May 8-14, 2017

May 8

 

 

 

 

Travel day to Mayberry RV Park

 

Mount Airy, NC

Site 69

We arrived and set up early enough at Mayberry RV Park to take a ride into the quaint town of Mount Airy. 

 The town’s claim to fame is that it was the home of actor Andy Griffith and the inspiration for the fictional town of Mayberry on his TV show.

Most of the shops were closed so we just took a stroll down one side and up the other.

Walkers Soda Fountain

 

 

We enjoyed a delicious steak dinner at the Sagebrush Steak House.

May 9

When researching the route we would be taking in a few days, I read that part of our route (I-77 near the town of Fancy Gap) was very dangerous.  We decided to take a ride to pre-check the route.  Other than heavy fog the road wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.

After crossing the border we stopped in at the Visitor Center to pick up brochures and a map.

Then just explored some rural roads.

One road took us down to the Wytheville State Fish Hatchery.  Rainbow brook and brown trout are all hatched and reared there. 

May 10
Pilot Mountain State Park. 

 

 

May 11

We went back to downtown Mount Airy to sample the world famous pork chop sandwich at Snappy Lunch.  Our timing was not great as we arrived there were several people from a tour waiting for seats.  There are only three stools, 10 booths and 12 tables at Snappy Lunch.  We only had to wait 20 minutes for a booth. 

The famous pork chop sandwich consists of three and a half ounces of park tenderloin bathed in a sweet-milk batter and fired for 10 minutes, coleslaw, mustard, chili, onion and tomato.  Monte doesn’t like coleslaw, mustard, chili or raw onion so his was pretty naked.  I can’t tolerate onion so that was the only thing I changed on my order.  It was pretty tasty.

Our next stop was the Andy Griffith Museum.  The museum houses the world’s largest collection of Andy Griffith memorabilia.  Oddly enough included at the museum is a room dedicated to Chang and Eng Bunker famously known as the Siamese twins.  The twins settled in the Mount Airy area in 1839 where they married sisters and shared a bed built for four.  Chang had twelve children and Eng had eleven children. 

Back on Main Street we went to Walkers Soda Fountain. We opted to sit on stools at the counter that brought back childhood memories.   Monte ordered a Heath chocolate malt and I went with a vanilla egg cream.

While we were downtown we also toured the Earle Theatre.  The theatre is the home of the Old-Time Music Heritage Hall that exists to preserve, promote, and protect Surry County old-time music.

While we were there we learned that there is a live radio broadcast from the theatre every Saturday on WPAQ.  The radio station is located a couple of miles away from the theatre so we decided to stop in. 

   Jennie Lowry, the DJ, graciously allowed us to hang out a while during her broadcast. 

In the evening we returned to town and spent a very enjoyable evening listing to an Old Time musicians jam session at the Earle Theatre.

As the musicians were packing up, Monte went down to chat with them.

May 12
On Friday, it rained the entire trip as we traveled the 150 miles from Mount Airy, NC to Buena Vista, VA.  Our destination was Glen Maury RV Park.  The park is owned and operated by the City of Buena Vista and includes an 18-hole golf course, two campgrounds and a concert venue.

At check-in we were instructed to select any empty site.  We chose a site in the middle of the field so we would have a better chance up picking up a satellite connection.

We were chilled to the bone as we set up in the rain.  Once set up we turned on the fireplace and just relaxed the rest of the day.

May 13
On Saturday, the sun came out so we took a ride to Natural Bridge State Park.  The park includes several long-standing attractions including the trail under the bridge and along Cedar Creek, a recreation of Monacan Native American housing and the 30-foot tall Lace Falls. 

George Washington came to the site of Natural Bridge in 1750 as a surveyor.  Thomas Jefferson purchased 157 acres of land including the Natural Bridge from King George III in 1774. 

The bridge is 215 feet high with a span of 90 feet.

Natural Bridge State Park Visitor Center

After dinner we took a short walk up the hill to the stage to listen to a live band.

 

May 14

Downtown Lexington, VA

Washington and Lee University 

 

 

VMI (Virginia Military Institute

Dinner at Applebees

Monte tested our generator that we might need next week while we stay at Big Meadows Campground in Shenandoah National Park.

