Las Cruces area

September 25

Continued south. We drove on NM Hwy 185 to Las Cruces. Along the way we passed lots of fields of chili peppers, some corn & pecan orchards. This area, the town of Hatch in particular, bills itself as the chili pepper capital of the US. The land around here is all irrigated by the Rio Grande River and the different dams & impoundments. With this much agricultural runoff there’s no telling what sort of chemicals are in the water. Las Cruces is the second largest city in NM after Albuquerque. It has all the big box stores, traffic, etc. We picked up our mail at the Post Office. Suzanne & Martha Harris had sent accumulated mail to us General Delivery. Next time I’ll pick a smaller, rural post office. The line to pick up the mail was very long. Went grocery shopping, did our laundry and stopped at Lowe’s to buy a new Bar-B-Que grill. Our old one died. A very productive day. About 4:00 we went to the Leasburg Dam State Park Campground. Got the very last spot with electric service. The afternoon temp. is in the mid-80’so a/c is nice. Took a short walk after dinner through the cactus garden. Some of the plants were labeled; very informative. Wish more places did that. On Friday we just hung around. Took some walks, read our books. I went through the action items in the mail we recently received. We would have a difficult time travelling were it not for Suzanne forwarding our mail and the Verizon internet access. I renewed the registration on one of the cars, got Carol signed up for Medicare Part D, verified her new insurance coverage and cancelled the old. All without mailing anything.
Saturday morning. Off to the 28th Annual Whole Enchilada Fiesta. Found a good parking place near where the parade was forming up. A very typical, small town parade. There were marching bands, horses, beauty queens, school groups, ROTC groups, car clubs, on & on. Things don’t get much more typical American than this. We thoroughly enjoyed it. After the parade we went to the Fiesta. During our travels, we have found local fairs, festivals, etc., to be a great way to really get to see the “natives”. It’s a sad sign of our times, but as people entered the fiesta the police were using a metal detector searching for weapons. Based on the fiesta, I would guess Las Cruces is overwhelmingly Mexican. A lot of the signs on the booths were in Spanish only. We ate ourselves silly. The standard burritos (very hot) and something new to us called a chichuron burrito. Chichuron is refried beans and deep fried pork rinds mixed together. Sounds gross but we’re going to look for it again while in NM. We both enjoyed it. It was you typical fair with a Mexican accent. The foods were primarily Mexican, the things for sale, the entertainment, etc. A wonderful experience.
After the fiesta, we drove to the White Sands National Monument. It’s at the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert. 275 square miles of great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand. The largest gypsum dune field in the world.
Late in the day we went to the Oliver Lee State Park for the night. Took a nice walk through the cactus garden. Must have been 50 types of desert plants all labeled. Now we only wish we could remember the names.
Another wonderful day.

