GTW Hop 10: Knoxville, TN, to Pigeon Forge, TN

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Sparky

25 miles via I-40 and TN 66.  Cumulative distance: 1,350 miles.

GTW Hop 10: Knoxville TN to Pigeon Forge TN

As economy rooms go, the one we had at the EconoLodge in Knoxville, next to the RV repair shop, wasn’t bad. It was spacious with fairly comfortable beds and a decent shower. It was quiet and offered both free breakfast and (this is unique in my experience) free dinner. True, the dinner was inedible, but at least it was offered. And, considering that the hotel had a large number of canine guests, it was surprisingly quiet.

But if I had to spend another day there and watch more ID crime shows or play more hearts on the computer, I think I would have slit my wrists.  Fortunately I did not have to make that decision as the repair shop released Patience at noon.   The body work was not done (they said I would have to leave it for at least five days to get the body work done – not bloody likely), but the slides are all working again and the spare is back where it belongs.

Total cost: $275.

So we hitched up and took the short jaunt down to Pigeon Forge.  Jett held her breath the whole way, expecting one of the new tires to blow.  I think we are both a little shell-shocked, but Jett more so than me.  In any case, nothing bad happened: a ding-free day!  And no trouble leveling when we unhitched either.  All the slides deployed without a problem.

Life is good again.

Except for the weather.  The high temperature today: 52.  Cold and wet.  And very soggy.  The campground site was essentially under water, but only an inch or so.  Ducks came to play in our puddles while we were setting up.  I’m not kidding.

Welcoming ducks

The sun will come out tomorrow.  And we will do Dollywood.

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Knoxville, TN

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Sparky

First, let me tell you that the truck started yesterday.  Started right up.  No hesitation, no evidence of a dead battery.  Nevertheless I took it to the nearest Sears Auto Center to have the batteries tested.  Both were fine, according to them.

So we are left with a mystery: why the drained battery on Saturday morning? What was draining the electricity? I refuse to believe that it was the GPS (and the guy at Sears scoffed at that idea as well).  So what was it?  We have no idea.  So now, in addition to the stress of our RV problems we will have the daily stress – at least for a while, until our confidence is restored – of wondering whether the truck will start each morning.

Today we will check the status of Patience.  Hopefully she will be well enough to leave the sick bay today.  If so, we will travel to Pigeon Forge tonight and will do Dollywood tomorrow.  We had tentatively planned to do it today, before picking up Patience, but the weather is horrible (rainy and cold again) and should be better tomorrow.  Dollywood has a kennel and we will try to get space for the dogs.  If not, we have the option of leaving them in the RV.

So what did we do while we were in Knoxville?  Other than eating out (we had a very good lunch of fried chicken and pot roast at the local Cracker Barrel yesterday) and watching LOTS of TV (Jett caught up on all the crime of the last 20 years by watching ID all weekend), not much.  The attractions that interested me the most were outdoor ones (Knoxville has some interesting parks and a nice restaurant area with sidewalk cafes) and the weather was not conducive.

I do want to provide a few details of our road trip to Gatlinburg on Saturday. Gatlinburg is a few miles south of Pigeon Forge, which I will describe after we have been to Dollywood, but we figured that since we were so close – about 5 miles away – we would take a quick trip there to see what the buzz is about.  Well, I don’t think there is any such thing as a quick trip to Gatlinburg.  There is just one road – TN 441 – that enters Gatlinburg from the north and it was bumper-to-bumper from Pigeon Forge. Yes, it was a holiday weekend, but the weather was terrible, which should have cut down on the traffic.  Was it worth the trip?  In a word, no.

Gatlinburg reminded us of several places we have been.  It was pretty, in a touristy way, but not as pretty as Rockport.  It had a large number of honky-tonk attractions (arcades, wax museums), but was not as honky-tonk as Hampton Beach.  It was, in places, garish and tacky, but not as tacky as Niagara Falls.

I think part of the attraction is its proximity to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and it is probably more beautiful when the sun is out (we couldn’t even see the mountain tops when we were there).  It seems to cater to vacationers who would stay for a week or longer as there are a large number of lodges and cabins lining the stream that runs through the town.  There is an establishment that offers “high end cabins” – a curious combination that has me thinking of hot tubs constructed of logs. There is also an aquarium that bills itself as the “world’s best” which might annoy the people at Sea World or the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.  And a mini-golf course that is reached via inclined railway.  That one intrigued me, but Jett abhors mini-golf.  Besides, we didn’t want to shut off the engine or deal with trying to find a place to park.

