N.E. Cape Fear River

Day 1 Sunday 11/30/14 We have been trying to take a camping trip to our property on the N.E. Cape Fear River for over a month but due to life events and the weather we had been delayed until today. So we hooked up our new toad (a 2010 Jeep Liberty 4WD) and checked everything out. I was relieved because I installed everything and it all worked. We departed app. 11 AM. We setup, had lunch and then drove back home to dress and attend a funeral for a neighbor. After the funeral we returned to the river to hopefully relax a few days if I can shake this cold that has jumped on me.

Day 2 Monday 12/1/14 Lena got up and did her morning walk but I sleep in for awhile trying to fight this cold/flu. After we had breakfast and relaxed awhile we drove into Wallace to take care of some business. We sold our prior toad on Saturday so we had to turn in the licenses plates and cancel the insurance. After getting a few groceries and some cold remedies we went to a local Oriental restaurant for lunch before returning to the river.

After returning to the river we got our Kindles and set by the river and read for a few hours. It was so quiet all we could hear was the gentle wind rustling the few remaining leaves on the trees and the lizards and squirrels as they scampered through the dried leaves on the ground. We put out some ears of corn for the squirrels so they were scampering around eating.

Day 3 Tuesday 12/2/14 It was cooler today, Lena did her morning walk and I slept in still nursing this cold/flu that I have. I felt so bad all day that I didn't even go outside, instead we stayed in and read all day. The weather was cool and overcast all day so it was kind of a yucky day. Lena called to check on our oldest grandson as he was not feeling good when we left. He had been to the doctor and he has the flu so that is probably where I got it as he stayed with us Thursday night and Friday of last week.

Day 4 Wednesday 12/3/14 Lena did her morning walk and I slept in again for awhile. I am feeling a tad better today so maybe today will be a better day. We read for awhile and watched the squirrels scamper around eating the corn we had brought for them. By lunch time I was feeling good enough to drive to Burgaw and try out a Cafe we had spotted there in June – The Alley Cat Cafe. The food was good and reasonably priced. After lunch Lena wanted to visit the library and get a library card so she could check out digital books on her Kindle. Our river property is in Pender Country so she was able to get a card. By this time the sun was out so when we returned to the river I set by the river bank and read for awhile before the temperature dropped with the sun going down.

Day 5 Thursday 12/4/14 After breakfast we decided to pack up and go home. On the way I stopped and topped off the fuel tank for the winter as this will be our last trip until the Spring. I will winterize the MH next week.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 33 & 34

Day 33 - Tuesday 9/9/14 We did our normal morning walk around the trail and then ate breakfast. Later in the day we drove thorough the other parts of the park. We stopped at the Arboretum that is behind the Manor House Bed and Breakfast. We drove by the fishing ponds, golf driving range and the golf course, tennis courts, swimming pool, horse stables, playgrounds and several picnic shelters. Then we went to see the Native American Medicine Wheel near the park office. A medicine wheel is an ancient form of ceremonial circle used by Native Americans for meditation, prayer and celebration.

Then we shopped for some groceries before returning to the campground for lunch. We read for awhile and then took a walk and then rode our bicycles before supper.

Day 34 - Wednesday 9/10/14 All good things must come to an end. Today is the last day of our trip. We did our morning walk and had breakfast and did the final items to prepared to leave for home. A couple out walking their Great Dane dog came by and ask us some questions about camping. They had just purchased their first travel trailer and had yet to take it on a trip. We talked for about 20 minutes. We departed at 10:45AM. We stopped in Sanford NC about 12 noon for lunch. When we stepped out of the motor home a man approached us to ask some questions about towing a car with a motor home. He had just purchased a motor home and had a lot of questions. We talked for an hour before going in to the restaurant to eat. We arrived safe and sound at home app. 4:30PM.

I had decided to keep a tally of expenses on this trip of everything we spent related to the trip to see what out total expensed was and how much it cost per day to travel in a motor home.

The results are:

We were gone 34 days. We drove the motor home 718 miles. The average cost per day was $68.62. This included fuel for the motor home and our car, all our groceries, restaurant meals, campground fees and cost for three days at the Bluegrass/Gospel Festival for both of us. You sure can’t travel and stay in a motel and eat all meals in a restaurant for less than $70 per day for two people.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 31 & 32

Day 31 - Sunday 9/7/14 The rains cleared during the night so we did our morning walk and had breakfast. We got everything ready and departed for Tanglewood Campground in Clemmons NC about 10:30AM for the 60 mile drive.

We checked in and set up in site # 11 that I had reserved several days ago. We stayed at the campground in April for two nights but didn’t get a chance to check out the other parts of the park because it rained all day and night. After eating lunch and relaxing for awhile we rode our bicycles around the 10’ wide paved walking, jogging, bicycling, dog walking trail. This city park is 1100 acres and has several activities, like 2 golf courses, horse stable and trails, 2 fishing ponds, several facilities they rent out, fields for sporting activities, 2 enclosed dog walking areas, trails both paved and unpaved, etc. There were lots of people out enjoying the weather and the facilities of the park.

We read for awhile and they drove to a nearby Mexican Restaurant for supper. It was good but not as good as the Mexican restaurant in our home town.

Day 32 - Monday 9/8/14 We woke up to a rainy drizzle. We did our morning walk in a fine mist but the trees by the walking trail kept most of it off us. The last time we were here it rained most of the two days so we hope this is not a repeat because we want to check out the other facilities in the park.

For future reference sites 38 & 23 would also be very good choices.
The temps stayed in the low 60’s today with gusty winds. Lena did laundry and I did some work on the car and paid some bills, downloaded photos onto the laptop of this trip from the camera and updated this Blog. Lena said it sure is nice to be have a washer/dryer in the motor home and not have to go to a laundry while we are traveling.

I watched as a camper across the street was preparing to leave. He was wiping off his “stinky slinky” and had the elbow that is used to connect it to the dump pipe laying on the picnic table. That is why we always put a table cloth on the table. We had seen people put some rather gross stuff on the picnic tables in campgrounds.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 29 & 30

Day 29 - Friday  9/5/14 We did our walk and had breakfast but the remainder of the day was basically relaxing, reading, eating and enjoying the beautiful views around us.

Just after noon the weekenders began to come in and setup and by dark most of the sites in the RV section and many in the tent section were occupied.

Day 30 - Saturday 9/6/14   We did our morning walk and I cooked some country ham on the grill griddle. Several kids were out riding their bicycles and riding some kind of skate board that only had two wheels. They were able to ride the boards uphill by wiggling them back and forth.

Our site is up a little higher than the others so as people began to come out of there campers this morning it looked like a small village coming awake. During the week there were very few campers here so it was really peaceful and quite but the weekend always brings out the younger families that are still in the work force unlike us old retired people.

I had planned to cook my almost famous potatoes and sausage over a campfire for supper but about an hour before I was to start the fire a thunderstorm came up put a wet damper on that idea, as it rained off and on for the remainder of the afternoon into the evening. So Lena cooked some good corn bread using the corn meal she bought at the Dellinger Mill we visited and reheated the ribs left over from lunch. After supper I put away some of the outside items since setting outside anymore today looked like a wet idea.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 27 & 28

Day 27 - Wednesday 9/3/14 We saw a deer on our morning walk around the campground. After breakfast we drove to the trailhead to hike up to the Stone Mountain Falls. The water flows over a 200’ high massive rock formation. The park service had built steps down to the bottom of the falls so we walked down to the bottom. Going down was easy but not so easy coming back up. The hike was about 1 ½ miles.

We were a little disgusted at all the trash people had thrown over the railings of the steps. There were soft drank cans, water bottles, paper, juice packets and dog poop bags and even a bath towel. This is a really beautiful park and slobs just don’t respect it enough to take their trash back to the provided trash cans or to their cars. Haul it in - haul it out.

