Update A Legal "mood Altering" Experience + Oz

Hi all,

I got the link to my first build pictures and discovered myself wanting to giggle and hop around kid like. Much wackier than the grins when I found out my first grandson was coming at the end of this January. His arrival beats the trailer by about a month and a half. The first grandchild of four to not meet my deceased wife (a year and a half ago). The giggles felt strange but good.

I already have grandkids calling dibs on Grandpa's bunks for Greyfox this summer.

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I googled the forum and tinycamper and found the only
uses of "oz" or "Oz" were for "ounces" or Australia, not as in the Wizard and Dorothy. Unless anyone knows of a Camp-Inn named for that Oz I plan to use the name. It actually popped into my head complete with three of the four reasons why it was MY raindrop's name.

1) Toto - we're not in Kansas anymore.
I grew up in Kansas (& saw lots of twisters) but have lived in Massachusetts for decades. I am also "not in Kansas anymore" when I cross the state line after a visit to Mom in KC.

2) Follow the Yellow Brick Road.
What is the color of the strip down the middle of a two lane highway? Yes I realize that one fits everyone but it seems to have become a personal exhortation.

3) Somewhere Over the Rainbow...
3a) We had a big fabric print of a braid made of rainbows in crayola-hued primary colors hanging in our entry until a recent remodel.

3b) I played "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in the marching
group I used to be in. That group increased my love of travel and sweetened the aroma of diesel bus smoke to me.

3c) To make a rainbow takes light and... Raindrops like my 560.

4) In a Robert Heinlein book (more fantasy than most of his SciFi) they travel to parallel universes in a flying car. One universe they visit is Oz. Glinda adds two bedrooms and a "powder" room tucked neatly in just behind the rear seats without changing the outside dimensions of the car. Now I can have an Oz bedroom tucked neatly behind the backseat of my car!

Seems like OZ to me.


Looking forward to March 11th with legal "mood altered" giggles.

Mark in Mass.

 

'Legal mood altering experience' is a perfect description. Enjoy the pictures as they come. Enjoy!

 

Congrats! Love the name and it seems a perfect fit for you!

 

I think OZ is yours!

 

Mark_inMA Great story and good luck with Oz enjoy the wait it will be worth it.

 

I marched in a drum corp back in the 60's and spent many a mile on the road. It was the most memorable time of my life …the things we got to see and do. To this day when I get a whiff of bus fumes I think "aaah, the good ole days", I don't necessarily giggle but it does make me …a lot!

Mark, sounds like OZ to me too …enjoy all that it will be for you.

aj

 

March 11th? A most auspicious date...MY birthday! Love the name "Oz" (the great and powerful). And when you come to the next CICO, please use a side tent so we can all say, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"

Great name. May the giggles last forever.

and....

Camp On,

Sue

 

Mark or anybody, what is the title of this book?
Sound like an interesting read.

Jean

 

aj,

Which corps were you in?
I was in a less well known corps in the Kansas City area called the Trail Blazers.
I was in from 5th grade (class B or junior corps in A SCHOOL bus) until I aged out in the early 70s.
Probably our main claim to fame was that we had the second place drum line at the Kansas
State Competition one of my last couple years. The drums lost to the Sky Ryders from Hutchinson
who won and went on to win DCI that year and I believe
a couple of other years before they moved to Texas.
The Argonne Rebels alternated winning years with them and also did well at DCI.
There were also a couple of other corps in our less populous state of Kansas.

I took my daughter to DCI when it was in Patriots stadium a few years ago.

Jenn,

I hope you are doing well. I admire your spirit and hope to see you around.

Sue,

Spamalot is one of my favorite names along with Towed Hall, Snugglebug and Dottie (small as a dot or a comma?).
I forgot to mention my mother-in-law is Dot or Dorothy and not a wicked witch - #5.

I share November 4th with Will Rodgers.

