Hunt's Lodge Happenings
Welcome to our Blog and thanks for visiting! We'll use this to try to keep folks updated of the events and happenings at our place. We welcome your comments and suggestions!
Hunt's Lodge Updates
Happy 4th of July!
Hope everyone has a wondeful and safe holiday filled with fun, friends, and festivities! We're going to do our part at the campground with a last minhte decision to have a bb-q for our guests. I have about 20 pounds of pork in the smoker now for pulled pork later... mmmm
In other news, we have two more roofs done on the cabins, and the metal purchased to do the last two. Yeeha!
One Roof Down, Four to Go & Credit/Debit cards
And the first cabin to be re-roofed is finished! I must say, I am very pleased with the results.
Our goal is to have them all re-roofed by the end of summer, then build a couple more complete cabins next summer.
In other news, we are now able to accept credit and debit cards! Yay!!!
Our goal is to have them all re-roofed by the end of summer, then build a couple more complete cabins next summer.
In other news, we are now able to accept credit and debit cards! Yay!!!
Work starting on the cabin porches & parking sheds
Hello one and all!
Well, summer is just about to spring up on us, and we're ready! Work started today on Cabin #5's porch and parking shed area. Our goal is to do them one at a time, as we can, and have them all completed by the end of summer.
The framework went up today to cover the porch and add the parking shed. The metal arrived just a little bit ago, and the work crew will be here bright and early in the morning to finish up. Yeeeha! Here's how it looks at the moment:
And here's the metal:
Boy, does that color look familiar! I'll post pictures tomorrow of the finished work. It's gonna' be awesome!
We are also very close to being able to accept Mastercard and Visa. We'll be sure to update the main webpage and our mailing list as soon as that happens. Look for it sometime next week.
Take care and ride safe!
Well, summer is just about to spring up on us, and we're ready! Work started today on Cabin #5's porch and parking shed area. Our goal is to do them one at a time, as we can, and have them all completed by the end of summer.
The framework went up today to cover the porch and add the parking shed. The metal arrived just a little bit ago, and the work crew will be here bright and early in the morning to finish up. Yeeeha! Here's how it looks at the moment:
And here's the metal:
Boy, does that color look familiar! I'll post pictures tomorrow of the finished work. It's gonna' be awesome!
We are also very close to being able to accept Mastercard and Visa. We'll be sure to update the main webpage and our mailing list as soon as that happens. Look for it sometime next week.
Take care and ride safe!
April Showers Bring May Flowers...
Or at least, that's what we learned in grade school. :o) Personally, we're hoping the April showers bring May riders through.
Spring has sprung with a vengeance in beautiful SE Tennessee. Trees are budding out and leaves are popping up all over the place, spring flowers are all over the place - crocus, daffodils, flocks, tulips... color everywhere, and the frogs, oh man, the frogs sing a chorus every evening about 8:00 or so. You don't see many of the little guys, but they make their presence known in the evening.
At the campground, we're making preparations for the season ahead. We never really closed over the winter, so we've had a few guests here and there. A couple small groups have come in recently, and a pretty large one is headed our way in a couple of weeks. Jack & I are really looking forward to this upcoming season. Last year was a blast, and we're thinking this year will only be better!
We've added a soda machine to the fold, serving canned soft drinks. The machine says Coke, but we're serving Pepsi products, mainly because we know of a good supply for them close at hand. We added a weather radio to the coffee cart area, and Jack is working on setting up a computer kiosk for use by campground guests to check weather radar and email with. We need a couple more components before that is usable, and we need to build a hutch for it to sit inside to help protect it from the weather. I think we will also store route maps of some of our favorite rides on it too.
That's all for now. Now I'm off to update the webpage and make out some more routes...
Take care, ride safe, and God bless!
Spring has sprung with a vengeance in beautiful SE Tennessee. Trees are budding out and leaves are popping up all over the place, spring flowers are all over the place - crocus, daffodils, flocks, tulips... color everywhere, and the frogs, oh man, the frogs sing a chorus every evening about 8:00 or so. You don't see many of the little guys, but they make their presence known in the evening.