Caballo Lake & Percha Dam SP's

View Larger Map

Elephant Butte Lake State Park

September 17 through 21

We’re enjoying Elephant Butte Lake SP so much, we’ve decided to stay for a few more days. Two couples in a travel trailer pulled intro the area last night. Brought their jet skis. Nice people but they have a large construction quality generator they run most all day and into the evening. Very noisy. Another couple camping in the same area live right in town. They set up their trailer here and use it often. The woman had a series of three strokes 13 years ago. Her initial medical issues were much like Carols. Over time, she has gotten back the use of her arm & leg. Interestingly enough, her ability to read has never come back. She can’t read anything, even a simply text, without getting a headache. Said her short term memory and memory for names is still very poor. Carol has the very same memory issues. Her recovery story was quite encouraging.
While walking Gopher near the camper this morning, I saw someone down the beach with two Australian Shepherds. We walked down to say hello. The dogs, Harley & Sky, had a wonderful time racing all around. The women is from Ruidoso, NM and is camping in the regular part of the campground. Her name is Bridgett; she is originally from Germany. She walked down later in the day and visited with us for a while. She’s probably in her 70’s. Her husband died while in the Army. He was 24. She’s never remarried.
18th: The neighbor with the noisy generator left today. I was talking to the other neighbor, the folks that live around here. They said tomorrow, Friday, lots of people would be coming in for the weekend. Since the sites are not reserveable, they suggested we do our grocery shopping today rather than leaving the site opened on Friday. A new Wal-Mart opened three weeks ago. She said that was, by far, the best grocery store around here. Off we went, once again, to Wal-Mart, We really wish we could find alternatives but they are really lacking in the very rural communities. Asked if there was a bakery in town. Nope; no bakery either.
On Friday night a big storm came through. Sand blowing everywhere, white caps on the lake, thunder, lightning & rain. Gopher doesn't like the thunder. She got in bed with Carol.
By Saturday, the place was full. Most every waterfront space was taken. Lots of families, jet skies, boats, etc. We took a nice long walk up to the park entry. Watched a group of people were flying model airplanes. There was a guy flying an ultra-light and another sail-boarding.
On Sunday we walked to the marina. Bridgette stopped for a visit in the afternoon. People are packing up to leave. By tomorrow we’ll have the place to ourselves again.
Monday morning. As expected the place is empty. It's us, one couple tenting and the neighbors who live in town. Bridgit, and the dogs, walked down to say goodbye




View Larger Map

Socorro & Elephant Butte Lake State Park, NM

September 16

In the late afternoon of the 15th we drove to Socorro along I-25. Stayed the night in the Escondida Lake Park Campground owned by the County. It was just us and the caretaker. The facilities were OK; maintenance was minimal. A decent place to spend one night. In the morning we went into Socorro to see the Old San Miguel Mission. Founded in 1598. One of the oldest Catholic Churches in the US. The Mission was established along El Camino Real; the original route from Old Mexico to Santa Fe and beyond.
Later we drove the back roads to the Elephant Butte Lake State Park. We picked a site at the tip of a small peninsula jutting into the lake. Among the most beautiful campsites we can recall. The lake/reservoir was formed by the damming of the Rio Grande River.

Santa Rosa to the NM State Fair

September 13

Today we decided to take the back roads from Santa Rosa to Albuquerque. No more Interstate Highways. Took NM 54 south to Vaughn, Encino, Willard and finally Mountainair. Vaughn had a truck stop and a few small stores. Encino & Willard had 45 mph speed limits. That was the only way you knew you were there. Mountainair is a decent sized small town. The highways we drove paralleled the railroad tracks almost the entire way. Must have seen a dozen or more very long trains. Most carried containers. We guessed they came from one of the West Coast ports. Took a picture of an abandoned farm complex. The sign on the barn talked about beans but we couldn’t imagine beans being grown in such an arid area. All we saw were cattle ranches. Perhaps many years ago? Stopped at the Laguna Del Perro. This was the area that until about 1900, was the sole source of salt for most of Mexico. It's a series of lakes that dry out frequently. When they dry, the salt is dug. See the attached photo. We had lunch in Mountainair at the The Ancient Ones Restaurant. The place was packed with locals; always a good sign. We both had Mexican food. A very good lunch. After lunch we toured the Salinas Pueblo Missions Museum operated by the National Park Service. Saw a movie about the Salinas Valley pueblo ruins. Later on we toured the Quarai site.(See the attached photo) The story tells of the original inhabitation of the area by the pueblo Indians then the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadores then the ultimate destruction of the Indian culture. It seems every time early Europeans explorers of the Americas encountered the native peoples, the native cultures were destroyed. Passing through Oklahoma we drove near Seminole and Cherokee Indian Reservations. The result of the Indian tribes being relocated to what was called Indian Territory. As time went by, Indian Territory grew progressively smaller as more & more settlers moved West and needed the land for agricultural purposes. All along today’s roads we saw some of the very old barbed wire fences. They used sticks they collected here & there for the fence posts as opposed to the more modern round wood posts or metal posts. At the end of the day we stayed at the Manzano Mountain State Park campground. Unlike the other two State Parks we camped at, this place is almost full.