Then we drove on through the park to visit the Historic Hutchinson Homestead. We parked in the parking lot and hiked about ¾ mile up the hill to the homestead. There were several buildings including the cabin where 4 generations of the family lived. John Hutchinson and Sidney Jane Brown were the original people that lived at the homestead. I wonder if I am distant relative of Sidney Jane. The plaques described the buildings and explained a little about the mountain life. Then we drove on to see the Garden Creek Baptist Church that was established in 1837. Weekly Sunday services are still being held there during the Spring/Summer and monthly in the Fall/Winter. Then we returned to the campground for lunch. We saw 5 deer during the drive.

Day 28 - Thursday  9/4/14 Happy 66th birthday to Lena. We did our morning walk, ate breakfast and relaxed/read for awhile before driving to North Wilkesboro. Lena wanted to eat her birthday lunch at Branciforte’s Italian Ristorante. We ate at this restaurant exactly 2 years ago for Lena’s birthday lunch. They have really good brick oven pizza. I told the manager as he greeted us at the door that we were here exactly 2 years ago he was pleased that we had returned. When we ordered coffee and a Tiramisu dessert the waiter told us the Manager said the dessert was on the house. If you are in the area check it out it is a 810 Main St. North Wilkesboro. It is closed Sunday and Monday.

Then we stopped for some groceries and returned to the campground.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 25 & 26

Day 25 - Monday 9/1/14 We awoke to a light drizzle but we still were able to get our walk in before breakfast. We will be departing today for Stone Mountain State Park so we packed up our outside items yesterday so they would not be wet this morning if it rained during the night.

We departed about 11AM and drove the 30 miles to Stone Mountain SP and checked in at the park office. Before going to our site #58, we dumped the holding tanks since we did not dump them at Doughton Park. Their dump station is on an incline so I didn’t think the tanks would dump completely. After we dumped the tank we drove to our site but the site was not vacant  so we had to wait for an hour for the site to get vacant. The checkout time is 3PM and we were about 2 ½ hours early but they left about 1:20PM so we set up as soon as they left. We walked around the campground to check it out and relaxed the remainder of the day.

This is a nice campground. Loop A is for tents and sits in the woods and is totally shaded, Loop B is for Rvs and has 50/30/20AMP and water hookups, each site is paved and has a large area with very small gravel for the table and fire ring and Loop C is for tents or small Rvs and has no hookups. There is not much shade on the sites in Loop B and C as this area is fairly new. Loops B and C sit in a valley between hills and tall trees. There are young trees about 15’ tall on the sites that will create more shade when they get larger. Big Sandy Creek runs through Loop B. The bathhouses are really nice. Each side has 4 private shower areas.

A note: Loop C sites 87-89 are long enough for a 40’MH so they could be used if a site in Loop B was not available for desired dates. Loop B sites 60, 62, 64, & 66 would be too short for a 40’ MH. Site 58 is up higher than any other site so it look over the other sites.

Day 26 - Tuesday 9/2/14 We did our morning walk and had breakfast and drove a couple of miles outside the park to check out Stone Mountain Country Store. We returned to the campground and read for awhile before lunch. After lunch we explored the area outside the park and ended up in Erwin so we stopped at McDonald’s to use their free WiFi to catch up on some internet stuff. We have a very weak cell phone signal at the park - even with my cell phone signal booster. We returned to the park and set outside and enjoyed the nice cool air and beautiful scenery around us and read until dark.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 23 & 24

Day 23 - Saturday 8/30/14 It rained during the night so the air was nice and crisp this morning for our walk. After breakfast I walked the trail from the campground through the woods over to the Brinegar Cabin. The two room cabin with loft was built about 1880 and used until the 1930’s. The homestead included the cabin, spring house, shed and garden. A ranger was onsite today discussing mountain life and also demonstrating spinning sheep wool. My hike was 3 miles roundtrip, even though the sign at the campground showed it a 1.0 mile trip each way. We relaxed and did some reading for the remainder of the day. The ranger stopped to say hello in the afternoon and I asked her to identify a tree on our site. It was a Tulip Popular and drops a seed pod full of bright orange seeds. I am talking some home to see if I get them to sprout. Then we discussed the need to have a bathhouse for the park campground, especially for the tent loops. She said they got a new superintendent last October and he was looking for suggestions to improve the park. She also said that the park service was thinking about closing Doughton Park last year until the new superintendent came on the job and he was able to keep it open. She said she had more campers this weekend that she normally has. Most of the sites were used all weekend. It would be a shame to close this park.

Day 24 - Sunday 8/31/14 It rained again this morning until about 8AM and was really foggy until 9AM when the sun finally came out for awhile. It stayed overcast most of the day. We walked later after breakfast. Today was just reading and relaxing. This is a quite campground except for the traffic on the parkway during the day. Lots of motorcycles coming by with their loud exhaust pipes. The campground does not have any hookups or bathouses only a comfort station. There is a place to fill the fresh water tank and a dump station.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 21 & 22

Day 21 - Thursday 8/28/14 We did our morning walk, had breakfast and departed for Doughton Park at 10AM. We drove North on the Parkway for about 80 miles and arrived about 12:30PM and set up in site 5 that we had reserved. It is a nice level shady site. We relaxed and read until it was time to cook supper. I grilled chicken on the Weber grill. By late evening most of the better sites in the RV loop that we were in were full. Some are to short for the modern Rvs. For future reference sites 5, 18, 19 & 20 would work for us and they can be reserved online. Site 8 would work but it can not reserved. After dark we were serenaded by lots of crickets and other creatures of the night.

Day 22 - Friday 8/29/14 We got up at 7AM and did our morning walk but had to wait until 8AM to start breakfast since we have to run the generator here to provide power to the appliances. We walked over to the tent loop and there were only 4 sites in use out of about of 100. This park, like all the other parks on the Blue Ridge Parkway and many other National Parks do not have bath houses so if you are not in a self-contained RV you have no place to take a shower. Therefore most of the park campgrounds are way underutilized. If the Park Service would put in bath houses the campgrounds would be used more and they could soon recoup the money.

After breakfast we decided to explore the area a little. We drove North on the parkway and took hwy 21 into Sparta to check out the town. We found a car wash on the way in and ran the car through it to get some of the road dust off. We stopped in town at a hardware store that sold the Lodge cast iron cookware like our Dutch Oven, then walked down the street to a retail outlet that sold crafts from local crafts people. The man that was running the store today was a fellow wood turner so we had a nice conversation. Then we walked across the street to a coffee shop to get a coffee and use their WiFi. When we left we drove some of the back road before going back to the campground. I cooked a rack of ribs in the Dutch Oven for supper and then built a campfire.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 19 & 20

Day 19 - Tuesday  8/26/14 This morning we had to wear a light jacket when we did our walk as the temperature was 57 degrees. Some of the trees have some fall color in them and the thoughts are it is going to be an early Fall in the Smokies.

We went to Bakersville NC about 18 miles from the campground to The Dellinger Grist Mill on Cane Creek. A music group called The Dellinger Gang sang and played music from 2-5PM. We decided to go early to have time to look around the mill before the crowd got there. We arrived at 10:30AM and was the first visitors to arrive. The current owner Jack Dellinger was there setting up things so we got to talk to him. He is a fourth generation miller. After retiring from IBM he returned to the mountains and restored the mill that had sat idle for more than 40 years. He spent 3 years getting it operating again. Now he grinds corn meal, grits and polenta using the same equipment that his father, grandfather and great-grandfather used. When he worked at IBM he was a Electrical Engineer doing computer programming work on the NASA Saturn/Apollo Space Program which placed the astronauts on the moon.

The drummer for the group, Eddie Graham, was the drummer for Elvis Presley for a few years. I could see why Elvis hired him - he was very good. He also has played for many other big name entertainers plus heading up his own bands.

