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.