September 14

Took the scenic road into Albuquerque. Passed very small towns & large ranches. A lot of the land was part of the old Spanish land grants. Now & then you would see a sign saying, “Entering xxx Land Grant”. Most of the towns had small Catholic churches. Some dating back to the 1800’s. did grocery shopping then went to Old Town and walked around for a few hours. After that we went to Tingley Beach. Read the news paper, walked around the lakes and enjoyed a pretty day. When we woke up this morning, it was 51*. Stayed the night at the Isleta Casino. Decided to eat dinner in the camper rather than overeating at their buffet. Saving the calories for some great Indian fry bread.

September 15

Went to the New Mexico State Fair. Turned out to be Senior Appreciation day. $2.00 admission vs the regular rate of $9.00. Very, very enjoyable. Saw the following attractions: The NM Country Store (Bought some Bar-B-q sauce and Green Chili seasoning), Creative Arts Building (Everything on display is for sale), Indian Village (A lot of the people were in native dress. Others wore shirts with the name of their tribe), A 60,000 square foot “Shopper’s haven” (Full of more junk for sale than you can possibly imagine. Every “magic” kitchen tool; slicers, dicers, ginzu knives, you name it, hot tubs, vacuum cleaners, magic dust collecting towels, on & on. Really entertaining.), Villa Hispana (Enjoyed the Mexican dance band & contest), several art galleries (Again. Everything is for sale), the dairy farmers barn , the goat raisers barn (Watched women convert raw wool into yarn, dye it with natural die, then weave it into rugs. Amazing. It’s no wonder a quality Indian rug sells for thousands of dollars. Carol really liked the baby goats. They were cute. Only $75 could buy a quality goat.). We ate our way through the Indian Village. Fry bread tacos, chili, & Navajo cake. The main food court was as you would expect. Corn dogs, popcorn, turkey legs, etc. One booth really stood out. They were selling deep fried Moon Pies. It’s hard to imagine a more unhealthy food. Out visit to the fair has been the hi-light of the trip so far. We’re going to two other fairs later this month. Over the years, we’ve learned to seek out these festivals. You can learn so much about the area you’re visiting.

Our 2008 Southwest Trip, Sep.-Dec.

This will be about our trip to the Southwest from September 3rd until about December 15th, 2008.

September 3, 2008. Wednesday.

Hurricane Gustav finally passed into the Louisiana/Mississippi area. Now we have Tropical Storms Hanna, Ivy & Josephine heading towards Florida. First we were waiting for Gustav to decide where to go. Now Hanna is heading in our general direction. Carol had a doctors appointment at 10:15. She’s so proud of herself. She weighed 126# fully dressed and after breakfast!! I had a lunch appointment with Chuck & Carl; friends from my Harbor Federal days. I got home about 1:00. Since Hanna had stalled near Cuba, we decided to get started before she got much closer to us. Left Fort Pierce at 1:55pm. We got to Georgia about 7:30 and decided to stop at the Georgia Welcome Center to get some sleep. On the road about 7:00am the next morning. While passing through the Atlanta area we stopped at an Atlanta Bread Store. Carol wanted some of their great cookies to celebrate her weight loss.  The next day, Thursday the 4th, we spent the night at the John Tanner State Park near Carrollton, GA. There is a large, clear water lake right near the campground that has a paved path all around it. We all enjoyed two nice walks. Gopher enjoyed swimming as usual. Must feel good on a warm day and after a long drive.