All-in-all, I see no reason to return to Gatlinburg.

Or Knoxville.

Categories: GTW, Places, TN | 1 Comment

GTW Hop 9: Heiskell, TN, to Knoxville, TN

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Sparky

22 miles via I-75 and I-40.  Cumulative distance: 1,325 miles.

GTW Hop 9: Heiskell TN to Knoxville TN

This was more of a “limp” than a “hop.”  The original plan, before the devastating Thursday blowout, was to put the RV in the shop for one day to fix the assortment of minor problems that we had accumulated to date.  The idea was that the RV repair would be a day activity, with us continuing on to Pigeon Forge – just 25 miles away – when the work was done.  But after the service manager took a look at the damage, he shook his head – never a good sign – and said that we would have to leave Patience (now renamed “Patient”) in his caring hands until Monday.

Which meant we had an unplanned Columbus Day weekend stay to arrange in a Knoxville hotel.  A hotel that took dogs.  Knowing how hard it is to find a hotel that takes dogs in Massachusetts, I thought we would have to search for hours to find one.  But, as it turns out, Tennessee hotels are very dog-friendly.  It seems that the majority take dogs.  We were directed to the Econo Lodge next door and they happily took my money for 3 nights – with $10 per night tacked on for the pups.

Jett had collected clothes and toiletries in about 5 minutes.  She did a good job, but couldn’t get at some items in the kitchen with the slide in.  I had to go back later, after they had brought Patience into a service bay and hooked her up to electricity, to get those things, plus a few others that we had forgotten.  But I still couldn’t get into the bunkhouse to retrieve our hotspot or the power cord for my laptop, so I am writing this on Jett’s laptop, using the (not-so-great) hotel WiFi.

I had to go back to the dealer anyway to deliver the new tire.  Yes, I bought a fourth trailer tire and had it mounted in place of the malformed not-quite-exploded tire.  So we now have four new trailer tires and a good spare. With any luck (yeah…) that will be the end of the tire problems.

I asked the service manager what he recommends for cold pressure in an Open Range tire.  His answer? 60 psi.  Not 80, as almost everyone else told me.  Not 70 as one of the tire repair guys had recommended (and my personal favorite).  Nope.  60.  So I now had 3 pressures to choose from, all from self-proclaimed experts.  Throw in the confusion over gauge accuracy and you have a perfect storm of inflation confusion.

Speaking of gauges, I decided to test my new pressure gauge on the tires on the truck, which, I recalled, had been inflated to 80 psi, just like the trailer tires.  The readings on the four tires I could reach?  3 62’s and one 65.  None even close to 80.

I don’t get it.  How can these pressures be all over the place?  Is there some tire poltergeist visiting my rig in the middle of the night and changing my tire pressure on me?  Will I ever find a gauge I can trust?  Tune in tomorrow for the next episode of “As the Tire Turns.”

But enough about the tires.  Let me mention yesterday’s new problem: the truck.  Jett and I went out briefly Friday night, to meander through Knoxville and to pick up some beer and snacks.  Somewhere along the way I was reflecting on all the problems we had been having with the RV and thinking “Well, at least the truck has been reliable.”

Blam! I might as well have shot it in the head.  Thinking good thoughts is the death knell on this trip.  Sure enough, Saturday morning as we were about to leave on a road trip to Pigeon Forge, the truck refused to start.  It would barely turn over.  Dead battery.  After banging my head on the steering wheel for a few minutes, I called Paragon, who must be getting tired of hearing my voice.  They sent a guy out and we got it jump-started, no big deal, though I think I am going to have to add a category to my budget for “roadside assistance tips.”

But why was the battery drained? Sure, we had left the GPS plugged in, but that is like taking a bucket of water out of Lake Mead. There is just no way that the GPS could have drained the battery (actually *2* batteries) on the GMC.

So we got the truck started, took our trip down to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, fought horrible holiday traffic on the way back, got some KFC for supper and returned to the hotel – all without stopping or turning the engine off.  We were not about to risk having to make another roadside assistance call.  We have had it with emergencies.

On top of it all, the weather sucks.  I imagine that, most years, Columbus Day is wonderful in Knoxville.  Not this year.  The forecast for the weekend – all three days – is rainy and cold.  The forecast high today is 58.  Just to twist the knife, I took a look at the Boston forecast yesterday.  Sunny with a high of 82.

We went south for THIS?

