N. E. Cape Fear River November 15-20, 2017

Day 1 Wednesday November 15, 2017 We departed about 9:30AM to stay a few days at the river. Lena followed me with the truck and was pulling the trailer with our golf cart on it. We like to take the golf cart when we go to the river so we can use it for some of the maintenance items we do while done there and also like to ride the roads that run along the river. We had lots of small limbs down on the lot from some recent winds so we cleaned all them up and set by the river and read for awhile.

I needed to go to the North Campus of Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington where my woodturning club conducts classes for students of the college. I help with the instructions on one of the classes and tonight was the last class, so the lead instructor asked that the other instructors that could to attend to help any student that had not finished all their projects. We stopped in Burgaw to a restaurant that I found on Yelp but it was closed so we went to KFC to get something to eat before going to the college.

Day 2 Thursday November 16, 2017 After breakfast I took the golf cart and hedge trimmer and did a little trimming along the road to our lot so the limbs would not touch the motorhome on the way in and out. Later I started a campfire and we enjoyed setting on the river bank reading and enjoying the birds singing and jumping from limb to limb over our heads. It sure is quit and peaceful here. We rarely hear any noise except the sounds of nature.

We grilled hot dogs over the hot coals for supper and them went inside at dark to relax and read.

Day 3 Friday November 17, 2017 About mid morning we drove to Brown Dog Coffee Shop in Burgaw to check them out and use their WiFi, since our cell signal is weak at the river. I found them on Yelp. It was okay but you only get 30 minutes of free WiFi. One of the customers was on his phone conducting business with his office and like most people using a cell phone it appeared he had no clue or didn't care how loud he was talking. Personally I think a coffee shop should be similar to a library and the patrons should not be talking in loud voices but that is just me.

After lunch and some time spent reading we took a golf cart ride along the roads.

Day 4 Saturday November 18, 2017 The temperature last night was down to 37 or so but it warmed up nicely to 71 degrees by afternoon. At 10AM I began cooking my “almost world famous” ribs in my Dutch Oven. It takes two hours to cook them and they were tinder and delicious. After lunch we drove to Wallace to watch their Christmas Parade. This is the first Christmas Parade we have attended in lots of years. Then we stopped at the local Mexican Restaurant for a light meal before going to Walmart to get some milk and RV Anti-freeze so I can winterized the motorhome next week, as this is our last trip for the year.

Day 5 Sunday November 19 2017  We awoke to a sprinkle of rain that ended about 8AM. It was just enough to wet all the leaves that had fallen from our trees. And we sure have a mixture of trees, including oak, pine, sweetgum, hornbeam and others. The sun came out and it was a cool but nice day. We relaxed, read and after lunch took a walk and then built a camp fire and later watched the last NASCAR race of the season.

Day 6 Monday November 20, 2017 We packed up and returned home from our last trip of the year. After we got home I winterized the motor home for the upcoming Winter.



We have made 7 trips in 2017 and stayed 102 nights in the motor home.

Greensboro N.C. 2017 N.C. Woodturning Symposium

Day 1 Thursday November 2, 2017 We departed about 8:30AM for Greensboro, N.C. so I could attend the 2017 N.C. Woodturning Symposium. The symposium is sponsored by most of the woodturning clubs in North Carolina. We arrived about 12:30PM and setup on the asphalt in the parking lot. They have several sites along the edge of the parking lot for RVs that have 50/30/20amp electrical hookups. Later in the day two other members of my club came in with a motorhome and setup beside us. We met 6 members of my club at Darlys Wood Fired Grill for dinner. I guess Lena felt kind of out of place as she was the only female in the group, but she knew about half of the men so she was okay and the food was great.

Day 2 Friday November 3, 2017 I went to the coliseum about 8AM to help my club set up our equipment in one of the rooms for the professionals turners could use it to demonstrate on. The symposium started at 1PM. After attending the demonstrations for the day 35 of my club members and some of their spouses met at Carrabas for dinner and fellowship.