September 5, 2008

Left about 8:00am. Drove to the Whitten Campground; a Corps of Engineers Facility on the Tennessee-Tombigbee(Tenn-Tom) Waterway near Fulton/Tupelo, MS. The drive over was enjoyable. Off the interstates for a change on Highway 78 going through Birmingham to Memphis, TN. The campground is very nice. Paved roads, water/electric and a small swimming beach. We have a site right on the water. Enjoyed a mostly suny day walking and looking at the river. The people across from us are from Mississippi. On the way here from where they live to the south, the southbound side of the highway was very heavy with people heading back to Louisiana from the Hurricane Gustav evacuation. They said the news reported I-10 west to also be very busy with traffic. Glad we decided to come this way instead of the usual I-10 route. The weather report indicates Hurricane Ike will likely head into the Gulf of Mexico. A relief for us.

September 6, 2008

Left the campground about 8:00am heading for North Little Rock, AR. Drove through Memphis, TN, the location of the Elvis Presley house Graceland. Stayed the night at a city park, Burns Park, in North Little Rock . A nice place. There is a golf course, soccer fields, tennis courts, etc. When we went into the park the office was closed. A sign said to pick a spot and someone would be around to collect the $16 fee. No one ever showed up and when we left in the morning the office was still closed.

September 7 & 8

Continued west. Stopped at Lake Dardanelle State Park near Russellville, AR. On the Arkansas River. Stayed two nights. The campground has a visitor center with an aquarium with fish from the river. Lots of nice paved paths for Carols scooter. Our campsite is right on the lake. Pretty view. The people camping next to us are from the New Orleans area. They came up here escaping Hurricane Gustav. Now they’re staying here while they see where Hurricane Ike is going. Right now, it looks like it’s heading to the Louisiana coast. According to the local paper, thousands of the evacuees stayed at a military base in Fort Smith, AR, about an hour west of where we are now. They finally left on Saturday. Depending on Ike, they may be coming back. Hope not.

September 9
Drove to Fort Smith, AR, the only town of any size around here, to go grocery shopping. Plus stop at Panera Bread. Carol really likes their cookies. Last night Carol went through the different cookbooks we brought with us looking for different dinner ideas. Got the ingredients for veggie pizza & a Mexican dish. We had the pizza for dinner tonight and it was just wonderful. Stopped at the OK welcome center and got lots of useful information about OK.
Our destination for the day was the Corps of Engineers campground, Applegate Cove, on the Robert S. Kerr Reservoir on the Arkansas River south of Sallisaw, OK. The directions said to go south on Hwy 59 and follow the signs. We saw no signs. After going further than I knew was necessary, we turned around. Finally saw a C.O.E. sign pointing to the engineering office. Went in and asked for directions saying I saw no signs. The lady agreed there were no signs and directed me to the campground which was only two miles away. She said this happens all the time and just shrugged her shoulders. Oh well. The campground was OK. Right on the reservoir. Nice for the fisherman.

September 10,11

The plan was to spend the night at the city campground in El Reno, OK. The weather turned very wet. Rained most of these three days. Instead of stopping to visit towns here & there along the route, we mostly just drove west. We saw the cheapest gas on our trip so far. $3.41 in Shawnee, OK. We had just filled up Wal-Mart for $3.45. When we got to El Reno, the city campground was closed because the road was being repaired. Stopped at a very nice park to let Gopher run around for a while. It was raining but she needs to get out all the same. We went to the Lucky Star Casino and spent the night in the parking lot. Water, electric & sewer hookup. All for free, Can’t beat that. We had dinner in the casino. Carol had chicken fried steak; I had an Indian taco. Both very good meals. After I walked Gopher in the morning, when we got back into the camper, Carol was fully dressed and drinking her morning juice. She was so proud of having done that all by herself. Getting better day by day. I think one of the reasons we both enjoy traveling so much is Carols ability to do so much for herself in the confines of the small camper. Seems much easier than at home.
We continued West driving in moderate to heavy rain. Spend the night on the 11th at the Ute Lake State Park near Logan, NM. New Mexico sells an annual camping pass for $225. The pass entitles you to “free” camping at any of the State Parks. The typical rate is $10/night. Since we’ll be here for a few months, it should pay off. We need to stay 23 nights for it to pay off. We’ll see. Our campsite at Ute Lake is right on the water. It’s only us and four others in the entire park. Still raining. Rained all day and the rain is supposed to continue through the weekend courtesy of Hurricane Ike.

