Travels with Gunther and Kara

YEA!. We’re here in Knoxville and the weather is finally warm. We headed out from Christianburg, VA on Tuesday morning and got here to the Escapees (sometimes abbreviated SKP as a phonetic abbreviation) Racoon Valley RV Park in Knoxville, TN. We got here about 5 minutes before they reopened after lunch and after waiting a couple of minutes got settled into site 14; a nice pull through 50 Amp FHU site. The sites are a bit tight but for 16 bucks a night you can’t go wrong.

Escapees is the original RV club founded back in the ’60’s by a couple of RVers. The name came from the fact that back in those days most full time RVers were escaping from all the pressures of job/house/life and living a more carefree existence on the road. It’s grown to over a half million members and is a great club to be in. They provide a mailing service that we don’t use, have a bunch of parks that are restricted to members at pretty cheap rates, and even have a facility down in Texas where RVers who have surgery or need custodial care for some reason can remain living in their RV and get as much support as they need up to and including all meals delivered, rig cleaned, taxi service to doctor appointments and the like. 

Tuesday after arriving we met Mary Jane and her daughter Lauren for dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s then our energy fizzled out so we came home and went to bed. Wednesday we got up and were meeting them for dinner at her house again but during the way went on a hike over to the River Bluff Trail at Lake Norris State Park. The park contains a large lake held back by a 300 foot or so tall dam that generates power for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and provides boating, fishing, and water recreation along it’s banks. Downstream is the Clinch River and we went on a 3.5 mile hike up along the bluff then back upstream along the river to the parking lot. Here are a couple of shots of our return walk along the river…nice foliage as you can see. We watched a couple of boats fly fishing instead of standing on the bottom…most be too deep for that.

After the hike we stopped by the west side overlook over the dam itself and got a nice shot of the dam and lake as well as a nice panorama shot of the whole valley.

Then we headed back for a shower, picked up a pizza and some beers and headed over to Mary Jane’s house for dinner. We still were pretty tired so headed home about 2000 and watched some TV until time for bed.

Today turned out to be the big boy hike after we ran a couple of errands. Neil needed a bigger hammer to pound the re-bar that the flag sits on into the ground; the little 12 ounce claw hammer he was using just doesn’t cut it so he bought a 3 pound short handled sledge. We also got some air filters and a water filter for the fridge and some E-Z anchors to remount the shade that fell down last night. After that we picked up a Subway sandwich for lunch at the top of the mountains and headed out on our hike. It was only about 4 miles but it was up to the top of House Mountain then along the ridge then back down to the parking lot. The good news was that it was a really, really beautiful day for a hike. The bad news was that the top of the ridge was about 1000 feet higher than the parking lot. Of our 4 miles total; about 1.5 miles was along the top of the ridge, which left the 1000 foot climb up in 1 miles and the 1000 feet descent in another 1.5 miles. It was really steep in most places with a lot of climbing up (or down) over rocks rather than straight hiking. Connie was quite glad to get back to the parking lot and we headed home.

Here are a couple of shots from the West Overlook where we ate lunch and of Connie resting atop our lunch rock.

As we were traversing across the ridge toward the trail back down we ended up on an ATV trail where the phone company sends up repairmen to work on the cell towers located on top of the mountain. Of all the strange things we’ve seen on hikes this marks the first time that we ever saw a trail blaze pained on a power pole instead of a rock or tree.

We reached the midpoint of the ridge trail and had to make a decision. Door #1 was to continue out to the Eastern Overlook then back to the midpoint to catch the blue blazed trail down to the parking lot and add another 1.4 miles to our hike…Door #2 was to skip the Eastern Overlook (which was reported by another hiker to have far superior views) and just head down. Connie was a bit pooped (well, a lot pooped) after the climb up so Neil took pity on her and we headed down (he was pooped too but probably not as badly as she was). We did get one nice shot looking out towards the East about ¼ of the way down the trail.

We finally got back down after climbing over at least thousands of rocks…Connie officially declared this to be a goat track on a par with those we saw up in Maine and New Hampshire. We headed home for showers and a nice pork and noodle dinner and watched TV until we fell asleep.

Tomorrow we’re meeting Mary Jane and Lauren at the Nature Park downtown then they’re coming back here and Neil will grill some chicken for dinner along with a fine vintage box’o’wine that Mary Jane is picking up.