Day 3 Saturday November 4, 2017 The symposium started at 8:30AM today and ended at 5PM. Then at 6PM the banquet began followed by an auction of items donated by the vendors present and several professional turners and some of the non-professionals. In years past the food and service at the banquet has been very good but that was not the case tonight. Our table was the one of the first to be served and the food was barely warm and the coffee was not hot, just barely warm. Some people had trouble getting drink refills, etc. The same company has catered the banquet in the prior years and it has always been good with good service but not tonight.

Day 4 Sunday November 5, 2017 Again we started at 8:30AM and ended today at 2:30PM. Then all the clubs had to pack up their equipment and clean the rooms. I helped my club clean the room and pack all the equipment in our equipment trailer so it was after 3PM before I got back to the motorhome. Lena and I are not going to leave until tomorrow because we would not get home until after nightfall and I don't drive the motorhome at night if I have a choice.

Day 5 Monday November 6, 2017 After breakfast we departed Greensboro about 9:15AM for home. We stopped at a Pilot Truck Stop on I-95 to use their dump station to dump our holding tanks. I had called prior to the trip to verify they had a dump station as many of these truck stops do. It was located between two building in somewhat of an alleyway and there were several maintenance trucks setting in the way so we were unable to dump our tanks. So we wasted time and drove a few miles out of our way to get to the here for nothing.

We stopped again near Wallace to fuel up and I asked Lena to check all the cabinets for items that may have shifted when we hit a large pot hole while at the Pilot Truck Stop. We both forgot to check the refrigerator so when we got home and parked, I opened the refrigerator and the egg container fell out and three eggs splattered on the floor. At least it was not full.

Cedar Point NC - NC Seafood Festival Oct. 5-11, 2017

Day 1 Thursday October 5, 2017 We left the house at 1:15PM for the drive to Cedar Point Campground near Swansboro NC for a few days. We will be attending the NC Seafood Festival as vendors again this year to sell my wood crafts as we have for the last few years. We are hoping for good weather this year. We had to cancel in 2015 due to a hurricane and on Friday in 2016 it rained off an on most of the day and we had to shut down 3 or 4 times. We arrived and set up in site 32 and took the opportunity to relax the remainder of the day because we will be busy the next three days with the festival.

Day 2 Friday October 6, 2017 We got up early and was at the Festival location in Morehead City by 8AM. We unloaded all our stuff as soon as we got to our assigned location and then I took the truck to the parking lot. Then I returned to our spot and we got everything set up and were ready well ahead of the 12 Noon opening time. The weather was good but the sales were way down for our normal Friday. We closed down just before dark and returned to the campground a little disappointed.

Day 3 Saturday October 7, 2017 We returned to the festival and was ready before the 10AM opening time. Again the weather was nice but until around 1PM the sales were really disappointing. But then sales picked up and we finished the day with just $8 less than last year for a Saturday.

We had one customer that acted like a real axxhole. We sell Salt and Pepper shaker sets and also small and larger pepper mills. He wanted to buy just the salt shaker without the matching pepper shaker and one of the small pepper mills. I told him the salt and pepper shakers were sold as a set ( I try to match the wood in each set). He got really “snotty” and said he would not buy anything if he had to but the set as he only wanted the salt shaker and the pepper mill, so since the customer is always tight, I told him okay. When I totaled up the sale he didn't want to pay the sales tax since he was paying cash. I told him I had to turn in the sales tax to the state or risk a fine. Then he said if he had to pay the sale tax he wanted a written receipt. I gave him one but I don't know what good that was going to do him because I didn't put my name on it. I guess he thought I was collecting sales tax and not reporting cash sales. We have never had a customer like that before. Oh well!

Day 4 Sunday October 8, 2017 We again were ready ahead of the 11AM opening today. Usually on Sunday many people come out early and browse the open booths before the crowds arrive but usually Sunday is our lowest sales day but today was the best Sunday sales we have ever had and we ended the festival with $45 more in sales that last year, so we were rather shocked after how slow sales were Friday and about half of Saturday. The festival ended at 5PM and we were packed and loaded and on the way back to the campground by 6:30PM very tired and ready for a shower.

We didn't get any rain or gusty winds this year, just sunshine and gentle breezes off the water that was just down the street from our spot.

