A Weekend at Richard B. Russell State Park in our U-haul Camper

This past weekend we planned a camping trip with some friends to visit Richard B. Russell State Park. The park sits on the edge of Lake Russell, a 26k+ acre lake with about 540 miles of undeveloped shoreline. The lake sits on the Savannah River on the border between Georgia and South Carolina. There are two camping options: Richard B. Russell State Park in Georgia or Calhoun Falls State Park in South Carolina. We opted for Richard B Russell since it was closer.

The lake feels really private and quiet due to the fact that the Army Corps of Engineers keeps a 300 foot right of way around the lake that prevents any development on the lake shore. So unlike places like Lake Oconee or Lake Lanier where the shoreline is dotted with giant homes and docks, all you see is forests. This also translates to less wake when you're out on the water. I saw a lot of bass boats on the lake and for good reason and the state record Striper was caught on these waters.  The only boats I saw that weren't bass boats were the ones at the campground docks. I even took our canoe out with the little ones for a bit since the water was so calm. Now granted, we were there the 4th weekend in September, which is probably not peak season.

The campground has 28 sites with water/electric hookups. There are also 20 cottages at the park. We were in site 22 with friends in 23 and 24 across the road from us. Our site was comfortable for our small camper and a tent. We were not far from the bathhouse. Note there is only a single bathhouse though for all 28 sites to share. It does have a laundry and showers. The campground has WiFi via access points scattered about. There was a nice group picnic shelter behind our site also. A few of the sites do overlook the lake but there's still a walk down to the beach/docks via various paths. Most folks beached their boats, though I saw a few pontoons tied up at a couple of the docks available. There is a boat ramp in the campground and a parking area for boat trailers so that you don't have to figure out how to cram that into your site with the camper. The one downside is that the road through the campground is a single large loop and is hilly. This makes it a bit challenging for kids with bikes/scooters to ride around. Combine that with some folks driving too fast to see over hill or around the curve and it makes the campground a bit less kid friendly than others we've been in.

There is a day use area that's not far via boat from the campground but does require about 5 mins via car. The day use area has covered pavilions, playgrounds in shade of trees, picnic areas, and a nice beach. (We were the only ones on the beach the morning we went.) The beach area was clean but there are no trees/shady areas near it. I saw two pavilions off to the sides that you could retreat to for shade. So bring a beach tent or umbrella if you need shelter from the sun. A short walk from the beach is a boat dock so if you want to use the boat to get there from the campground (it's about 2 mins via boat) you have a place to tie up. The beach and water were very clean and clear. The kids loved chasing minnows in the water.

Overall, we had a great weekend and the staff we interacted with were very nice and helpful. The kids had a fun time and really enjoyed playing in the lake. We don't always go with other families but it was nice to have 5 families and let the kids play together and roam between the sites. We all agreed it was definitely a place to come back to for a weekend.

Mobile Internet While Roaming in our U-haul Camper

For a while, I have been thinking of getting a mobile hotspot device with service for internet when traveling/camping. My problem is that I do not need such a service all the time or even every month for that matter. So I needed to be able to do some sort of prepaid option that wouldn't cost a fortune and that I wouldn't need to pay for every month.

So let me take a step back and explain what I normally do for internet. I do have a cell phone with Verizon network that has data and tethering ability. And I can and have used it a lot when needed. I also try to find WiFi locations that I can use. So I will try to find a coffee shop or fast food place with WiFi and eat a meal while I use their service. I know this probably looks awful to some folks to see a dad hunched over his laptop while eating with his family, but in reality I'm looking for fun things to do with them or taking care of some business while I'm there so that I can be fully present with them later when we're being active.

Not all campgrounds have great WiFi. Many don't have it at all or you have to drive to the office/camp store to use it. Which for me means, driving up there after the kids are asleep and sitting in the car at 10pm to map out the next day's adventures, pay bills or handle other business. And to be honest, we're not full-timers and we aren't streaming netflix every day. We do carry portable dvd player for the kids to watch movies on.

I only want to pay for a month that I'm traveling. I also don't want to have to buy a new sim card every time I travel because the old one was cut off and I can't reactivate it when I need to. And if I'm going to get a service, it might as well be on the other big network provider opposite of what I have through my phone. That way I might have better coverage and 2 options. All of this went into me deciding to give FreedomPop a try. They happened to be doing a deal this summer where I could get the device and sim card for $9.99 and it came with 1 month of 2GB data + some other services. So I bit the bullet and gave it a try for our week-long trip this summer. I new that Verizon service where I was going to be wasn't the best; I hoped that AT&T was better. FreedomPop uses AT&T's network (I think they may have another option for other carriers too but AT&T was fine for me).