September 12

Left the campground and took a drive through Santa Rosa along a part of the old Route 66. Route 66, aka The Mother Road, runs from Chicago to Los Angeles. It was the first cross country highway. Built in the early to mid-30’s. Saw some of the original motels & one restaurant. Did laundry. While in Santa Rosa, we saw two men selling roasted chilies. They had several large bags of green chilies and a large rotating drum over a fire. The chilies went in green and came out red. Wish I knew what to do with them. I would have bought some. Spent the night in the Santa Rosa Lake SP north of Santa Rosa. Parked on a dirt road leading to the water for most of the day, then went to the campground in the early evening. Another time change. We’re now two hours earlier then at home.

Virginia Part 2

Sherando Lake
CCC sign at Camp Roosevelt
Big Meadows Campground

Black bear cub.
Mother bear

Virginia Part 2

July 23^rd

Drove to the Sherando Lake Recreation area south of Staunton near the Blue Ridge Parkway; a Forest Service campground. $10/night. The 23^rd was a cloudy and rainy day. I cold front was passing through. Went shopping in Roanoke on the way here. Carol was about out of books. Went to a Boarders and bought five new books.

Sherando Lake is a nice campground. Our site is nicely wooded with a large area by the picnic table. No electric hookups. The solar panels are a lifesaver in situations like this. I can charge the battery on Carols scooter without needing an external source of electricity. That’s exactly why I ordered the panels with our new Lazy Daze.

The weather is just perfect. Carol thinks it’s the best yet. The low last night was 58*. During the day it was in the mid-70*’s. The lake is a ten minute walk from our campsite. Gopher is having a ball chasing sticks & swimming.

After walking all around the park, we decided our camping loop, White Oak, was the best of the three. Sherando Lake Recreation Area will be one of our stops the next time we’re in the area.

Saturday, July 26

We decided to continue on our trip. Drove into Waynesboro for grocery shopping and laundry. Took VA 340 north towards Loray. Spent the night at the Camp Roosevelt NF Campground outside of Louray. This is the first Civilian Conservation Corps(CCC) project; started on April 17, 1933. In 1933 during the Great Depression, President Roosevelt created the CCC to provide jobs for single young men between the age of 18 and 25. Over 25% of the population were unemployed at the time. The War Department ran the project much like a unit of the military. The men were paid $30/month of which $25 was sent home to their family. By July, 1933, over 250,000 young men were part of the CCC. By the time the program ended when WW-II broke out, over 2,400,000 young men had participated in the CCC. This was the most successful of all the job creation programs tried during the Depression.

Sunday & Monday:

We drove to the Shenandoah National Park (Skyline Drive). Camped at the Big Meadows Campground. When we arrived on Sunday morning the campground was close to full. By noon it was perhaps 25% full. We had our choice of nice campsites. There are deer everywhere in the campground. They’re accustomed to being around people but not at all comfortable when they pick up Gophers scent. On Monday, a mother bear and her two cubs were walking near the campground. Got some good pictures. We had been wanting to see some bears on this trip and finally, on our last day in the mountains, we did.

The three of us enjoyed some nice walks around the Big Meadows area. There are a lot of paved trails.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday:

Drove into Luray then to our campground for the next three days; Low-Water Bridge Campground in Bentonville. The campground caters mostly to tenters, pop-ups, etc. When we were there we were one of only three campers in the place. The manager said they are only busy on weekends with tubers, kayakers, etc. In Luray, we discovered the new Hawksbill Greenway. It’s a wonderful ADA compliant walking path through downtown Luray. We stopped there twice during our visit to the area. The manager of the campground told us of a new grocery store in Front Royal. We went there on Thursday. The store is as nice as any we’ve been in. Well worth the trip. During our trip to Front Royal, we stopped at the Shenandoah River State Park. Right now they have tent camping only but are in the process of building an RV campground. Will be a nice place to stay in the future.

