Day 14 Monday 11, 2026
We woke up to some expected light rain. We caught a short break in the rain and went out and put up the reservation signs and cleaned a couple of sites and two fire pits that were too hot to clean yesterday.
We sure needed this rain. Yesterday when we were raking the sites it was very dusty. The bottom of the legs on my jeans were covered in dust.
The Maintenance crew came out and wanted to know what needed to be done in the campground. We told them we had finished loop B & C and just the unoccupied sites in loop A needed to be cleaned.
We returned to the motorhome to have breakfast and just about the time we got inside it started raining again. The maintenance crew finished loop A in between showers. They were all in trucks so they could get inside the truck cab when it was raining. Our golf cart does have a top and a windshield but no doors so we would have gotten wet.
We took advantage of not having much to do in the campground to do some housekeeping chores.
Yesterday we stopped to talk to a camper that was walking his dog…his BIG dog. It was a 200 pound Great Dane. He was white with black spots. I believe the top of his back would have been almost to my waist.
Day 15 Tuesday May 12, 2026
Our “weekend” starts today so we went to River Roast Coffee Shop in Jonesville for our Latte fix and a pastry.
From there we headed to Shiloh General Store in Hamptonville to pick up a few items. This is an Amish store that we usually go to each year. We were disappointed to find them closed so they could attend a school function. This happened once last year and the next time we went they told us to check their Facebook page before we came to see if they were closed. Lena did that this morning at the coffee shop but it didn’t mention them being closed. Oh well.
We came back to Elkin and stopped at Combs Butcher Shoppe to get some of their ham and sausage that we really like. I even found some Golden Delicious apples that are my favorite but very hard to find.
Then on to Food Lion to finish getting some essentials to stock our pantry. Finally a stop at Foothills Grocery to get some of their takeout fried chicken for lunch before returning to the campground.
It was 47 degrees this morning at 8am but it warmed up nicely during the day.
We had lunch and set outside until late in the day enjoying the nice weather and the quiet of the day.
Day 16 Wednesday May 13, 2026
We decided to drive over to Mt. Airy this morning to have breakfast at Barney’s Cafe and see if Andy and Barney were out and about in the downtown. We snagged a parking spot right across the street from the cafe.
We were not overjoyed with our breakfast. On a scale from 1-5 we would probably give it a 2. It seems we are striking out on breakfast when we come to Mt. Airy. A few years ago we came here to have breakfast at Biscuitville. It was probably the worst breakfast we have ever had. I should have taken our meals back up to the counter at Biscuitville but I didn’t.
After we ate we walked around downtown and took some photos of the murals we didn’t see when we were here the last time. There were not many people downtown this morning and several shops were closed on Wednesday and some just had not open yet.
We stopped at Mill Creek General Store after we departed downtown. I got some more of the Guggisberg Amish Butter Cheese. It was about $1.50 more per pound here than at Market 58 near Galax but cheaper than driving to Market 58 to get some more. Lena found the Stoffers Lasagna like we bought in Branson MO. a couple of years ago that we really liked.
On the way out of town we stopped at a roadside produce market but didn’t buy anything. Then we headed back to the campground. The area from the park across the country roads to interstate 77 is a really pretty drive. There are some really nice farms in that area. Some of the farmers were cutting hay, some had harvested their wheat and some of the wheat was still nice and green.
Day 17 Thursday May 14, 2026
Well back to work today on this cool morning. We had just a little rain last night but not enough to lay the dust much.
We had our morning breakfast fruit then started cleaning the vacant sites before we came back and had our bacon, eggs and coffee. Then we cleaned the last of the vacant sites.
We had another first today. The couple that came in last week that made us laugh when the lady told her husband that he was “knife jacking” departed and left the spare tire (a new tire and rim) to their camper lying on the driveway. They hadn’t been gone long when we found it. I tried calling them several times but the call didn’t go through. They were from Alberta Canada. We turned the tire in to Lost and Found that the staff in the Visitor Center handles.
A couple we know, Gary and Amy, that lives about 2 miles from us came in today for the weekend. They usually come here in May for Amy’s birthday. And again in October.
It was down to 54 degrees by 6 pm when I picked up the reservations sheet and made my last round through the campground.