In a couple of hours I will try to start the truck.  In the meantime I will search for battery places because I believe that is the “fun” that is in store for me today.

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Slow-cooked fatback beans

Posted on October 6, 2012 by Sparky

The life of a long-distance trucker is richer than I thought. I am not talking about money; I am talking about the things that he (or she) can surround himself with while driving. We have seen many truckers who have dogs as companions. That makes sense. What I learned yesterday and found surprising is that they can cook while driving. Alongside the pretzels, peanuts and drinks at the truck stop we found a section of 12.5V accessories that included a surprising number of cooking appliances. Yes, you can fry an egg while driving, though I suspect that most drivers would use a skillet only when parked. There were space heaters, refrigerators, hair dryers and a number of other things that make the cab a home.

But the one I found most amazing was the slow cooker. THAT one would definitely be used while driving. I had visions of a big-bellied trucker movin’ down the road while getting high on the aroma of his beef stew. Now that’s living.

Or, better than beef stew, how about beans with some nice fatback? Yes, pork fat, sold in the local Kroger. You can get it in whole slabs, sliced or diced. Take your pick. We had to wait in line for an opportunity to see the full selection because it seems that fatback is quite popular in Knoxville.

We were in Kroger to get emergency supplies for our forced hotel stay: beer, popcorn, peanuts and pretzels. When we got to the checkout we asked the nice man at the register what one would use fatback for. He launched into an eloquent exposition on the variety of uses of fatback, but admitted that his favorite was fatback-flavored beans.

So if Jett and I trade in our RV for an 18-wheeler (which, at this moment, doesn’t sound like a bad idea), we can cruise down the road while breathing the vapors of slow-cooked fatback beans.

Ahhh… heaven!

 

Categories: Fun Facts, Places, TN | 1 Comment

GTW Hop 8: Hillsville, VA, to Heiskell, TN

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Sparky

225 miles via VA 100, I-81, I-40 and I-75. Cumulative distance: 1,303 miles.

GTW Hop 8: Hillsville VA to Heiskell TN

It just keeps getting worse.

Another day, another blowout.  This one occurred at 60 mph in the middle lane of a very busy I-81 on a downhill curve near Wytheville, VA, less than 30 miles into our 225-mile journey.  It was the scariest and most destructive blowout yet.  I managed to get to the breakdown lane without losing control or running anyone off the road, but that was the end of the good news.  A quick inspection revealed the extent of the damage: a torn wheelwell cover, a dented sheet metal panel on the big #2 slide and dangling wires resulting from the total destruction of the straps that held them in place.  Further investigation revealed that support brackets for the sheet metal had been shattered, leaving the sheet metal flopping around.  And one of the heavy-duty support brackets for the slide had been bent and torn.  Major damage.

And, of course, we had no spare because our plan was to replace the previous blowout when we got to the next big city – Knoxville.  So the highway emergency patrol that stopped to assist could not change the tire.  A call to our new roadside assistance provider (Paragon) yielded nothing more than “get a spare and we will come replace it.”  So we had no choice but to leave a badly-damaged Patience at the side of a very busy I-81 and head into Wytheville in search of trailer tires.

A shred of good news was that we found a dealer quickly, less than 3 miles from the breakdown.  They had two tires and I bought both.  One was mounted on the slightly damaged rim from yesterday’s blowout (another shred of good news – we didn’t have to replace the rim) and the other I threw in the truck to be mounted once the other rim was off the RV.  When we got back to Patience (round trip: 12 miles) I called Paragon again and they sent out a repair guy.  He got the tire changed quickly and we could have, if we had so chosen, headed on to Knoxville.  But Jett suggested that it would be wise to get the other new tire mounted on the rim NOW.  After all, one of the original tires remained and the smart money was on it lasting less than 24 hours.  I had to agree that this was a very good idea.

So back into Wytheville.  The place where I had bought the tires had gotten busy and told us it would be a 2-hour wait.  We pushed on to the service station that had sent the tow truck.  They were more accommodating.  They had the tire mounted and (again, at Jett’s suggestion) on the RV in about 30 minutes (total cost: $10).  It was good that we had removed the last of the original tires because, once off the RV, it was clear that it, too, was on the verge of exploding.  It was misshapen in a way that, according to the repair guy, indicated that the steel mesh had torn.  We would have had a fourth blowout before we got to Knoxville.