Virginia Part 1

Carol. Hungry Mother SP
Our campsite. Hungry Mother SP
The Festival.
Claytor Lake SP

VIRGINIA:

July 15:

Entered Virginia about 2:00. We stayed the night at the Raccoon Branch Forest Service Campground right off VA Hwy 16. A good choice. There is a small creek running through the campground. Some sites even have electrical hookups; very unusual for a FS campground. Read & played some Mexican Train. Carol’s catching up on the score.

July 16:

Our next stop is the Hungry Mother State Park near Marion, VA. Stopped in Marion
for some bread & milk and to do laundry. Got to the campground and they were booked up for the weekend. This is the 35th Annual Arts & Crafts Festival. They had room for tonight only so we took what we could. The battery charger on Carols scooter died. The closest one I could find was in Roanoke; about 1 ½ hours from here. We’re going to pick it up tomorrow. Oh well. We needed to find another campground anyway. I checked other nearby state parks. They are filled for most Friday/Saturday nights. No surprise there. It’s prime camping time. That’s why we like traveling in the off season so much. No reservations required.

About 9:30pm, I tried the on-line reservations for VA state parks one last time. Amazing. Must have caught a last minute cancellation. Plus, it’s in the very best located camping area.

July 17

We got up about 7am. Had breakfast then went to check-in at our new camp site. Checked in then drove to the camping area to select our site. At VA State Parks, they don’t assign sites; you just take any empty site then put your reservation card on the post. This early in the day, there were no unoccupied sites. We saw a site right on the creek where the people’s reservation sign indicated they were leaving today. I asked if I could put my reservation sign on the post and they said yes. We wound up with what’s probably the best campsite in the entire park!! Very private, nice shade trees, right on the creek leading into the large lake. About 8:30 we headed to Roanoke to get the battery charger. Nice uneventful trip. On the other side of I-81 there was a truck on fire. Traffic was backed up for miles. Glad it wasn’t our side. Stopped at Wal-Mart on the way back for some last minute items. Arrived at the campground about 2:00. After resting from the drive, we all took a walk around the park. We’re about two blocks from where all the festival events are being held. The trails throughout this part of the park are all paved. What a perfect day.

July 18

The Festival starts today. After taking Gopher for a long walk, Carol and I went to the Festival. There are over a hundred exhibiters, food vendors, etc., as well as daily entertainment of different types. We had lunch in the on-site restaurant. Read our books & enjoyed a wonderful day. Tomorrow we’re going back again. Carol wants some sugar coated nuts and caramel corn.

July 19, 2008

Spent most of the day at the Festival. Carol got her sugar roasted pecans. We enjoyed the blue grass music, Appalachian Highlanders Pipes and Drums and the Celtic musicians. The weather was perfect for an outdoor festival. The campground has filled up with families with little kids. A “joyous” noise I suppose. Gopher is going crazy with all the children’s noise, scooters, bikes, etc. Some of the kids keep running through our campsite to get to the creek. We keep Gopher tied on a very short rope, but she still jumps & barks each time a child comes running close to her. She sent one little boy screaming away. We wish parents would tell their children to respect others privacy. We enjoy watching the children having fun, but get concerned when they run right at the dog.

July 20

Left Hungry Mother SP about 9:30. Stopped at the Wal-Mart in Wytheville. Filled up with gas. “Only” $3.79/gallon. The cheapest gas so far, for this trip. Stayed the night at Stony Fork Forest Service Campground located a few miles north of Wytheville. A nice campground. There’s a small creek running next to our campsite. Picked lots of blackberries. For desert tonight, we had ice cream with blackberries.