Day 18 Friday May 15, 2026
A cool start this morning as we put out 53 reservations signs. We started with our hoodies on, and within about 45 minutes had removed them and by mid day we were down to short sleeve shirts. A beautiful day in the mountains. A busy morning with lots of sites to prepare for the new campers coming in. We had everything ready by 1pm.
A few came in way before checkin and got on the sites before we got them ready. But the sites are rarely trashy, just a few tiny pieces of trash, bread ties, etc., but we still like to get to all the sites and clean and rake them before the are occupied again.
After a nice relaxing afternoon sitting outside I picked up our reservations report for Saturday and made a final pass around the campground before calling it a day. We almost have a full house tonight which is nothing unusual for Friday.
Day 19 Saturday May 16, 2026
We only have 21 reservations signs to put out and 18 sites vacating today. After breakfast we went out to clean those sites. We met a couple that were originally from South Africa. I guessed his accent to be Australia but he said no, it’s South African.
We are making our “almost famous “ foil wrapped vegetables with sausage and shrimp for lunch today. Lena’s didn’t have shrimp, not one of her favorite foods. We almost cooked the potatoes done then put them in the foil with the vegetables and meat/shrimp. Then put the foil packet on the outside grill for 30 minutes.
When I stopped to check in the people on the site next to us, I asked the lady about her accent as I felt sure it was European and possibly German. She said close, she was from Lithuania 🇱🇹.
The three Rangers on duty and the crew from maintenance had a busy afternoon. First there was an 8 year old girl having an allergic reaction to something. Then just about the time they got her on an ambulance they got the word that someone on the top of the mountain here in the park had fallen and was hurt. It turns out the lady had broken her ankle. There was no way to get an ambulance up to anywhere near where she was. The park has a couple of side by side 4 wheel drive utility vehicles that can go up/down most of the trails. The rangers and maintenance men had to carry the lady up some steps and to a location on the mountain where they could get the side by side vehicles so the paramedics could put her in a Stokes Basket for transport down the mountain. It took almost an hour to get her down to the parking lot where the ambulance was waiting.
Then about 7pm they got another call that a boy scout troop was lost on a trail above Widows Creek Falls. One of the local rescue squad teams came to the park to assist. Just before nightfall they were located and everyone was okay.
Other than those issues it has been a beautiful day. One of the nicest this whole month. We only have two sites not reserved for tonight.
Tomorrow is going to be really busy. I think there are about 63 sites vacating.
I forgot to mention that Lena has been practicing to be a snake handler.🫣🫣
A few days ago while we were cleaning sites she bend down to pick up a piece of string on the driveway, or at least she thought it was a string. Once she got it her hand she thought it felt funny and looked down at it to discover it was a small snake. She kind of screamed and dropped it. It appeared to be a harmless rat snake and it was dead.
We have noticed something this year we have not seem here before that we can remember. We have had two different sets of campers come in driving a convertible. One had all her camping gear in her small convertible and the other was pulling a small trailer with two large containers with their camping gear.
Also another trend is cargo trailers that have been converted to a camper. I think this is the first year we have seen any and there has probably been a half dozen so far.
Day 20 Sunday May 17, 2026
We had a much warmer start of the day this morning. It was 62 degrees at 8am.
We ate breakfast and started cleaning sites. We knew we had a lot to clean. It was the warmest day we had been here so far this month. We continue to get compliments on how good the campground looks. We can take credit for some of that but this year the maintenance crew has been doing a good job of mowing the grass and weed eating the ditches, etc., thanks to the new park superintendent. So that makes the campground look well cared for.
After we cleaned 43 sites we got the Sunday reservation report from Jackie and put out the 21 reservations signs before we stopped for lunch and to rest awhile. Jackie was off yesterday so we didn’t have the reservation list this morning like we usually do except for Thursdays.
We have had a group of RVs here for the last several days that were part of a RV club called “Tear Jerkers”. There is a small RV camper that is somewhat shaped like a tear drop, so they are commonly called “tear drops”. It is small and doesn’t weigh much, so almost any kind of vehicle could tow it.
I guessed another accent this afternoon and got this one correct. It was British but the lady said she had lived in the USA for 30 years. Some people loose their accent when they move to a different country and some don’t.
