2015 NC Smoke Butt Hang

**Hotlips** · 05-31-2015, 17:31

Well folks, I want to tell you we had a great bunch of people out at the Rolling View Campground at Falls Lake. If you weren't lucky enough to join us, you missed some good company and good food.
We got there Wednesday and found Chigger, and OldFourHats had beat us to the site. Amazing how fast old guys can be. Tacoma96 and Sandman brought us firewood by. I went to clean the ladies bathrooms, and left KingsFord to begin site set up. Squidbilly, his 2 boys, and 2 dogs showed up from Alabama, as well as Captain Morgan and Maytag from SC. We had a short thunderstorm, and we sat around under my EZups and ate Chicken salad on croissants and Ambroisa for dinner. Of course it had stopped raining by bed time.
Thursday morning started out with sunshine and smiles. No rain in site. We had a nice breakfast about 9am. KingsFord and I finished cleaning and setting up the bathrooms for our guests. We made use of the newly cleaned showers, then came back into camp all refreshed. We had several people wander in Thursday. Karebear and her husband James arrived from Florida. James was able to get his forum name "thewanderer" while at our hang. Loki decided to join us to see if there would be mischief. Our Meatloaf dinner Thursday night left everyone stuffed, and we sat around a campfire swapping tales til late into the night.
Friday morning was bright and beautiful. We gorged on breakfast, then several hit the hammocks for naps. I made a shopping run to restock ice and gather food items. We went through a lot of ice. Our drink table was well utilized. Cold drinks were in demand. We had a large group of our hangers arrive Friday. Plenty of trees to go around. Mom and Pop Meck were able to come out and play with us, and we are so happy they did. Of course we all stuffed ourselves for dinner, and had Strawberry shortcake for dessert. Pappyamos and Mommeck can serve up some strawberry short cake.
Saturday morning arrived bright and sunny. After a filling breakfast, people went out to kayak, bike and swim. Of course some enjoyed there hammocks for a nap. Loki, Chigger, OldFourHats, grannypat, Groundhog, bonepile and Phantom Grappler formed a tall tales circle for the day chatting in the shade. Stubby put the chickens to smoking in the smoker, which caused a wonderful aroma to waft around all day. We had items we hadn't cooked on the previous nights due to people having to change arrival dates, so we decided to cook it all up for lunch. Then we proceeded to set up the raffle table.
We had approximately 70 people enjoy some wonderful smoked meat and sides for dinner. Bonepile, JDK, MomMeck and Stubby did a wonderful job on the pork and chicken. I contributed some Mississippi Pot Roast as a beef item. We gorged on CoreyR's cobbler's and some Reese's Peanut Butter Pies brought in by another generous hanger. Tacoma96 brought us some tasty ice cream that we enjoyed around the fire.
The raffle had a great attendance, and I think the spoils were distributed pretty well. I want to thank the Mecks for the contribution of the Hammeck stand. Thank you Squidbilly for the Olive Yellow winter tarp, Thank you Dutch for the gift certificates. Thank you Kyle from Ripstopbytheroll for the complete tarp kit. Thank you Fluteman for that beautiful flute. Also thank you to those who brought items to contribute to the raffle. We collected $538 dollars in raffle ticket sales. Enough to cover the cost of the campsite ($288) and help pay for next years site, yay!!!.
Me and KingsFord had a wonderful time. We loved seeing everyone. A great bunch of people. Thank you to all that helped, either by doing dishes, making a dish, doing an ice run, setting up the tables, helping unload and reload the trailer, and just giving your verbal thanks and support. I want to especially thank Stubby and CoreyR who worked with me to help plan dinner for Saturday. Thank you to all who smoked the delicious meat, and thank you Starfish_Comet who always helps me with all things at camp. Pappyamos who isn't afraid to be my sous chef. MomMeck who jumps in and helps every chance she gets, and PopMeck who follows directions really well.

**Gresh** · 05-31-2015, 17:36

I had fun. Good times were had.

