Day 28 Tuesday April 15, 2025
Hey, it’s the weekend again so we went to Circle L Cafe in Sparta for breakfast. We have been here several times over the years. They serve pancakes as big as a dinner plate. On our first time here I didn’t know how big they were and ordered two and neither the waitress or the table of local men beside us said anything until the waitress brought them out. Then the local men got a good laugh on me. Now I only order one.
Then we went to The Gathering Place in Sparta. It is a coffee shop we have visited several times and they also have ladies smelly things, ladies clothes, gifts and do-dads for sell.
The wind is really blowing today, sure does mess up a hair-do. We needed a few groceries so we stopped at Food Lion before returning to the campground and enjoying the remainder of our day off.
Day 29 Wednesday April 16, 2025
On our second day off we had planned to go to the River Roast Coffee Shop in Jonesville but we made a last minute decision to go to Cracker Barrel instead for breakfast. We had not been to a Cracker Barrel in quite sometime.
We had a really good breakfast before driving out into the county to Shiloh General Store. It is an Amish store with lots of nice things in it including some really good sourdough bread made fresh daily. We usually visit here at least one time while we are here but last year we went there twice and both times they were closed for a community function. We also found the frozen Lasagna that we discovered in an Amish store in Branson Missouri last year. And also the a Guggisberg Baby Swiss cheese we like that is made in Berlin Ohio in the Amish community but we had just bought some in West Jefferson last week. We were browsing through the store in Branson last year and a lady told Lena that she really needed to try it. We bought some and it is really good. As good or better than any I have had in a restaurant. They don’t scrimp on the meat in it. We got two containers of it and two loaves of sourdough bread today. The bread was still warm and when we got back to the motorhome we sliced one loaf and spread soft butter on it for lunch. 👍
We drove back via some back roads looking for some photo opportunities. Since we arrived here on April 1st, the trees have come alive and are forming their new leaves. The limbs were bare when we got here now every where we look we see new green leaves forming. The farm land and livestock pastures here are rolling land and really pretty now in their new green cover. Our host site sits among several large hardwood trees and the campground is surrounded by mostly hardwoods with some pine in the mix and in April you really notice the change in the trees almost daily. When we work here in May, which we like better due to milder weather, the leaves have mostly formed and we don’t witness the change like we do in April.
We did stop at the River Roasters for a Latte, then Food Lion to get a few items Lena couldn’t get yesterday in Sparta before returning to the campground. It is much warmer today but still really windy.
It is going to be busy in the campground the remainder of the week. Several of the schools around here are on Spring Break.
Day 29 Thursday April 17, 2025
Another cool 41 degree morning at 8AM but by the time we got everything done on our first pass through the campground and had breakfast it had warmed up nicely.
We went back out at 10:30 to begin getting all the vacant sites ready for the next wave of campers. We had cleaned 34 sites in Loop B and C and dumped all of our ashes and trash by the time we went back to the motorhome at 1PM for lunch. Every vacant site is ready in those two loops for the next wave of campers.
We are really liking the new checkout time of 12 noon. Before when checkout was 3PM and checkin was 4PM we were constantly going back out to clean 2-3 sites as they became vacant when the campers trickled out. Now we can get them all clean while we are working as the campers leave. Most campers start leaving by 9-10 so in the span of about 2-3 hours everyone has departed. Before it was a span of about span of about 6 hours.
I cleaned a few more in Loop A while Lena was cleaning up the kitchen after lunch.
Jackie told us an interesting story about a camper that was here earlier this week. I will call him “Parrot Man”. We didn’t see him so we missed out on another interesting individual. He had two talking parrots and he walks around with them on his shoulders. Supposedly he would go up to other campers and ask them “how do you like my parrots “. He asked one man and the man told him I don’t like them. The man said “but they are talking parrots “. The man said I don’t like them because I don’t like birds.
We have a dump station in the campground for the campers that have holding tanks to dump their black and grey water before they depart. We also have two sites (#72 & #73) that have full hookups so they don’t have to go to the dump station they can dump before leaving their site. Well Parrot Man asked the camper in #72 if he would pull out of his site and let him back into the site and dump his tanks. Mine you the camper on 72 was not due to checkout of the campground that day. The camper on #72 told him there was a dump station that he could use but Parrot Man said “ I don’t want anyone to see me when I dump “. HUH!! Needless to say the camper on 72 did not grant Parrot Man his wish. I guess it takes all kinds of people to make up this world. Even strange ones. But what is interesting the dump station is almost totally hidden from view except from our Host site so no one would have seen him dump.
Day 30 Friday April 18, 2025
Another busy day in the campground as we get ready for the weekend. With several local schools in the area on Spring break there are lots of kids in the campground.
Another kind of interesting story occurred late yesterday evening. We have a radio that we can communicate with the park maintenance crew and the park Rangers if we need them. So we hear some of what happens outside the campground.
Everyone is supposed to be out of the parking lots by 7:30PM headed to the gate so the Rangers can get everything checked and the gates closed by 8PM. Starting in May it is 9PM. The campground has an exit that is open after the park closes so a late arriving camper can get in or a camper can leave the campground at night if needed.
Last night we heard the closing Ranger talking to the Superintendent about an individual that had been flying a drone and had got it lodged in a tree and he was still trying to get it down and it well past 8PM. First of all it is illegal to fly a drone in a NC State Park. I think the fine is $100. And this morning we found out the drone was not his personal drone, it belongs to the company he works for. Oops! Someone tried to help him get it down by throwing an axe up into the tree and the axe got lodged in the tree. Now that is not good!
We found out later today that through various attempts they did finally recover the drone and the Rangers did not fine the individual for flying the drone in the park. I guess they figured he had suffered enough.
We have a full house tonight or will if everyone that has a reservation comes in.
Day 30 Saturday April 19, 2025
Another beautiful day in the mountains of NC. We are liking this beautiful weather. We only have 18 reservations today which keeps the campground at capacity.
After breakfast we cleaned several sites before stopping to cook lunch. I fired up the Weber grill after I killed the red wasp that had built a nest on the handle since I set it on the picnic table.
We made a meal that we hadn’t cooked in a couple of years. It is called aluminum foil packets. Lena precooked the potatoes in the pressure cooker. You take two pieces of aluminum foil and lay on one direction and lay the second one 90 defenders to the first and put the potatoes in with sliced squash, zucchini, sliced kielbasa and shrimp. Lena chose yellow peppers over shrimp for hers. Then you fold the foil over everything to make the packets and set them on the hot Weber grill for about 30 minutes. You could add any seasoning you desire and substitute any of the ingredients.
We prepared and cooked three packets and I took one over to Jackie at the Contact Station. It is a fairly quick meal and very good.
At 3PM we went down to the Amphitheater to help the Rangers hide Easter Eggs for the 4PM Easter Egg Hunt for the kids under 12 in the campground. About 30 or so kids showed up and had a lot of fun finding the eggs. The kid with 69 eggs won a small prize and those with 40 and above got a Stone Mountain State Park sticker and we got one also for helping.
We had an interesting camper in the site beside us today. It was a 1960 Volkswagen Camper Van. Just think it is 65 years old and still going. I talked to the owner and he said he has had it 6 years. You don’t see many of them on the road anymore.
Day 31 Sunday April 20, 2025
Easter Sunday
Lots of people leaving today as is normal for a Sunday. We have 25 reservations for tonight so we have lots of sites to clean.
Many of the fire pits were still too hot to clean the ashes so we cleaned what we could and raked the sites and got all of Loop B and C and part of Loop A ready by 12:30 before we took a break to rest and have lunch. Most campers are abiding by the Noon checkout time. One or two will push past the checkout time with excuses like we didn’t know how long it would take us to pack up. Yea, right.
Day 32 Monday April 21, 2025
Kind of a busy day for a Monday. We had 29 reservations and a few “walk ins” today. Again we got help from maintenance and a couple of the Rangers plus the Superintendent cleaning sites and fire pits this morning. We had cleaned about 30 yesterday so in about an hour and half all the others were ready. The new Superintendent is definitely a hands on superintendent.
Then after we had breakfast went back out and cleaned about 25 more as the campers that were leaving today departed. We got everything ready before today’s reservation arrived except one and they were here this morning at 10:30 waiting for their site to become vacant, which it didn’t until about 11:45. Before we could get to it they pulled in and setup but we still did a check to see if it needed any attention.
No comments:
Post a Comment