Started off with a bang in September of 23′, Patty and I were married on Friday the 8th. to make us totally legit and committed. 🙂 Had a camping trip planned to begin on the 10th. at our favorite local camping place, Blackwater River State Park. Fun place to camp, swim, kayak, hike and just have a great time. Got up early Sunday went to church got to the campground around 3 pm. Set everything up, ate dinner with my brother and sister in-law, talked for a while. We played cards until tired, watched TV for a bit and went to bed.
Next morning we got up made breakfast, ate, walked around the campgrounds they have several pavilions available for picnics or groups to get together. Very unique set-up and quite nice. Went swimming in the river, played corn hole and made some ice cream. Grilled some burgers, ate that home made ice cream and played games to finish out the day. My brother and I usually do a kayak trip down the river when we camp there. That is our plan for tomorrow.
Wednesday morning we left the campground about 8:00 AM headed to the pick up area where they take us up river about 11 miles to put our kayak’s in the river. This trip normally takes us about four or five hours to complete just taking it easy. The river was low this time and wasn’t flowing as rapidly as normal so we had to paddle a little more to keep the kayaks moving. Then a storm came up with thunder and lightening so we felt it best to get off the river and take some shelter. Not many places to do that along the river but we finally found a good spot and took a break until the storm passed. Got back to the campground about 3:30 PM, very tired this time. 🙂
Next couple of days we just relaxed, played games, grilled, ate, did some bike riding, hiking, swimming, watching TV at night and playing cards. Very fun time and so relaxing and comfortable. Love that campground.
One of the most important things to happen later that month on the 27th of September my great grandson Hudson was born. We spent as much time with him as possible and enjoyed it so very much. We still do today and now he also has a little brother. 🙂
Patty and I went back to Blackwater River State Park again in December for a few days right before our trip out west to Texas leaving on the 19th. It was cold this time, had to use the heater. Will tell you about the Texas trip in the next post. That was our Christmas trip for 23″.
Below is a few photos from the month of September in 2023..
We actually went back to Blackwater River State Park again in September of 2024 to celebrate our one year anniversary. Did many of the exact same things, maybe rode the bikes a little more this time but as always here it was a great time. Arin and Chris, Patty’s daughter and son-in-law came by to visit us when we got there. We did a lot of talking and walking, was so fun to see and visit with them.
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We hated to leave Fort Mountain but were scheduled to be at David Crocket State Park today so woke up around 8:30, ate breakfast, finished packing everything and headed to Lawrenceburg, TN. Was a nice drive over except for the traffic in Chattanooga but that was expected. Arrived around 2:00 PM found our campsite and as it turns out was near the bathhouse. The entire camp ground is full, not seeing one site open at this point. Our Site had no shade however and it was 94 degrees with a heat index of 104 degrees. Ouch… wife don’t like the heat so much. 🙂
My best friend ever lives near by so we went over to his place on Saturday to visit and went out for a late lunch. Then rode through Amish country and purchased some corn, tomatoes, peppers, Amish strawberry jam, and a cantaloupe. Had a great day for sure.
Seems as though most occupants packed up and left today, Sunday. Found out from one of the other campers that most were here for a Southern Gospel Quartet singing convention. Wish we had known this sooner, might have been an interesting event to see in Lawrenceburg last night. For those interested they hold these annually. Current info: The annual gospel convention in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee is the James D. Vaughan Quartet Festival, scheduled for July 29 through August 1, 2026. Held at the historic Crockett Theater at 203 North Military Avenue, the four-day event celebrates Lawrenceburg as the birthplace of Southern gospel music with nightly concerts and matinees. You can do a search and actually purchase tickets online ahead of time.
This campground is very nice, clean and up to date if only the sites had more shade for summer camping. Probably consider it again but maybe it should be on the list of cooler weather months for visiting. There are two campgrounds, #2 the one we chose is open year round, has paved roads and site pads. All sites here have electric and water hookups.
In the park we visited the Crockett Museum, a recreation of David Crockett’s office during the 1800s. It’s like a journey back in time. You’ll find artifacts and exhibits that bring Crockett’s story to life and catch a glimpse of the original stones from Crockett’s gristmill on Shoal Creek. It was so interesting to see and read the stories about the famous legend Davy Crocket.
We also visited Crockett Falls, a small, but mighty waterfall. Serving as one of the park’s most picturesque features. We were a little disappointed as we expected much more. When you hear “water fall” your thinking of a huge water fall cascading down a mountainside, right? Well this was not that, it had maybe a two foot drop but it was a nice cool place to visit and was very refreshing. Also near by was a covered bridge.
We were at the campground for about six days and made several trips over to see my friend Bud and spend some time with him. Health is not really good right now but we think he’s getting better by the day. Made a couple more trips over to Amish country and purchased some more of their fresh vegetables. Also visited with one of the Amish guys that makes dinette chairs and tables from maple or oak. Beautiful work and we will likely order some chairs from him as we are in the market for those. We will just have to make another trip up here to get them once they are finished. All made by hand, these people are truly amazing!
