Punkin' Chunkin' 2009 - Bridgeville DE

What a fun weekend we have had. We spent a couple of days recovering from camping with the grandbabies in Hershey, PA over Halloween. Stu spent some more time getting the garage in the toy hauler ready to hold both bikes (his Harley-Davidson Tri-Glide and my Harley-Davidson Nightster). It worked! LOL! Then we had dinner with our Thursday night friends before heading out Friday for Greensboro, MD and the Holiday Park Campground for Punkin' Chunkin'.

The event was three days long but with a late arrival on Friday we opted to wait until Saturday. We spent the evening watching Ice Age 3 with our fellow camping friends (Jackie & Gary, Karen & Jerry). Two others were going to join us on Saturday (Pauline & Earl) as well as our step-daughter, Bev & her sweetie, Jeff.

We headed out on Saturday morning about 9:30, Gary & the gang in his car followed by us in the Freightliner. Gary knew where we were going....well, he said he did. He did find the event, just missed the entrance to the parking. Seems as though they opted to wind us around miles of back roads rather than block a major route through the area. Gee, I wonder why....almost 3 hours later we finally got in to park. We paid our fee, $9 each plus $2 for parking, and slowly walked along the fence looking at the large apparatuses (is that a word, maybe it's apparati...LOL!). We did notice a LOT of tailgating going on.

We were amazed at how large the event was, hundreds upon hundreds of cars lined the parking area and the main event area was very busy. There was something for everyone...a small carnival area for kids, climbing rocks and bungee type tumbles. Lots of food vendors, no excuse for going hungry, but no beer being a family event. Well, let me qualify that...no beer SOLD. There were coolers everywhere, filled with beer and maybe the occasional soda and water. LOL!




Smug Mug Gallery

There are several classes of chunkers....the cannons were firing when we arrived. We quickly learned that 1) unless there was smoke afterwards it was hard to tell which one had fired, 2) unless the pumpkin became "pie" (splattered apart when fired) you rarely saw the pumpkin. Later in the day the trebuchets and catapults fired and you could actually see some of the pumpkins fly. Fortunately the entire event was filmed for showing Thanksgiving day on the Science channel. Needless to say, we'll be recording it.

We wandered, we watched, we ate (the homemade french fries were to die for!), we chatted, we rested, we walked, we shopped (many vendors weren't of interest but we found one that created all kinds of things out of metal and of course we had to buy the requisite t-shirt/sweatshirt).

We thought we would stay and watch the fireworks but opted to head out to dinner with Bev & Jeff and Pauline & Earl. The rest of the crowed had headed back to the campground earlier. We had a great evening, dinner and drinks at Texas Roadhouse and back to the campground around 10pm.

Sunday we all slept in and woke to a gorgeous Indian summer day...wishing we had the bikes out to ride (this campground won't allow them to be ridden through it so they are garaged). Yesterday was multiple layers (I had on a long sleeved shirt, topped with a sweatshirt, topped with a fleece vest, topped with a jacket as well as gloves & a fleece headband.) We decided to head over the the local casino, Harrington's for a little fun and the buffet lunch. Stu ended up winning $35, which covered our late lunch at Peggy's Restaurant (we opted out of the buffet since we had eaten a late breakfast) in Greenwood, DE. If you are ever in the area, you need to stop in. Great homemade cooking, large servings, low prices and pie (yes, they make them there) that was some of the best we have ever had.

We head back to Stevensville in the morning, the week will be spent doing last minute things around the rig as we get ready to depart the area for probably another year. Hope to have a couple more lunches with friends, one more Thursday night dinner, squeeze in a haircut for me and finally, get Stu's new hearing aids. Phew!

Friday the 13th we hit the road, heading to Crossville TN for 10 days. We'll be staying at Deer Run RV Resort. From there we head back to the Cartersville GA KOA for Thanksgiving with family. Right now we have all three of my kids as well as my brother and his wife....should be a great time. On Saturday the 28th we head to Sumter Oaks RV Park in Bushnell, FL for at least 20 days. Our cruise to the Panama Canal leaves on Monday the 30th. It's a 10 day cruise and no, we won't be online. LOL!

Stu will be posting the next blog describing our rig and how we travel. We keep getting questions about our setup so figured it's time. LOL!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu