Mt. Airy NC

08/18/13 Sunday We woke up to a gentle drizzle. After breakfast we began to prepare the MH for departure and our trip to Mt Airy, NC. We arrived at Mayberry Campground at 12:30PM and checked in. We were allowed to choose our site from any that was available, so we chose site 12 a pull through that was on the edge of a hill over looking most of the campground. This is a nice campground with full hookup, cable tv and wifi and is laid out in terraces due to the hilly land. There are several long pull through sites which would make it easy for an overnight stay. It is about 3 miles from Mt Airy NC and easy to get to from I74. It is owned by descendants of the Siamese Twins Eng and Chang Bunker and build on Bunker property.

08/19/13 Monday We woke to a light rain. After breakfast we drove the few miles to Historic Downtown Mt. Airy. We parked at the Post Office parking lot as suggested by our campground host and walked the streets. We checked out several of the open businesses. Most of them are named “Mayberry xxxx” using the fame of the Andy Griffith TV program. We worked our way back to the Snappy Lunch for their famous Pork Chop Sandwich. Then we drove to the World’s largest open face granite quarry and then to Andy Griffith Museum. Later we went back downtown for a Latte and Apple Turnover. After stopping by Andy Griffith’s boy home we returned to the campground for the remainder of the day. We were surprised how large the town of Mt Airy is. They have a very active downtown business community. Some of it caters to the tourist trade but not in a tacky way.

08/20/13 Tuesday We walked a mile around the CG and had breakfast, then drove about 20 miles to checkout Pilot Mountain State Park. The CG was being worked on so we could not see all of it. They are running some new waterlines and possibly moving the CG Host site to site 2. This would be a better place for the host site as it is the first one on the left entering the CG and now the host site is site 40 which is all the way around the back side of the loop. We got an application to fill out for campground host. We drove up to the parking lot at the Big Pinnacle (the top of Pilot Mountain) and walked the .8 mile long trail around the pinnacle. The views from there over the countryside below was just beautiful.

Then we headed for Hanging Rock State Park, stopping on the way in the small town of King, NC and the most unusual looking Dario fast food restaurant for lunch. The front looked like a very large drink cup with two straws sticking out the top. After a nice lunch we drove onto Hanging Rock State Park. We drove around the CG and stopped and talked to the campground host and one of the rangers. I gave him our name, address and telephone numbers and he is going to have the ranger that handles volunteer host send us an application. Of the two parks we think we would like Hanging Rock the best, It is a little larger CG and the host site is better. They also have a small lake with a beach for swimming and canoeing. Neither Pilot Mountain or Hanging Rock State Park could accommodate a large RV without some careful maneuvering. We returned to our CG and took a shower and relaxed until it was time to drive back into Mt Airy to listen to a music jam session of local musicians at the Earle Theater.

08/21/13 Wednesday After our walk and breakfast we drove to Stone Mountain State Park and then to New River State Park and then to Jefferson Mountain Natural Area. We really like the Stone Mountain State Park and will be submitting an application to work there as a Campground Host. It has one section that has water and electric hookups and two sections that do not. We liked most of the section B sites but took note of sites, 40-42, 47, 55, 65, 68 and 75. We had a nice talk with the lady in the visitor center and she gas us the application to submit and explained the duties of a host at the park. The CG at New River State park was ok but we don’t plan to submit an application for it. Even if we don’t get selected to work at Stone Mountain we plan to come back and camp there in 2014. On the way from Stone Mountain to New River we stopped in Sparta and ate at Brown’s Restaurant and it was excellent.

08/22/13 Thursday After our walk and breakfast, we walked up to the CG office to use the WIFI to get on the Internet. The WIFI signal at our site is to weak most of the time to use it. Later in the morning we drove a few miles down the road past Dobson to the Shelton Winery and vineyards. The winery was started in 1999 and is located on a former dairy farm. We paid $5 each for a short tour of the facilities and then had a wine tasting. We purchased two bottles of their Riesling. Riesling was one of our favorite wines when we lived in Germany. After the tasting we ate dinner at the Harvest Gill next door to the winery. The food was very good. Then we returned to the CG and relaxed until 6:30 when we drove back into Mt Airy and attended another jam session at the Earle Theater on Main St. They were playing/singing mostly gospel songs with a few pop songs thrown in. When we left 9PM there was a blue grass jam session going on down the street outside in an patio setting that the town has. We listen to their music for awhile before going back to the CG.

08/23/13 Friday We did our morning walk and had breakfast. Then we drove over to Stuart VA to checkout Dominion Valley Park where a Gospel Singing event is held the last weekend in August. We drove through some pretty country. After checking it out we drove back to the CG and relaxed and read the remainder of the day.

08/24/13 Saturday We did our normal morning routine and about 10:30AM we drove to Mt Airy and attended a live radio show at the Earle Theater from 11AM to 1:30PM that was being broadcast over WPAQ AM radio. The first group was The Gospel Plowboys. They were very good so we bought their CD. They were followed by Rich in Tradition playing Blue Grass and Gospel. So for $5 admission we got 2 ½ hours of live music. And we could of also toured the Andy Griffith Museum included in the $5 but we had already toured that. After the show was over we ate lunch at Barney’s Café. And then went down the street and bought coffee and two very large muffins with berries and peaches and sat at a table provided by the town right beside the street enjoyed our dessert. Before returning to the CG we stopped at an Organic Grocery store to pick up a few items.

08/25/13 Sunday We did our morning walk, had breakfast and left the CG about 10:30AM and headed to Cool Breeze CG near Galax, VA. It was only about 25 miles away. I registered and selected back-in site 42 and set up. It is a nice CG with 51 sites. It has several pull through sites. The roads and sites are all packed pea gravel with grass between the sites. They are all full hookup, cable TV and WiFi.

Marion NC

8/12/13 Monday We departed at 6:30AM and headed to Marion NC to attend the 39th North Carolina Bluegrass and Gospel Festival. We arrived at Tom Johnson’s RV Sales and Campground in Marion NC app. 2:30PM. We checked in at the office and set up in site 35 in the Service Center Campground. This is our third time attending this event and the first time to get a site in the Service Center Campground. These sites are all paved and have 50AMP FHU but are a little father from the pavilion where the concert is held but an easy bicycle ride. The prior two years we were in the Rally Park which is just across the road where the Pavilion is located. After supper we rode our bicycles around the Rally park and campground for awhile.

08/13/13 Tuesday We did our morning walk and then walked over to TJ’s Café at the service center for breakfast. They have a very good Café and the food is really reasonable. Two eggs scrambled, bacon or sausage and biscuit and gravy with coffee is $4.00. After breakfast we drove about 70 miles to check out Lake Norman State Park near Troutman NC. We wanted to check out the campground for a possible Workamping job. It is a nice 33 site state park on a large lake but we did not like the Host Site at all. It was the only site in the park that was not paved and it was gravel and not level and there were large pine trees that surrounded the area where our MH would have to set and we don’t want any pine tree sap on it. Then we took a leisurely drive back to Marion on Hwy 70.

Our friends from Florida (Hugh and Pat) arrived about mid afternoon and set up their motor home. We all drove into Marion for supper at the Countryside Restaurant that we had ate at last year. We all ordered their pulled BBQ. It was really good.

08/13/13 Wednesday As usual we did our morning walk and then ate breakfast. Then relaxed and rode our bicycles some around the CG. We invited Hugh and Pat over for supper and talked until bedtime.

08/14/13 Thursday thru Saturday 08/17/13 The festival started today at 12 noon and usually ended around 10:30PM each night. We all really enjoyed the music and singing. It began to drizzle rain mid afternoon on Saturday and continued until Sunday morning as we were preparing to depart for our next destination, Mt. Airy, NC. We said good by to Hugh and Pat as they were leaving the same time we were.