Day 1 Wednesday March 25, 2026
We are off on another little adventure today. We departed about 10:30 for a Pickers Convention at Denton Farm Park near Denton NC. We came here many years ago to an old tractor show. We are not “pickers” and we sure don’t need any more junk/treasures but thought it might be interesting to do something we haven’t ever done.
There are a few old buildings at the park, an entertainment pavilion, an old church, a small scale railway/train, some really old machinery, tractors, etc.
We arrived about 2:30 after stopping for lunch at BoJangles about 30 miles before we got here. It took a few minutes to get an escort to our site since we had never been to their “campground “. I had a gut feeling before leaving home I would not like their campground and I was correct.
We were booked into site 84 which did not have a sewer hookup and was probably at least 18” out of level front to back. I thought I had reserved a full hookup 50AMP site but I was told I did not request a site with sewer which was $10 more per night which would have made the site fee $60 per night which is a tad high for a basic full hookup site with picnic table and normally a fire pit in a “real campground”. These sites don’t have picnic tables, fire pits, are really narrow and almost all are very unlevel.
I told the escort if they would refund my money we would leave but she showed us a couple of sites that were almost level but didn’t have sewer. I agreed to take one of those and before I got back to the motorhome she got a call that a site with sewer had just came available due to a cancellation. The escort took me to the site and I agreed to take it so we set up in site 65 instead of 84. We were able to get level with one of our ramps under the passenger side front tire.
After resting awhile we walked back up to the checkin building to ask about the entertainment schedule for the weekend at the pavilion. The people in the checkin building didn’t know anything about the entertainment schedule or if they were even going to be any. Ugg!! Not what the information on their website stated.
We walked around the grounds a few minutes to see where everything was. There are hundreds of vendors here with all kinds of “stuff “ and a few food vendors.
Day 2 Thursday March 26, 2026
On a positive note we had a very quiet night here, no traffic noise, etc. The sun is shining bright and should be fairly warm today.
After breakfast we walked over to where the vendors were selling their “treasures”. We walked for over 1.5 miles and didn’t see everything. There was almost anything you can imagine for sale.
We visited the General Store, Museum and the Church but the Church was closed which was opposite of what our information sheet stated. The Museum had a massive collection of antique radios and TVs, even one radio was a fan and radio combination. The General Store looked like stores did back in the 40’s and 50’s when things were simpler. The local small US Post Office was in the back of the store. The times sure have changed since these buildings were the norm. I’m not sure for the better either.
We walked over about half the area where the vendors were setup with their items for sale. The only thing we bought was a glass of sweet tea and a chocolate brownie from a bakery. They had lots of yummy looking bakery items for sale.
After checking out some more of the vendors we returned to the motorhome for lunch. We didn’t return to the sales area but set outside and enjoyed the nice weather and watched several RVs some in and setup.
Day 3 Friday March 27, 2026
We drove the few miles to the small town of Denton to checkout Cowpoke Coffee Shop. We asked what kind of pastries they had and all they had were some store bought pre wrapped muffins. We got a couple of lattes and a muffin each. The place was probably a 1000 square feet of open space inside and for seating all they had was three big old fluffy couches and 4 individual wood seats with two small end tables to set your coffee on. All their customers that came in except us got their coffee and left so I guess they don’t need many seats or maybe these customers would have stayed if there was better seating, who knows.
From there we drove about 20 miles to see the Pisgah Covered Bridge. This is one of the two historic authentic covered bridges still in existence in North Carolina. It was built in 1911 but was washed away in 2003 but was rebuilt. Bunker Hill Covered Bridge is the other authentic covered bridges and it was built in 1895 in Catawba County.
There are other covered bridges in the state but they are replicas or newer construction.
And for some reason people think it is okay to paint graffiti on these historic bridges. There was a nice gravel trail that looped around and over the Little River on both ends of the bridge. There was also a picnic table and a small parking lot that is kept maintained by someone.
We didn’t plan to do any “picking” this morning so we decided to drive to Morrow Mountain State Park and checkout the campground there. We camped there in 2010 when we had a travel trailer just after we started camping again. We couldn’t remember if any sites were big enough for our motorhome.
It was a nice 40 mile drive through some beautiful countryside. There was only one or two of the 106 campsites that we might could have got into so it will be a no for us. They have built new bathhouses and several small camping cabins since we were here in 2010. There were several sites occupied and many more were reserved for the weekend.
We stopped about 5 miles before we got back to Denton Farmpark at Vilma’s Mexican Food to get some lunch. This is a food truck that is setup beside the road going into Denton. They have some picnic tables under a shelter to set down to eat or you can take it with you. The food was very good. Then we returned to the campground.
Day 4 Saturday March 28, 2026
We knew the temperature was going to drop so we were not surprised when bad weather moved in late yesterday evening after dark with heavy rain and strong winds. It continued until around 11pm.
We wondered how all the vendors were protecting their “treasures” because most of them were out in the open with not even a canopy over them. Several had lots of glass items, lots of flat metal signs and many other things that could have been damaged in windy conditions.
We were lazy and got up late and the temperature was still 41 degrees when we got up and very windy. We waited until after lunch to go out and browse through some more of the vendor area to see if we could find anything that we couldn’t live without.
We didn’t see any obvious damage from the storm last night except some canopy frames that were all twisted up and piled in a pile. The park had their old train running today that was pulling three passenger cars and a caboose.