FreedomPop advertises a free plan, but lets be honest, nothing is really free. The one thing I quickly figured out was that there's a lot of things you need to tweak to downgrade after the first free month to the free plan. First you have to drop the 2GB plan they gave you and that will put you down to a 200MB/month plan. In the process of doing that, they will charge you $15 and put a credit on your Top-Up balance that's basically kicks in when you go over or get close to going over your data limit (if you ever cancel and close your account they can refund this; it's more of a security deposit). There is a way to turn off Top-Up but it requires adding another service, turning off Top-Up and then dropping that service. Which ended up costing me $.70 (that's right less than a dollar) since I did it 2 days before end of billing cycle. There's also services that you have to cancel so you won't get billed after the first trial period. For a lot more information, I recommend checking out this page which has a lot of good detailed info on how to get down to the free plan. So its a bit complicated and takes some time to do it, but you can do it.

My trial included 2GB of data which I estimated to be plenty for the week and it was. I think I used 1GB that week and it worked great. Note that I was not streaming audio or videos. I was simply using it to connect my laptop for chatting/messaging/emailing and web surfing. I plan to upgrade to the 2GB plan anytime I'll be traveling and then downgrade to the free plan after we're back. This should keep my sim active and allow me what I was originally looking for in a pay as you go service. Note that the free plan includes only 200MB of data (you could get multiple SIMs and go through the process for each if you really want to be frugal). FreedomPop also has a referral program where you can get 5MB per friend who signs up for up to 50MB more per month.

As for the device, what I received was a Netgear Aircard 770S (aka AT&T Unite). The device has a touchscreen for simple config, but you will want to access the web interface via your browser if you want more configuration control over the device. The device has built-in antenna that seems to work fairly well. I strongly recommend you see my full video review here and my web configuration interface walk-through here.

If you want to try to get better reception to the mobile network (not WiFi) via an external antenna, there are several options. There are 2 external TS9 antenna connectors. I bought a Wilson magnet mount antenna and a TS9 to SMA pigtail since the antenna has a SMA connector on it. I will try this out in the future when we're in low signal areas.

I was happy with the service and devices for what I needed. Now I have an option on a separate network from my phone that I can use for those times we are traveling. I'll do a follow up next year after we have some time to use it more and let you know how it's going.

If you are interested in trying out FreedomPop, please sign up via this link as it will help me get the bonus data (you will have an opportunity to get your own link to share with friends/family once you sign up): http://fpop.co/lAxr

Base Camp to Space Camp: Our U-haul camper goes back to Huntsville

Base Camp!

After our trip to Huntsville, Alabama in April during Spring break, my son begged us to go to Space Camp. The traditional Space Camp is not cheap and I thought he might be a little young to spend that much time away from us. Fortunately, there was another option: Day Camp!  The rocket center does a day camp version of Space Camp during the summer for local elementary age kids. It's called the Rocket Explorer Experience. It's 8am-5pm Central time, and they get to do a lot of fun stuff. With this in mind, we took the camper to Monte Sano State Park again and became locals for a week!

The camp is less than $300/week at the time of this writing. There are 3 options: Space, Aviation, and Rockets. We opted for the Space one which was an all around focus. We may try this again and opt for a different one next time. You will need to plan early and sign them up in advance of summer to ensure a spot. They did a lot of simulators and rides and exhibits at the center. The fee includes lunch and afternoon snack. All I had to provide was a water bottle and morning snack. On one day they have a water day and go swimming. They also build rockets though my son didn't get to launch his that week. It was still a neat souvenir to bring home. (We will likely build and launch rockets at the park now that he's into it.) 

So my daughter was not into the space camp idea (though after hearing "bubba" talk about it she may want to go). So the rest of the time, we set out to explore the city, just the two of us. The first day we spent setting up camp and relaxing in the hammocks. We picked up my son from camp and met up with my cousin, who happens to live there, for dinner. The second day we began our exploring. The first stop was the Huntsville Botanical Garden which was a real treat. They have a large series of gardens to explore and this summer had a mythological scavenger hunt throughout the gardens. The scavenger hunt was really fun and they had all these various sized sculptures of mythological creatures scattered around the park. The botanical gardens is also home to the Purdy Butterfly House. My daughter really enjoyed that. They also have a children's garden area that's complete with playground, sandbox, sprinkler/misting stations and all themed for kids. For the adults, among some of the highlights are a vegetable garden, birding trail, and water garden.  Definitely worth a visit.