**Hotlips** · 05-31-2015, 17:38

IMG_1128.jpg IMG_1133.jpg IMG_1126.jpg IMG_1146.jpg

**Hotlips** · 05-31-2015, 17:43

IMG_1166.jpg IMG_1162.jpg IMG_1159.jpg IMG_1121.jpg

**Hotlips** · 05-31-2015, 17:49

IMG_1194.jpg IMG_1190.jpg IMG_1189.jpg IMG_1191.jpg IMG_1195.jpg

**Hotlips** · 05-31-2015, 18:06

IMG_1197.jpg IMG_1198.jpg IMG_1199.jpg

**MomMeck** · 05-31-2015, 18:39

We are home unpacked and reminiscing about the great time we had. Thank you Hotlips and Kingsford for all your hard work and thoughtful touches. It was great to see old friends and make new. Pop and I always leave saying how great the hammock community is. You can not find a friendlier or more caring group anywhere

To all the parents, I had a blast watching your kids have such a great time. Seeing them running around in the woods,kayaking and just hanging out in hammocks was a true joy. One of JDK's sons helped me with getting the pulled pork ready for dinner.
They are all a GREAT bunch of kids

We are looking forward to the fall and heading south again!

**grannypat** · 05-31-2015, 19:21

A big thank you to Hot Lips and Kingsford for all their hard work in organizing and hosting this hang. This had to be a huge undertaking and they carried it off with style. Even the restrooms were CLEAN and well stocked with shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, tooth paste (most of the toothpaste and brushes were carried off by the girl scouts), body sprays, and even flip flops to wear in the shower. I didn't check it out personally, but I heard that the men's room was equally well stocked. Also thank you to who ever donated the Eno straps and the flashlight I won in the raffle. Too bad that CoryR won the Meck hammock stand that I was supposed to win.

Thank you to Tacoma96 for all of the firewood in various sizes. Are you warm yet, Tacoma? Hot Lips, Kingsford and their minions sure know how to feed a crowd. The food was awesome. Thanks to Phantom Grappler for helping me with some knots. I got them on video so I can remember them. It was nice to visit with old friends and meet some new ones. Hope to see you all again next year.

**Tacoma96** · 05-31-2015, 19:35

Wow what a great event. I cant believe all the work Hotlips and Kingsford put into the 2015 Smoked Butt hang. They really rocked and every aspect seemed to being covered (signs, bathrooms, food, the lists goes on). I was glad to be part of the support providing what I could. I made about 3 trips back and fourth to the house about 90 miles rounds trip to bring supplies and to pickup/transport people. Thanks again all.
I arrived Friday late afternoon (I could not get off work early to save my life) and set up both my spouse and my hammock systems. Since 2 hours before arriving I was working in a temperature of -15 at work then had to set up hammocks in high 80s with humidity (I thought I was melting like a popsicle) Completed this around 7PM then proceeded to Campsite 4 to meet people. Conversations were great and with an event this big it is hard to get around and talk to everyone.
Saturday morning came early (very) and left about 6:15AM to go pick up the wife. Glad they gave us the combination to the gate so I did not have to wait until 8AM. Arrived back with the wife at 11AM.
Once we got settled I decided to give Chigger, Pappy Amos, Phantom Grappler a tour of section 15 of the Falls Lake hiking trail.

DSC03644-265x400.jpg

We hiked about 1.2 miles one way then back. The scenery is great in this area. We did encounter an obstacle on the trail which can be talked about at a later time. Everyone enjoyed the hike.
Arrived back at the campsite, hanged around and did more talking. Great conversations. The evening meal was great (thanks to all the cooks and prep people). I even had someone tell me how great my home sauce was. Cool. Raffle was great and glad the proceeds covered the sites. Great conversations after dinner then bedtime. Again thanks to all who helped with this hang and thanks to all the people that attended. Once morning came:

Heading south
Tacoma96 out