Day 21 Monday May 16, 2026
Typical Monday 17 reservations and about 20 departing. Maintenance came out and helped clean fire pits. They didn’t have many to clean as we cleaned some yesterday when we cleaned and raked 43 sites. And my legs were feeling it. I walked 2.9 miles so with today’s step I will have walked over 7 miles since Tuesday here in the campground. Lena has not been carrying her phone so she didn’t record her steps but she has walked almost as much as I have.
We got all the sites that were vacant cleaned and raked by 12:30. One site was 17 minutes after checkout time leaving or we would have been done a little earlier.
We are really liking the new NC State Park check out/check in times. Before the change check out was 3 pm and check in was 4 pm. So the campers were much later leaving which caused us to have to continually go out to the campsites and clean as they trickled out. Now if everyone leaves by check out time or close to it we can get finished by 12 or 12:30 and then we have a relaxing afternoon.
We had another first today. An older gentleman was setting up on a campsite as we were passing by and he flagged us down. He said something about him being so old and that he was recently at an antique auction and they hung a price tag on him. 😂😂 His license plates were “OLDGOAT3”.
Then he asked us if we wanted some sweet potatoes that he had dug this year and was giving them away. Lena said yes. She got a half dozen. He had a large box full of them.
It was rather warm today. After lunch we sat outside almost all afternoon and it was very nice and relaxing. We have lots of shade trees on our site.
Day 22 Tuesday May 19, 2026
We went to Sparta on our first day of the weekend to have breakfast at Circle L Cafe. We usually eat here one time each year when we are at Stone Mountain. I usually get a pancake and bacon or country ham. I learned the first time we came here to NOT order two pancakes. 🥞 They are big.
I think they must be under new management because we didn’t recognize anyone working there today and the lady that said she was the owner we had never seen. The food was good, but the coffee was either burnt or had been on the warmer too long and was burnt tasting but I didn’t ask them to make some fresh.
Then we went to The Gathering Place in Sparta which is a coffee shop to get a Latte. I gave Lena half of mine as I was coffeed out.
Then we did a little shopping at a new shop in town, The Little Seed Kitchen & Bakery. Kind of an odd name for the business since only a small space in the rear was used for the bakery. It was a large space and almost all the space was for general merchandise like, T-Shirts, sweatshirts, gifts, jewelry, etc.
I bought a 250 American Anniversary cap. From there we visited the Alleghany Arts & Craft Shop. There are a lot of skilled crafts people in this area. And this is a co-op shop where the members showcase their crafts for sale. We usually visit it every year and Lena usually finds a birthday gift in here for my brother’s wife.
Then we took a scenic route down some of the backroads on our way back to the campground. We drove down one road that took us to a golf course and several houses up in the hills. We came to a dead end street and when I turned around we spotted about 10 deer lying down under a raised porch on one of the houses.
We stopped at Widows Creek Falls inside the park. We have never seen the water so shallow coming down the rocks. It is very dry here as most of North Carolina is.
When we got back to our site 2 of the Rangers and another lady we didn’t know were putting up a canvas type shed so we can park the golf cart under it out of the weather.
There is a small tree on our site that has a opening on one side over a foot in length and the inside has rotted out down about a foot or so. We checked and there are baby birds down in the bottom of the hole. This afternoon we sat outside and watched the mama and daddy birds (small grey birds with black heads) fly in and out of the hole for 2-3 hours feeding the babies. We wondered how late in the day would they do that. Well about 8 pm the kitchen closed down.
Day 23 Wednesday May 20, 2026
Today is our last day off before we leave next Tuesday. We had our breakfast fruit this morning and drove to Elkin to try the Milk and Honey Roasters Coffee Shop. We just found out about it because it opened since we were here last year.
On the way out of the campground we stopped to speak to two of the Park Rangers that were trimming some tree limbs that were hanging low over the road. When we came in with the motorhome in April I tried to duck them but some still dragged across the roof some but did not damage anything. I mentioned it to the Park Superintendent Michael so we were glad to see them being trimmed. We thanked the Rangers for trimming them.
We left Elkin after we had our Lattes and drove way out into the country, so far actually I think they had to pipe the sunshine in.
I looked on Google Maps last night for something that might be interesting that we had not seen in our 11 years coming here. I found Horne Creek Farm, a NC State Historical site. This is the Hauser Family Homestead that dates back to 1900. The Hausers had 12 children, 11 boys and I girl. They raised a variety of farm crops, corn, tobacco, apples, etc., and raised all the typical farm animals. The state restored the farm house to near original condition and there are several original farm buildings on the property. They were able to contact the descendants of the original family and got a lot of verbal history from them. Some of the families also donated some of the original furniture and provided photos of the other furniture so the state was able to find almost identical furniture to place in the house.