After three hours at the botanical gardens in the morning, we had lunch and found a splash pad at one of the local parks. There are 3 parks in Huntsville that have splash pads. We visited Brahan Spring Park which wasn't far from the gardens and had a splash pad. It also has playground and a small lake for fishing.

Many folks don't know this, but you can go to the space center and check out one of their IMAX or other movies without buying a pass to the entire center. Tickets are around $7/8 (kid/adult). We've done this a couple times and it's a great way to get into some air conditioning out of the summer heat for an hour. My daughter and I watched one this time about Saturn with great pics from the Cassini space craft mission. So if you've done the space center before but are still looking for something to do, you may want to check out what they're showing and catch a film.

On the fourth day, we stumbled onto two of my daughter's top 3 favorite things from the trip. First we found the EarlyWorks Childrens History Museum.  Over the years we've visited a lot of children's museums. Some of them, like the one in Greenville, SC, are amazing. Others, like the one in Atlanta, are not great. This was one of the better ones and we spent 3 hours in the morning there. The museum has various historical (Alabama history focused) locations like a log cabin, keel boat, and, my daughter's favorite, the old general store. There's a story telling tree, activities everywhere, and a nice Helen Keller area (she was from Alabama). Everything is hands on, from dressing up to selling supplies in the general store to setting the table in the log cabin and even hoisting the flag on the keel boat. It's very well done and I highly recommend it. Alabama is celebrating their bicentennial next year so I expect they'll have lots of special programs in 2019 there. This was my daughter's favorite thing we did all week.

Big Spring Park

A couple of blocks from the EarlyWorks museum is Big Spring Park. This is a nicely laid out park with a large lake that feeds into a canal like system. There's lots of green space, walking/running paths and literally thousands of fish in the lake. I've never seen so many fish and school (herd) of them will follow you as you walk around the lake. We really enjoyed this place and feeding the fish and ducks and visited a couple times during our stay there. If for nothing else, you have to go just to see all the fish!

Look at all those fish!

We really enjoyed staying at Monte Sano SP again. We camped at a site with an overlook of the valley, and it was generally cooler by 7-10 degrees up there in the trees than down in the city. The park staff was very pleasant, and I've made this our go to park if we plan to be in the area again. The trails and atmosphere is great there. I can't recommend it enough.

Overall, we had a great trip. It's a bit unusual for us to stay in a place for a whole week. We did enjoy ourselves and exploring a lot of what Huntsville had to offer. I also really enjoyed the one-on-one time with my daughter. Oh and my daughter's other item on her favorite top 3 things we did this week was breakfast with me at Galen's Restaurant (which we wrote about in our first Huntsville trip). If that doesn't melt your heart, then I don't know what would. Not sure where the road will take us next or when, but always looking forward to the next adventure.

A Trip out of this World in our U-haul Camper

With the wife in nursing school full-time this year, we don't have many options for traveling. We did manage to squeeze in a spring trip thanks to her and the kids being on spring break at the time. My son has gotten really into space recently so as an early birthday present, we planned a trip to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This would be a 4 day trip.

Little River Falls

We left out on Tuesday with the goal of stopping by the Little River Canyon National Preserve. After a few hours behind the wheel, we made it and got the kids setup with the Jr. Ranger program (we're big fans of the NPS Jr. Ranger program). Little River Canyon is an incredible area along the Little River in Northeast Alabama. It's a great place for hiking and outdoor adventure. Little River Falls is close to the visitor center and the views are amazing. The park staff at the visitor's center were really great and friendly. On the way home, we would come back through the park and take part of a scenic drive as our last little adventure before heading home.

With potential storms and rain heading from Mississippi towards Huntsville, we pushed on after our brief stop to try to get into to our camping destination before the rain. We rolled into Monte Sano State Park around 6:30 pm and setup camp. With the rain expected to blow in that night, I opted not to setup everything (camp chairs and screen room included) until the next morning. I had packed most of the gear in the car or in the waterproof action packers on the roof. Monte Sano SP is located on top of Monte Sano Mountain and overlooks Huntsville from the east. It has lots of trails for hiking and mountain biking and even has an planetarium and observatory that's open on Saturday nights (unfortunately we left Friday so didn't get a chance to check it out). The campground and bathhouses are nice. Though our first campsite, (#18) was on a curve and had someone directly across from us in a much larger rig. The layout of the entrances to these sites made it impossible for even us to get our tiny camper backed in due to the sharpness of the turn. The camp hosts at check-in had even warned me to feel free to come back if I couldn't squeeze in. (So I'd avoid #18 unless you're setting up a tent.) We were moved over to #21 which proved to be a better site. After being at the campground, I'd actually recommend sites in the #44-61 range as many of those are on the ridge with great views of the valley. I'll definitely be looking to book there next time.