Why all the tire problems?  I may never know the true cause as it could be a combination of factors, but my mind wandered back to that first blowout up in Maryland.  The roadside assistance guy had filled all the tires to 80 psi according to his gauge, but mine read 90 psi.  I thought my gauge was faulty, but I had not determined if that was true.  So I had the repair guy in Wytheville measure the pressure in the remaining original tire.  87 psi by his gauge – well over the 80 psi limit.  So I now believe that the assistance provided in Maryland, which seemed so fortuitous at the time, contributed to this blowout and the destruction of the final tire.  I still have to take the blame for the second blowout.

So, with Patience now shod with four new tires, we could continue on to Knoxville, right?  Wrong.  While checking the pressure in the passenger side tires the repair guy noticed that we were missing the dust cap on the hub of one of our axles.  It must have popped off in the confrontation with the curb yesterday. This was serious because, he explained, the hub grease could be thrown out, leaving the axle bearings dry.  He said we could freeze the bearings (BIG trouble) before we got to Knoxville.

So, off we went in search of a dust cap.  Auto Zone?  Nope.  Napa Auto Parts?  Nope.  Tractor Supply?  Yes!  It wasn’t exactly the same, but it fit.

At 4:45pm we were finally able to leave Wytheville.  Total delay: 5 hours.  The floppy sheet metal was strapped to the chassis with a couple of bungees and the torn wheelwell cover had been removed and placed in the basement.  So, looking more and more like a crushed tin can, we rode off into the sunset, arriving at the RV park in Knoxville at 9pm, in total darkness.  We navigated a very narrow path to our site, attached water and electric, deployed the bedroom and kitchen slides, had a quick bite, then crashed.  We were exhausted.

Jett is talking about giving up.  If it were easy to do so I might be convinced.  This trip has been nothing but a continuous series of disasters so far.  We spend our days driving and fixing problems.  It has not been fun. And our budget has exploded like one of our tires.

We are now in a hotel in Knoxville because the RV repair place told us they needed to keep it until Monday.  We are trying to figure out if our planned trip to Dollywood will need to be canceled.  We hope not because we are desperately in need of some fun.

The dogs like the hotel – they can sleep on the bed.  Their spirits are sky high.

I wish we could say the same.

Categories: Adventures, GTW, Places, Routes, TN, VA | Leave a comment

GTW Hop 7: Luray, VA, to Hillsville, VA

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Sparky

207 miles via US 340, I-81 and VA 100. Cumulative distance: 1,078 miles.

GTW Hop 7: Luray VA to Hillsville VA

We traveled to Hillsville for one reason and one reason only: it was just over 200 miles from Luray. We have determined that we don’t want to travel more than 230 miles in a day, that being the comfortable limit of a tank of fuel when hauling the fiver. It is also the comfort limit for Jett’s back.

Hillsville will be a 1-night stay, the first of several that we have planned.  Tomorrow will be another.  There will be several more in Texas and probably another in Oregon.

The trip route was simple: up US 340 (which took us over a ridge into the next valley), down I-81 for several hours, then a few miles on VA 100 to our RV park.  It wasn’t a difficult route and contained just one tight right turn, in New Market, just before we got onto I-81.  Unfortunately, I took the turn too tight, clipped the curb and blew out a tire.  Yup, two blowouts in two weeks.  So two of the tires that I thought would get us to California are now history.  I will have to get another tire when we get to Knoxville tomorrow.

Are tires cheaper by the dozen?

The good news, once again, was the kindness of strangers.  A couple of county employees working nearby saw the blowout, called the local police (who arrived promptly and set up some orange cones) and suggested that I go talk to Junior at the Exxon on the corner.  I did and Junior sent a guy over to change the tire.  We were back on the road 35 minutes and $25 later.

We met a lovely couple at the campground – Jack and Barb from Delaware – and spent a very pleasant couple of hours sitting by their campfire and getting some useful advice from some seasoned RVers.  It was a great way to finish what was otherwise a trying day.

 

Categories: Adventures, GTW, Places, Routes, VA | Leave a comment

Luray, VA, and the Shenandoah National Park

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Sparky

The plan for our 2-night stay in Luray, VA, was to take a leisurely road trip along Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park and, possibly, take in the famous Luray Caverns. But I learned that Jett is not a spelunker (her response when asked if she would like to tour the caverns was “No freaking way!”). As for Skyline Drive, the rain interfered. I went alone while Jett was napping, driving through rain and fog and thinking that this was probably going to be a huge waste of time and fuel. The park rangers at the entrance (whom I could barely see through the thick fog and mist) were not encouraging. They said that I would probably be in fog for the entire 34-mile segment that I was driving.

