Day 11 Saturday May 8, 2021 It is still windy today but a little warmer. We only have 12 leaving and 12 reservations today so we will not be so busy today but tomorrow will be a different story. There is always lots of people leaving on Sunday so we will have lots of sites to clean.
As expected we had a fairly easy day today.
Day 12 Sunday May 9, 2021 As expected we were very busy today. Lots of people leaving and new campers coming in to take their place. We cleaned 42 campsites today and got all but one or two of the reserved sites cleaned before the new campers arrived.
We still don't understand why some people put metal drink cans, aluminum foil, plastic bottles, etc. in fire pits. The metal does not melt and the plastic usually makes a mess. But I think the worst thing I have seen is 7 bags of dog poop left in the fire pit. Now I don't think these people would want to come to a campsite and have that mess in their fire pit so why would they leave it for someone else.
We saw something we have never seen before today. One couple that arrived today put up little red flags all around their campsite. These are the flags that are on a wire that you stick in the ground to mark a boundary or a spot, etc. We knew they had two of the large full size poodles so we stopped to ask them about the little flags. The man said they were his Service Dogs and they were trained to stay within the flagged area without a lease. The dogs names were Liberty and Freedom. He gave them a couple of commands to show how well they were trained but they didn't do the commands as he instructed. I guess they were not accustomed to us.
Day 13 Monday May 10, 2021 Same routine today. We had less that 20 new campers today so not so much work and the weather was really nice, so we enjoyed the day. We have only seen one couple from outside the USA so far this year. We normally see 3-4 couples from foreign countries during our month here. I guess the travel restrictions with COVID is the reason.
Day 14 Tuesday May 11, 2021 Normally we see several deer around the campground but we had not seen any until this morning we saw 4 cross the street in front of our site, then we saw some more on near the highway on our way to North Wilkesboro to a new to us Coffee Shop name Talia Espresso. It is a really nice facility, lots of comfortable seating, some outside tables in the recessed front entrance, good coffee and free WIFI. Is in the downtown part of town right across the street from a pizza restaurant we have ate at a couple of times a few years ago. The building was a department store in its former life.
After getting our coffee fix we drove back to the park and stopped at Widow's Creek Falls for some photos and then stopped at the Lower Parking Lot and did a 30 minute hike up to the historic Hutchinson Homestead. We had not been to the homestead in the last four years. The park preserved several old farm buildings and the Hutchinson cabin to create the homestead. It is in a beautiful setting at the base of the Stone Mountain Summit. The 60 degree temperature was just right for a short hike. So we got our 2 miles of walking in today.
Day 15 Wednesday May 12, 2021 It was windy and rainy during the night and was still drizzling rain as we drove to Sparta for breakfast at the Circle L Cafe. We have ate there several times. It is where the locals come for breakfast. The first time we ate there I ordered two blueberry pancakes not knowing how big they were going to be. When the waitress brought them out a couple of the local men that was sitting next to us laughed at me. They were bigger than the plate they were in. I later learned they will make them as big as you want, so now I just order one that is plate size and an order of bacon. It was really good and loaded with blueberries.
After we ate we drove on into town and stopped at two gas stations to get some gas. The first had bags over the pump handle and the second had bags over the pumps stating Out of Service but a paper sign on the pump to come inside to pay. So I walked by a man pumping his gas to go inside to pay. The clerk told me they were out of fuel. When I got back to the car a lady pulled up to the opposite side of the pump where I was parked. I told her they “claimed” they were out of fuel. She looked at me kind of strange, took the pump nozzle and placed it in her fuel opening in her car and started pumping gas. I guess they don't sell to out of town customers. Oh Well.
We stopped at Backwood Beans for a Latte. I asked for an extra shot of espresso in mine. Most coffee shops make them a little weak for me. Well when I got mine I think a spoon would have stood up in it without any problem. We stayed a short while and left to head back to the park. This is not our favorite place to get Lattes but in the past we have come here to use their WiFi. They don't have very good seating, poor lighting and the floor always looks like it has not been swept recently.
We stopped at Food Lion in Sparta for a couple of items. While we were there it started snowing, YES snowing. The temperature had dropped to 40 degrees. The snowing didn't last long but was fairly heavy small flakes for several minutes. It has snowed one day every year that we have worked here but we were surprised to see any in May.
I stopped at two more gas stations on the way back and the second one had fuel but had a $10 limit on purchases. At least people can't fill up several gas jugs like we have seen on the Internet since this gas shortage situation has started. This station is where I normally get fuel when we go to Sparta so I will be stopping here in the future and not at the one in town that would not let me buy any fuel.