We really enjoyed the day. Great entertainment and the price was right - free but for the first time in the 6 years they have done this, the mill owner passed around a bucket to collect money for the band members plus all water sales went to the band.

Day 20 - Wednesday 8/27/14 Well Happy Birthday to me. We did our normal morning walk followed by breakfast then drove South on the Blue Ridge Parkway to an area called Little Switzerland for lunch at the Little Switzerland Café. We ate here a couple of years ago and they had really good sandwiches. They didn’t disappoint us today either - very good. Then we went next door to a book/coffee shop and had a latte and cappuccino.

From there we drove back North on the parkway and stopped at The Historic Altapass Orchard. We had heard there would be a music jam session going on there. The music was good. While we were waiting for the music to start Lena checked out the things for sale and found that their pint jars of honey sold for $18. We have bought three pint jars from our campground neighbor for $6 each which is about the going price for pure honey from the bee keepers in most places we have purchased it.

Then we returned to the campground and read to almost dark. We packed up all the outside stuff in preparation for leaving here tomorrow. We will be going to Doughton Park near milepost 240 on the parkway for 4 days so this might be the last post for a few days as we will probably not be able to get a cell phone signal there to allow us to get on the Internet.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 17 & 18

Day 17 - Sunday 8/24/14 We had just finished our morning walk when it began to drizzle rain. I cooked bacon on the grill again while Lena cooked blueberry pancake inside. At 10:30AM I attended church with about 30 other campers here in the campground at the pavilion. Harold the owner of the campground (along with his wife Fran) played the bass guitar, another man played the rhythm guitar and a lady played banjo and two ladies sang a few songs and then the group sang a couple before the preacher spoke.

It drizzled rain on and off about all day with a high temp of 70 degrees so we read most of the afternoon. One of the books I read (that Lena had already read) was Cruising Panama’s Canal by Sunny Lockwood. We have a desire to someday take a full transit cruise through the Panama Canal and this book made the desire even stronger. If you have never taken a cruise this book give a good insight to what it is like to take a cruise.

Day 18 - Monday  8/25/14 We did our morning walk in the 63 degree morning refreshing air then had breakfast. Later we drove to Spruce Pine to get a few groceries and we stopped at McDonald’s to use their WiFi and eat lunch. The campground WiFi is really slow - about the only negative for this campground.

Later in the day I built a campfire and cooked my “almost” famous Skillet Sausage and Potatoes. It consist of potatoes, onions, sausage, squash, zucchini and seasoning all cooked in a cast iron oven over a camp fire. Lena cooked some okra and sliced some of the homemade bread we got a few day ago. Wow that was good. After supper we did an evening walk and talked to some of the other campers and bought two more pints of the honey from the camper next door. This is really good honey. We found out he has cut back to only 12 hives but their son has 200 hives in Louisiana.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 15 & 16

Day 15 - Friday  8/21/14 After our morning walk we discovered we did not have any hot water flow from any faucets - have normal flow from the cold water side. I knew from reading about other Tiffin motor home owners having the same problem that we had a bad check valve on the hot water heater output water line. I had to borrow a socket from the campground owner to remove the drain plug to get the water out of the heater. I removed the check valve and removed the internal spring and re-installed the check valve and all was well. I will get a new one and install it later.

After lunch we drove to a local farm cheese shop to get some local home made cheese. Then we stopped at a couple of roadside produce stands to get some fresh fruit and produce. Also got some Amish made molasses. On the way we saw a sign for fresh baked sourdough bread so we stopped and they said it would be ready in 45 minutes. We left and got a few groceries and returned in 1 hour and they had just removed the bread from the oven - it was still warm when we got back to the campground. We poured some of the honey we bought from a neighbor here in the campground over a couple slices - mmmmm good.

The temps here are still in the 60’s at night and low 80’s mid day - sure is nice.

Day 16 - Saturday  8/23/14 After our morning walk I cooked bacon on the griddle on the grill. I hope this will help season the griddle so the food will not stick. This will be a quite and relaxing day. We had a shower of rain after breakfast but now the sky is clear and the sun is out. I worked on some of my pyrography crafts and Lena make a batch of homemade salsa. We like it better than the store bought salsa. The afternoon consisted of reading, napping and eating followed by watching the NASCAR race at Bristol TN which is not too far from where we are. Even with a lot of the weekend campers here this is still a really quite campground.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 13 &14

Day 13 - Wednesday 8/20/14 It was 63 degrees again this morning when we did our morning walk. Yesterday the temps only got to the upper 60’s unlike at home. Our son called and said it was 93 degrees there yesterday.

After breakfast we decided to do some more exploring the area. We drove through some beautiful mountain scenery and ended up at Roan Mountain State Park in Tennessee. We checked out their campground which has been renovated recently and was a really nice campground. One that we plan to come back to in the future to stay a week or so. We left the park and found a local café and got a really good and BIG mushroom swiss burger. On the way back to our campground we saw a sign for Elk River Falls so we drove down the back road to find it. It was at the very end of the road. The trail up to the falls was in very poor condition and kind of dangerous near the best view area so we didn’t get to see it from the best viewing point but didn’t want to risk a broken leg either so we took the best photos we could and left. We returned to our campground mid afternoon and relaxed and read the remainder of the day.

Day 14 - Thursday  8/20/14 This morning we walked a trail that goes up the hill behind the campground that the owners of the campground told us about. The land is part of their property. At the end of the trail it overlooks the North Toe River that runs beside the campground.

We decided to not do any exploring today. I worked on some of my woodworking crafts. I don’t bring any of my lathes but do on occasion bring some of my pyrography work or other small things I can bring with me. Lena did some reading and played games on her kindle. I cooked our supper on the grill. Then I tried my luck at fishing in the pond in the campground but the fish must have already ate supper because no one was catching anything.

When we were sitting outside in the evening we talked about how we understand why people come here and stay all summer. The campground is really nice, grounds are very well cared for and the scenery is really nice surrounding the grounds and the sounds of the North Toe River on one side of the campground is soothing. The people that spend the season here are very friendly and the gently cool breezes are the icing on the cake. It is really quite but probably will be a little busier this weekend.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 11 & 12

Day 11 - Monday 8/18/14   It rained during the night and was still raining when we got up but it stopped after breakfast and we walked around the campground. Then we got the camera and drove to Linville Falls and walked up the trail to view the falls. The trail is rated as moderate but the morning rain made the rocks slippery so we had to be careful. The falls were beautiful unlike any we had seen. At one point all the water rushed through a fairly narrow break in the massive rocks. The trail was about 2 miles round trip. Then we did some more exploring in the area and checked out two  privately owned campgrounds in the area plus the Linville Falls National Park campground. We didn’t like either of the private campground Linville Falls Trailer Lodge and Campground and Bear Den Campground. Linville Falls National Park Campground would be nice if the Parks service had the budget to improve it. But like all the National Parks campgrounds along the Blue Ridge Parkway they were build many years ago before people started using large travel trailers, 5th wheel campers and large motor homes. Therefore they are mostly vacant because the sites are so small. We could get our 40’ motor home in two of the sites at Linville Falls if we were careful.

We returned to our campground and relaxed for awhile before I grilled some pork chops for supper. The camper next to us has honey for sale so Lena purchased a pint from them. We like to purchase our honey directly from the beekeeper since it is not watered down like some of the commercial honey found in grocery stores.

Day 12 - Tuesday 8/19/14  Today was a relaxing day. We did our morning walk, then I cooked country ham and eggs on the griddle on our Weber grill for breakfast. We recently sold the Weber 200 grill we had and purchased the smaller Weber 1000 grill that had a split grate. We also bought the griddle that fits on one side of the grill after removing one half of the grate. This will allow us to cook more meals outside on the grill.