But I got lucky.  Though fog enveloped me much of the time, there were enough sunny breaks to make it worthwhile. I got some dramatic photos.

Shenandoah NP, looking SW

Shenandoah NP, roadside flora

Shenandoah NP, looking SW

I also cashed in on my advanced age and got the $10 card that gives me lifetime entry into any national park. That will save a couple of bucks when we get to the Grand Canyon. It’s great to be old.

Yeah.

Our home on this hop has been The Country Waye, our first KOA campground. I got the Good Sam discount, but it was still pricey: $48.51 per night. But very nice. It has beautiful landscaping and many level gravel pull-thru sites. Every site has a picnic table and firepit and – this really catapulted it to the top of the dogs’ list of favorite places – a huge fenced-in dog run. Grace, when let off the leash, set a new land speed record for canines as she raced from one end to the other. I think she would have done well at Wonderland, if she could keep up that pace for a quarter mile.

Being a Wisconsin boy, I also appreciated the herd of dairy cows next door. Jett was less enthusiastic about the bovine odor.

Next up: a 210-mile jaunt to the southwest tip of Virginia, then on to Knoxville for RV repairs.

Settled in at The Country Waye

The cows, heading to the barn for milking

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Amish furniture

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Sparky

We love Amish furniture.  Part of it is that we love furniture made from solid wood.  Another part is that we appreciated craftsmanship.  The third part is that we like a bargain.

Which is why I drove for 8 hours on Saturday to pick up two oak swivel gliders to replace the very uncomfortable loveseat that came with the RV. We had seen these chairs while browsing furniture shops last week when we were in Gordonville, PA, but didn’t buy them because we weren’t sure that we could get the loveseat through the very narrow (24.5 inches) door. But with the assistance of Jett’s son, we were able to push that particular camel through that particular eye of the needle (it now resides in his screen-in porch) when we got to Lorton.  And at the suggestion of Jett’s brilliant sister Sybil, we realized that it was feasible to make the trek from VA back to PA to fetch the chairs. And cheaper than shipping them.

So on Saturday, after dropping the grandkids off at the gym (they are both on cheer teams), I filled up the diesel tank and headed north.  I made the trip in exactly 3 hours, bought the chairs, had them loaded into the truck by two very helpful Amish gentlemen and headed back “home”. But as I wanted to minimize both the chance of any damage to the chairs and any possibility of anything flying out of the bed of the truck, I set the GPS to “avoid highways.” The result was that the 3 hour trip there became a 5 hour trip back.  But I saw some things that I never would have seen on the main roads:

  • The beautiful countryside south of Lancaster, PA.  The GPS took me down some very small back roads to get out of town – past some verdant fields being harvested by horse-drawn reapers – and connected with US 202 for about 20 rolling, twisting miles.  A beautiful route on a beautiful day.
  • Conowingo Dam. This surprised me.  I didn’t expect to find a large hydroelectric dam on the Susquehanna River, but there it was.  At just over 100 feet, it is one of the largest private dams in the country.
  • Pimlico Racetrack, home of the Preakness Stakes.  There were no horses running, but it was hosting a hotrod show.  In any case I got to see it briefly on my left as I cruised on by.
  • The beautiful countryside west of Baltimore.  This was mostly on US 97.  It wasn’t as bucolic as the stretch in Pennsylvania, but it was lovely in its own right.  A very relaxing 20 miles.
  • Georgetown.  Despite having worked for the federal government for seven years and having taken many trips to DC, I had never really seen Georgetown.  I probably would have preferred seeing it on foot rather than in a large dually pickup traveling some very narrow lanes in very heavy traffic, with thousands of pedestrians swarming everywhere, but I had enough time at the many lights to admire the area.  Looks like it would be a great place to go to college.

Georgetown accounted for nearly an hour of the travel time and there was nothing relaxing about it.  I really should have bypassed that area.  But I did get to see it and I didn’t run over any clueless freshmen while traversing the neighborhood, so I will count it a success.

When I finally made it to the RV park it was after 5pm.  Jett had been out all afternoon with the grandkids, so I had to unload the chairs myself (after walking the dogs, who were *very* happy to see me).  I had to remove the swivel base from each to fit them through the door, but got them reassembled in the space formerly occupied by the table (which we moved to the space formerly occupied by the loveseat – musical furniture) and was gliding happily when Jett returned.

