of the beer.  There was also something with a brand name of Remy Martin, that also was a good fire starter.   More from Demop later.

Okay, I don’t really know what “I smell a camping weekend” really means.  However, I have house and dog sitters lined up for the weekend and I’m off to another Corp of Engineers campground for a weekend of burning logs, burgers and beers.  Okay, we don’t really burn beers, but may burn thru a few.   I’ll also do something new, show video of some of the adventure.  Rich Thomas has promised some nice weather, so I invite you to follow the adventure here in coming days.  (Picture is the not completed Camper Jerry Logo.  We’ve got to change some of the wording, but that log will follow the Jayco Camper on adventures in coming months!)

I could see the camper wanted to get out of the driveway over the weekend, so I drug it 85 miles to a Corp of Engineer’s Campground on the Georgia Side of the lake behind the Walter F. George Lock and Dam on the Chattahochee River. It’s the Cotton Hill Campground. Since I decided to tavel late, I just had to try my luck for a drive up site. Not to worry, plenty in this campground.  This is by far the nicest property I’ve brought the new Jayco camper.  The sites on this part of the campground are sheltered from each other pretty good with natural vegitation.  All paved level sites, with a prepared area complete with picnic table, grill, firepit and event a pole to hang your lantern. Down from here, two other areas, one with a white sands beach and some areas just for picnicer’s. I’ll download a few pictures into the flickr photostream in the sidebar to check out.

So, Kim noticed that my Jayco Feather Lite Camper had a sticker to mark 40 years of building the camper.  Well, Kim and Makita bought their Class C a few years ago, and it was built in 1998 with that same special sticker marking 30 years. Here we are camping at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

For me the adventure began on Wednesday, as I rolled into Family Camping at the Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) for a Nationwide and Sprint Cup race this past weekend.  It was great fun, both races were pretty quick, no major accidents (some didn’t like that part) and lots of good fellowship with friends and some new neighbors.  We’re not sure if we’re making it back next year, as we may plan another race and track, but our seats and camping area are perfect, and we’d hate to loose them.  You get the same area each year, but miss a year and it’s starting over time.     And by the way, next time you think I’m getting big headed about something, look at the heads on these guys.  Makes me look like a pin head.  Wait, that’s not good either.  Anyway, fun weekend and back to work on Tuesday.