Day 16 Tuesday May 16, 2023 The photo of the small tree with white blossoms in the last post is of a Mountain Laurel. There are several on our campsite and in other places in the park.
Yesterday when we were making our last pass through the campground putting out the reservation signs for Tuesday and Wednesday we spotted an “intruder” on site 21. He had not checked in before setting up camp.
Based on some research it appears to be an Ornate Box Turtle.
We had some rain before dawn but the remainder of the day was very nice.
We found a restaurant in Elkin we wanted to try this morning, Nanas Family Restaurant. But after eating there it is a “one and done” place for us. Our table cloth had syrup and food crumbs from Saturday per the waitress after we asked her to wipe it down.
The tablecloth must have been original from when they open in 2019 because all the coloring on the material was worn away except around the edges that hung below the table top. It was so worn out the threads in the material was showing through the plastic top. Not very appealing. I ordered two biscuits with gravy with country ham. The biscuit was so hard on the bottom I could barely get the steak knife to cut through it. Gravy had no taste but the country ham and coffee was good. I didn't think about it until after we departed but I only got one biscuit that was split open into two pieces. I checked my receipt after we got in the car each of our meals was about $0.50 more than the menu stated. NOT going back.
We drove out to Hamptonville area to pick up a few items at the Shiloh General Store (an Amish business). They make fresh sourdough bread, whoopie pies and other bakery items daily plus all the other items you normally see in an Amish grocery store. Then we stopped at the Amish diary nearby and got some of their milk before returning to Elkin for our day off Latte fix at Dirty Joe's Coffee Shop. The gift card that the man gave us last week there was for $10. The whoopie pie and Latte sure was good.
We browsed some of the shops on Main street. Lena was looking for some new duds. On the way back to the campground we stopped near our turn off on hwy 21 to check out the Dollar General. It was built a few years ago and we have been planning to stop there to check their stock. Some times campers will ask us about where to get supplies that are not stocked in the little camp store in the Contact Station. They had a really good stock of items, almost like a mini WalMart except for fresh food items. It cost us $50 by the time we left there and we had only stopped to look.
Just before nightfall a storm rolled through and dropped a lot of rain for over 30 minutes.
Day 17 Wednesday May 17, 2023 Sometime last night Rocky, the raccoon, walked all over our campground golf cart seat with his muddy paws and also turned over one of the trash cans we use sometimes for hot fire pit ashes.
Today we went to North Wilksboro to the Talia Espresso for out last Latte fix until next week. We have been here several times since discovering it a couple of years ago. It is a nice place in the old downtown area on Main Street, lots of seating, free WiFi and good coffee and scones.
We walked down the street looking in store fronts for something interesting when we saw what we thought was a antique flea market type business so we stepped in to loud barking from a dog that we couldn't see at first due to all the merchandise in the place.
The owner spoke up and said she will not bite she just loves to see people. Her name was Angel. She was snow white and came up and wanted us to scratch her head. The man explained we were welcome to come in and browse around even though nothing in the place was for sale. I guess you could say he was kind of eccentric. He appeared to be about our age and had hair down below his shoulders. He said he formally published a weekly newspaper but now did an online newspaper and he just liked collecting things. He had a LOT of stuff in there. Lots of old hammers, different tools, some books, several jugs of marbles and a large glass 5 gallon jug with 35,000 pennies in it. Except for a narrow isle the place was “wall to wall” stuff. He was interesting to listen to. He said he also has two other storage buildings with old doors, windows, etc. that he does sell to people looking for items when restoring old houses.
After checking out a few more places we were getting hungry so we went to Applebees for lunch. I really like their Blacken Chicken and Shrimp with mushrooms, onions and garlic mashed potatoes.
Then we returned to the campground. Tomorrow we go back to work.
Day 18 Thursday May 18, 2023 Back to work, cool and no sunshine today made for a much cooler day. We did our normal morning routine by putting out the 25 reservation signs for campers coming in today.
