We enjoyed a wonderful campout May 29 – June 1 at Pine Ridge in Roebuck, SC near Spartanburg! Coaches attending were:Tim and Dottie Keppler, Gary and Barbara Lyons, John and Linda Marano, Mike and Betsy Beaulieu, Barb and Greg Nicholas, and our guests Mike and Doris Smalley. Mike is the current FRVA Eastern Area Vice President. Mike and Doris move around visiting lots of chapters at their campouts, and we certainly enjoyed getting to know them.
Thursday: All arrived, and four of us who had not yet eaten dinner took off for the nearby Coco Loco Mexican restaurant, where we had a delicious meal. We all met about 7/7:30 p.m. in the Pavilion for snacks and conversation. Barbara Lyons already had tables lined up and covered with tablecloths by the time we got there. The Smalleys (Eastern Area VP for FRVA) were introduced, and we learned that Betsy and Mike would not arrive until Friday because Betsy is working. Linda Marano had discovered that the nearby Grey Rock Farms, where we had gotten strawberries last year (and which we were planning to visit this year) has “permanently closed”.
Friday: Linda had located another strawberry farm, called Strawberry Hill USA, about half an hour away on the far side of Spartanburg. Those interested headed for it as they got ready to go off for the day. Strawberry Hill has a large berry, peach, and vegetable barn, and a very popular cafe and ice cream shop located just across the intersection. Several of us ate lunch at the cafe, had the smallest “kiddie sized” homemade ice cream, and then went to purchase strawberries and other vegetables. Those out and about endured several heavy rain showers, but these had stopped by the time we were ready to begin our evening potluck.
About 5:30 we set up two grills, and Gary and Greg began cooking meat the members had brought to grill–mostly hamburgers and hot dogs. A long table was also filled with delectable picnic foods. After eating we invited Mike Smalley to speak. Mike said he and Doris were really enjoying our more laid-back weekend. Yes we had a schedule, but it was not like some clubs that operate with military precision to the point of rousting members out of their coaches for activities! The major issue with FRVA, Mike said, is that we need more members. He emphasized walking around campgrounds and talking to folks about “camper things”, establishing a relationship before hitting them with a “please join our club” pitch. He also recommended inviting camping neighbors to our potlucks.
It had been a wet day, so instead of trying to start a fire in the community fire pit most gathered around a table to learn the game of QWIRKLE supplied by Betsy. It is played with colored tiles but without a board. Great fun was had by all! Tim and Dottie Keppler are this campout’s experts in the card game 3-13which we promised to play on Saturday evening after dinner!
Saturday was a nice, mostly sunny, day. People were on their own, but we did meet on a triangle of green near the Pavilion about 3:45 p.m. to play MURBLES. This patch was the only place big enough and clear enough to play, though the land runs downhill and is lumpy which just added to the challenge! Nearly everybody tried the game, and different people took turns being “the best” at it. A big THANKS to the Bollengiers who loaned us their MURBLES set for the weekend. Mike and Doris Smalley said their goodbyes on the slope, since they were not joining us for dinner and intended to leave early the nextmorning. We will look forward to seeing them again at GEAR in November where they will be working on the “facilities team”.
On the recommendation of Mike and Betsy we carpooled to the Thai Garden, a family owned restaurant in Duncan, only 20 minutes away. We arrived at 6 p.m but did not eat until 7 p.m., having overwhelmed the kitchen with 10 people’s appetizer and entre orders all at once. Talkers that we are, we had no trouble filling the time! The food was very good and we all sat together at a table for ten. Following dinner, we met at the small porch outside the Lyons’s site to enjoy dessert, the propane firepit, and to play 3-13. Tim Keppler invited another RVing couple he metin the park to join us for dessert. They are “Chipsy” and Brian who are in the process of moving from Florida to Anderson, SC. We hope they will camp with us in the future to try out our cluband to meet the club’s other half who were unable to attend. TimKeppler has their contact information. After socializing with them eight of us nevertheless played a complete round of 3-13, ending at 12:30 a.m.! It’s a good thing checkout time at Pine Ridge is 12 noon . . .
On Sunday it was time to say Goodbye. Some left early to make it home for church and the rest of us hung around until at least 11:30. It was a lovely quiet morning, and we really didn’t want to leave. We greatly missed all of you who were unable to join us this weekend, because we had a great time.
We did not do 50/50 because the group was small. Also, we asked people to bring food to share, and everyone was very generous. With a bigger group we will get back to doing our regular 50/50.
One thing we tried this time was a group text set-up. Barb did it within her (old!) iPhone (not using an app) and so there were some quirks, but it helped to spread information and make sure nobody was left out. We need Renee to help us choose an app and set up a more sophisticated version! If several of us get “trained” we can do it for all future campouts. We can find out who will be attending ahead of a campout, and then set up the group text beforehand, perhaps using only one spouse’s cellnumber to cut down on the size of the list. Also, members attending campouts need to always tell the campground they are with our group. It took a bit of shuffling, but the nice campground staff (who said it was partly their fault this time) got us all together eventually.
We discussed arranging our own “ad hoc” campouts if the weather is decent between now and Palmetto Cove in September. If you have plans and would like to include others let us know.
Carolina Drifters June 2025 Newsletter
ear Drifters All,
We enjoyed a wonderful campout May 29 – June 1 at Pine Ridge in Roebuck, SC near Spartanburg! Coaches attending were:Tim and Dottie Keppler, Gary and Barbara Lyons, John and Linda Marano, Mike and Betsy Beaulieu, Barb and Greg Nicholas, and our guests Mike and Doris Smalley. Mike is the current FRVA Eastern Area Vice President. Mike and Doris move around visiting lots of chapters at their campouts, and we certainly enjoyed getting to know them.
Thursday: All arrived, and four of us who had not yet eaten dinner took off for the nearby Coco Loco Mexican restaurant, where we had a delicious meal. We all met about 7/7:30 p.m. in the Pavilion for snacks and conversation. Barbara Lyons already had tables lined up and covered with tablecloths by the time we got there. The Smalleys (Eastern Area VP for FRVA) were introduced, and we learned that Betsy and Mike would not arrive until Friday because Betsy is working. Linda Marano had discovered that the nearby Grey Rock Farms, where we had gotten strawberries last year (and which we were planning to visit this year) has “permanently closed”.
Friday: Linda had located another strawberry farm, called Strawberry Hill USA, about half an hour away on the far side of Spartanburg. Those interested headed for it as they got ready to go off for the day. Strawberry Hill has a large berry, peach, and vegetable barn, and a very popular cafe and ice cream shop located just across the intersection. Several of us ate lunch at the cafe, had the smallest “kiddie sized” homemade ice cream, and then went to purchase strawberries and other vegetables. Those out and about endured several heavy rain showers, but these had stopped by the time we were ready to begin our evening potluck.
About 5:30 we set up two grills, and Gary and Greg began cooking meat the members had brought to grill–mostly hamburgers and hot dogs. A long table was also filled with delectable picnic foods. After eating we invited Mike Smalley to speak. Mike said he and Doris were really enjoying our more laid-back weekend. Yes we had a schedule, but it was not like some clubs that operate with military precision to the point of rousting members out of their coaches for activities! The major issue with FRVA, Mike said, is that we need more members. He emphasized walking around campgrounds and talking to folks about “camper things”, establishing a relationship before hitting them with a “please join our club” pitch. He also recommended inviting camping neighbors to our potlucks.
It had been a wet day, so instead of trying to start a fire in the community fire pit most gathered around a table to learn the game of QWIRKLE supplied by Betsy. It is played with colored tiles but without a board. Great fun was had by all! Tim and Dottie Keppler are this campout’s experts in the card game 3-13which we promised to play on Saturday evening after dinner!
Saturday was a nice, mostly sunny, day. People were on their own, but we did meet on a triangle of green near the Pavilion about 3:45 p.m. to play MURBLES. This patch was the only place big enough and clear enough to play, though the land runs downhill and is lumpy which just added to the challenge! Nearly everybody tried the game, and different people took turns being “the best” at it. A big THANKS to the Bollengiers who loaned us their MURBLES set for the weekend. Mike and Doris Smalley said their goodbyes on the slope, since they were not joining us for dinner and intended to leave early the nextmorning. We will look forward to seeing them again at GEAR in November where they will be working on the “facilities team”.
On the recommendation of Mike and Betsy we carpooled to the Thai Garden, a family owned restaurant in Duncan, only 20 minutes away. We arrived at 6 p.m but did not eat until 7 p.m., having overwhelmed the kitchen with 10 people’s appetizer and entre orders all at once. Talkers that we are, we had no trouble filling the time! The food was very good and we all sat together at a table for ten. Following dinner, we met at the small porch outside the Lyons’s site to enjoy dessert, the propane firepit, and to play 3-13. Tim Keppler invited another RVing couple he metin the park to join us for dessert. They are “Chipsy” and Brian who are in the process of moving from Florida to Anderson, SC. We hope they will camp with us in the future to try out our cluband to meet the club’s other half who were unable to attend. TimKeppler has their contact information. After socializing with them eight of us nevertheless played a complete round of 3-13, ending at 12:30 a.m.! It’s a good thing checkout time at Pine Ridge is 12 noon . . .
On Sunday it was time to say Goodbye. Some left early to make it home for church and the rest of us hung around until at least 11:30. It was a lovely quiet morning, and we really didn’t want to leave. We greatly missed all of you who were unable to join us this weekend, because we had a great time.
We did not do 50/50 because the group was small. Also, we asked people to bring food to share, and everyone was very generous. With a bigger group we will get back to doing our regular 50/50.
One thing we tried this time was a group text set-up. Barb did it within her (old!) iPhone (not using an app) and so there were some quirks, but it helped to spread information and make sure nobody was left out. We need Renee to help us choose an app and set up a more sophisticated version! If several of us get “trained” we can do it for all future campouts. We can find out who will be attending ahead of a campout, and then set up the group text beforehand, perhaps using only one spouse’s cellnumber to cut down on the size of the list. Also, members attending campouts need to always tell the campground they are with our group. It took a bit of shuffling, but the nice campground staff (who said it was partly their fault this time) got us all together eventually.
We discussed arranging our own “ad hoc” campouts if the weather is decent between now and Palmetto Cove in September. If you have plans and would like to include others let us know.
Looking Forward to Seeing You All Soon,
Barb and Greg Nicholas