After unhooking the camper, we decided to grab some dinner. After driving all day, I wanted something quick; so we headed down the mountain into Huntsville. We lucked out and found a Ted's Bar-B-Q at the bottom of the mountain. I had been introduced to Alabama white Bar-B-Q sauce a decade or more ago close by in Decatur, Alabama at Big Bob Gibson's Bar-B-Q. White barbecue sauce is pretty awesome and different from many places you go. So if you're ever in Huntsville area, try out Ted's (or Big Bob Gibson's in Decatur, Alabama) and grab the white barbecue sauce.

Bedding down in the bathhouse during the storm.

After dinner, we bedded down for the night and I listened to the weather radio. If you've seen my post on being prepared for bad weather, you know I always carry a weather radio. The storms were getting bad, and we were on top of the mountain so I prepared to move us to the bathhouse if things got bad. They did. I've grown up around thunderstorms all my life so they don't really bother me. But I know when they can get out of hand too. When the reports rolled in of the Huntsville airport seeing 70 mph winds, I woke up the wife and kids and moved us to the bathhouse. The NOAA weather radio broadcast antenna on top of the mountain went offline as the front edge of the storm hit the mountain with wind, hail, and rain knocking out the power. Several other campers joined us to weather the storm. As with most southern storms, they blow by pretty quickly. After about 30 mins to wait out the worst, the weather had settled into a calm rain on the back end of the front. No major damage was detected to campers other than a few that didn't get their awnings up and they tore in the gusts. Lots of limbs had come down but power was restored within mins. We moved back to the camper and slept calmly the rest of the night.

The cold front rolled in behind rain dropping the temperature to the 30F's. So we put on our warm clothes the next morning and prepared to spend the day at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. This was my third time there and it was still as much fun as I recall from my childhood. The kids had a blast and we had a picnic in the car for lunch (because it was still cold and windy). We watched an IMAX movie about the space station that was incredible. The kids wanted to see another 3D movie so we were able to get a discounted ticket for one the next morning. Yes, you can buy tickets for the movies without buying admission, they'll escort you to the theater when you arrive for your movie. So if you're going to be there for a couple days, you may want to buy admission for one day and the movie ticket for the next day.

While we were in Huntsville, we also were able to meet up with my cousin that had moved there several years back. It's always good to see family. We also discovered a great market/grocery at the bottom of the mountain called the Star Supermarket. I wish we had one of these in our town. The people were so friendly and they really have a lot to offer. This is what a small town market should be. They even sell firewood bundles for about half what the state park does. On our final day, we packed up early. We left the campground and drove back down the mountain into Huntsville for breakfast. I love finding a good breakfast place for the last morning. We stumbled on Galen's. It's got plenty of parking room for a camper and the staff are really friendly. The breakfast was excellent!

With full belly's, we started the trek home. Cathedral Caverns was on our way so we made a stop so the kids could get their first cave experience! The downside to this park, like most caves, is that you can't do anything without a guide. You can see the mouth of the cave and the gift shop, but beyond that you have to pay to get into the cave on a guided tour. The cave tour is about a 1.5 mile (round trip) in and out hike that takes around 1.5 hrs. It has some really beautiful views. We enjoyed it and our guide was great. At about $20/adult and almost $10/child (under 13), it's not the most economical way to spend a couple of hours. However, it is comparable to Desoto Caverns and Ruby Falls tour prices. Check Cathedral Caverns website for tour times and rates before you go.

Even with the ranging weather conditions on the trip, we had a great time. I'd like to go back and spend more time with family and we'll definitely camp at Monte Sano SP again. It was good for us to get away and break up the monotony of our daily life. Adventure always seems to me to be a way to refill your cup. It puts excitement back in your life after the daily grind. Knowing how busy this year is and the minimal opportunities we'll have as a family to get away until next year, I'm thankful for the opportunity to get out and go. Hopefully, I can squeeze another trip in this summer between some renovations I want to focus on. More about those to come.