Saturday we’re headed out for central Georgia unless Hurricane Sandy interferes. She is currently messing up the weather in the Bahamas and looks like she’ll be off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina on Saturday before making landfall in NJ on Monday. Strange to have a hurricane this late in the season…but since we’re driving into Georgia on Saturday we’ll look at it tomorrow and possibly stay another day here in Knoxville and head out on Sunday if necessary to avoid the bad weather. We are winging our campsite reservation in Georgia anyway so waiting another day won’t bother that at all and we would much rather not travel and set up in the rain.

Cyas.

Just a quickie today. Yesterday on Sunday we went to Mass, had breakfast at the Off the Grid Cafe near our storage unit, picked up a couple of items from the storage unit we decided we wanted, bought groceries, and fueled up BAT. In the evening Bryan and Jen came over for dinner and Jen’s dad Tom and his wife Marilyn stopped by again. Tom is going to carve us a sign for outside of our entry door and Neil needs to send him some info and a picture of the rig to put on it. Marilyn brought us these dill flavored pretzel bites that are really good. We had grilled chicken for dinner with some of Neil’s potatoes with bacon, caramelized onions, cream, and smoked cheddar cheese. Quite yummy and we have enough left over chicken for lunch on Tuesday as we finish the move down to Knoxville.

This morning we got up and would have been on the road by 0930 except as Neil was packing up outside Steve and Donna introduced themselves. They’re full time cruisers in a sailboat in the Caribbean in the wintertime and RVers with a DRV Mobile Suites in the wintertime. They’re thinking about buying themselves a New Horizons and stopped by to chat for a bit They really liked our rig and we spent about an hour talking pros and cons with them before finishing hitching up and getting on the road about 1030.

We got here to Christianburg, VA about 1500 and are parked in site 2 here at the Interstate Overnite Park. As you can guess from the name…there is absolutely no IT factor at this park…it’s a gravel parking lot about 300 yards from the freeway. Virginia Tech University is nearby and the park gets filled up on home game weekends I guess. It’s a nice convenient place for an overnite stay and a bargain at $30 for FHU back in site; although we didn’t bother hooking up the sewer connection and will just carry the few gallons we generate with us until we part tomorrow in Knoxville at either the Escapees park or the nearby KOA. Here’s a shot of our site; the freeway is immediately over Neil’s shoulder as he was taking this picture.

Pretty basic, huh? Nothing to see here but as you can see we didn’t even bother unhitching and only hooked up water/electric, ran out the slides, and put the forward jacks down to take the weight off of the truck. We’ll be out of here in maybe 30 minutes tops in the morning, a quick U-turn of BAT to the right and we’ll head out to the freeway ramp. Tomorrow we’ll see Neil’s sister Mary Jane in Knoxville and her daughter Lauren.

Cyas.

Sorry it’s been a couple of days since I posted. I had prepared a post last Wednesday with our trip to Harrisburg, PA and then to Fairfax, VA but Neil’s computer had an issue and had to get rebuilt so I lost it. By that time we had moved along to Midlothian, VA to visit their other kids so I’ll try this again.

A week ago Friday we left Oneonta, NY in the rain (again) and made it to Harrisburg East Campground in Harrisburg, PA for the weekend. Not much to say about the stopover in Harrisburg; the campground was right next to the freeway and had absolutely no It Factor. Still; we went to Gilligan’s Bar and Grill for dinner, watched the Alabama/Missouri game on the TV, and Neil got in a couple of bike rides. We were parked in site 107 which is a full hookup 30 amp site.

Pretty nice sitre but as you can see from the green sign over BAT’s hood it really is right next to the freeway. We stayed there Friday through Monday AM and then headed out for Bull Run Campground in Centreville, VA near their old house in Fairfax. We got set up in site 124 pretty easily once Connie and Neil got over their slight meltdowns. Connie tried to park out of the way with the car and parked in 1 of the 2 places Neil needed to get to to park…and when asked to move parked in the other place he needed to get…and when asked to move again the way he originally asked her to move she took off and went completely around the campground in a huff. Things went down hill for a couple of minutes after that but they recovered and finished getting set up.

Neil went off on a run then they headed off for dinner at McDonalds and then to the Elks Lodge 2188 for Neil’s initiation. He decided to join up for the cheap beer at the Elks Club bars and the cheap campgrounds most of them have as well.

