Day 11 Wednesday 9/27/2023
We departed at 8:30AM and headed for Mineral Wells West Virginia. It got really cloudy and our GPS was losing the satellite signal part of the time and then it started raining and rained for 30 minutes or so about the time we crossed the border into WV. We stopped at the Rest Stop/Visitor Center to pickup some local literature on the area since we were only about 12 miles from our campground in Mineral Wells.
As requested we text the campground our arrival time of 11:30AM and their Grounds Manager was waiting for us to show us to our site. The site he took us to was not to our liking and before I told the guy he said he was going to take us to another site. He told me they had been doing a lot of work on the campground and had just put down asphalt on the streets. There are several old mobile homes mixed in with the campsites. The site he took us to was better but still not great. It was a new site and was not level side to side so we had to put our ramps down under the wheels on the passenger side and wood pad under the jack on that side in the rear to get the motorhome level. At least it has gravel on the site and is not muddy. This is not a great campground but based on the reviews of the other ones in this area this is better than the others. Maybe when they get the renovations done it will be better.
Day 12 Thursday 9/28/2023
We discovered there is a Tim Hortons Coffee Shop in Parkersburg about 8 miles from the campground. Tim Hortons is a Canadian business and they are all over Canada. We enjoyed several stops at one last year on our Alaska trip. We had read that there are a few in the USA but was surprised to actually find one so close so we decided to try it out and compare it to the ones in Canada. It was okay but we didn’t think the Lattes were as good as those in Canada but not bad.
It is a rainy morning and we are not finding much of anything interesting to do in this area. We did drive to Harrisville to checkout Berdine’s 5 & Dime an old store that has been in business since 1908. They claim to be the oldest American 5 & Dime. They had some interesting and unique items but we didn’t see any that cost a nickel or a dime. The ceiling had the old pressed tin ceilings that probably is original.
Then we drove out of town down a very crooked back road and through the North Bend State Park and eventually came right back into the same town. Then we returned to the campground, did few chores around the motorhome and went down the road to Cracker Barrel for an early Anniversary Dinner.
We were scheduled to be here 4 nights and have paid for 4 nights before we head to Stone Mountain State Park where we will work at Campground Hosts for the month of October. But we have decided since we didn’t find much interesting in this area and we don’t like this campground, and calling it a campground is being generous, we will leave in the morning and head to Stone Mountain. The September host left on Tuesday so they will not have a host until we get there.
Well shorty after I wrote the last paragraph I texted the Ranger at Stone Mountain and they got a fill in for the campground host until Sunday Noon so we can’t go until then and set up in the host site but we are still leaving here. I found a campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway that had one site open that we can fit into so we are going there until Sunday morning. So we are forfeiting what we paid here for two nights but beats setting here and being bored.
Day 12 Friday 9/29/2023
We departed about 8:30AM and headed South on I77. The sun was shining this morning for the first time in a few days even though it rained first thing this morning. We stopped at a rest stop for a break after about two hours. And then again a few miles after we crossed into Virginia. We can’t check in to our next campground before 2PM without paying $10 extra, even if we arrive at 1:59 it cost $10 extra. We had a lite lunch to burn up some time.
We got to the Fancy Gap Cabins and Campground at 2:02PM. We got checked in and set up in site 11, a backin site. This is a small but pretty campground built on a hill right beside the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had to drive about 4 miles on the parkway to get to it. The sites are very close together and not level but we made it work. We have a wooded deck on the back of the site but of course that cost a couple of extra dollars but this is the only open site available. They only have 13 RV sites, 5 tent sites and 6 cabins.
After getting setup we enjoyed some time on our patio out back.
Day 13 Saturday 9/30/2023
Since we were only 13 miles from Galax VA where one of our favorite coffee shops is we treated ourselves to a 56th Wedding Anniversary Latte and Cinnamon Bun this morning.
This is a popular cafe/coffee shop/antique place. It is the Briar Patch Marketplace and Cafe. We have been going here for years if we are in the area. It’s about the only antique store we have ever been in that didn’t smell old and musty. It did years ago when we first started coming here but the current owners have really changed things. The antique side of the business is not musty and is not cluttered with a bunch of junk. Everything is neat and organized. The cafe serves all the specialty coffees, sweets like cinnamon buns, etc. and several kinds of sandwiches and soup. And they were doing a good business this morning.
We made a quick stop at Walmart and then took a leisure route back to the campground. There are lots of backroads with nice views so we got some nice photos along the way.
Our campground is really quiet, no road noise at all. But this is the month the stink bugs come out in this area and we have seen plenty. Some crawling around on the outside of the motorhome so we will probably get a few hitchhikers.
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