I hope no one peeps behind the curtain I'd be embarrassed! =^O

Mark in Mass

Anticipating the adventures of
Oz - Toto we're not in Kansas anymore

 

Mark,

Blue Rock '63-'68 an east coast corps. DCI was just getting started as I was leaving (drafted). I was part of the building blocks of a corps that was headed for great things …but they self-destructed at end of the '75 season (dysfunctional leadership, much like Washington)

1968 US Open National Championship (Finals)
Marion, Ohio
1. Blue Rock 71.92 (my best 11.5 minutes)
2. Blue Stars 70.90
3. St. Lucy's 70.88
4. Argonne Rebels 68.27 (you might recognize some other names)
5. Anaheim Kingsmen 66.07
6. Hawthorne Muchachos 61.87
7. Milstadt Crusaders 61.20
8. Madison Scouts 59.43
9. Mariners 57.25
10. Kenosha Queensmen 56.77

 

Well the crazy giggles have dropped to infrequent chuckles and I am getting used to random people asking me "does it pop up" and "How do you (6'4") fit in that?". Of course the best was the guy at the station assuring his buddy that it had a shower. I explained to him that if I put a potty on the floor, my head would be between my knees to fit under the roof.
The gas cashier almost choked on her soda at the image.

I completed my solo two week inaugural trip around most of eastern USA. Of course my first trailer night (3/11) was in a Holiday Inn Express since it was about 15 or 20F on the Minnesota Iowa line. I could have cut the sticky wrap around one door, but the furnace inlet/exhaust was covered, and the battery shut-off switch in the sealed galley was off, unfamiliar, etc.

OZ and I spent a couple of days in Kansas at my mother's, so OZ actually WAS in Kansas, but we continued traveling so we again "aren't in Kansas any more". Since KC was 60 and salt free I got my sister and her boyfriend to help me peel the wrap off and wash it at a car wash. How do you tell your Mom you don't want to use her guest bedroom? You don't even try...

My first real night was in West Memphis (Arkansas) at the Tom Sawyer RV Park. I fit the "under 30 foot" end spot on the front row about 75 feet from the bank of the Mississippi river. It is a neat place and I would recommend if you are in the area. I fell asleep to the sound of tugboat diesels working to push a big string of barges up the river. Since I grew up about 1/3 mile from a railroad tracks with late freight trains it seemed fine. After a pretty sunrise, I made percolator coffee (60s WearEver), bacon, eggs, and toast and ate breakfast watching the barges and snags (floating whole trees).

I made my way via Tuskegee. Pickups cruising then slowing on the gravel road in the National Forest reminded me of the movie Deliverance but the WW-2 training airfield was neat in the morning. After a big traffic jam (truck fire) on I-75 I made it to Ocala and the next afternoon was down to Key Largo Florida for 4 nights among the mangroves at John Pennekamp state park. RECOMMEND !!! but long reservation. I really enjoyed sight fishing in the salt water flats (shallows) with a fishing guide. My dad (deceased) would have really enjoyed it.

Friday of the second week started my return leg up I-95 to home in northeast Massachusetts. Sorry I had a work meeting with the Navy and too many miles to stop off at the gathering on the Cape. Would have been fun to meet folks...

While planning an evening visit to my young nephew and his wife in Washington DC, I managed to luck into his annual Liverversary party in their one bedroom apartment. His wife who met him at OU after his liver transplant offered thanks to the donor's sacrifice which enabled her to meet James and the small group gave a toast. The Cherrry Hill park is a fairly large traditional RV and tent campground, but it is just blocks from the northern beltway and has a stop on several bus lines into the city. A clean, well-run park with trees and nice playground equipments it seems like a nice base for exploring the capitol. I suspect you need reservations if you visit after mid-April instead of my night in late March. Cherry blossom time needs long lead time much less July 4th...

My last day I stopped for lunch at a diner in Tarrytown New York at the east end of the Tappen Zee bridge over the Hudson (next to the famous village of Sleepy Hollow). It was a regular type building, but the decor had chrome trim, padded teal vinyl seating and booth jukeboxes.

Like I replied when I read about Jean W's Florida misadventures I almost felt guilty about how well my trip went (I have a 4 cylinder Subaru Outback too).

On Easter Sunday my second granddaughter already claimed the top bunk for the next camping with their family. She proved that she fit in it and actually crawled in and out like an otter even though the bunk board was installed.

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About 4800 miles total and 3600 miles with OZ
including 9 nights.
My first Florida "spring break" at 61.

 

Sounds like a great break in exercise... Enjoy and keep on camping...