Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 15:43:54 -0400
Reply-To: "ErikO@ebyte.com" <erikO@EBYTE.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "ErikO@ebyte.com" <erikO@EBYTE.COM>
Organization: Ebyte Communications
Subject: KOA: One of My Experiences (F)
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Well I don't know how funny it is, anyway.....
I thought I would throw out one of my experiences that involves a KOA, a
rip-off, the most horrible city in the free world and lop-eared bunnies.
Me, my girlfriend and my dog Barley ( http://ebyte.com/barleynet ) were
on a return trip home last fall from a 9 day jaunt in the Westy to the
Outer Banks, NC and wanted to check out the Gatlenburg, TN VW show.
Driving through the Smokey Mountains was absolutely breathtaking and a
ton of fun in a Vanagon, that is until we came out of a tunnel and found
ourselves right in the middle of Gatlenburg, TN. I can only describe
this city as the literal raping of mother nature. It's a twisted
combination of christian family values, Dolly Parton's Smokey Mountain
Memories, every theme restaurant and television evangelist's corporate
headquarters, somehow all wrapped up together and smacked on a $9.00
T-shirt, $15.00 you get a CD too! Even a GTI powered Vanagon is no match
for this place, it took forever to leave it's clutches. I must have
counted 10 huge go-cart/put-put golf/arcade/ect type complexes in just a
couple mile strip. Needless to say we aimed the van North and high
tailed it out of there.
It was getting late and we pulled in a KOA for the night. It was pretty
much like all the rest that have been described recently, "Kamping On
Asphalt". One noteworthy feature of this one was a huge fenced in area
containing lop-eared bunnies. My dog smiled as we drove by. Since it was
late we found the office was closed, well... unmanned. They had official
KOA late arrival envelopes and a locked box to put your fees in, which
we did so, but having no change I had to leave a $20. I think our fee
for the night was $10, so I would come back in in the morning to get my
change. We pulled into our camp spot (ie. Driveway) and pulled the
curtains, opened a couple beers and passed out reflecting on our weird
experiences that day.
Well, nature slapped me in the face at about 3:30 am so I proceeded to
feel my way out of the van. As my eyes adjusted I realized my dog was no
where in sight. It turned out she was still in the van, but had just
slipped behind the front curtain and was sitting on the swiveled
passenger seat. She looked almost hypnotized, with a strange motionless
look on her face. She just sat there looking out the window. I pulled
the curtain back and took a look myself. There were literally hundreds
of lop-eared rabbits surrounding the van. This campgrounds owner had a
big jailbreak case on his hands. They were everywhere. Lop-eared rabbits
are an even more appealing critter to dogs due to their slow and
bouncing nature of movement. I considered having a little jailbreak
myself, but didn't want the possibility of dealing with the local
authorities :) I barely made it to the men's room without stepping on
those little suckers.
The next day we got up early to hit the road. Surprisingly, all the
bunnies were returned to their pen. We went up to the office at about
8:00 to check out. There were two signs on the door. One said that all
campers were to check out by 10:00. The other sign said the office would
be open at 12:00. Damm. We got ripped. Well, not really. Those store
made signs cost about $10 bucks, so I took the check out by 10:00 one.
Now we're even:)
Here's what I learned.
*The Outer Banks is a really nice place.
*Gatlenburg is BAD!
*KOA's in Tennessee are a dogs heaven.
Here's what my dog learned.
*Don't eat crabs off the beach.
*KOA's in Tennessee are hell on earth.
My girlfriend didn't learn anything relevant.
_________________________
Erik O Akron, Oh
'82 GTI Powered Westfalia
West.of.Wolfsburg
http://ebyte.com/wow
Greatlakes.Camping.Info
http://ebyte.com/gl
_________________________
Ebyte Communications
http://ebyte.com
