Anniversaries, Brides and Birds

[Ralph L. Fullenwider]

Good Monday morning to everyone:

Today is Charolette and my 20th anniversary, does not seem that long ago to
me. My bride of 20 years, patiently puts up with my antics, ravings and a
yen for Bluebirds. Over the years, she has learned to place the toad in
perfect position for the 1 minute hook up, then the light check and roll
check then bouncing into the Coach with a smile and off we go. There has
been threads about first trips to the Birds Nest in Ga. and ours is not
much different really. In fact we did not even know it existed when we
first rolled up and parked out front of the offices way back when. The out
the door we went, and the very first person we met was Brenda Rodgers.
After small talk and the usual out line about a tour and such, we were
asked if we were staying in Birds Nest for a couple of days. My bride
looked at me and I at her, not having a clue as to what Brenda was talking
about, I calmly said, "well I guess so, where is it and what are the rates
per day?" Brenda just smiled and said the entrance is around the side of
the factory and there are no charges for the stay. Well now, that hit our
pocket book just right as we were on the tail end of our very first trip in
the Coach of 6,000 miles. So back into the coach we bounced and headed off
to find the entrance to this birds Nest. Driving to the side of the
Factory, neither Charolette or I saw a campground entrance that we had come
to be accustomed to. Only the employee parking lot was spied, so we thought
it might be a little further down the road. Yep, we drove around that
factory facility 2 times before my saying the heck with it and pulled into
the parking lot to ask the guard about this Birds Nest place. As we pulled
in, the guard smiled and pointed down the left hand side of the fence and
off we went, still looking for the place. As we made a left through the
fence we drove into a beautiful lower part of the Birds Nest and then
through the mid gate with the sign over head that said "Birds Nest," and
starting to feel warm and fuzzy about it all, we found a parking spot and
set up. WOW, we both thought, they must cut the grass by hand and manicure
the trees, it was a 5 star park for sure! And this happened to be on
another of our anniversaries to boot. Off to the club house we went to look
around and met some of the few people that were staying there at the time.
A little later Brenda drove by, stopped to ask if everything was ok and
mentioned that is was ok to wash our Coach if we liked. She, the Coach, was
dirty for sure, but this being our first trip, we did not have a brush or
things to get the job done. Next thing I know here comes a couple of guys,
fellow owners staying there, brushes in hand, buckets swinging and smiles
from side to side asking,
" you have any beer?" of course it took only a shake of the lambs tail to
get that taken care of and the washing began.

Mind you, we were not the first owners of this fantastic Coach called a
Wanderlodge and she was older being an '85 and here were new Coaches all
around. But the smiles and Bird talk put my bride and I at ease. That
evening, out came the wine and glasses filled all around, toasts were made,
smiles and hands offered, now that is an anniversary that Charolette and I
will never forget. We have been blessed with all the friends met, camp
fires shared, trouble with systems in the Coaches talked about and fixed
and always the helping hand when needed.

Bottom line to all this, Charolette and I wish to thank you all, for the
memories on this our 20th Anniversary, though temporarily Bird less, we are
Birders to the core and it is the people on this forum whom are very
precious and dear to our hearts.

Safe travels,

Ralph and Charolette Fullenwider
Ralph's RV Solutions, Duncan, Oklahoma
http://home.swbell.net/rlf47/index.htm