Day 5 Monday October 9, 2017 We went to the C&S Paint Store nearby to order some product I want to try to finish my wood bowls with. A fellow woodworker told me about it. Then we picked up some groceries and returned to the campground where we relaxed and read the remainder of the day.

Day 6 Tuesday October 10, 2017 Mid morning we returned to the paint store after the manger called me that my product had arrived, then we stopped at Dukin Donuts to get a coffee and a treat before we returned to the campground. About the time I was going to put some steaks on the grill a cloud came up and it drizzled rain for an hour or so, then I grilled the steaks. We took a walk around the campground and then did some more reading.

We like this campground and have stayed here several times. It is quite and small as it only has 39 sites counting the three double sites and the street is paved and all sites have 50/30/20 AMP power and the parking pad is paved. There is plenty of space between the sites. No water or sewer hookups but there is water hydrants scattered throughout the campground and they have a nice dump station and a potable water station where a camper can fill up their fresh water tank.

Day 7 Wednesday October 11, 2017 We packed up, dumped our holding tanks and departed for home about 9:30AM.

Smokey Mountains August 31, 2017

Day 31 Thursday August 31, 2017 We departed at 8:30AM, stopped at the Farmers Market in Greensboro for a break and to pick up a few vegetables. We stopped again in Dunn NC at Smithfield's Chicken and BBQ, then again outside of Wallace to fuel up before the fuel gets any more expensive due to the price hikes after Hurricane Harvey. We arrived home about 3:15PM safe and sound after a great 31 days in the relative cool of the Smokey Mountains.

Some of the Mill Houses along the street that over looks the New River in the old Mill Town of Fries VA

Smokey Mountains August 26-30, 2017

Day 26 August 26, 2017 We didn't do much today except hang around the park, read and relax, update this blog and Lena painted some rocks to put out around the area in the latest craze of painted rocks. We did drive into Galax to eat supper at The Twisted Fork restaurant. They specialize in Italian style food and the Park owner's recommended it. When we walked in the Tom and Delita (the park owners) were there eating and asked us to join them at their table.

Day 27 August 27, 2017 Happy 69th Birthday to me. We decided to drive the same scenic route that we drove Wednesday but this time do it in reverse to get a different angle on the views. It was a nice drive but coming from the direction we drove Wednesday is the best view. There was several large Christmas Tree Farms along the route.

 Tom and Delita stopped by our site in the evening to wish me a happy birthday and set and talked awhile. They told us a few interesting stories about some of the campers that have been here in the park. We can relate since we work as Volunteer Campground Host at Stone Mountain State Park and have been camping for many years.

Day 28 August 28, 2017 We drove into Galax to visit the coffee shop again and the bike shop next door to get Lena a new bicycle seat. Both places were closed on Monday so we went to McDonald's and Walmart. I replaced Lena's bicycle seat so after lunch we decided to test it out on a ride on another section of the New River Trail State Park that we have not ridden on yet. We drove to the Gambetta parking lot and started our 5 mile round trip from there to Fries Junction. About half way we entered the Grayson Tunnel. The tunnel is probably 200 feet long and has a curve in it. When we entered it was very dark inside and Lena's eyes did not adjust to the darkest quick enough and she didn't “see the light at the end of the tunnel”. She ran into the 4x4 wood curbing  that runs along both sides of the tunnel. She took a hard tumble off her bicycle onto the ground between the wood curbing and the rock wall of the tunnel. She was blessed because she did not fall on the 4x4 curbing and her head landing just a few inches from the rock wall. She only got a small scrap on her knee and a bruised calf on her left leg. When I got to her I had to turn on the light on my bicycle to see her it was so dark. Yea, we should have turned our lights on before entering the tunnel but we were not aware there was a curve in the tunnel that blocked the light at the other end. The other tunnel we have rode though on the trail was much shorter and straight. She could have been seriously injured but was blessed to be only bruised.

We learned two lessons from this: Either walk through a strange tunnel or at the least turn the bicycle lights on and wear a bicycle safety helmet (we had left our helmet home).

After completed the 5 mile round trip we drove to the Galax Walmart and purchased two new helmets and a new seat for my bicycle. Lena's new seat was more comfortable seat than what we had.