The remainder of the day was relaxing, reading and talked to some of the other campers in the campground and taking an afternoon walk. One of the other campers told us about the flood in 2004 that totally washed out the campground. The North Toe River flows down one side of the campground and it overflowed its banks and destroyed the campground but the owners rebuilt it.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 9 & 10

Day 9 - Saturday 8/16/14 After our morning walk we walked up to TJ’s Café to get a country ham and egg breakfast. The slice of ham was not a big as Thursday’s but still good.

Today’s entertainers were: Cody Shuler & Pine Mountain Railroad, Tony Holt & The Wildwood Valley Boys, The Little Roy & Lizzy Show, The Moron Brothers, Jimmy Fortune (of the famed - now retired Statler Brothers) and Daley & Vincent. Little Roy is Little Roy Lewis of the famous gospel singing family The Lewis Family. He is a very good musician and a cutup on stage. Jimmy Fortune performed then Daley & Vincent and then Jimmy Fortune joined Daley & Vincent and put on a fantastic performance. Barbara Fairchild was in the audience and came onstage for a song with Jimmy Fortune and Darrin Vincent.

After watching the entertainers for three days I believe they enjoy performing as much as the audience does listening to them. They all seems so happy onstage as they sang and played their music.

Day 10 - Sunday 8/17/14 We did our morning walk, ate our Blueberry Pancakes and bacon breakfast and packed up and departed about 11AM for a 30 mile drive to our next stop, Secluded Valley Campground near Newland NC. About 5 miles of the drive up hwy 221 from Marion to just past the Blue Ridge Parkway is a climb of over 1000’ but we didn’t have any problem. We did this climb two years ago but it didn’t seem as bad today - I guess we are getting accustomed to it. The campground is at about 2700’ elevation so temperature is a little cooler - about 77 when we arrived about 12 noon. We set up in site #2. The CG is nice - 60 sites around a nice pond that is stocked with fish. One side of the CG backs up to the North Toe River. The CG is owned by a man and wife team and they keep it really clean. Several of the sites are seasonal - meaning they are rented for several months at a time. We usually don’t stay at a CG that has lots of seasonal sites because they are normally junky looking but this one is not. We talked to one of the people that has a seasonal site after we arrived. He said that this was a nice quite CG, very family oriented and everyone looked out for each other.

I cooked a rack of ribs in the Dutch Oven for supper, while Lena fixed corn on the cob and butterbeans. Mumm good. Tomorrow we will explore the area.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 7 & 8

Day 7 - Thursday 8/14/14 We did our morning walk and decided to eat breakfast at TJ’s café. I got a country ham and egg biscuit. The slice of ham was almost twice the size of the biscuit and about 1/8” thick, Nothing like what you get at McDonalds and it was only $2.50 with free coffee.

I forgot to mention that the owner of the RV lot that we had rented but canceled, called Tuesday and he is refunding out $100 deposit. We did not expect a refund but are glad to get it.

Today is the first day of the 40th North Carolina Bluegrass Festival. The entertainers today are: Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers, The Marksmen, Dry Branch Fire Squad, Russell Moore & Third Time Out, Rhonda Vincent & The Rage and Gene Watson & The Farewell Party Band. It started at 12 noon and ended about 11PM. All the groups sang bluegrass and gospel with the exception of Gene Watson who is primarily a country singer with some gospel mixed in. He and Rhonda Vincent sang several songs together.

Day 8 - Friday 8/15/14 We did our walk and had breakfast, then Lena drove back into town to get some more of the great breakfast sausage that we mentioned earlier. We want to stock up before we leave her Sunday and today will be our last chance since it is usually gone by Saturday.

Tonight’s entertainers are: Appalachian Express, The Primitive Quarter, Goldwing Express, The Gibson Brothers, The Seldom Scene and Nothin’ Fancy. We enjoy all the entertainers but Goldwing Express is a little different. They are made up of the father and his three sons which are ½ Creek Indian. Their mother was Creek Indian and died 15 years ago from cancer. They put on a good show and the father has a lot of corny jokes he works into their show. He is also an ordained minister. At the end of their show they always pay a tribute to all the military and have all the military present to come down to aisle while everyone sing God Bless America. This year they have a 12 boy with them that plays a mean mandolin and also plays fiddle. Last year he played a couple of songs with them but this year he played the whole show.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 5 & 6

Day 5 - Tuesday 8/12/14 We were able to do our morning walk today as the weather was clear for a change. After breakfast we decided to go to the Blue Ridge Parkway and “play tourist”. We visited the Folk Art Center just outside Asheville. If you have never visited the center you owe it to yourself to visit it. There is all kinds of hand made products from craft people in the Smokey Mountain area. As I walked in I saw a man that I was familiar with. He is a full time wood turner that has visited/demonstrated at the woodturning club that I am a member of. He was demonstrating at the center to the people visiting there. I talked to him a few minutes before he had to go to lunch. He had some beautiful woodturnings on display. We departed the center and slowly drove North on the parkway. After a few miles we departed the parkway and drove to Weaverville to find a wood supplier I had been told about. We spotted a café in town called Creperie and Café and decide to check it out. We ordered the Chocolate Tropics Crepe. It had whipped crème, strawberries and orange slices and of course chocolate. Yummy!! I told the waitress the story about a waiter in France criticizing me on how I pronounced the word Crepe. After leaving the café we found the wood supplier and I purchased a few pieces of wood. Then we returned to the parkway and continued on up to the milepost 340 area and checked out a couple of campgrounds near Burnsville before returning to the campground.

Chocolate Tropics Crepe

Day 6 - Wednesday 8/13/14 After our morning walk and breakfast we mostly relaxed and read the remainder of the day, except for checking our a couple of the stores nearby. Our area of the campground has 65 of the 66 sites occupied  and the area near the pavilion that has about 400 sites is almost full. After supper I rode my bicycle around the  campground and stopped at several of the campsites that were having jam sessions. Some of the amateur musicians were very good.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 3 & 4

Day 3 - Sunday 8/10/14 It rained most of the prior evening and night but as of 10AM it is not raining at the moment. We are glad we have a site with a concrete parking pad and patio so we don’t have mud around us. Lena cooked blueberry pancakes for breakfast and we use the sourwood honey on them. Very good. We drove to Lowe’s and Big Lots to pick up a couple of items as it began to mist rain again.

At 4PM I went to the Pavilion to get our wrist bands for the festival. The promoters are trying something new this year with the seating. You bring your own seat and in prior years you could put it out when you arrived at the campground. This year I had to get in one line and sign my name and the number of chairs beside the next number on a legal pad. Then get in another line and get the wristbands and then stand around as the promoter read down the list and gave out a little card with your number on it. Then tomorrow at 10AM everyone comes back with your chairs and your number card and when your number is called you put your chair in the available position of your choice. This is a dumb procedure in my opinion. My recommendation would be to assign your number when you purchase your tickets and when you pick up your wrist band you also get the pre-assigned number. Most people purchase their tickets online so the numbers should be assigned in the order the tickets were purchased. We purchased our tickets 11/25/13 for this years festival.

It continued to drizzle rain the remainder of the day.

Day 4 - Monday 8/11/14 It was not raining when we got up for a change. About 9:30AM a lady that writes interview articles for Roughing It Smoothly magazine came up to our site and asked if she could interview us for the magazine. After the interview her husband came and photographed us in front of the MH with our “toad”. The magazine is for Tiffin Motor Home owners and it is a quarterly magazine. She had just taken over the interviewing job from a lady that is retiring. The January 2015 issue is supposed to have our interview - we will see.

Then we went to the pavilion to put our chairs in place when our number (#137) was called. This process could use some major tweaking also. Then it was off to Wal-Mart for some groceries followed by a stop at MoonDoggy’s Diner and Soda Fountain. This is a ‘50s style diner in Marion that we have ate at before. They have very good food and the place is decorated with lots of 50s memorabilia.