We didn’t find any treasures that we needed so we returned to the motorhome for the rest of the day.
Day 5 Sunday March 29, 2026
After breakfast we prepared to depart and head to Raleigh Oaks RV Resort and Cottages in Four Oaks NC which is near Smithfield NC. It is a 2.5 hour drive and checkin is 1PM so we didn’t leave until 10:30.
Even though we weren’t totally thrilled with the campground here we have been to worse. We enjoyed our stay and it was interesting to walk around and see all the “stuff” that the vendors were selling but we sure didn’t need to bring any of it home with us. Like most people we have accumulated our own “stuff” and at this stage in our lives we don’t need to add anymore.
Our route to Raleigh Oaks took us onto the new I540 Triangle Expressway near Raleigh. It currently ends with the intersection of I40 South of Raleigh and begins at I40 West of Raleigh. This is a toll road but we have the NC Quick Pass so we get a 50% discount on the toll but it still cost $20.00 for both the motorhome and the Jeep. If it was just the motorhome or Jeep it would have only been $6.16. We get charged more because we are considered a vehicle with 4 or more axles.
We got on it from NC highway 64 which comes through Siler City. NC highway 64 crosses NC highway 421 at Siler City and we have been taking 421 all the way from Lillington NC to I40 in Greensboro when we go to the NC Mountains.
We might change and take I540 over to NC 64 then exit onto 421 in the future. We believe it will be a little quicker since we will not be on a two lane road going through 2-3 small towns to get to 421. But the $20 toll fee may be a deterrent for taking the expressway.
After getting setup in site 302 we decided to go to Cracker Barrel for lunch. We haven’t been to a Cracker Barrel in a long time. We thought maybe the Sunday lunch crowd would be gone by the time we got there. There were a lot of people outside waiting to be seated. We put our name on the wait list and were told it would be about 20-25 minutes but we were called 7 minutes later. We had a good lunch and walked away stuffed. The dining room was still almost full when we left about 3pm.
Day 6 Monday March 30, 2026
We had a relaxing night. It is mostly quiet here with some road noise from highway 701 that runs by the campground. We are only about a half mile from I95 but we don’t hear the traffic noise here.
It is a beautiful day so we did a walk around the campground after breakfast. This is a large campground or as it is named “resort”. There are also several cabins for rent at the back. They have a pool, dog park, tennis court and putt-putt golf course, a fitness center and events room. Several of the sites are occupied by people working in the area long term. We have been to campgrounds that allow long term residents and they were very junky. We try to avoid those type but this one is very well maintained.
The grounds are kept very clean and all the sites and the streets are gravel and the sites are fairly large for a privately owned campground and have grass between the sites. The sites are all full hookup and have a picnic table and a campfire ring.
I ticked off another “bucket list “ item today. I have been driving by Cricket’s Grill in downtown Smithfield for 60 years and never stopped to try their hot dogs. The time never seemed right until today.
This is just an old mobile home that has been sitting beside Hwy 70 business in downtown Smithfield that was converted to a grill many years ago. They sell hot dogs ( with Brightleaf wieners), hamburgers, egg rolls, etc. Everything is take out and cash only. There are two benches in front but most people take their food with them, eat on their truck tailgate or like us, eat in the car. We got two hotdogs with chili, mustard and light onions, one egg roll and a real cup of lemonade for $6.50. I don’t know of anywhere you can eat out that cheap and it was very good. The hot dogs were as good as the ones at my favorite hot grill in Pin Hook near our home.
On the way back we spotted a Cottle’s strawberry stand so we stopped and got two quarts and then stopped at Food Lion for some vanilla ice cream. So I guess you know what we had for dessert this afternoon.
Day 7 Wednesday April 1, 2026
We woke up this morning and made the decision to sell our motorhome🫣!!
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Nope April’s Fool😂😂😂😂
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We think we have a few more years in us to travel so not today.
We drove to Selma to Coffee on Raiford. We found this little coffee shop a few years ago just after they opened. A lady and her brother remodeled the building and opened it as a coffee shop in the old business district of Selma not too far from the Rudy Theater.
When we walked in the main room was full of people, probably 20-25 having a meeting. We made our order and went to the back room where there is a couch, coffee table and some chairs. Then a few minutes later five local people came in and joined us in the back room since the meeting was still going on in the main room. One of the ladies said she was originally from Selma but now lived in Clayton and remembered when this building was an eye doctor’s office when she was very young.
We enjoyed our coffee and visiting with the locals for a while and then headed back to the campground. Just before the campground there is a business called Ronnie’s Country Store. We have passed it many times but never stopped so today we stopped to check it out. They have a variety of items from snacks to work boots and heavy Winter overalls. Next door they have a large tire shop and repair business.
Then we returned to the campground and set outside in the nice weather. We set outside a lot today and rested up so we could tackle all the Spring chores we need to do when we get home.
There are several birds flitting around our site. There are some bushes and a Crepe Myrtle bush on our site. We have watched a catbird gather up nesting material off the ground under the bushes and make several trips to a bush across the street where we think they are building a nest.
Around 3-4pm every day multiple RVs pull into the campground for an overnight stay. Sometimes it is entertaining to set and watch other RVers setup their RVs.
Day 8 Thursday April 2, 2026
After breakfast we got everything ready and headed for home about 10:30.
We had a nice little vacation and got the motorhome exercised some before our longer trips later this year.
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