In summary we had a great time in Lawrenceburg, the David Crocket Campground and most importantly getting the chance to spend some valuable time with my best friend. We will likely return here again but choose a cooler month to visit.
Will share a few photos below:
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We decided to venture a little farther from home with the camper, or at least further than we had been with it before. Maybe a tad nervous but needed to do it for our confidence factor.
Fort Mountain State Park near Chatsworth, Georgia is approximately 350 miles from our home. Normally it’s about a six hour trip but pulling the camper we felt it would take longer. Left home about 8:30 AM, arrived at 3:30 PM, so not bad, about seven hours. Pulling the camper we average about eight miles per gallon, stopped three times for gas, didn’t really need too but each time it reached half tank we stopped to fill up. That’s another thing you need to consider when pulling a camper, not all gas stations have enough room to navigate with a camper in tow.
Camp site was rather tricky to back in but managed to do so with a couple of attempts. As soon as we arrived there was a bear warning, one had been spotted near the campground so it was a matter of caution. Exciting start! When bears are near you cannot leave any food, trash etc. outside of your camper otherwise you will likely have visitors overnight. 🙂
Fort Mountain campground is on top of the mountain so it’s very cool even in the summer. We were there in July and the temperature was in the 60’s and 70’s at night. Very convenient for supplies and shopping, down the mountain to city of Chatsworth on one side or the other side of the mountain to the city of Ellijay. Though it is hot in July in the cities, you know it’s much cooler when you get back up the mountain.
Fort Mountain State Park has an elevation of 2850 feet above sea level resting on top of the Cohutta Mountains. The drive from Chatsworth takes you up a pretty steep climb gaining about 1739 feet in just eight miles. Over 90 campsites with 70 having electric and water hookups. Mountain biking, horseback riding, and hiking are all available. Sadly I feel that the campgrounds have not been well maintained but still it’s a very quiet and cool place to camp. We’ll likely go back again someday.
Mystery of Fort Mountain is an ancient stone wall steeped in legend. The mystery is who built it, when was it built and for what purpose. Many theories abound. One theory is that it was built around 500 A.D. by Native Americans for religious purposes. Others say is was built by Welsh Explorers in the 14th century as a fort against Indians. Cherokee legend say it was built by the MOON EYES, a race of light skinned people who could see in the dark because of their large pale eyes. None of these theories have been supported by artifacts. The wall runs east and west for 855 feet with a height that varies from two to six feet. It is believed to have been much higher before exploration and plunder. It’s all still a mystery and likely to remain so.
We love to camp here especially in the summer will likely visit again in the near future. Will include some photo’s below.
While there we visited Brasstown Bald Mountain which is the highest point in the state of Georgia. It is located in the northeastern part of the state in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the border south of the city of Hiawassee. The mountain is known to the native Cherokee people as Enotah. The visitor center sits atop Georgia’s highest mountain at 4,784 feet above sea level. Surrounded by the Chattahoochee – Oconee National Forest. The cloud-level observation deck offers stunning 360-degree views of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and valleys.
Some photos taken below. These were all taken from the visitor center at Brasstown Bald Mountain near the end of July!
We stayed at the Fort Mountain campground for about six days, loved it.
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Though we enjoyed our trip very much, had lots of fun, saw some things we had only read about in books, magazines. or seen in movies, we were glad to be back home if only to get some rest and reflect on our adventures.
We had planted a garden back in March and it was time to harvest this thing upon our arrival home. Our next few days were focused on doing just that. Here are a few of our results. Lots of other things were planted but were either eaten by the local deer or just didn’t do well. We did get some corn and fresh green peas that we were able to freeze but the big crop was potato’s and zucchini.
Sunflowers we planted around the garden, Patty is 5’4″ 🙂
Some of our potato harvest.
Me as a farmer, not a watermelon but rather a zucchini, and we had lots of them.
As we drifted into June we did a baby’s reveal for my Grandson here on the property. It’s a boy! Did some visiting with relatives, some back road riding on the Victory then planning our next camping trip. In July we decided to set up a couple of camping trips back to back, first one is Fort Mountain in Georgia. Though it was July was very nice and cool especially at night up on the mountain. Did a little hiking, went down the mountain a few times to eat, sight see, and do some shopping.
Campsite-Ft Mountain, GA
Some hiking at Ft. Mountain
We had some extra time while there so went to tour “Brasstown Bald” the highest point in Georgia. Fantastic views with lots of history in the making, recommend a visit if your in the area.
Notice temperature, was in month of July.
After about a week at Fort Mountain, we proceeded to our next campsite, David Crockett State Park in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. Great clean campsite, was a little crowded because unknown to us there was a huge quartet festival in Lawrenceburg which drew a lot of campers to town. It seems that Lawrenceburg, TN is the birthplace of southern gospel music so each year in July they celebrate with this festival. The official name is the James D. Vaughan Quartet Festival should you like to look that up and attend?