At the campground, we're making preparations for the season ahead. We never really closed over the winter, so we've had a few guests here and there. A couple small groups have come in recently, and a pretty large one is headed our way in a couple of weeks. Jack & I are really looking forward to this upcoming season. Last year was a blast, and we're thinking this year will only be better!
We've added a soda machine to the fold, serving canned soft drinks. The machine says Coke, but we're serving Pepsi products, mainly because we know of a good supply for them close at hand. We added a weather radio to the coffee cart area, and Jack is working on setting up a computer kiosk for use by campground guests to check weather radar and email with. We need a couple more components before that is usable, and we need to build a hutch for it to sit inside to help protect it from the weather. I think we will also store route maps of some of our favorite rides on it too.
That's all for now. Now I'm off to update the webpage and make out some more routes...
Take care, ride safe, and God bless!
Goodbye 2007, Hello 2008!
Hello again! I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas season and is getting ready for the new year ahead. 2007 has been a great year for Hunt's Lodge. We opened in May not knowing what to expect, if we would be busy or if people would just go on by and not look. We were pleasantly surprised to find that just the right mix of folks stopped in to say howdy and stay a while. We enjoyed meeting everybody, and want to thank everyone we came into contact with this past season from the bottoms of our hearts for helping to make our first season a fun and memorable time. We are really looking forward to finding out what 2008 has in store for us!
We've stayed busy in our time off. The restrooms now have full length mirrors, and hooks abound all over the place, thanks to suggestions we've received. We also mounted cups in the pavilion over the electric outlets so that charging cell phones won't need to be left on the ground anymore. We've given facelifts to 4 of the cabins, with the materials to finish the 5th one. The roofs will get painted until we can get the tin to recover them and put parking sheds off to the side. Here's how they look so far:
Best wishes to all for a wonderful 2008! Hope to see you at the Lodge!
The T-Shirts are Here!
The new t-shirts are here! And I must say, they look awesome! Then again, I am easily impressed and probably could be considered just a weeeeee bit biased about their design. :o)
The main website has also gotten a facelift, a guest book, and a page for the campground store has been added. I have the option to replace our logo in the upper right of the main website pages with the same motorcycle fender that is on the upper right of the blog page. Hmmmm.... very tempting..... what do you think?
In campground improvement news, I have the materials to build small tables to go between the beds in the cabins, and lots and lots of hooks to put up everywhere - in the bathroom, in the pavilion, on the porch... just about anywhere you'd want to hang wet gear to dry out. We have full length mirrors to go into each of the restrooms - one of our younger guests pointed out to us that kids can't see the mirrors in the bathrooms (thanks Jacob!) - and also mirrors to mount in the cabins, too.
We're continuing to enjoy wonderful fall weather, and the leaves are really starting to change now. I hope everyone is taking the opportunities to enjoy autumn every chance they get. I made it out for a ride last weekend and just throughly enjoyed it.
I guess that's just about it for now. If anybody is in the area, stop in and say howdy. Take care and ride safe!
The main website has also gotten a facelift, a guest book, and a page for the campground store has been added. I have the option to replace our logo in the upper right of the main website pages with the same motorcycle fender that is on the upper right of the blog page. Hmmmm.... very tempting..... what do you think?
In campground improvement news, I have the materials to build small tables to go between the beds in the cabins, and lots and lots of hooks to put up everywhere - in the bathroom, in the pavilion, on the porch... just about anywhere you'd want to hang wet gear to dry out. We have full length mirrors to go into each of the restrooms - one of our younger guests pointed out to us that kids can't see the mirrors in the bathrooms (thanks Jacob!) - and also mirrors to mount in the cabins, too.
We're continuing to enjoy wonderful fall weather, and the leaves are really starting to change now. I hope everyone is taking the opportunities to enjoy autumn every chance they get. I made it out for a ride last weekend and just throughly enjoyed it.
I guess that's just about it for now. If anybody is in the area, stop in and say howdy. Take care and ride safe!
Happy Autumn! - Odds & ends, news, updates, nothing in particular, everything in general...
Happy Autumn everybody!