And here they are, with the small table that we got at the same place:

Amish swivel gliders

Categories: GTW, MD, PA, Places, Routes | 2 Comments

GTW Hop 6: Lorton, VA, to Luray, VA

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Sparky

96 miles via I-95, VA 234, I-66 and US 340. Cumulative distance: 871 miles.

GTW Hop 6

Our first non-ding hop! OK, it was just 94 miles, mostly over interstate, but we have done short-and-easy before and still managed to collect a ding.  Let me feel good about this.

The route was pleasant enough, with rolling hills lining I-66 and the stretch along US 340 containing enough hills and curves to keep my attention.  There was little traffic, so it was relatively low on the stress meter.  But VA 234, while wide and level, contained lots of lights and moderate traffic.  I had to stop more quickly than I like a couple of times, so I can’t recommend that segment for a leisurely Sunday drive.

Leaving Lorton – and her family – was hard on Jett.  She was pretty quite the entire trip.  It started to rain about 15 minutes after we arrived in Luray and poured all night, which didn’t help to lighten her mood.  Dinner was potato sticks for her and pretzels for me.  I think today (Tuesday) will be pretty quiet as well.  Our planned trip along Skyline Drive will probably be postponed until Wednesday and may be skipped altogether.  Today will be a day of paying monthly bills and catching up on other chores.  Like shopping for food.  We are running low on potato sticks and pretzels.

A special note for my mother: sorry! I really, truly did mean to call you yesterday to wish you a happy birthday.  I even got so far as to bring up my “contacts” list on my cell phone, but then I got called to active duty to kill a moth.  Then we started watching a movie (“Bridesmaids”) and dining on potato sticks and pretzels.  Then I fell asleep.  I will call today.  Hope you had a fun time at the casino.  I hope my inheritance is still intact.

Categories: GTW, Places, Routes, VA | 1 Comment

Lorton, VA

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Sparky

We are currently 5 days into our 7 days at Pohick Bay Regional Park in Lorton, VA. We are spending a week here not because we love Lorton or northern Virginia (though we are growing more fond), but because the park is less than 30 minutes from the house shared by Jett’s twin sons. It is also very close to Jett’s 3 grandchildren. So this is a family week. I won’t bore you with the details, but will say that it has been a lot of fun so far.

It is also a week for getting things right with the rig.  I got two new tires for the truck yesterday, plus one to replace the shredded RV tire.  $550 and a bargain at that as one of her son’s friends works at a tire place and gave us his employee discount.  So we now have an upgraded set of tires to continue on our way.  The big surprise was the discovery, as he was moving tires around on the truck, that one of the inside dually tires was essentially flat; he said it registered about 3 psi (instead of the normal 60) on the tire gauge.  He removed the nail that shouldn’t have been there, patched it up and remounted it.

Note to self: make sure to test the pressure on ALL the tires, if possible. I could not test the pressure on those inside tires before I left as the stems were not accessible.  He installed some extenders and made sure that they were accessible, so I shouldn’t have that problem again.

Got an oil change, too.

We also removed the 2-seat convertible sofa from the RV last night and gave it to Jett’s sons for use in their screened-in porch.  We never liked it anyway.  We will replace it tomorrow with two new Amish oak swivel gliders that we saw in PA and absolutely loved.  But to get them I need to make a run back up to Intercourse, PA, tomorrow.  Three hours each way.  So that is what my Saturday will be: a 6-hour round trip in the truck.  Sunday will be a day of rest and teary goodbyes.

The Pohick Bay campground was chosen strictly because it was the closest campground to Alexandria.  I really didn’t have high hopes; as long as it was safe it would be fine.  But it has turned out to be much more than that.  In many ways it has been the best stop yet.  It is certainly the best yet in terms of natural beauty.  The campsites are large, well-provisioned and thoroughly shaded.  Squirrels and birds everywhere.  And hardly any neighbors.  We feel like we own the place.

The dogs love the squirrels and the nature walk down to the bay.  They didn’t see the raccoon in the dumpster, but they would have liked him, too, if they had seen him.

We had a thunderstorm last night which the dogs did NOT like.  But I did.  Hearing the wind in the trees and the pelting rain on the roof (along with an occasional falling acorn serving as timpani) while cocooned in dense darkness was a primal experience.

Next up: Luray, VA, and Skyline Drive. Then on to Tennessee and additional RV repairs.

Categories: GTW, Places, RV Parks, VA | Leave a comment