Mid afternoon I got a call from the service center office that UPS had delivered a package for us. It was a Shade-Pro awning drop that we had ordered. It attaches to our main awning and comes down to about 2 feet from the ground and blocks the hot sun rays but you can still see through it and get a breeze through it. The bottom 7 feet zips off before the awning is rolled up for travel. We quickly installed it and it looks nice and will keep us cooler when setting outside while the sun is out.

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 1 & 2

Day 1 - Friday 8/8/14      We departed at 6:24AM for our much anticipated annual trip to the N.C. Mountains. Our first stop is Tom Johnson’s RV Center and campground in Marion N.C. to attend the N.C. Bluegrass/Gospel Festival that will start next Thursday 8/14/14 and run three days. We arrived at 1PM and checked in. I had called a few days ago about getting a N.C. state inspection on the motor home when we arrived and before we set up in our site. While they were doing the inspection we ate lunch at TJ’s Café in the service center. They always have a good fish plate on Fridays for $6.00. They finished the inspection just as we were finishing up our lunch. Then we set up in our reserved site #35. We had this site in 2013 and booked it last year for 2014 when we were here. As long as we book it before October 1st of the year we can get this site for the festival the following year. This will be the 4th year we have attended the festival.

It had rained a slow drizzle for the last 2 hours of our drive. I had cleaned the motor home and car (“toad”) and they were nice and shiny when we left home but the rain fixed that. But if that is all the problems we have on a trip I won’t complain.

We drove into the town of Marion to a local (non-chain) grocery store to purchase some of their breakfast sausage. We discovered this store 3 years ago after eating breakfast at a local restaurant. We liked the sausage they served and asked the waitress where they got it, so she gave us directions to the grocery store. We found out today that it is made on Wednesday in the store and is sold out by Saturday each week. We purchased three 1 lb packages.

The rain had stopped by the time we returned to the campground so we set outside until about dark.

Day 2 - Saturday 8/9/14 After a morning walk and breakfast we drove to the Linville area to check out the RV site we had rented for 7 days after we leave here on the 17th. The site is located in Land Harbor, an area with lots of mountain vacation cottages, etc. The owner has three sites set up for Rvs. After checking out the site we decided to cancel our reservations. The streets up to the site had several low hanging small limbs that would have hit the top of our MH and then the narrow street to the RV site had a very sharp curve to the left just as we would have had to turn right into the site which was slightly uphill. I just did not feel comfortable that I could get the MH into the site without some possible problems/damage and I have put it into some fairly tight sites but nothing like this one. We will forfeit our $100 deposit but that might be cheaper than fixing possible damage. I have had a gut feeling ever since I reserved this site that something was not quite right - so my gut was right. Then we checked out another regular campground in the area as a possible replacement.

Afterwards we drove for several miles South on the Blue Ridge Parkway and then went to Black Mountain to checkout their Sourwood Festival. The temperature was 66 degrees on the parkway and in several places the fog was really bad. At the festival we listen to some of the entertainment and watched the cloggers and checked out some of the craft booths and bought some local sourwood honey before heading back to our CG just before the sky opened up again with rain and more rain.

Amish Country PA - Leg 4

7/6/14 Sunday We departed at 10AM and arrived at Promised Land State Park in the Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains app. 2PM. We checked in but our site (111) was not vacant yet as checkout time is 3PM. By the time we unhooked the car and got a light snack the site was vacant so we drove over to the Pickerel Point Campground and setup. I had to put double boards under the passenger side wheels to get it level. The ground in the area is kind of hilly and they did not get the gravel parking pads totally level. We have 50AMP electric hook but no water or sewage but we came with a full fresh water tank so that is not an issue. There were three fairly young (late 30’s) couples camped across the street in pop-ups and a tent. They came over after we got backed in (on the first try) and complimented us on how easy we had got parked without any arguing or backing up and repositioning. We told them we use walkie-talkies and it makes the process a lot easier. This campground has a few full hookups but they were all reserved plus they are an additional $13 per night, we paid $25 (with senior discount) for just an electric site which is not bad for FHU but higher than most state parks we have used. There are 5 more camping areas in the park. Some have no hookups and some have just electric. We really like the Beachwood Area CG as it has paved level pads and electricity but most of the sites would not accommodate a 40’ motor home. Probably 32’ would be about max for most of them.

Site 111

Pickerel Point CG is a peninsula out into Promised Land Lake. There is a sandy beach and swimming area at the end of the CG. This is a nice CG but in our opinion they need to do a better job of mowing the grounds around the campsites. Some places the grass and weeds are from knee high to waist high and make the CG look a little un-kept. The wife even took our ax and chopped down one plant that was covered in thorns as she was afraid a kid would get hurt if they brushed up against it. The bath houses are new and have 3 private shower rooms in the ladies and the men sides and there is a laundry room in the opposite end with two large deep sinks outside for washing cooking equipment. The streets in the CG are paved and in good shape but the 1+ mile road into the CG from the office has many bumpy places so you have to drive slow coming in. If the grounds were neater and the sites leveled a little better I would give it a 4 star rating but as it is a 3 would be my rating.

7/7/14 Monday We did our morning walk and had breakfast and drove around the area for awhile to check out a few things before returning to the CG to work on a problem with the lights on the Toad. After fixing the problem it was ice cream time. I built a campfire in the evening but a thunderstorm came roaring through and ran us inside and put the fire out.

7/8/14 Tuesday We did our normal morning routine of walking followed by breakfast and then relaxed and read for awhile before riding the bicycles to the museum in the campground. This Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) helped establish this park as they did many parks, etc. throughout the country. This museum had more information about the CCC than I have ever seen, The CCC camp was located right in front of the museum. Another thunderstorm came through about 8:30PM. Many years ago we camped in a tent so we knew what the campers here in tents we going through when these storms roll through. We have a tarp over our firewood and one of the many chipmunks here has started using it as a dry place to hang out. They are fun to watch as they scamper around.

7/9/14 Wednesday The air was crisp and clean this morning as we did our 1.5 mile morning walk before breakfast. Mid morning we hiked 2.5 miles on one of the trails near the CG and saw lots of rhododendrons in bloom along the trail. There are a lot more rocks here than we realized. Some very large boulders were along the trail. After returning to the CG I grilled steak for lunch. We relaxed and read and built a campfire later but again a shower of rain came up and put it out.

7/10/14 Thursday Again the air was crisp and cool this morning for our walk. We did not do much today except some walking, riding bicycles some, relaxing and reading. I grilled chicken for supper and we finally had a rain free evening with still winds and a nice campfire. We packed the outside stuff for our departure in the morning to begin the return trip home.

7/11/14 Friday Even though we only had to go a little over 200 miles today we decided to leave early, so we skipped our morning walk and had breakfast, took on some fresh water, dumped our holding tanks and departed at 8AM. We were glad we did. After we came down the mountain and passed through the first little town we came around a curve in the road to find the road was closed. They were replacing a bridge. So we had to unhook the toad and turn the MH around on a two lane country road. Luckily there was a area just large enough on the side of the road that I could back the MH in and with a little back and forth was able to get turned around and hook the toad up. If it had not been for this little spot I would have had to back up about a ¼ mile. We were not to pleased with the PA DOT. We went back through the same little village and made the turn that the GPS directed us to and we saw the detour signs for the road closure. But there was none visible from the road coming down the mountain. Later in the morning we had to detour again because I495 was closed for several miles and I95 was stop and go near Wilmington DE. We finally got to Tuckahoe State Park CG in Maryland at 3PM and set up on site 30. There is not a CG Host so each person checks themselves in on a clip board at the entrance to the CG loop. They also sell firewood on the honor system.

