Day 36 Tuesday 10/24/2023
It’s the weekend for us and we were ready for it. As we were leaving the park there is a church just outside the gate and there were two deer in the church yard. They must have got their days and time mixed up because they were early for Wednesday night service. We saw six more deer throughout the day.
Several years ago we stayed at a RV Park in the little old mill town of Fries VA and Tom, the owner gave us a paper with directions to a nice backroads drive that he said was really nice to see the Fall colors. We have driven the route twice but it was in the Summer. It was a pretty drive then but we wanted to drive it in the Fall so we drove to Galax VA and had our Latte and cinnamon bun fix from Briarpatch Cafe. Galax is near Fries and the beginning of the route we wanted to take is just outside of Fries.
The drive was gorgeous and since it was mostly backroads where there are a lot of farms we only had one vehicle to get behind us in 40 miles. I pulled over and let him pass since we only wanted to go about 20 mph. They are a lot of cows, a few sheep, pasture land and Christmas tree farms along the route. It is some of the prettiest areas we have seen in the mountains. So peaceful looking. Very large farms and great views up to the mountains and down in the valleys.
We ended up in Independence VA at the end of the route so we stopped for lunch at Mi Casa Azteca for a good Mexican meal. We have ate here several times and it is always good.
Then we backtracked over part of the same route back to Fries but the sun was much higher in the sky and the colors were not as pretty for photos so we returned to the campground about 3PM.
It was cold this morning with frost but by midafternoon it was almost 70 degrees. A beautiful day to be in the mountains.
Day 37 Wednesday 10/25/2023
We went to Dirty Joe’s Coffee Shop in Elkin for the last time this month as we will be leaving here on 10/31/23. We have been so many time when we walk in the Barista knows what we want. She makes a good Latte. We also got a piece of apple caramel cake to go with the coffee. It was really moist and tasty. As we left we told them we would see them in May of next year.
We stopped at Combs Meat Shop to get a pack of their county ham. We got some a couple of weeks ago and it is really good and not really salty. Then it was on to Walmart to restock the cupboards. We returned to the motorhome to unload our groceries and then road out the back gate of the park to do some more “leaf peeping”.
It seems the leaves in the lower elevations have already started to turn brown and fall off the trees but in the higher elevations they are at their peak and just beautiful. By the time we got to Sparta we were hungry so we went to The Pines for lunch. If you are ever in Sparta NC we recommend you try them. They serve really good food and large (almost too large) portions.
Then we did some more “leaf peeping “ on some back road before returning to the campground.
Day 38 Thursday 10/26/2023
We had a normal Thursday, cool morning but warmed up nicely for an another beautiful day in the mountains. Some of the campers that will be here until Sunday have begun to decorate their sites for Halloween. I think there may be a judging Saturday for the best decorations. Since we have never worked here in October this is new to us.
Gary and Amy, a couple that we know from home that lives about 2 miles from us comes here a couple times a year and they have really done a great job with their decorations. They arrived today. They made most of their decorations.
The leaves are still beautiful with all the colors but the trees are really beginning to shed their leaves. We used the leaf blower twice today to blow the leaves off our site.
Day 39 Friday 10/27/2023
Going to be a busy day today as we have 64 reservations today, so that means a lot of campers have to leave to make room for them which means we will have a lot of sites to clean.
Cool again in the morning when we went to put the reservation signs out, so we wore our hoodies. When we went back out after breakfast to start cleaning sites as they were vacated we had to take the hoodies off as they were too warm and then I soon was down to a short sleeve shirt.
Most dog owners are very responsible with their dogs but we have had three occasions this month where the owners groomed their dogs and left numerous globs of white dog hair on the campsite. Now I am sure they would not like to come to a site that was littered with globs of dog hair.
The campers that were leaving left earlier than normal so we had all the vacated sited clean by 12:30 except for 4. So I grilled a slice of Boston butt and we got to eat our lunch before 2PM for change.
The weather was just perfect today to set outside in the afternoon and take in all the glorious colors around us and watch the leaves float down from the trees and the squirrels running about chasing each other or looking for acorns.
Day 40 Saturday 10/29/2023
Another beautiful day in the mountains. We only have 10 reservations coming in today so we should have an easy day. But tomorrow will be really busy as almost everyone will be leaving. Our month here is quickly coming to and end. Other than the stink bugs we have really enjoyed our month here seeing the colors come to their peak.
Several of the campers had lots of Halloween decorations set out on their sites and the park sponsored Trick or Treat starting about 6 PM. Lots of kids and adults were dressed in a variety of costumes as they walked around the campground collecting candy and looking at the decorations.
Our neighbors Gary and Amy won the Halloween decorating contest.
Day 41 Sunday 10/29/2023
First day in several days we didn’t wear our hoodies when we went out at 8 AM to start our morning routine. Yesterday was a three layer day, hoodies, then long sleeve shirts then short sleeve shirts. Today will be a two layer day I think.
The leaves are really falling now. The slightest breeze send hundreds of them down. I used the leaf blower to clear off our site this morning and 4 hours later you couldn’t tell I had just blown them off.
We had an overnight camper here tonight from Austria. We haven’t seen very many campers here from Europe since COVID. Before we saw at least one almost every year we worked.
Day 42 Monday 10/30/2023
It was another beautiful day, but we could tell by evening cooler weather was on the way. We got all the sites cleaned and got to rest awhile before we began to pack up all our outside stuff.
While we were resting a camper come up to our site and wanted to know if we could use my jump pack to jump start his truck in the Upper Parking Lot. We drove over with the golf cart and jumped his truck. I checked his battery cables and told him his problem was caused by a corroded battery cable.
We put out the Tuesday reservation signs before calling it a day and the end of our month at Campground Hosts.