July 21,22

Camped at the Claytor Lake SP. There is a large lake that is easily accessible from the campground by a paved path. We enjoyed several walks to the lake. Read our books & played Train. We’ve probably played 30 games so far. The score is about even.

North Carolina

Bent Creek River Park

The Blue Ridge Mountains

Tuesday, July 8^th:

We first stopped at Morganton Point, a Forest Service campground on Lake Blue Ridge near Morganton, GA. It was a very peculiar registration arrangement. All of the sites that would have been good with us were by reservation only. If you didn’t have a reservation, even if the site was not occupied, you simply couldn’t use that site. The other sites were either very narrow or so steep as to make then unusable for us. Took Gopher for a swim in the lake then headed on. Our first stop in North Carolina was at another Forest Service campground; Hanging Dog near Murphy. A nice campground on Hiwassee Lake but very few of the campsites actually had any water view. The place was almost empty. Out of the 67 sites, probably only four or five were being used. Since we could have our choice of sites, we picked one with a limited water view. The weather was still hot. Had two big thunder storms; one in the afternoon, another late at night.

Wednesday:

Still looking for cool weather so we decided to head north to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park near Cherokee, NC. The drive there was beautiful. Twisty mountain roads following the path of the Nantahala River. This time of the year, the river was full of rafters & kayakers. The entry to the Park is at Cherokee. We had been to Cherokee years ago with the kids. Don’t recall just when but Alex was in a stroller. Cherokee is as tacky now as it was then. The Indian is still there posing for pictures with the tourists. We stayed at the Smokemont Campground in the Park. A very nice campground. Nice large sites with privacy between you and your neighbor. A stream ran through the campground. The children were having fun playing with their rafts. The campground wasn’t even a third full. Unusual I thought for a July. It rained on & off all day, but the weather was finally cool. High about mid-70’s. Dropped into the mid-60’s at night.

Thursday:

We got onto the Blue Ridge Parkway at Cherokee and headed north towards Ashville. Stopped at most of the overlooks. It was foggy so the view wasn’t as nice as we had hoped for. We stayed at the Balsam Mountain Campground. OK but nothing special. It rained almost all day. We read and played Mexican Train. Cool weather. It’s 7:30 pm now and it’s 63* outside. It’s raining, but at least it’s cool. The weather forecast for tomorrow is better. Less rain. I was talking to the Campground Host. Mentioned the vacancies at the campgrounds. He said the overall Park visitation was down about 25%. It’s the $4 gas.

Friday:

We drove to Ashville and the Lake Powahatan Recreation Area Campground run by the Forest Service. A very nice campground. Our site even has water and a sewer connection; more than we had expected. The lake is small and not visible from the campground. There is a stream by the spillway. Gopher & I went walking; she went swimming. We went in town to the Western NC Farmers Market. Bought tomatoes and a great cantaloupe. We had lunch at the restaurant attached to the Market. Very good. Huge servings of very traditional Southern cooking. After lunch we went back to the campground. Played Mexican Train & read our books. So far, I’m ahead by 4 points.

Saturday:

Our plan was to go to this huge Flea Market not far from here. On the way there, we passed this beautiful park on the bank of a river. We drove to the Flea Market. What a dump. We turned around, did some grocery shopping then went back to the park we saw. Found a nice level spot under some trees and stayed for the rest of the day. The park, Bent Creek River & Picnic Area, is a put-in place for local rafting companies. It was fun just spending the day reading and people watching. Gopher enjoyed swimming in a creek leading into the river. Came back to our campground about 4:00. Later in the day, a campground host came through telling people a large bear was seen in the campground. The berries are beginning to ripen and the bears are eating the berries. Played more Mexican Train. Carol’s not doing well. I’m ahead by about 10 points. The game is mostly luck. So far I’ve just been luckier.