The lady in the visitor center ask us did we know what the main farm crop was in North Carolina during the late 1800’s. We guessed tobacco, cotton, turpentine, etc. but we were wrong and she said most people never guess it. We were really surprised to find out it was fruits like apples.
She noted that the Hunge Apple tasted similar to a strawberry. It originated in North Carolina in the late 1800’s and rediscovered in 1986. North Carolina produced nearly 10 million bushels of apples in the early 1900’s. The state has created a large orchard on the property and were able to find many apple trees that were almost extinct. They found a man that had been studying and saving apple trees for over 30 years and he gave them two trees of every variety that he had so they would not be lost to extinction.
The state has done a good job of saving the homestead and we found it very interesting.
After we finished touring the homestead we were getting hungry so we returned to Jonesville and ate lunch at Cracker Barrel. Then we stopped to get a few groceries before returning to the campground about 3pm.
We sat outside until late in the afternoon. We have been watching the weather forecast and rain is in the forecast for the next week. And the entire state needs rain desperately. We will be leaving here next Tuesday the 26th to go home and don’t want to pack up our outside stuff in the rain or when the stuff is wet so we packed everything up this afternoon except two folding chairs, two small folding tables and our Starlink.
The birds with the babies in the hollow tree trunk are not feeding the babies as much this afternoon.
Day 24 Thursday May 21, 2026
We got out at 8am this morning to put out the reservations signs and check the campground. It was sprinkling rain just a tad. We came back and ate our fruit and then went back to clean the vacant sites. Some of the campers asked us about the weather forecast and decided to leave a day early rather than packing up in the rain.
When we got all the sites cleaned the campground looked almost like a ghost town. There was only about a dozen campers remaining but 17 are due in today. But the weather may discourage some of them. This is Memorial Day weekend and normally the campground would be totally full but I expect a lot of the campers, especially those with tents will not come.
After we finished our breakfast of country ham/egg biscuits and lattes we sat outside in the nice cool air. We watched at least a half dozen RVs come in before 12 noon, which is checkout time. Checkin is not until 3pm but if the sites are ready they are allowed to setup. That is not the case on many commercial campgrounds as some are charging a $25 extra fee if you come in before checkin.
We just saw 4 deer come across the street near our campsite. Then a little later a bird committed suicide by flying into a side window on our motorhome. I used my Merlin Bird ID app to identify the bird as a “Ovenbird”. We have never heard of this bird.
Day 25 Friday May 22, 2026
We finally got some rain last night and based on the forecast more is on the way. It was misting rain some when we put out the 33 reservations signs for today. We normally have between 50 and 60 on a normal Friday but the weather forecast is keeping people away and this is a holiday weekend which would normally be a full house on a Friday night.
We went back out at noon to check the sites that had vacated. When Jackie came in we got the updated cancel list and then removed 13 reservations signs where the campers had canceled their reservations. And there will probably be more before the day is over or people will just not show up for their site.
Day 26 Saturday May 23, 2026
It looks like today will mostly be a rain out. We only have 7 reservations for today so I went out in the rain and put them out and left Lena in the dry motorhome. I would think the people in tents didn’t have a very good night.
It has rained most of the day, not a hard rain just a nice steady rain that hopefully will soak in and eliminate this drought.
We watched a DVD movie and about 4pm picked up our reservation report for Sunday and made a pass through the campground and picked up old reservation signs and site tags and cleaned a couple of fire pits where the campers had drug large tree limbs to the firepit and expected to start a campfire. Not going to start a campfire with large mostly green tree limbs.
Day 26 Sunday. May 24, 2026
It is not raining this morning so we went out to put out the reservations sign. There was a large cherry tree limb that fell on site 50 during the night. It covered all the site except the front half of the driveway. Luckily there was not any campers on that site last night. It was reserved Thursday night through tonight but they had gotten their reservations switched to site 52. Lucky them. I called maintenance and a couple of maintenance guys and Ranger Mac were onsite in a few minutes.
