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.