Halloween at Clifty Falls

Roger here...  Better late than never.  We were supposed to meet our Indiana camping buddies at Clifty Falls State Park (on the Ohio River) on Thursday.  Due to a series of irritating, but not serious, setbacks (delay in finishing motor home, longer time needed to reload our stuff, trip to the grocery to put food in the empty fridge, and adding air to a couple of tires), we did not get there until late afternoon on Saturday.  

However, good times awaited us when we arrived.  Our friends were all there and enjoying each other's company.  I am not going to identify each person by picture, but Chuck, Cindy, Audrey, Pat, 

Jessica, Morgan, Kathy, Chris, Hannah, Linda, Linda and Linda were all there.  We had a great dinner of chili and hot dogs.

The dogs all had a great time, as well.  Lots of sniffing, wrestling, posing, and running.  Front to back:  Tequila, Bandido, Sophie, and Ranger (on the left).  Ranger and Bandido were so happy to have some off-leash ball chasing time.  Nice action-shot Dianne! (ball in the air, all four paws off the ground)

As the sun set, the jack-o-lanterns were lit.

And the costumes were donned.

Jessica with Ranger the Taxi

Audrey the Cereal Killer with Ranger

Sophie as a loofah sponge

Morgan and Jessica the illuminated stick people with Ranger (the photo hog)

Pat welcomed all the trick or treaters who wandered to the goodie table.  Pat cleans up well, does he not?

All of our friends left Sunday afternoon. 

Each of the rigs paid a visit at the "Chuck Gemmer Memorial Dump Station" on their way out of the campground.  Typically, facilities are not named after people during their lifetimes; however, I have a very distinct memory of this particular dump station and therefore reserve the right to name it after a living person.

This was the first place that I had ever dumped an rv's sewage tank.  It happened several years ago.  I had carefully studied the procedure.  I did not want to have a Robin Williams moment.  I was hoping that no one would pull up behind us because I did not want witnesses.  Then another rig pulled up.  Crap.  Then a car door opened and I heard, "Mr. Norris!"  Crap, someone who knows me.  Then I heard, "Look, it's my junior high principal!"  Crap, one of my students.  Soon I was shaking Chuck's hand and talking with his son, Brian, his wife, Cindy and their neighbors.  

Fortunately, the dumping proceeded without incident.  During the process we talked about spring break and months later ended up going to the same campground on the Florida panhandle.  Since then we have camped (and kayaked) together many times and the group expanded to include Pat and Audrey, Jessica and others.  

So, this particular dump station is much more than it appears to be.  It is a monument to the formation of our camping group. :-).

We had planned to stay at Clifty Falls a couple of more nights after our friends left, but when we discovered that severe storms were forecast for our probable destination in Tennessee, we decided to stay for two additional nights.  Dianne had fun burning the rest of the firewood that Pat and Chuck left behind.  Update... the storms hit north, south, east and west of us.  It was a long night, but we evidently made the right decision.  We are currently parked in western Kentucky, hoping to visit the Verizon store in Paducah tomorrow.  

I always told my kids and my students to never look directly into the sun.  I don't think that is a problem today.  It is time to begin the journey to south Texas where the sun is brighter and the temperatures warm.  Time to trade the maple and oak trees for palm trees.  

The pet picture of the day shows Tequila checking out our new digs as we watch the approaching rain on the Weather Channel.

The End