Tuesday they headed out early for dental appointments, flu shots, and picking up a refill on Connie’s ear medication getting back around 1300. Neil went on a bike ride and then they chilled for the rest of the day. Wednesday Connie met her boss at work for a seminar, Neil went on a bike ride and they chilled some more. Thursday was some final errands around Fairfax and…you guessed it…they chilled some more.

Friday morning we got hitched up and headed down to Pocahontas Campground in Midlothian near where Bryan and Jen live. Easy day traveling, they’re all set up in site 102 which is a beautiful, flat 50 amp FHU site. This is a really nice campground and we wish we could stay longer.

Friday afternoon we headed over to Bryan and Jen’s for laundry and dinner. Jen’s dad Tom and stepmother Marilyn came over as well and brought wine and Scotch. We had some really scrumptious burgers with bacon and cheese in them that Bryan made, some fries, and the beer and wine…Tom insisted we take the Scotch home with us. He also told us that the local liquor store had Gosling’s rum on the shelf so we decided to run over there and get some…can’t make a Dark and Stormy without it ya know.

Saturday we got over to Bryan and Jen’s about 0930 and headed off to the Celtic Festival for wandering around, buying, and lunch. We got a couple nice photos of the Bagpipe and Drum marching groups.

We had some Shepherds Pie for lunch along with a couple of beers, wandered around looking at Celtic stuff and the gorgeous, well built young lady in the kilt and corset (but didn’t get a picture of, drats) then headed home to Bryan and Jen’s about 1330. We stopped by the ABC store for the Gosling’s and also got Ginger Beer which is also hard to find and is the other key ingredient for a Dark and Stormy.

Tonight’s dinner is Chicken Fried Rice that Bryan is making and probably one or two of those beers. Then it’s game night at Bryan’s whatever that is. Tomorrow it’s Mass and then the kids and probably Tom and Marilyn are coming by the park to see our house and we’ll make chicken on the grill.

Monday it will be off towards Knoxville; we’re stopping overnight in Christianburg, VA which is right down near the western tip for an over night then along to Knoxville the next day. We’ll be there until Friday or Saturday visiting Neil’s sister Mary Jane and her daughter.

Cyas.

Well; we’re on our way South for the winter. We got up early Friday morning and got packed up to leave in an off and on drizzle for a bit. Not too bad compared to our last couple of rainy day moves when it was really raining pretty hard…Neil barely got his rain jacket wet by the time we were ready to go. A quick stop by the dumpster/recycling center at the front of the campground and we were on the road for our 239 mile trip to Harrisburg, PA about 0900.

It continued to drizzle until about 1030 then remained partly cloudy but dry for the remainder of the day. After stopping for lunch at the PA welcome center we pulled into the Harrisburg East Campground about 1345 and got checked in…$35/night for 4 nights on our Passport America rate. We got settled into a 30 amp FHU pull through site 107 and were set up by 1500.

Neil had noticed in the morning while packing up that one of our propane bottles read empty so we tossed the tank into the back of BAT and went looking for a place to get it filled. The campsite had propane for sale but were charging over 6 dollars a gallon instead of the $3.20 it normally costs so we decided to look elsewhere. A bit of googling revealed Murphy’s True Value Hardware about 5 miles away…we got 8.4 gallons in the 9 gallon capacity tank for 28.50 instead of the 60something it would have cost at the campground. On the way back in we filled up BAT with diesel so we would be ready to travel on Monday morning.

After we got back Neil went on a ride then they went over to Gilligan’s Bar and Grill about a mile from the campground for dinner. Connie had Smithwicks and then an IPA and Neil had a couple of Guinnesses. Food was a tuna steak for Connie and ribs for Neil; the ribs provided enough left overs for lunch on Saturday.

Saturday was a lazy day; we didn’t do anything useful all day. Read some blogs, responded to a couple of emails, Connie did a bit of work then we watched the Alabama-Missouri game in the afternoon. Bama rolled 42-10; it was 28-zip midway through the second quarter when they had a 45 minute lightning delay

Today we went out to Mass at Prince of Peace parish after a breakfast of Thomas English Muffins…cinnamon-raisin with butter for the nooks and crannies ya know. We came home and did some computer chores for a couple of hours then headed off to the Eastern Pennsylvania Apple Harvest Festival about 45 minutes away near Gettysburg. Here we are on the shuttle bus from the parking lot over to the fairgounds.

