Preparing for the Journey

August 7, 2013
Let the journey begin!
For many years Ron has had a bucket list of things he would like to do before he became too old to do them.  I guess he found me to share these activities as we have found that it is more fun when you do them with your best friend.  Last year we were able to check off the purchase of a Casita Travel Trailer.  After "practicing" camping we now feel that we can move to the next item--driving to Washington State (to Kristen's and Davey's house in Woodinville, WA, near Seattle) by following most of the Oregon Trail.  Ron is a lover of maps and began looking at westward trails and roads last winter.  Earlier this year we began reading books related to the Oregon Trail and the Westward Expansion.  Some of the books that we have read are--
      Oregon Or Bust:  True Short Stories from the Descendants of Oregon Trail Pioneers by
            Gentry W. Cutsforth (Volume 1)
      Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey by Lilian Schlissel
      Frontier Teachers by Chris Enss
      *The Oregon Trail by David Dary
      Best of Covered Wagon Women by Kenneth L. Holmes  and Michael L. Tate
      American Trails Revisited--Oregon Trail--Wyoming by Lyn Wilkerson
      American Trails Revisited--Oregon Trail--Nebraska by Lyn Wilkerson
      Road Trip USA:  The Oregon Trail by Jamie Jensen
*This book has the most information about the Oregon Trail

We will stay on the trail from Independence, MO to the Columbia River with side trips to Cody, WY, Yellowstone and the Tetons. We hope that we do not "see the elephant" an expression for those who turned back on the Oregon Trail.

[image found here]

Camping test before Bucket List trip

 July 30, 2013
Goose Point Park Campground, Stuart, VA.  Site 32.  This was our last camping experience before we begin packing for the Bucket List camping trip to Seattle, WA.

 We wanted to see if we had the camper arranged in an easy and comfortable configuration and to see if we had everything that we might need for the next trip.  We stayed near the boat ramp, bath house and beach.  Site 5 would be a very good site as well as sites 8, 9, or 10.

The campground has a lighted hiking trail, a dock for fishing, and a nice place to sit in the shade near the beach to read.
 Campsites have electric and water and are very clean.  This campground would be very pretty in the fall with all the various colors of fall leaves. 

"Start your engines"

July 22-24, 2013
Wildlife Woods Campground, Sherrills Ford, NC.  Sites 163, 162, and 161 are good sites.  This campground is located on Lake Norman and we had a view of the lake.  This was Kevin's first trip in the camper. He was a very good camper and proved to be flexible in using the bath house and dealing with the bugs.

 We have friends in Mooresville who have been lifelong NASCAR race fans but have never been to the NASCAR Race Museum and Hall of Fame in Charlotte.  On Tuesday, we took Phillip and Ann to the museum in Charlotte.  The trip was special because Phillip had been to many of the races and/or knew personal knowledge and stories of most of the drivers and cars on display.  We called Phillip our "personal tour guide".  When Phillip's sons were small they had Richard Petty model race cars.  The family had made a special trip to a car dealership where Richard Petty was signing autographs for fans.  The next morning one of the sons came into the kitchen saying "Richard Petty marked on my car" as he was rubbing the autograph off!

 

 

Phillip and Kevin participated in many of the hands-on activities including driving a NASCAR in a mock race!

 

 

  Then we visited with Rachel who is famous for her pound cakes and banana custard puddings.   Later all of us ate at Cracker Barrel.  After dinner they visited us at the campground to see the camper.

Camping lessons

July 9-10, 2013
Linville Falls State Park Campground, Spruce Pines, NC, Site 10 (Site 11 is good, too.)  Although it was raining we went camping to test our skills at boondocking (camping without hook-ups).

  We entertained fellow campers as we set up our new mosquito tent.  As Ron was trying to raise the tent without reading the directions and me trying to read and follow the directions and looking at the diagrams and picture, we noticed that other campers were sitting up their chairs under their awnings and/or near their fire pits to watch the entertainment--us.  Finally, we did get the mosquito tent raised without us walking away from each other.

 Later in the afternoon we hiked to Linville Falls. There had been much rain in recent days in the area and the trail was somewhat muddy.  However, the recent rains had the falls flowing very high and fast.

  On Wednesday we left camp while the sun was shining to tour some sites along the Blue Ridge Parkway including the viaduct and Cone Family Estate.

Viaduct

 

 





 Also, we drove to Boone and ate at the Proper Restaurant (a former jail for the town).  We had a delicious meal on the porch.  We ended the fun afternoon at the original Mast General Store in Valle Crucis.

 When we returned to the campground we found that a campsite two sites below us had been struck by lightening.  The campers were up and walking but had some burns.  Several other tent campers were breaking and leaving camp.  After going into our camper we found that rain had come through the top "open" vent and our bed was wet.  Then we decided that it was perhaps safer off the mountain and we knew that we had a dry warm bed approximately three hours away at home.  So we broke camp in the rain and once again entertained the other campers as we could see many campers sitting in their chairs under their camper's awning observing this free show.  Things learned from this trip--
1.  Close all vents when you leave camp.
2.  Holding tanks (gray water) do not hold as much water as you think.
3.  Be prepared to entertain fellow campers.

Wedding Anniversary

On May 29 we celebrated our 37th Wedding Anniversary at a great camping site in the Fries New River Trail RV Park in Fries, VA, at Site 2 located near a small creek and the office.

  Just outside our door was a water wheel and deck.  From inside our camper we could hear the water babbling over the wheel creating a peaceful and relaxing sound.

 

 

 Our campground host was Tom who was very friendly and helpful.  On Thursday morning Ron rode a bike along the New River Trail and I read my book.  In the afternoon we hiked the trail from Gambetta until we reached the tunnel toward Fries Junction--almost 5 miles roundtrip taking almost 2 hours!  We enjoyed the hike, the trail, the flowers, and the river.

 

 

 

 

Life is a journey and another 37 years with my best friend is worth looking forward to doing lots of fun and exciting things together.

 

 

FANCY GAP

May 28, 2013
Just a quick trip to Fancy Gap, VA. Stayed at the KOA Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Site 76.Campsite was almost in the treetops! We had a deck and was near the bath house.The bath house was very large and had nice showers.

[photo found here]

JORDAN LAKE

May 15-17, 2013
Jordan Lake Campground, Apex, NC.  Site 26 with electric and water hook-ups. The campground was nice and quiet with few campers (Wednesday through Friday). We could walk to the lake from our campground.

We went down to the area to attend the funeral of Mrs. Ruby who was almost 105 years old!  She and her family became great friends to us while we were in Chapel Hill. It was good to see friends and we had dinner with Randy and Connie.