This is a nice CG with 35 sites in the electrical (30/20amp) section. No water/sewage hookups but there is potable water spigots scattered around the CG and a dump station on the way out. The street around the CG is paved and smooth. The ramp into the site is paved for about 20’ and the rest of the site is small gravel and the sites are level, with a fire ring and large picnic table. The space between the sites is rather large and the bath house has two showers with privacy for each men and women. Almost all the sites will accommodate a 40’ MH and some would accommodate a 45’. All the sites have a tall canopy of tall shade trees over them.

Site 30

7/10/14 Saturday We did our morning walk and had breakfast and later drove around the area and stopped at McDonalds to use their WiFi and get a Latte. After returning to the CG I grilled brats for lunch and then at 3:30PM we went to the Aviary at the Park Office to listen to one of the park Naturist do a talk on Owls, Hawks, and other birds. Then he did a feeding for some of the birds. His talk was very informative. The Bald Eagle they had was one that someone had shot and they had rehabilitated him but he was not able to be released into the wild. Then we relaxed and read and I built a campfire before we called it a night.

Red Tail Hawk

7/11/14 Sunday We did our walk, had breakfast and packed up to depart for our last night on this trip.

7/11/14 Sunday We arrived at Rocky Hock CG in Edenton NC app. 3:45 PM and checked in and was led to our pull thru site - site 3. I expected it to be level but it was not. The site was beside a small pond and the ground sloped some toward the lake. It seems to me that with a little effort the people that set up campgrounds could level the sites a little better. Oh well, we are only going to be here one night.

Site 3

7/12 14 Monday We had breakfast, dumped the holding tanks. The top of the dump pipe was higher then the bottom of our dump valve so that took more time than normal to dump, but we finally got departed app. 9AM and arrived home safe and sound app. 1:30PM, thankful for a safe and enjoyable trip. We drove the MH 1291 miles.

Amish Country PA - Leg 3

6/29/14 Sunday We departed Trap Pond app. 9:45AM and arrived at Beacon Hill Campground just outside of Intercourse PA about 1:30PM. This is a fairly small 50 site CG with a minimum age of 16. It is a very well maintained neat CG just across the street from a large Amish Farm. Our site 31 has a nice wood patio and a shade tree - so do some don’t. The parking area is clean gravel and they actually have Wi-Fi that works in a CG. After eating and resting for awhile we drove around the area to kind of get a feel for the place and later stopped at Crackle Barrel for dinner since all the local non-chain restaurants were closed for Sunday. The farm land here is beautiful. The crops have been planted and are about half full grown and are nice and green. The roads are so clean from trash and the houses and yards are all well kept. The Amish were out in their buggies with their families, the young people were in the yard playing sports and enjoying themselves. We are looking forward to the Amish homemade bread, cheese, ice cream and pretzels while we are here. Late in the evening we were sitting on the deck reading and the fire flies came out - I have never seen so many in one area.

Site 31

Lower section of CG

Upper Section of CG

6/30/14 Monday We walked down the road to the village of Intercourse before breakfast and stopped at a coffee shop and got a latte and blueberry muffin (one of my weaknesses). Then we stopped at a local meat store - Stoltfus Meats and checked out their meats and cheeses. They had samples out so we got to try some. We bought a package of the ring bologna and some sausage. We returned to the CG and sliced the bologna, cooked an egg and put it between a biscuit we got a Crackle Barrel last night - mummm. After breakfast we drove up hwy  772 a few miles to check out Mascot Roller Mills and the Ressler Family Home. It was not open yet so we drove up a side road to check an Amish roadside stand - “Countryside Road - Stand” at 2966 Stumptown Road Ronks, Pa. They had lots of local canned goods, fresh homemade bread, shoo-fly pies, the best homemade Root Beer I have ever had, melt in your mouth soft pretzels right out of the oven, local crafts, eggs, local cheese and butter, etc. all at much better prices that you will find at the “tourist spots” in the villages around the area. Then we went back to the mill and did the tour. We were the only ones there so we got a good tour of the mill and the house. The last family that owned it had owned it since 1864 and the last two living in the family did not have any descendants so they set up a foundation to maintain the buildings and grounds and the tours are free to the public. The guide started the mill up and ground some corn into meal to show up how it worked. All the furnishings in the house are original and are left just like the last person to live there left it. A very interesting place. I have always like old mills. The main beam in the first floor ceiling was about 20” square solid black walnut. Across the street a young Amish lady had a road side produce table setup on the honor system. We got some fresh picked string beans, blackberries, fresh potatoes.  She came out and made change for us. Then we drove a few miles to the town of Lititz. We got a quick lunch in an Italian pizza/sub shop before touring the historical Julius Sturgis pretzel bakery. The tour was interesting but the soft pretzel we purchased after the tour was not. It was way to doughy. We took one bit and tossed them in the trash. On the way back we stopped at another road side stand and got some more produce. Like I said the prices are much better than at a regular store or the “tourist spots”. The cheese I priced at one of the tourist stores was three times more for a smaller piece that what I bought at the Countryside Road - Stand.

Mascot Roller Mill

7/1/14 Tuesday We did our morning walk down to the village of Intercourse before breakfast. Then we drove to Strasburg to ride the historic steam train, which is a 45 minute excursion trip. On the way we stopped at one of the covered bridges to get some photos. After the train ride we stopped at Issac’s Grilled Sandwiches for lunch. Very good. We rode through the countryside for awhile and then stopped at a Wal-Mart to pick up a few things before returning to the CG to relax for awhile. After supper we rode through the countryside for awhile.

7/2/14 Wednesday After our morning walk and breakfast we drove toward Bird-In-Hand and stopped at Aaron & Jessica’s Buggy Rides and boarded an Amish buggy. The guide/driver John Stoltfus and the mules Luke and Duke took us on a one hour ride through the farm land and to his farm that his parents purchased in 1929. He has turned the farm over to his youngest son and has been a guide for 6 years. His son rents some land and is paying $300 an acre which is a LOT more rent than I get for my farm land. We toured the barn that was built in the late 1800’s where they keep the milk cows, horses and mules. He explained about the feeding and milking process. The Amish don’t use commercially purchased electricity but use a combination of LP gas, a generator, solar power and air pressure to power they equipment, appliances and provide running water in the house. We drove by one of the local one room school houses were the kids go through the 8th grade. He was kind of funny with some of his comments. As we passed by one farm that had some chickens and pigs he said that is were they are making ham and eggs. He did a good job on the tour and we enjoying the tour very much. After leaving the tour we went to The Good and Plenty Restaurant for lunch. They serve family style or order off the menu. We ordered off the menu and could not eat all the food they brought us so we took about half by to the MH. We returned to the MH and relaxed awhile before riding around some more through the farming area.

7/3/14 Thursday After our morning walk to/from Intercourse and breakfast we went to Countryside Road Stand again to get some more of their soft pretzels, whoopee pies and a shoo-fly pie to take home to our son and his family. The soft pretzels are so good. Then we drove over to Bird-In-Hand Bake Shop. They sell about the same type of bake products but the prices are higher. If you come to this area we recommend the Countryside Road Stand over the Farmers Market or the Bake Shop in Bird-In-Hand. The prices are much cheaper and the products are great.

Then we drove around and checked three local campgrounds: Country Acres, Florys and Country Haven. If we come back we probably will try Country Haven. The CG was higher up that the surrounding farms so the view out over the farms was great. On the way back to our CG we stopped at The Pretzel Factory in Intercourse for the tour. We didn’t try their pretzels. They didn’t look as good as the one from Countryside Road Stand.

7/4/14 Friday Happy Independence Day: We got app. ½” of rain during the night and morning. It stopped after 7AM so we did our morning walk and had breakfast then rode around some. Lena wanted to check out some of the yard sales she say posted yesterday. Due to the rain they were late setting up but we did check out a couple. We were curious if the Amish participated in yard sales and we found out they do because we stopped at one at an Amish farm. The remainder of the day was relaxing, doing laundry and reading and enjoying the 15 degree cooler weather and blustery winds coming off Hurricane Arthur.