We spent about 3 hours walking around, eating Italian Sausage sandwiches for lunch, sampling the fresh squeezed cider, and picked up a couple of Xmas presents and a new floor mat for the entry way near our door. We also watched the Appalachian chainsaw carvers working their magic on big logs turning them into owls, bears, eagles, and various other neat sculptures. Here’s a sample of their efforts.

Pretty neat, huh?

Tomorrow we’re off again pretty early headed for Bull Run Campground in Manassas. This is a repeat stay at the first campground we were in at the beginning of our full timer travels. We’ve got a couple of appointments this week; initiation into the Elks tomorrow night (they have cheap campsites for members), dental cleaning on Tuesday morning, hair and nails for Connie on Tuesday afternoon and maybe some fillings and such later in the week. We have a couple people we want to see, a few more errands to run but are currently planning on heading out on Friday morning for Midlothian to see their human kids.

Cyas.

We got up this morning and had some English Muffins for breakfast to go with our coffee. After that Connie worked for awhile as she’s still in the final throes of getting all her students paperwork organized for the clinical rotations that begin on Monday. Neil went out to get fuel for BAT while she was working. On the way out he got some nice photos of a Great Blue Heron in the stream outside our rear bay window.

She gave it working about noon and we had lunch then headed off for a hike at Lake Oswego. We passed through Cooperstown on the way there and resisted going into the Baseball Hall of Fame. We talked about it burt since none of us are interested in baseball decided to skip the $19.50 each to get in.

Our hike was on the Sleeping Lion Trail around one of the peaks at the lake. The property used to be the site of the Hyde Mansion which was turned into the visitor center. We skipped on going in there and headed up the trail. It was about a mile and 300 feet up to the peak of the ridge then we essentially circled the ridge and came down the other side ending up on the road and then had about a ¼ mile hike back up the road to the parking area. Total hike distance was almost 3 miles and it was a really great day of a hike. Nice sunshine, cool enough so you didn’t get sweaty…just generally a nice crisp fall day. Along the way we did get some nice pictures of the foliage and lake.

On the way back we saw a bald eagle and a broad winged hawk over the freeway but couldn’t get a picture of either. Too bad as both were actually pretty close overhead. We’ll continue looking for birds as we travel though…

We came home and had a shower then considered dinner. We were going to save our leftover turkey meatloaf (it was actually pretty good) for tomorrow night after our travel day but discovered that Oneonta NY and fine dining don’t really go together. So we ate the leftovers tonight and will go out tomorrow since we’ll be in Harrisburg, PA which is a much bigger town.

We’re headed off tomorrow about 220 miles south to Harrisburg, we’ll be staying at the Harrisburg East campground for the weekend then on Monday move back to the Fairfax area for a 4 night stay at Bull Run Campground again while we get dental cleanings, get signed up for Elks membership so we can take advantage of cheap campgrounds, and a couple other errands we need to run. Then we’ll be off to Midlothian to visit Bryan and Jen (the human kids) then head south to Knoxville to visit Neil’s sister Mary Jane Trainor on the way to warm weather.

Cyas. 

Well, after Connie left on her trip down to her high school reunion Neil went on a run and then sat around the house and watched football until it was time for Mass. Headed out to church and got stuck in a traffic jam, barely making it to the church in time. Afterwards he came home, made a triple decker BLT for dinner and mixed a drink. It was yum. Watched some more football and then had some ice cream with Maple Bananas Foster on top…that was even more yum than the BLT.

Sunday he got up, ate breakfast and went on a bike ride. Connie got home from her trip about 1330 and they took a nap since she didn’t get much sleep the night before. Neil made a steak for dinner with some gourmet mashed potatoes mixed with horseradish cheddar cheese. That was even more yum than the Bananas Foster the night before.

Today we got up to a nice sun shine day…maybe the rain has finally stopped for awhile. We got packed up and on the road about 1000. About 129 miles today, almost all on the freeway until we arrived here at Susquehanna Campground in Oneonta, NY…got checked in for 4 nights at $17.50 a night and all set up by 1330 here in site 21. It’s a 30 amp FHU back in site but Neil’s getting pretty good at backing into sites so one back in and another couple of back and forths to fine tune our positioning in the site (needed to make sure that all jacks were over the graveled portion of the site and not the muddy grassy portion where they would sink).

Neil went on another ride while Connie worked on her student scheduling and then it was time for dinner. Neil made a home made french bread pizza with mushrooms, shallots, and garlic and a couple of wine coolers. Now it’s sit around until bed time…supposed to get down in the high 30’s tonight and a frost warning for tomorrow night. Neil did notice on the drive south today that this area has lots better leaf color than up by the lake which was all pine trees and hence was still green. Connie is working a bit more in the morning and then we’ll go on a hike in the afternoon…hopefully getting some good foliage pictures to post.

