On The Virginia/North Carolina Border

First I want to say our hearts and prayers go out to all the folks that were impacted by hurricane Ian.  It hit just a few miles south of where our winter park is, they were very lucky overall, although our park is still closed, a lot of damage to park models and RV's, tons of trees down, and although the power and water have been restored, no one knows when it will reopen.  Even so, it is so much better than the areas absolutely wiped out farther south.

After a wonderful last evening in Maine, we headed south, first to get fuel, then to a campground in western Mass.  We had planned to fill up in Greenland, NH at a T/A, but for some unknown reason the trucks were backed up and even out on the road, thankfully we had plenty, and after making a questionable U-turn we got back on the road.  As we were making our way to Shelburne Falls, MA, we stopped at a light and noticed a station that had separate diesel pumps, and a decent price so we popped in and fueled.  Point of interest, when we started our travels this year, our first fill up was $3.31/gal, later we hit a high of $6.06, and when we filled this time it was $4.31, better but a long way to get back where it should be.

It was a pretty drive, and the longest we had done in months:-)  All of 193 miles.  We stayed at Country Aire which was adequate for our 2 nights.  We decided to do something the one day we were there that was a little bit crazy.  I had mentioned the wonderful farmers market in Woodstock, VT where we had gotten great veg, fish, meat, and awesome homegrown pork, and since we didn't have anything planned to do, and it was quite cool out, we decided, why not drive up the 94 miles?  Then we said on the way back we could veer off to Orvis, store and outlet in Manchester, VT, for a round trip of 225 miles, and it would have been that far except our GPS took us off kilter for awhile unbeknownst to us trusting folks, so we ended up doing 250 miles instead!  We need to pay more attention to the GPS.

It was a pretty day with the leaves just beginning to turn

Then we made our way down into Pennsylvania, to a campground, Twin Grove, in Pine Grove.  A nice spot where we had stayed once before several years ago.  It was a fairly murky ride which eventually turned into a steady rain, and this was a really long day, 350 miles.  We started down quite a hill into Adams, MA through several hairpin turns just to get the blood flowing.

We spent a rainy night there and launched in the morning for Natural Bridge, VA.  Also, I have to share that our entry step that I told you we, Jan, had cleaned so well and had worked for days, has now decided to quit now and then.  Always while in, so going out the door without paying attention can bite you bad.  It seems to have something to do with the interface of turning on the key which drives the step in with the door shut, and then when in, it quits.  It seems quite jammed, so I have tried to wiggle it, then replace the fuse it blows and most of the time it will then operate both in and out until we repeat the whole process again.  Aggravating.  I am going to try an auto resetting fuse to see if that will help until I can figure out what's wrong, motor or controller?  

We had our very last lobster roll on the road.  Enjoyed it so much while wishing it wasn't our last for such a long time.

Homemade, the real deal:-)

We stayed at the Natural Bridge KOA, a park we had never been to before.  It was a nice place, BUT, it is built on a serious hill, and the roads around the campground getting to the sites go up and down big time, with very sharp turns, we made it but don't think we'd go back, there were a few moments where the trepidation almost overwhelmed us.  The site itself was nice.

We wanted to do some more of the Blue Ridge Parkway that we missed last year, so off we went, only to find a section closed off, with no warning, so we detoured around, and found yet another section closed off.  Evidently they had had some severe weather that had closed the road, we did see lots of trees down along the way, was this the remnants of Ian, I don't know.  Nonetheless, we still had a nice ride although this section wasn't as impressive as the more northern or southern sections we had been on.

Next we moved farther south to Galax, VA, and Cool Breeze campground almost right on the VA/NC border.  And once again our GPS' in the coach waylaid us.  We run two, yeah I know, anal, but it usually works for us.  We had checked the route, but once we left the interstate, without us noticing it tried to take us on the Blue Ridge Parkway!  We couldn't find a place to make a U-turn this time so ended up going miles out of our way to get back.  Cool Breeze is a very nice no frills park, with mostly owned sites, huge sites actually, with no amenities, but full hookups.  It has nice views, very quiet and dark with friendly folks.  Very nice, something we both very much enjoy, and it turns out you can wash!  I looked it up and we haven't been able to wash since July!  To say we were dirty is an understatement.  So we woke up on our 49th anniversary and celebrated by washing the motorhome, including the filthy roof, and the truck:-)  Happy Anniversary!

We did celebrate later with shrimp cocktail, Blanton's for me, an excellent wine that Jason and Joanne had given us, a great cigar, a nice fire, and then dinner, a wonderful filet mignon with a Hasselback potato!  Yummy, and the weather was perfect!