7/5/14 Saturday It was still nice and cool this morning app. 59 degrees. We walked to Intercourse and had breakfast at the Stoltfus Meat Market Café. If you come to Intercourse this is a nice market, with lots of fresh meats, cheese, etc. and a nice café. We bought some of their sausage earlier in the week and it was really good. We drove out into the country to a Jersey cow dairy named Lapp Valley Farm that the CG staff had marked on our local map. They sell several products made from the milk, including, whole milk, skim milk, 1% milk, several flavors of delicious ice cream, waffle cones, butter, cheese, etc. They allow you to walk to the barns and take photos as long as you don’t photograph the people without their permission. There were several young calves in individual pens that enjoyed a good head scratching. The main house was 3 stories plus a basement and was built from brick in 1812. The entire farm looked spotless, with lots of flowers around the house, out in the garden and hanging from pots on the retail sales building. We tried two kinds of ice cream and purchased ½ gallon of another kind, plus some milk and butter. After leaving we drove around for awhile and came upon Spring Gulch Camping Resort. We drove in and checked it out. Most of the sites were very shady and up into the hills. It was a very large CG but I guess I am cheep and don’t desire to pay $70-75 per night, plus $3 per night resort fee, plus $2 per child over 6, for a site unless it is really special. But they had lots of activities for kids if you are traveling with kids. They had play grounds, pool, small lake with a sandy beach, etc. We returned to Intercourse and stopped at the local fire department to get lunch. They were having a Pig Roast (being from North Carolina I would have called it a BBQ). After lunch Lena wanted to checkout some more of the yard sales and then we stopped at the Farmers Market in Bird-In-Hand to get another pound of their home smoked bacon. We purchased a pound earlier in the week and it was really good bacon without the normal preservatives. It was like we got on the farm as a kid after Daddy killed hogs and smoked the meat. We will freeze this in small portions and it will last us awhile.

While were relaxing in the motor home someone knocked on the door. It was a teenage Amish girl with a wagon load of fresh baked bread, shoo-fly pies, whoopie pies, raisin breads, cinnamon bread, etc. We had a pretty good stock of local products but I just couldn't resist so I bought some of her products. When she left the CG she had sold about 2/3 of what she had brought.

This is our last night here as we depart tomorrow for the Poconos.

Amish Country PA - Leg 2

06/26/14 Thursday We arrived at Trap Pond State Park in Delaware about 1PM, checked in and went to our site - B15. On first look I though we might have a problem getting into the site due to the tight turn and trees but I backed right in on the first try. My wife, the co-pilot, is really a big help outside with the walkie-talkie radio directing me in. This is a nice state park campground. Most sites will handle a 40’ motor home easy and are fairly level. The roads in the CG are packed gravel, really shady with tall trees, water and 50/30/20amp electric with two dump stations on the way out plus at least two grey dump areas in the CG. I cooked burgers on the grill for supper and then did a 6 mile bicycle ride on one of the walking/bike trails.

Site B15

06/27/14 Friday We arose about 6:30AM for our morning 1.5 mile walk. I think the temperature is going to be a little cooler today - which will be nice. After breakfast we drove around the perimeter of the park and stopped at Bethesda Church. This church was built in 1879 and is one of the few remaining old churches from that era. The state park purchased the building after it was abandoned and then restored it. There also was an old cemetery behind the building with grave from the late 1800’s. We rode around the area and stopped at a road site vegetable stand to get some tomatoes. When we returned to the CG I set up my dutch oven and cooked my “almost” world famous ribs for lunch - delicious. After reading for awhile we rode our bicycles over to the boat house to take the pontoon boat tour of Trap Pond. We learned that it is a man made pond that was made in the 1700’s to get water to feed a saw mill and also was used to float the large cypress trees to the mill after they were cut down in the area. We returned to the CG and built a camp fire to enjoy with the cooler weather.

06/28/14 Saturday Again we arose early and did a 2.2 mile walk before breakfast. This is going to be another nice pleasant day weather wise. After breakfast we rode our bikes to the Nature Center near the boat house to check it out.

We really like this CG. It has lots of shade, fairly large sites, some of the nicest flat bike/walking trails we have used and quiet. I made note of the following sites as preferences if we were to stay here again. Sites A17, A18, A19 and B15 in that order. There were others in the A & B loops that would be okay but I would avoid loops C - W/E were at the front edge of the site not the rear and loop D - very short pull through. I would rate it 4+ stars if the streets and parking pads were paved.  If a person needs satellite TV access they would not like it here since the tall tress block the signal. We could get several channels on the OTA antenna.

6/29/14 Sunday We did our morning walk and had breakfast and prepared to depart for Intercourse, PA.

Amish Country PA - Leg 1

06/24/2014 Tuesday  We departed at 8:15AM for the first leg of our trip to the Amish Country of Pennsylvania. We traveled up US17 for most of the way to our first stop at Kiptopeke State Park in Cape Charles VA. It is just a few hundred yards off the coast of the Chesapeake Bay. Most of US17 was in really good shape - only about 15 miles was a little rough. It was our first time ever to ride the 15+ mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. The fare one way was $31 for the MH and car. We checked in and unhooked the toad to ride around the CG to select our site. We chose site 53. The CG has 94 sites on three streets in the section that has full hookups. We only paid for water and electricity since we are only going to be here 2 nights - plus they have 3-4 dump stations on the way out. One of the CG streets was not paved and had rough spots. Only a few of the sites on the first street would not be acceptable for a MH. After setting up and relaxing for awhile and eating supper we walked 2.2 miles on some of the many walking/bicycle trails.

Site 53

The CG Host is parked in the site next to us. He told us about the cross country trip he took on his bicycle from Portland Oregon to Annapolis Maryland to celebrate his 2 years of being cancer free and 65 years old. He did the trip in 53 days. I like to ride my bicycle but this guy is one serious rider. Even before he told us about his trip I though he was probably a serious rider when I saw a light on the back of his helmet.


06/25/2014 Wednesday We got up early to walk before it got hot but it was still very humid. After breakfast we drove up the highway to visit the little town of Cape Charles. It sits right on the bank of the bay with several old home overlooking the bay. We stopped to check out an old style hardware store. Not your typical Ace Hardware or Lowes. It was more like stores of 30-40 years ago with somewhat jumble isles but that have about anything you need or what. They were still using a typewriter to prepare their account cards and a cash register that was probably 30 years old. We also drove over to the marina where we saw two large private yachts. On the way back to the CG we stopped at a local restaurant with the idea of getting some local seafood for lunch but did not stay to eat. When we walked in one of the employees was standing on a ladder in the dining room using a vacuum cleaner to vacuum the dust/soot around the air conditioner return and this was at noon when they were probably the busiest. The place did not look very clean and the prices were rather steep we though considering the atmosphere. We returned to the CG and did some reading and relaxed. After supper we walked down to the gift shop/camp store and the fishing pier and boat dock. This walk made 3.2 miles for the day,

06/26/14 Thursday We got up early again and walked another of the trails and then back down to the boat dock for a total of 1.45 miles before breakfast. We packed up went to the dump station and departed app 10AM for Trap Pond State Park in Delaware. It was a nice easy drive of 120 miles. So far on this trip we have seen lots of really nice farm land with soy beans,

Cedar Point National Park Campground

06/13/2014 Friday We departed about 9AM with our two grandsons ages 8 and almost 6 for a 4 night trip to Cedar Point National Park Campground near Emerald Isle NC. Their school year ended on Thursday so it was a good time to take them with us. This would be the first time that we have broke the 6-4-2 rule. We arrived about an hour later and set up. We had been setup about an hour when we had a heavy downpour of rain just before we were going to grill hot dogs.