Cyas.

Well, Burlington was pretty much a bust. By the time we got there after waiting until rush hour was over it was raining pretty steadily; and we could only park for 2 hours for free in the garage anyway. So; we wandered into a couple shops and through the mall to get some makeup for Connie then went to the Ri Ra Irish Pub for lunch. We then headed home after a stop at Costco for some steaks and pork for the freezer. Neil went and got gas in the Mazda and BAT for tomorrow’s travel day and Connie worked a bit…she’s got all of her students assigned to their location for their internship that starts Oct 15. 

Tomorrow we’re still headed off for Lake George; fortunately it’s only about 100 miles or so but the weather is supposed to be lousy all day. Neil hates to drive BAT and tow the house in the rain.

Nothing much else to report for today; they’re having chicken for dinner as soon as Neil does his just in time menu planning.

Cyas.

First thing this morning Neil got out and got a picture of our site G014 here at the Apple Island RV Resort since it was raining yesterday.

About 0830 we lost power in the rig; investigation showed that the park had suffered a power outage due to failure in the primary circuit leading to our loop in the campground. Neil talked to the owner and they said it would be repaired in a couple of hours. So; we essentially rigged the electrical systems in the rig for travel; water heater and A/C off, internet and computers turned off, lights off and the fridge only running off of the battery and headed off for today’s adventure.

Our first stop was the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge about 25 miles north of us and maybe 8 miles from the Canadian border. We originally planned two hikes but Connie’s hiking shoes were still soaked from her dip into the mud hole the other day so we ended up with just a short 1 ¼ mile hike around the Marsh Loop Trail. Unfortunately there wasn’t much wildlife visible so they had to content themselves with nature scenes, flowers, and the like.

They did see one bit of wildlife that we could photograph; the wooly bear caterpillar below; as well as a frog that hopped away into the grass before they could catch a shot of him.

On the way too their second destination they saw this Osprey sitting on a power line. It’s kind of a lousy picture but it was the only one Neil could get before he flew off.

Their second destination was the Shrine of Saint Anne on Isle La Motte which is a small island northwest of Grande Isle where the park is. It was a pretty neat open air church but Neil thought it might be a might nippy attending Mass in the winter.

He wouldn’t be looking forward to Midnight Mass on Christmas at this church…brrrrrr.

After that they headed on back to the rig and discovered the power had been restored and the batteries were back to fully charged. Neil ran up to the laundry and tossed Connie’s hiking sneakers in the dryer since they were still soaked from the other day. He also listed to the MacBreak Weekly podcast from the TWIT network live while Connie did some work calling her affiliate labs to nag them about providing her some spaces for students. Then Neil cooked this really good steak and mashed ‘taters dinner along with some Parmesan Corn for him and some baked zucchini with Parmesan for Connie. Yum. They had some left over Merlot as well…it was yum too.

Tomorrow it’s off to Burlington to see what’s there then Thursday it’s off to our next stop at Lake George, NY.

Cyas.

We got up about 0700 and after breakfast started breaking down for departure about 0830. Finished up and headed out for Vermont. It was about 125 miles total…35 on the freeway, 35 on back roads, and the remaining 50 or so on freeway. Rained the first hour or so but by the time we turned on to US-2W (the two lane portion) it had stopped and pretty much remained stopped until about 10 miles from the RV park…when it started to rain pretty steadily.

We arrived, picked up our registration paperwork from the office and got set up in the rain. We were pretty soaked and the temp was only about 50F or so and still raining off and on.

Neil went on a run and then we had some tea with Cabin Fever Whiskey in it (this is maple flavored bourbon liquor thing sort of like Southern Comfort) and then a second cup with Gosling’s Rum in it (Neil got this for making Dark and Stormy’s but it’s a spiced rum so they decided it would go good in tea). The whiskey tea was good but the rum tea was a lot better…not unexpected since we’re rum drinkers over whiskey anyway.

I didn’t get any pictures today…too rainy…but will post a picture of our site tomorrow, Apple Island RV Resort is pretty nice. Connie is working on the plan for our 3 days here before we head south to Lake George, NY and I’ll post more tomorrow with a site picture and our plans.

Cyas.