My favorite time of year is just about here. We've had a beastly hot summer, but it's turning into a rather enjoyable fall. Temperatures around here are just about perfect - mid 80's during the day for comfortable riding, and in the mid 50's at night - perfect for sleeping! We're starting to see our first few hints of color change on the leaves that didn't just dry up and blow away over the summer.
Just in time for fall cookouts, we have a new grill! To the folks who have gallantly made do with small one we've had this summer, say adios to it. In it's place, we have a stainless steel 5 burner grill with an infrared broiler on the side. Yeeeha! It worked overtime this weekend as the MTA riders brought their own master chef with them.
We bid farewell to the last of a great group of people this morning. Florida chapter #1 of the Motorcycle Touring Association stayed with us this weekend, and they appear to have had a blast. There were people from all over North America, and you couldn't ask for a better bunch of folks to spend your weekend with. Several of them have said that they'll be back next year, and we're already looking forward to it.
I just placed an order this morning for our first batch of T-shirts. We've had quite a few requests for them. We should have them in a couple of weeks. They'll be black with this on the back:
And this on the front over the left breast:
As soon as they come in, we'll let folks know. We were told 2-3 weeks, so it should be before the end of October. I think they'll run in the $12-$15 range, and flat rate shipping for up to two should be $4.60. We'll know more once we have them in hand. More on that as we know what's going on.
I think that's about it for the moment. We don't have any groupd coming in this weekend, so come on in and visit a spell!
My favorite time of year is just about here. We've had a beastly hot summer, but it's turning into a rather enjoyable fall. Temperatures around here are just about perfect - mid 80's during the day for comfortable riding, and in the mid 50's at night - perfect for sleeping! We're starting to see our first few hints of color change on the leaves that didn't just dry up and blow away over the summer.
Just in time for fall cookouts, we have a new grill! To the folks who have gallantly made do with small one we've had this summer, say adios to it. In it's place, we have a stainless steel 5 burner grill with an infrared broiler on the side. Yeeeha! It worked overtime this weekend as the MTA riders brought their own master chef with them.
We bid farewell to the last of a great group of people this morning. Florida chapter #1 of the Motorcycle Touring Association stayed with us this weekend, and they appear to have had a blast. There were people from all over North America, and you couldn't ask for a better bunch of folks to spend your weekend with. Several of them have said that they'll be back next year, and we're already looking forward to it.
I just placed an order this morning for our first batch of T-shirts. We've had quite a few requests for them. We should have them in a couple of weeks. They'll be black with this on the back:
And this on the front over the left breast:
As soon as they come in, we'll let folks know. We were told 2-3 weeks, so it should be before the end of October. I think they'll run in the $12-$15 range, and flat rate shipping for up to two should be $4.60. We'll know more once we have them in hand. More on that as we know what's going on.
I think that's about it for the moment. We don't have any groupd coming in this weekend, so come on in and visit a spell!
We have the best guests!!!
Yes, it's been quite awhile since the last update. The end of July and all of August were hot, no two ways about it. It was too hot to ride, too hot to camp, and most people just stayed at home in the air conditioning. We can't blame them, because we stayed inside, too.
It's a mixed blessing that we were so slow towards the end of July. We would have liked to have been as busy as little bees, but at the same time, Lori was needed by her family. Anyone who has been following our updates is familiar with Lori's dad. He's the mastermind behind our restroom stalls, and he and her mother have both given up vacation time to help us get ready to open. Doctors found a blockage in one of the arteries in Mark's left leg that required a bypass operation. A complication required another surgery the following day. This happened at the beginning of July.
A couple of weeks after the operations, more complications set in. He ended up having 6 surgeries in all, including the first two, and the final result was the amputation of his left leg just above the knee on August 1st because there was nothing else left to do that could save his leg in any useful fashion. Lori stayed with her parents the last half of July, coming home after the final surgery and seeing for herself that her dad was on the mend finally. As of now, he is home, recovering very nicely. His attitude is upbeat and positive, and he's ready to get back to living. An artificial leg is in the works. He should be going back to work as soon as possible, and plans on coming down for a visit before that happens.