Day 16 Thursday May 13, 2021 While we were putting out the reservation signs a camper told us he heard some scratching sounds coming from inside one of the dumpsters. After we finished with the signs we checked the dumpster and there was a raccoon inside. Don't know how he managed to raise the heavy lid enough to get in but he did. I called one of the rangers and him and a couple of the maintenance crew came. They put an old dead tree limb inside the dumpster so the raccoon could climb out. It didn't take him long to make his escape.
Day 17 Friday May 14, 2021 We had another busy day, which is normal for a Friday. There were lots of campers coming in and lots leaving. We cleaned 48 sites today, which might be a record for us. It began to rain lightly after lunch and the sun didn't come back out until about 6PM when I was making my last past through the campground.
Day 18 Saturday May 15, 2021 The campground was almost full last night and we only have 18 reservations for tonight and about that many leaving so we should have a fairly light day today which will give us a chance to rest up for tomorrow since Sunday is our busiest day.
Day 19 Sunday May 16, 2021 We did our normal routine, putting out the reservation signs, then ate breakfast and began cleaning sites as soon as the campers departed that were leaving today. Some friends (Tom and Gloria) that we met on our 2019 Canadian Maritimes trip are coming in today for a three day stay in the Campground. We are scheduled to go on a Caravan trip to Alaska together in July. We are planning to travel together part of the way to Idaho to meet with the Caravan group and need to meet to discuss our plans. We finished cleaning all the sites we needed to clean today, ate lunch and went to their motorhome to visit for awhile. We shared some travel experiences and had a good visit before we returned to our motorhome.
Day 20 Monday May 17, 2021 We had a fairly easy day today since we cleaned so many sites yesterday and not many people are leaving today. After lunch Tom and Gloria came to our motorhome for a visit and late in the day we put out the reservation signs for Tuesday since we are off tomorrow.
Day 21 Tuesday May 18, 2021 Today we thought we would try to eat ourselves across two states. So we picked up Tom and Gloria and we went to the Circle L Cafe near Sparta for breakfast and then drove down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Galax VA. to our favorite Coffee Shop, Briarpatch Market Place and Cafe for a Latte and Cinnamon Bun. Then it was on to Millers Country Store to pick up some of their homemade bread and a few other items. From there we drove to Fries to show them the Fries New River RV Park that we like so much, followed by a ride around the little old Mill town. It was time to head back to the campground via Independence Va. Since it was 1PM and we hadn't eat anything in about two hours we stopped at the Mexican Restaurant in Independence for a small lunch. When we got back to the park we drove on down to Widow's Creek Falls since Tom and Gloria hadn't had a chance to ride through the park.
We had a very good day, good food, good visit with friends and beautiful weather.
Day 22 Wednesday May 19, 2021 After breakfast we drove across the Virginia line to visit Joe & Joyce. We met them on a Carnival Cruise a few years ago. They were seated at the same table we were. We have visited them each year we have been here since that time. After talking for awhile we drove to local cafe for a good lunch. Later we departed their house and drove to New River State Park to check out the campground for a possible future visit. They only have twenty sites for RVs and only about three that we liked. We stopped and introduced ourselves to the Campground Host. We found out after talking to her they have a lot less duties than we do at Stone Mountain and only have 20 RV sites and a few tent/group sites. She encouraged us to apply there to be Campground Hosts. We might in the future but probably not for now, even though it is a really pretty area and there would not be much work involved.
We got back to the campground about 5PM. The weather the last couple of days has been really nice.
Day 23 Thursday May 20, 2021 We are back to our normal routine today so not much to report. We didn't have many campers to come in today but tomorrow will be a different story. We got to set outside today and relax and read for a few hours, since we didn't have much to do and the weather was really nice.
Day 24 Friday May 21, 2021 As expected we have been busy today getting sites ready for the 58 reservations that are due in today. But we still had about half of the day to sit outside and enjoy the weather and read. We don't have any vacancies tonight, all 88 sites are reserved.
Day 25 Saturday May 22, 2021 We have a few leaving today but others coming in to take their place so we are full again tonight.
Most people do a good job of not leaving trash on their sites but we do find exceptions to that. We wonder how these people would feel if they were to come to a site to set up to camp and find trash scattered about on the site and in the fire pits. I guess they have never heard the 'ole camper' saying "leave your campsite cleaner than you found it". We wonder if their home/yard is like that. And another thing we find amazing is the damage to some of the picnic tables on the sites. The parks provide a nice large picnic table made from weather proof recycled plastic. We have several tables that have burned places in them where someone has set a very hot pot on the table and melted the shape of the bottom of the pot into the table. Now who doesn't know you shouldn't set a really hot pot on plastic.
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