May 1-7

May 1, 2017

Travel day from Little Manatee River State Park, Wimauma, FL to Lake Magic RV Park, Kissimmee, FL.

After almost three years of workcamping we were finally on our way-but only as far as Kissimmee, FL.  We had an appointment scheduled for the following morning at Camping Connection (an RV repair shop owned by Lippert Components).  Lippert is the manufacturer of the frame on our RV. 

While we were in residence at Lazy Days (for 32 days) part of March and into April waiting for our new grey tank to be delivered (It was only coming from Indiana-we could have had a faster delivery if it was coming from China) Monte noticed a separation of the frame from the housing on the cap every time we were moved from one spot to another by the forklift.  Lazy Days does not do these types of repairs so we contacted Lippert who referred us to their shop in Kissimmee.

Originally we were supposed to spend the night prior to our appointment in the parking lot of Camping Connection.  The lot is very small and there is no hookup.  With temps still in the high 80s we opted to spend the night down the road at Lake Magic RV Resort.  They accept Passport America so the nightly rate was only $22.82.

 

We had the choice of two pools.  The closest pool to our site did not have a Jacuzzi so we took the long walk to the second pool all the way on the other side of the campground.  IT was worth it as the pool was bath water warm and the Jacuzzi was very hot.

May 2, 2017

Travel day from Kissimmee, FL to Stephen Foster State Park, White Springs, FL.

It rained as we traveled the short distance to Camping Connection the following morning.  I noted there was a vulture on the power line pole next to our RV.

  I hoped it wasn’t an omen of things to come while getting our estimate for repairing the frame.

Lippert had sent a traveling mobile tech to inspect the frame.  He said the frame needed to be repaired.  This would entail removing the cap, installing additional supports and putting the cap back on.  I was holding my breath as he quoted a loose estimate based mostly on labor.  (LazyDays had guessed that we might be looking at eight to ten thousand dollars.)  The tech said it would probably run around $1,300.  WHAT?  He also suggested that once we have the repairs done we should change out our pinbox from our current Mor/ryde model to Lipperts Trailair model.  This would cut down on the stress as we travel on bumpy roads.

We were all set to have the repairs done but Camping Connection would not have an opening for another three weeks. 

We asked the tech if it would be safe to continue on our travels until the fall at which time we would make an appointment at the Lippert plant in Goshen, Indiana on our way back to Florida. 

He said he didn’t think it would be a problem so that is what we opted to do.

Our next destination was Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs, FL. 

 We had stayed at the park a couple of times so we knew what to expect.  I called to make sure they had available sites.  The nightly rate is $20/plus tax. 

With Monte’s Florida resident senior discount our stay only cost us $11.

May 3, 2017

Travel day from White Springs, FL to Barnwell State Park, Blackville, SC.

I was excited to see the Georgia State line sign.

We only planned on traveling between 150-200 miles a day. 

 Traveling mostly back roads to avoid busy highways gave us little choices of places to stay at the 200 mile mark so we ended up traveling 300 miles on Wednesday.  I checked my Passport America App, Park Advisor app and Overnight RV parking app to see what our options were.

We crossed into South Carolina and ended up staying at Barnwell State Park in Blackville, SC.  I had called to make sure there was availability.  I kept losing cell service so I wasn’t able to find out if we would be able to get a site.  We took a chance and it worked out. 

 With tax the site fee came to $22.83. The site was very unlevel.  We were unable to get a signal on our rooftop satellite.

After dinner we took a walk down to the lake just in time to see a guy reel in a large mouth bass.

May 4, 2017

Travel day from Blackville, SC to Mr. Z’s RV Park, Gilbert, SC

After checking the Passport America app we opted to travel to Gilbert, SC and stay at Mr. Z’s RV Park for 4 nights.  We have had pretty good luck finding inexpensive campgrounds using the PA app.  My only criticism is the amount of restrictions on most of the parks including amount of days the rate is given, restricting weekends and holidays. 

Mr. Z’s is an exception.  They do not restrict the amount of days and they accept the discount on weekends and holidays if space is available.  All sites include a full hook-up. There is a clean pool (it was too cold to use) and a laundry room.  There are no restrooms or showers and Mr. Z only accepts cash or check for the $20/night fee.

