Day 10 Thursday August 5, 2021 Another kind of slow day. We needed a few groceries so we headed to Timberville VA about 20 miles away to shop at a Walmart. We stopped in New Market at Dunkin Donuts for a Latte and a couple of donuts. The coffee was good but we thought the donuts were a little tough. Not sure they are baked here. It is part of a gas station/convenience store. But we got one Latte free so I guess that made up for the donuts. I ordered two Lattes, they only made one and I asked for my second one so they made another. When I got to our table and looked at my receipt they only charged me with one, so I told the clerk and he said to just enjoy it. On the way back through New Market we stopped at Jon Henry's to get some more of their tomatoes.
The rest of the day we just relaxed and read.
Day 11 Friday August 6, 2021 Today was a very interesting day. We drove about 20 miles South on hwy 11 to Harrisonburg, VA to tour the Brethren & Mennonite Heritage Center. We read a lot of fiction books about the Amish and have some general knowledge of the Mennonite but were not familiar with the religious group The Brethren. We have seen several Brethren church signs in this area.
The center was located up on the slopes of a large hill overlooking the local high school and elementary school. We found out on the tour the large three story plus basement brick house on the property was moved from about where the 50 yard line is on the school football field. They had to build a road up the hill, raise the house up and put it on wheels and it took 5 bulldozers to move the house in place. The brick exterior walls are a foot thick and the interior walls are almost that thick so it was really heavy.
We watched a 15 minute film inside the center and read the large information panels on the visitor center walls about the two religious groups. Sam Funkhouser is the Executive Director of the Center. He was just hired in January 2021. He introduced himself and said he would give us a tour of the buildings and grounds. Two other ladies came in and joined us on the tour.
There are buildings from the 1700's, 1800's and 1900's on the grounds. They have either been moved here intact like the big brick house or dismantled like the log house and log spring house/shoemakers shop. The church/school house was cut into three sections and moved one piece at time and then rejoined onsite.
Sam gave us a very good two hour tour and answered a lot of questions about the two religious groups. He really knows the history of the buildings at the center and the religious history of the two groups. Just like the Amish, there are groups with different customs/rules within each group. If Sam had of not told us we would have thought he was Amish based on his looks, clothes, beard and haircut. He is part of the Old Order Brethern. He does drive cars but does not watch TV and doesn't mind his photo being taken. He is highly educated and has an interesting background. Google “Sam Funkhouser” or The Brethren & Mennonite Heritage Center of Harrisonburg VA, and you can read about him.
We departed the center and headed for the Shenandoah Heritage Market. This is a large building with all kinds of vendors inside. Anything from candy to saddles and boots. Thankfully they had a cafe right in the center of the building because we were getting hungry. We both got the steak and cheese sandwich. We made a great choice as it was delicious. The bread was homemade bread with melted butter spread over it and then toasted with lots of thin sliced steak and cheese melted over it. Yummy!!
We walked through all the shops and got a couple of item, then went outside to the produce building for some cucumbers. We wanted some homemade bread but didn't find any. Then we headed back to the coffee shop in New Market to use their WiFi and get a Latte. I needed to download the photos from the camera to my iPad and to the cloud.
When we got back to the campground we found they had watered down the first section of the street into the campsites but didn't water down our street so it has been eight days of a really dusty street by our campsite.
Day 12 Saturday August 7, 2021 Another slow day as we didn't do anything exciting or interesting except rest and read.
Day 13 Sunday August 8 2021 Today was moving day but not too far, only about 20 miles North to Edinburg, VA to Creekside Campground. I decided to fill up with fuel at a Sheetz Truck Stop on the way, since their diesel was $2.999 and most truck stops are about $.30-40 more per gallon. I programmed the address for Sheetz in the GPS but for some reason it made a mess out of getting their. It should have been a straight short North on hwy 11 with a left for about 1 block to the truck stop but it took us on several small back roads and finally said you have arrived, right in front of a small farm house. We did not hookup the toad this morning because we only had 20 miles to go so Lena was wondering where I was going. My only concern was I was going to end up somewhere where I could not turn around or find a low clearance bridge eventhough the GPS is not supposed to allow that. This is the first time this GPS has ever done this to us. When we got to the campground I double checked to see if I had put in the right address and I did. My gut feeling was when the GPS told me to turn of hwy 11 that was wrong but again it had never lead us astray before I followed the GPS.
I got my fuel and we waited about 20 minutes before heading to the campground because checkin was not until 1PM and like other campgrounds some are beginning to do charge extra if you arrive before stated checkin time.
We got to the campground right at 1PM, checked in and setup in site 20 which backed up to Stony Creek. This is a small campground with less than 40 sites. Some of them are fairly close together. Ours is one of the larger sites since I called and talked to them before getting reservations to make sure they had a site big enough for us.
Day 14 Monday August 9, 2021 We did a little exploring the area today. The town of Edinburg is not very big and a lot of the buildings along Main Street are either Pre Civil War or just after. Photos of a few of them are below. Most of the old buildings are occupied either as residences or businesses. There is an exit for I81 about a mile or so from downtown and along that strip are most of the newer businesses, including all the normal fast food places you see at an interstate exit.
We stopped at the McDonalds to use their WiFi a few minutes and get a snack. The WiFi at the campground is kind of flaky which is nothing new for a campground. What is strange is that it works better on Lena's iPad than it does on mine.
We drove out to Seven Bends State Park. It has two access points and we checked both out. We had to drive down a very narrow twisty road to get to the park. Virginia State Parks charges $5 or more depending on the type of vehicle to park in the parking lots. After leaving the park we drove through some more kind of remote country that ran along the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. The Muse Winery was way back up this road and there was a small narrow bridge to cross the river to get to it. Their vines were hanging full of grapes and some were just beginning to turn purple. We saw two Bald Eagles flying out over the river and the farm on the other side of the river banks.
Later in the evening we set by the creek behind our motorhome and watched the mallard ducks feeding in the creek. Then we walked from the campground to Main Street to photograph some of the old buildings. Main Street just a short walk across a low narrow concrete bridge from the campground. One of the families that has a house that backs up to the creek has a picnic table sitting on some rocks in the creek. The creek is shallow now because it is so dry here.
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