While she was gone, Jack had to work, making him unavailable most of the time. His daughter and mother helped to keep the campground clean and stocked with toilet paper (important stuff, that TP!). We left a notice on the office door, explaining the situation and asking our guests to please be understanding and honest since there wasn't somebody here manning the front desk.
We figured out from this experience that WE HAVE THE BEST GUESTS IN THE WORLD!!! And we mean that. We had guests who went above and beyond the call of duty to help us out when they found out what was going on. One pair of ladies took it on themselves to clean cabins, do laundry, and just in general keep an eye on things while they were were here. They even cleaned the cabin they'd been staying in before they left. Several guests came and went without ever seeing us, but we know they were here by their registrations and payments slid under the office door.
We would like to thank everyone who stayed with us and helped us out during this time. We know that we were not the hosts we should have been, and appreciate your understanding and care. The well wishes and prayers and thoughts that were sent our way, and the help and support that people who we've never met have shown us, is appreciated more than words can say. Thank you.
It's a mixed blessing that we were so slow towards the end of July. We would have liked to have been as busy as little bees, but at the same time, Lori was needed by her family. Anyone who has been following our updates is familiar with Lori's dad. He's the mastermind behind our restroom stalls, and he and her mother have both given up vacation time to help us get ready to open. Doctors found a blockage in one of the arteries in Mark's left leg that required a bypass operation. A complication required another surgery the following day. This happened at the beginning of July.
A couple of weeks after the operations, more complications set in. He ended up having 6 surgeries in all, including the first two, and the final result was the amputation of his left leg just above the knee on August 1st because there was nothing else left to do that could save his leg in any useful fashion. Lori stayed with her parents the last half of July, coming home after the final surgery and seeing for herself that her dad was on the mend finally. As of now, he is home, recovering very nicely. His attitude is upbeat and positive, and he's ready to get back to living. An artificial leg is in the works. He should be going back to work as soon as possible, and plans on coming down for a visit before that happens.
While she was gone, Jack had to work, making him unavailable most of the time. His daughter and mother helped to keep the campground clean and stocked with toilet paper (important stuff, that TP!). We left a notice on the office door, explaining the situation and asking our guests to please be understanding and honest since there wasn't somebody here manning the front desk.
We figured out from this experience that WE HAVE THE BEST GUESTS IN THE WORLD!!! And we mean that. We had guests who went above and beyond the call of duty to help us out when they found out what was going on. One pair of ladies took it on themselves to clean cabins, do laundry, and just in general keep an eye on things while they were were here. They even cleaned the cabin they'd been staying in before they left. Several guests came and went without ever seeing us, but we know they were here by their registrations and payments slid under the office door.
We would like to thank everyone who stayed with us and helped us out during this time. We know that we were not the hosts we should have been, and appreciate your understanding and care. The well wishes and prayers and thoughts that were sent our way, and the help and support that people who we've never met have shown us, is appreciated more than words can say. Thank you.
New Place in Town
Hello all,
We just found a new motorcycle accessory shop getting ready to open up, right here in Tellico Plains. They're a mile from us at most. Yeehhhaaa!!!
They are Tellico Motorcycle Outfitters, located on Scott Street in beautiful downtown Tellico Plains. We visited with the owner today and got a feel for the place. He's got some very nice gear to offer, and is expecting more inventory to come in. They're expecting to open this Thursday. Check them out on the web at www.tellicomoto.com.
We just found a new motorcycle accessory shop getting ready to open up, right here in Tellico Plains. They're a mile from us at most. Yeehhhaaa!!!
They are Tellico Motorcycle Outfitters, located on Scott Street in beautiful downtown Tellico Plains. We visited with the owner today and got a feel for the place. He's got some very nice gear to offer, and is expecting more inventory to come in. They're expecting to open this Thursday. Check them out on the web at www.tellicomoto.com.
The Coffee has arrived...
We now have a coffee pot and microwave set up for guests to use. We did have an ancient 55 cup behemoth that took an hour to make coffee. Our new Bunn brewer will make a 12 cup pot in about 5 or 6 minutes, and another pot can be started as soon as the first one is finished. This is a good thing. Some of our guests without coffee were kind of scary. I can say this with confidence because I know what my sister is like first thing in the morning...