We checked and cleaned all the unoccupied sites and came back to site 50. They had got the tree limb cut up and most of the smaller pieces hauled off. We stopped and raked all the small stuff up into a pile so they could load it on their truck. They will get the rest of the big pieces when they have more help.
We have had a lot of compliments on the campground and how clean we keep it this month. But we got our first ever complaint after 11 years this morning. Sites 62 & 64 were a family and there were several kids, probably 8-12 years old in the group and they all had bicycles.
We had checked/cleaned the sites all around them and site 66 which is right beside 64 had several ruts on the tent pad where the bicycles had been riding. The site was too wet to rake so we worked our way on down the street. I had just finished raking site 70 and had walked across the street when an adult man and 4 kids came down the street and one of the older kids rode his bicycle right across site 70 where I had just raked. I walked back out into the street and asked the adult male if he was with these kids. He said he was, so I asked him to keep the kids and their bicycles off the sites after we cleaned them. He said he would and told the kids to stay off the sites.
Sometime later as we were riding by site 62 where the adult male was, a woman flagged us down. I stopped and she proceeded to tell me that I did not talk very nice to the man about the kids riding their bicycles on the sites. Huh!
I told her basic campground etiquette is you don’t go on sites that are not yours. She said the sites didn’t have anyone on them. I said yes but we had just cleaned and raked those sites. She said well they had not seen us cleaning/raking the sites. Huh! We had been working all around them for probably 20 minutes and they didn’t see us. Oh well! I told her we work hard to clean the sites so they would look nice when the campers come in. She was still adamant that I had not talked nice. I did not raise my voice or say anything unkind to the man, I just asked him to not let the kids ride their bicycles on sites that we had cleaned/raked.
I guess I should have asked her wasn’t her husband man enough to speak to me himself if his feelings had gotten hurt. That would have really set her off I guess.😂😂
It did seem good to be outside working today and not setting inside the motorhome. But we have had a good amount of rain here in the last three days. We have every vacant site in the campground cleaned/checked. I guess maintenance will be happy tomorrow since they usually come out on Monday morning to help clean fire pits.
Day 27 Monday May 25, 2026
We had some more rain last night but not a downpour.
I guess the maintenance crew took me at my word that we had all the fire pits cleaned except those occupied because they were not in the campground this morning when we went out to put the reservation signs out.
After we finished breakfast we cleaned the sites of those leaving today. We got them all cleaned by 12:15pm, dumped all our ashes and trash and picked up the reservation reports for Tuesday and Wednesday and put those out since we are headed home tomorrow morning and rain is predicted for late afternoon.
I washed the golf cart and did some other preparation for leaving tomorrow while Lena did laundry.
We turned our radio, keys, timesheet and clipboard in about 5:30 to Jackie and “punched out” for this year.
We had a beautiful sunny afternoon and got to set outside and enjoy it for a while.
Just before night fall I got a flashlight and looked into the hollow tree trunk to check on the baby birds and they were not there. I don’t think they flew away because just a few days ago when I checked them they didn’t even have any feathers. I believe a snake may have got them.
Day 28 Tuesday May 26, 2026
We got up at 7am and got everything ready to leave by 8:30 even with me falling coming around the motorhome after dumping our holding tanks.
We had more rain last night and the 6”x6” wood timbers that line the edge of our site was wet. When I stepped on it with my right foot it was like stepping on grease. I went down with a thud, I fell in the gravel on my right elbow (the same one that got scrapped with the Elk attacked me last year) and my right hip. But thankfully nothing broken just a sore hip. 🙏
This morning was the last time I had planned to wear the shoes I was wearing when I fell. They have been good shoes to work in the campground as they are rubber and the wet grass in the morning doesn’t hurt them but they are worn out and have slick soles so that was partially to reason for my fall. They went in the trash when we got home.
We had a good drive. I missed my turn in Greensboro as many times as we have come through there. But I quickly exited and was back on the right road in a few minutes. I had set our destination on the GPS as home so the GPS was directing us towards Raleigh on I40 but we always take 421 to Lillington and then out to I40. So much less traffic this way.
I should have put Lillington in as my initial destination because we stopped for fuel in Lillington and then at Smithfield Chicken and BBQ in Dunn. We have stopped here many times over the years. Their food is good, have very quick service and there is a huge parking lot behind them where a shopping center is so we can always find adequate parking.
We arrived safe and sound about 2:30.
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