I discovered when talking to the CG Host that the dump station has been closed since July 2013 and the CG would be closing July 1, 2014 for a renovation and hopefully fix the dump station. I am curious what they are going to do the CG since it is one of the nicest National Parks CGs we have been to. I can see where the fire rings could be replaced but other than that and the need to fix the problem with the dump station it looks like the money could be used to fix up some of the other parks instead. The Hosts did not know how long the CG would be closed. This CG is very popular and almost every site was occupied all the time we stayed so closing it down right in the middle of the Summer doesn’t sound like a very smart idea.

The street around the CG is paved so the boys were able to ride their bicycles as much as they wanted without needing to ride in traffic. I grilled chicken for supper and then built a campfire and we fixed smoores. About 9PM I put a movie in the DVD player, the boys got their baths and they watched the movie until they fell asleep which didn’t take long since they were tired from playing all day.

06/14/2014 Saturday After breakfast we drove to Atlantic Beach to visit Fort Macon, a fort that was used in the War Between the States, Spanish-American War, as a federal penitentiary and during World War II. It was sold to the state of North Carolina in the 1924 for $1 to be used as the state’s first state park. On the way we checked out a RV Resort (CG) on the way but we have no plans to pay $71 a night for a site that is just big enough to park our MH on with absolutely no space between the other Mhs. After we left Fort Macon we stopped at the Four Corners Restaurant in Atlantic Beach for a great lunch and then went to the NC State Aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores. The grandsons really enjoyed both sites. Then we returned o the CG. They spent the remainder of the day riding their bicycles and playing,

Fort Macon

Fort Macon

06/15/2014 Sunday Today was mostly a rest day for us but not so much for the grandsons as they played and rode their bicycles all day. We did some bicycle riding, reading and walking. Later in the day we all walked the 1.3 mile nature trail through the marsh. We saw lots of fiddler crabs and three marsh rabbits.

A rather unusual motor home pulled in next to us mid afternoon. It was a International school bus that had been converted into a motor home/adult toy hauler. In the back they were hauling a 5400LB sled pulling tractor that had 3 helicopter engines. They were traveling around participating in tractor pulls. They had just left one where they had won two events. You just never know what you will see while traveling around this great country.

061/16/2014 Monday After breakfast we drove to the nearby McDonalds to use their Wi-Fi. The oldest grandson wanted to download a free game app to his Kindle. The Wi-Fi was so slow we never did get the app downloaded and it was so cold inside it was uncomfortable in there. We stopped for some groceries and then returned to the CG. The grandsons and us rode our bikes and played with the Kindles and did some reading. I cooked red skinned potatoes, onions, squash, zucchini and sausage in the Dutch Oven over a camp fire for supper. This makes a really tasty meal.

06/17/2014 Tuesday We departed for home app. 9AM. We all had a great trip and the grandkids did really well.

N.E. Cape Fear River

5/22/2014 Thursday  We departed about 8:45AM for a few days of camping at our property on the North East Cape Fear River. After arriving and setting everything up I turned on the Winegard Trav’ler Satellite Dish. After a couple of minutes it stopped and there was an error message on the display about connection failure to the antenna. Then it would not do anything or return to the stow position. After climbing up on the roof and calling Winegard Tech Support it was determined that our less than 2 month old device was defective and Winegard will have to send us another one.

5/23/2014 Friday  After breakfast I trimmed some of the overhanging limbs on the road coming to our property. Then I worked on some of my pyrography crafts for a few hours. Later in the day our son and his family and a friend with their camping equipment arrived to stay the remainder of the weekend. I set up my campfire cooking equipment and cooked potatoes, onions and sausage over the fire.

5/24/2014 Saturday Our son, grandsons and the friend got up early and went fishing and set catfish lines. They came back with 13 fish that we ate for lunch. I did some more tree trimming on the road that we come in on. Reading and relaxing was the order for the rest of the day while we slow cooked spaghetti sauce on a grill for supper. 

5/25/2014 Sunday   Our son and his friend got up early to check the catfish lines. When they returned they cooked a breakfast of sausage and eggs on the grill. Then we all got ready and went to our church for Sunday service followed by a great meal in the fellowship building. We returned to the river mid afternoon. A new neighbor on the property next to ours had invited us over to join in on some yard games. Later some of us set by the river to read and relax until it was time to eat a great meal of ham sandwiches that was left over from the church dinner. Late in the day we sat by the campfire and watched the NASCAR race.

5/26/2014  Monday  Our son and his friend got up early again to check and take up their catfish lines. They returned with 4 nice catfish. Then they cooked a breakfast of bacon, eggs and grits. We all relaxed, played with our Kindles, read and relaxed for most of the remainder of the day. Our son, his family and friend departed mid afternoon as they have to return to their jobs and our grandsons had to return to school Tuesday. Our two grandsons really had a great weekend which is one of the reason we purchased this property - to give them a place to come and enjoy camping in a natural environment. If was fun watching them enjoy themselves. Their mom got them a beagle puppy Friday. The puppy “Chance” had lots of fun playing with them chasing sticks and balls. We all had a great weekend - the weather was almost perfect.

5/27/2014 Tuesday Today was a very quite day for Lena and I. We didn’t do much except relax by the river and read. We have had kind of a hectic month since our last trip so it was good to just “chill out”.

05/28/2014 Wednesday We packed up and headed home after a nice trip,

March-April 2014 Trip Leg 6

04/06/14 Sunday We arrived app. 1:30PM at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons NC which is about 12 miles from Winston-Salem. We have never been here before but decided to stop for the night since it is halfway home. It looked nice on the internet but it looks even better in person. The RV park has 44 full hookup sites, with 50, 30, 20amp electric, water, sewage, cable tv and free WiFi that actually works plus a dump station all for $31. All sites are large, 55 ' long with paved streets and paved sites. All will accommodate the largest RV, most are level but 4-6 and some in the 30ies are too sloped for a MH. We got site 10 which is the only pull through. The CG has full growth willow oaks for lots of shade in the summer. They even have the limbs trimmed up high so they will not touch the top of a motor home. We got a good satellite shot but in the summer with leaves on the trees it might not be as good. The park is over 1100 acres and with your CG pass you get a free car pass for the rest of the park which has a golf course, horse track, MX track, lots of paved hiking trails, a grill that serves meals, and two dog parks.

04/07/14 Monday We were planning to leave today for home but it rained most of the night and the rain was going to follow us all the way home so I called the office and extended our stay by one night. I was not looking forward to driving 225 miles in the rain. Late in the evening 11 deer came by grazing across the street from our site.

04/08/14 Tuesday We departed at 9:10AM and arrived safely home at 2PM after 25 nights on the road. It was a good trip, two good rallies, good food, friendly people and educational seminars.

March-April 2014 Trip Leg 4

03/26/14 Thursday We stopped  at the Pilot Travel Center at exit 63 on I85 on the way to Gaffney SC. This location does not have an RV lanes and only about 6 truck lanes and the layout was really weird, plus they had a mobile washing crew washing the canopy over the lanes blocking two lanes at a time right at lunch hour which is a usually busy time at a truck stop, causing a long backup.

We checked in at the Freightliner Service Center in Gaffney SC about 12:30PM for our 8 AM Friday morning service. We set up in site 5 and relaxed the remainder of the day.

03/28/14 Friday We had the MH ready at 8AM for our service appointment, checked in at the service office and then went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast followed by a shopping trip to Camping World to replace a defective water pressure regulator. They had our MH service completed by 3:30PM. They had done the M3, transmission and generator service and returned the MH to our site.

03/29/14 Saturday It rained most of the day as we read and relaxed, followed by a late afternoon walk after the rain stopped.

03/30/14 Sunday After breakfast we departed for Sevierville TN to attend a TRVN Rally with fellow Tiffin owners.