Upon our arrival at Mr. Z’s RV Park, we set up quickly and searched for a nearby vet.  We wanted to take our cat, Anne, in to get checked out.  She hadn’t eaten in several days and was having issues with incontinence.  We also noticed she had lost weight. 

We find a vet who accepted walk-ins ten miles drive from our location- Batesburg Leesville Animal Hospital in Leesville, SC.

After running labs our worst fears were realized-Anne was in stage 4 kidney disease.  The vet gave us our options.

  Take Anne home where most likely she would not last the weekend and be in horrible pain or have her humanely euthanized. 

With painful hearts we held Anne while the sedative took effect and stroked her as the Vet gave her the injection that stopped her heart. 

The Vet and his staff were so wonderfully compassionate.  Even though it was past closing time they did not rush us allowing us to take our time with Anne. 

She was such a wonderful cat and a really big part of our daily life so it is going to take time and distance for our hearts to begin to heal.

 May 5, 2017

Columbia Canal and Riverfront Park

I wanted to go for a bike ride so I checked out places in the area with paths.  After reading glowing reviews about the Columbia Canal and Riverfront Park I knew that is where I wanted to go.

The Riverfront Park located at 312 Laurel St., Columbia, SC was opened in 1983 for recreational usage of the land where the original waterworks for the city of Columbia was situated. 

It is the site of the world’s first electrically operated textile mill. 

 The park, which separates the Columbia Canal and the Congaree River has a walking/jogging/biking paved 2 ½ mile trail.

After leaving the park we stopped in at Camping World to see if they had the GPS that Monte wanted in stock.  Our current RV Rand McNally GPS purchased 5 years ago is no longer being supported for map updates (even though we are supposed to have lifetime maps).

We purchased the new Rand McNally Tablet 80 that ended up costing close to $600 by the time tax and the extended warranty was added.

May 6, 2017

Congaree National Park

We got an early start to Congaree National Park because I wanted to arrive prior to the Ranger led walk scheduled for 9:30.  Within 10 minutes of using our new GPS we knew we would be returning it because of the glare from the sun.  When Monte put on his polarized glasses on the GPS screen appeared black.

Arriving at the park at 9:00 gave us time to watch the 18 minute film in the visitor center. 

Congaree National Park received its official designation in 2003. 

The park preserves the largest tract of old growth bottomland hardwood forest left in the United States.  The trees growing in the floodplain are some of the tallest in the Eastern United States.

The volunteer who led the walk was delightful and very informative.  Being volunteers ourselves we have witnessed firsthand the contributions made by volunteers and truly believe the Park systems (Federal, State and County) would not be able to operate without them.

We returned the GPS to Camping World and then ate at Hudson’s Smokehouse in Lexington.

  Monte ordered the BBQ pulled pork sandwich and I went with the chopped beef brisket. 

When the order arrived both looked delicious so we decided to split our orders so we could each enjoy both sandwiches.

Our plan for Sunday is to do laundry, house chores and relax before continuing on our journey Monday morning.    

April, 2017

We took off on what I thought was going to be a grand adventure in August 2012. We did have some wonderful adventures exploring National Parks, visiting family and experiencing our first work camping with Oregon State Parks as Lighthouse interpreters and running a junior ranger program. 

But we were obligated to return to Florida in December 2013 because we had to attend court mandated mediation in our law suit against Citizens Insurance co.  We had a sinkhole in our bricks and sticks home that we had been renting out. 

We were able to take a short trip (August through November 2014) traveling mostly through the East.

We returned to Florida rotating workcamping positions with three different State Parks from December 2014 until the end of April 2017.  We finally settled the sinkhole case after spending time, energy and money preparing the house to be sold.  Thankfully it sold rather quickly in August 2016.  We made the decision to continue workcamping to recoup some of the money we to spent out of pocket on the house.

During March into April 2017 we ended up spending some time at Lazydays in Tampa.  Our galley gray tank was leaking. (We had the other grey tank replaced at Camping World in December 2015) While we were waiting for the tank to be delivered we discovered that our hot water tank had rusted through.  The experience was frustrating so I really don’t want to go into it but we finally were able to leave Lazydays after 32 DAYS!

We have a frame separation issue that we will have checked out at a Lippert facility in Kissimmee on May 2.   So at this time we really don’t know where our travels will take us but we are so ready to continue on this journey.