NE Roundup 2012

Hope all have a fun time. 

 removed The E Train from the list in post #2

A great weekend, concluded!  Technically the 3rd NE Roundup in the last year.  We really lucked out and the heavy rain that was forecast for Saturday stayed to the west and north.  We loved taste-testing at the chilli cookoff (I believe half of the podders entered), and hanging out with a great crowd of campers.  Several of us gave pod tours - as usual, and unsurprising since they put us right in the middle of the campground where everyone would see us.  The campground owners were great to work with before and during the weekend, going the extra mile to keep us together and help out when we needed it (I got my LP tank refilled and they drove me back to my campsite so I wouldn't have to carry it).  Looking forward to pics of the great sunset and campfires.

Our round-up last weekend (21-23 Sept '12) at Pioneer Campground in Sullivan County, NE Pennsylvania was a great sucess.

By about 7:30-8:00 PM Friday evening everyone had arrived, set up and joined the circle around the campfire at site 4 - Podsible Dream's pod and camp - which was volunteered for the purpose.

The earlier arrivals had already visited each other's pods to pass judgment on the pod mods and other accessories. There were six pods – Secretbard (Gary) in his 172, Paige (Joanne and Pete and the two old pugs) in their 177, Rick 350 (Pam and Rick) in their new 177, techntrek (Amber, Doug, Hailey and Harley the wonder Chug) in their 171, Podsible dream (Walt and Chris) in their 171, and the 181G of the Big Dingo and Mrs. Dingo (Sylvia and Bob) which was the hit of the day. After several hours of introductory chat and many s'mores, we all headed in for the night.

Saturday dawned partly cloudy and cool (we were at 2000 feet in the forest). After late breakfasts, more visits and the like, some went exploring the local area and historic sites, others made their chili for the campground chili cook off that afternoon, and others just hung out and read or chatted.
    
At three o'clock the chili pots were due in the activity center and the judging began at 3:30. There were 23 different chilis in the cook-off - the r-pods entered three of them (Chris, Bob and Pete). All of us attending were the Judges. After the votes were tallied and we all had a chance to cool off our palates, the winners were announced. Although we were not first or second prize winners, our youngest podder drew the consolation prize winner, and Old Dingo (Bob) went home with a brand new cast iron dutch oven for his next culinary venture!

We all adjourned to site 4 and the firepit for another round of pleasant conversation and adult beverages and some great cheese and cracker snacks topped off with even more s'mores (of course!). At that discussion we discovered that four out of six of the families were of the same church affiliation (Presbyterian) - quite a coincidence.

The evening promised to bring showers and thundershowers overnight, so we adjourned to our pods to straighten up our sites and batten down for inclement weather. When we had completed that task, we looked up and noted brilliant stars, no clouds and a crescent moon setting in the west - so much for prognostication!!

A late Sunday morning, with brisk temps in the mid-40's and a fire going in the pit and lots of hot coffee in the pot. We put together a pot luck brunch with more than enough to eat for all. Your able admin and moderator, Techntrek, acted as chef and provided yummy omelets for all. After a bit, the time came to part our ways and we all reluctantly drifted off to our pods to prep for the ride home. The lone holdouts were the Dingos and Secretbard, who decided to stay over till Monday. As we left the campground they were setting some burgers on the Coleman grill for lunch.    

We all found the Pioneer Campground to be very welcoming and friendly, and excited to have a group of R-pods at their campground. the facility has electric, water and cable service to all sites, nice flat and smooth stone parking areas, tables and large piled-stone firepits. There was a well equipped store, clean restrooms and showers, ample firewood at reasonable costs, and, as Doug pointed out, propane refills if needed. Kathy, the manager and her team run a clean and well maintained campground and the service was cheerful and impeccable.

Here are a bunch of photos:

The pod passel - tough to get us all in one photo - techntrek was in the woods behind the upper pod, rick350 was around the corner to the right- but here are four of us.



Our group:

Rick and Pam



Bob and Sylvia



Doug, Amber and Hailey



Joanne and Pete



Gary



The group together after the chili cook off. The family with the two kids in the uppper left are not ours - the two parents were winners in the cook off and apparently thought this was a winners picture! Chris and Walt are in the lower right - the only photo of us together - we were usually taking the pictures!



Saturday Sunset - lovely pink and orange clouds portend not so nice overnight weather - that didn't materialize!



The hangout at site 4:



Chili tasting in the activity center a lovely log cabin style building with a kitchen, bar, tables and a big deck. The ower is the woman in the green golf shirt.



Sunday - your admin cooks a mean omelet - one for everyone!!



And here we are at brunch - feeding our faces of course!






We are all looking forward to a gathering next year or perhaps sooner....!!

Good Job Walt