Then I had to run the contact station from 12 noon until 7:30PM, checking in campers, selling firewood, ice and other items in the little camp store. Jackie, the lady that normally works in the contact station took a week off, so I was asked to run the contact station today and again next Monday. Wilma that works every other weekend in the visitor center is running the contact station Friday through Sunday. Checking in the campers, registering “walkin campers” and selling the firewood, etc. is all handled via a computer. I was trained on the computer system when they got it a few years ago.
Day 19 Friday May 19, 2023 We have 59 reservations today so we were busy, putting out the reservation signs, cleaning sites, etc. Sure glad it is not raining like it did last year on Fridays. It seems like it rained a lot last year on Friday.
Day 20 Saturday May 20, 2023 Not so busy today, not so many coming today. I relieved Wilma in the contact station during lunch time for a couple of hours.
Day 21 Sunday May 21, 2023 Busy today with 33 reservations and lots of campers leaving. I call it “shift change day” with weekend campers leaving and new one coming in. We cleaned as many sites as we could before the new campers came in. Beautiful weather today. I relieved Wilma during lunch again.
Day 22 Monday May 22, 2023 We have 16 reservations today. Had two campers that came in without reservations after the contact station closed last night. That is what we look out for on our first pass through the campground about 8-8:15AM. A few times they leave without paying before we find them. And we believe there was one on the site next to us that did exactly that last night. Lena said she cleaned that site yesterday after the camper that was there checked out and this morning she found trash on it and some ashes in the fire pit. So they must have come in after we closed our curtains last night and departed before we opened them this morning about 7:30AM.
One of the other two this morning didn't want to give me her telephone number so I could create a customer record in the computer so I could collect her payment. After refusing to give me her number 3-4 times she finally relented.
As we were making our second pass through the campground after breakfast a camper with a nice new motorhome stopped us and asked to borrow some tools. Their satellite dish would not retract so they could travel without damaging it.
We cleaned a few sites and I worked in the contact station from 12 noon to 6:30PM then we put out the 25 reservation signs for Tuesday and Wednesday (our days off).
Day 23 Tuesday May 23, 2023 Gregg and Judi, our friends from Bostic NC came about 10:30AM for a day visit. We drove to Sparta for lunch. We had planned to try a new steak restaurant that we were told is good but it and the other restaurant that we have ate at a few times are both closed today so we decided to try the Tex-Mex Cafe. There are two mexican restaurants in Sparta. Lena and I have ate at the other one twice and it is good but we decided to try this one. BIG mistake.
There was only three employees working. We found a table since no one payed any attention to us when we walked in. 15-20 minutes latter a waitress took our drink order. I think I got two cubes of ice in my tea.
While we were waiting for someone to take our food order a HUGE hornet landed on the window beside our table. The guys at the table next to us told us that if it stung us that it would be a serious pain. Gregg went looking for a fly swatter but was ignored when he asked for one. I finally got the chance to smash it with my shoe and when it fell off the window it landed in Judi's purse. She about freaked out.
Finally a man took our food order. Lena said it was about an hour after we arrived our food finally came out. Lena got a Tex-Mex salad that was the smallest salad we have ever seen for a meal order. My Burrito Bowl was good but Judi was very displeased with her order. The chicken meat in the enchiladas was yellow and very dry and the wrap was soggy. Gregg got a jumbo burrito but was surprised that the beans and rice was wrapped up in the burrito roll.
One of the guys at the table next to us didn't get his meal until all his friends had finished their meals and only then after he went and asked about his order.
This place makes the second “one and done” restaurant we have been to recently. Judi said we should have taken the big hornet at our window as an omen. Oh, and before the hornet a red wasp flew into Gregg's hair. He flipped him out and he landed near me on the window and I smashed him with a salt shaker.
So to treat ourselves we went to the coffee shop in town that we found on this trip and got a good coffee. Then we stopped at the artist and crafts guild store in town to browse all the nice crafts before returning to the campground so Gregg and Judi could head home.
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