Day 29 Tuesday August 29, 2017 Today we had planned to go to Damascus Va and ride 17 miles of the Virginia Creeper Trail ( http://www.vacreepertrail.com/ ) but Lena was not ready for another bike ride today, plus it rained lightly this morning. The sun came out after lunch and we had a nice day. We only have one more day here and we go back to reality.

Day 30 Wednesday August 30, 2017 We drove into Galax again for one last stop at the Fox's Cone and Coffee ( https://www.facebook.com/Foxs-Cones-N-Coffee-385960318270055/ ) for our Latte and cinnamon bun fix. For those reading this that like a good coffee shop you should try this place if you are in the area. They serve all kinds of specialty coffees, dip ice cream, cakes, pastries and a variety of sandwiches and wraps and they have lots of seating, something that lots of coffee shops don't have. I sure wish there was one like it in Wallace.

We packed up this afternoon for our departure tomorrow for home. It has been a great 30 days on the road.

Smokey Mountains August 21-25, 2017

Day 21 Monday August 21, 2017 Today was Eclipse Day but we had almost no effect here as we were too far from the eclipse path. We didn't even leave the park today except to walk across the street to look at the New River and the geese that graze on the grass along the river. I washed the bugs off the windshield and the front of the motor home and we did some reading.

Day 22 Tuesday August 22, 2017 We were lazy today. About all we did was take a morning walk round part of the town and relax and read. Lena did some rock painting so she can place some of them around this area while we are here. There is a painted rock craze going on around the country where you paint a message or scene on a small rock and then place it where it is fairly easy to find. Then if you find one most people take a photo of it and post it on one of the Facebook Rock groups. She has found a couple in this area and placed several.

Day 23 Wednesday August 23, 2017 We took a leisurely drive along some of the back roads in the area this morning. We did the same drive last year when we were here. The route we took was given to us by Tom, the owner of the campground. It is beautiful now but would we even more so in the Fall when the leaves put on their Fall colors. We stopped in Independence for lunch at the local Mexican restaurant. We met a couple this evening here in the park from Wilmington NC about 50 miles from our home.

Day 24 Thursday August 24, 2017 We drove to the Fox's Cone & Coffee shop in Galax for a Latte and Cinnamon Roll this morning before picking up some groceries. About 6:30PM we walked up Main Street to the Historic Fries Theater for their Thursday night music jam where a dozen or so local musician sit around in a circle and play music while several people do flat foot dancing.

Day 25 Friday August 25, 2017 We drove several miles through some really pretty back roads to ride another section of the New River Trail. The trail is a 57 mile trail that was a bed of a former railroad track. We have ridden several parts of this trail in prior years. Today we road from Austinville to Foster Falls, which was 10.5 miles round trip. The trail runs along the New River and is almost perfectly flat and mostly shaded. There are benches about every mile and a porta potty about every 2-3 miles and a few picnic tables. At Foster Falls you can rent canoes and kayaks and they have a small campground, picnic tables and a small boat launch. Today was a perfect day for a bicycle ride, mid 70's. There was a canopy set up near Shot Tower where a young man from Ameri Corp had several skins from animals in the area. Everything from skunks to black bear. He explained several facts about the animals. The state of Virginia has done a really good job with this trail/park. It is used by bicyclist, walkers, joggers and people riding horse back.

Foster Falls was once a small town and there are still several buildings there including a large building that was formally used as a hotel, commissary, post office and boarding house for the employees of the local Foster Falls Mining and Manufacturing Co. Then it was used as a industrial school for girls before becoming an orphanage for boys and girls before finally closing in 1960.

At the part of the trail called Shot Tower there is in fact a 75' tower that was once used to make lead shot for hunters, traders and merchants. It took about 7 years to build and was completed in 1807. It is only one of three in the United States and may be the only one of this design in the world. There is a 75 shaft in the ground below the above ground tower, The hot lead was poured through a sieve and then fell 150 feet into a large tub of water to form the lead shot. The lead was mined locally.

After we returned to the RV park we went back to the Fries Theater to hear the Mountain Park Old Time Band. We didn't realize this was the same band we heard earlier in the month at the Rex Theater in Galax. We stayed about an hour and a half before returning to the RV park for the night.