That pretty much gets us through the end of July. When we were actually home there was always the occasional motorcycle ride usually in late afternoon on the local back roads of NW Florida. 🙂
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In the Motorcycle Camping trial run back in early March, I certainly learned a lot of things that would help in the comfort area of camping. Since I decided that carrying all the stuff I needed on a bike was looking impossible and made the decision to go with a trailer and haul the bike plus sleep in it at night, still there were things I could do differently.
There were several things I could do without and other things I felt would improve my experience with camping. First thing was that the trailer had only one vent in the roof so felt that I needed some windows in it since most of my camping would be done in warmer weather. Looked for someone to install windows and after much frustration and high quotes decided to do it myself. Actually found some windows that would work on Amazon and there were video’s on best way to install them on YouTube. Turns out it wasn’t that hard to do, was so happy with my accomplishment. 🙂
Trailer was really dirty at time of these photos, promise it’s not like that most of the time. 🙂 I’ll put the link to those windows and some of the other stuff I purchased for camping at the end of this post for those interested.
Side Door
Inside of door
Left side wall
Also purchased a tonneau cover for my pickup truck to keep things from getting wet from the dew at night or should it rain. Link below. Purchased a cot with a built in mattress that could be aired up with the included battery operated pump. Cot was smaller in size than the queen size mattress which was really too wide for the trailer. It fit but did not leave much room to walk around it. The cot was slimmer, same length and was up off the floor so easier to get in and out of plus could store things underneath it if necessary.
Found that I could instead of using those l lb. bottles of propane, why not get an adapter hose that would fit my camping stove and hook-up to a 20 lb. container like you use on your grill. So much easier, hate dealing with those l lb. bottles that don’t seem to last very long.
I also started looking for camping equipment that was compact, lightweight, and could easily be packed and carried on a bike since at some point I really wanted to do real motorcycle camping with just the bike and whatever I could load on it. There is a lady motorcycle rider that I follow on You Tube with over 100,000 subscribers that goes camping on her bike and seems to have a great plan. Link follows: Her Two Wheels YouTube Channel and here is a link to one of her video’s where she explains things in detail. Her Two Wheels Camping Alone Video After you watch you gotta come back here though to finish this story, and tell her I sent ya. 🙂
You would be surprised at the things available for motorcycle camping and backpacking and how compact they are. Camping pots and pans, tents, tent pads, sleeping pads & bags, camping stools, etc… Too many things to mention but will put links to some of the things I purchased below including some things I got for my bike.
After accumulating all the necessary things and leaving behind stuff I found out I didn’t need it was time to go camping again, which we did. My brother and sister-in-law had us scheduled again for Karick Lake but this time on the north side for June 1st thru June 5th. Much warmer but there was some rain possible which really didn’t matter. So we get there on the 1st of June, unpack, set up camp, start a fire and begin to relax. Was beautiful weather most of the entire camping time. We hiked almost every day around the hiking trail which goes all the way around the lake, approximately four miles.
Almost every day I took the bike out for a ride in the local area, sometimes for a couple of hours or more just to get the necessary wind therapy. On one of the rides did get rained on a couple of times. Was actually funny because when your riding if the rain stops you tend to dry out quickly in the wind, but this day as soon as I got really dry it rained again. No worries, by the time I got back to the campground was dry again. No videos but some photos below.
Yamaha
Yamaha on bridge
Camp site relaxing
Two favorite people & dog
My early morning friend
Scene on hiking trail
View of the Lake
The Fishing Pier
Fishing
As you can see, it’s a quiet and peaceful place. When we were there not many campers, guess it was because of everyone wanting to keep on doing that social distance thing. Personally what better way to social distance than camping? 🙂
Had a really great time with everything I needed and more. Felt much more comfortable this time out and could not wait until the next camping trip, BUT then things happened that changed a lot of my plans. Information coming about that experience in a later post.
Going to put some links below of items I have either purchased for camping or things I just wanted or needed for the Yamaha. Keep in mind should you click on those links and purchase some of those items I may in fact receive a small fee for sending you there. All those links lead to Amazon so keep that in mind.
That’s probably not all the stuff that I’ve purchased since the motorcycle and camping came into my life, not even close, and I’m sure there will be more in the future. Funny but when you own a motorcycle there always seems to be something else you need or would like to have not including the normal maintenance items. 🙂
Be sure to stay alert and look for the next post, will reveal a lot about my current situation and possible future. 🙂
Once again, thanks for reading/following, hope you will continue. Remember not an “Old Biker” by definition, just an old man (by birth certificate) that loves to ride motorcycles. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions. Stay tuned, hit that follow button to be notified when next post publishes. And if you feel the urge, you can share this on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Thanks for reading. 🙂
Ray's Motoring Travels 