Sunday:

In the morning we went back to the Bent Creek River Park. Spent the day reading, walking around and talking. Later on we went to Lake Powhatan. Picked enough black berries to make pancakes in the morning; left the rest for the bears.

Monday:

Got back on the Blue Ridge. Headed north. We stopped at the Folk Arts Center and the Museum of North Carolina Minerals. Carol bought a pair of angel earrings. Spent the night at the Linville Falls Campground. Like the other campgrounds we’ve stayed at, the place was less than half full. The weather was just perfect. Sunny & cool.

Tuesday:

Back on the Blue Ridge heading north. There was a detour on the northbound side. We exited at Boone, NC on Hwy 221. Stopped in Boone for groceries & found a Panera Bread. The area was so pretty we decided we had been enough of the Blue Ridge so continued to Virginia via 221. A very pretty drive through mostly rolling hills, small towns and farms. Christmas tree farms were everywhere. What little flat land we saw was planted in corn. We stopped at the New River State Park but were disappointed with the campground. No trees anywhere. Decided to continue north to Virginia on NC 113.

Georgia

Sunday: Left home just before 7am. Stayed the night at the Reed Bingham State Park near Adel, Ga. Got there about 3pm. This is a nice campground. There's a large swimming & boating lake. We have stayed here before when heading north on I-75. It's convenient to I-75. It's a long, but not unreasonable, days drive from Fort Pierce. About 345 miles. Uneventful drive. Mostly sunny with some light rain now & then. It's hot at Reed Bingham. In the 90's. Hopefully the weather will get better when we get into the mountains.
Monday: Drove about three hours to the High Falls State Park campground near Jackson, GA. Just off I-75, Exit 198. A nice campground. Our site is on the river. No view, and a steep bank, but on the river nonetheless. After dinner we walked around and found a place where Gopher & I could go wading. It's still hot. In the lower 90's. Tomorrow we head further north into the Georgia mountains still searching for cooler weather.

North Carolina & Virginia

Today is the 4th of July. On the 4th of June we were at Yellowstone National Park. The picture on our dining room wall shows Gopher standing in the snow on June 4th!!. We've only been home for three weeks and we're itching to get back traveling. We had a nice 90th birthday party for my Mother last week. Ginny & Jennifer came down especially for the party. Mom's coming over today for a 4th of July party. Hot dogs, beans, cole slaw and watermelon.
We spent today packing up the camper. On Sunday morning we leave. Our destination is the house we rented on the Shenandoah River near Luray, VA. All the girls are coming in for a reunion. The house rental is for the first week in August. We're drifting slowly that way through Georgia, North Carolina & western Virginia. Scouting out campgrounds in the mountains for future trips to North Carolina.
We'll be back home by about August 10th.

Our Blog. June 20, 2008

June 20, 2008.
After some confusion and learning on my part, our Blog will be continued on this site.
Ed

Our 2008 Out West Trip NEW Site

This is the link to our 2008 Out West Trip.

http://edandcarolwest2008.blogspot.com/

Junction, TX to Brantley Lake SP, NM

When we got up today, it was 35*. Frost on the windows. What a surprise.

We left Junction at about 9am heading towards Fort Stockton, TX , Pecos, TX then New Mexico. Stopped in Ft. Stockton at Wal-Mart then continued on. The drive from Ft. Stockton to New Mexico was through the most desolate area yet. You can see all the way to the horizon; not even a low hill. All brown, a few low bushes here & there. This is oil & gas country. Oil rigs everywhere. Occasionally we would see a small heard of goats or an irrigated field of hay. There was a huge windmill farm. Must have been 200 huge windmills.

We stayed the night at the Brantley Lake State Park north of Carlsbad, NM. Got the very last regular campsite except for the overflow area. The lake is pretty but there is a sign warning you not to eat the fish: DDT. Plus a warning about the danger of blue-green algae. Reminded us of a sign we saw on the Old Erie Canal near Syracuse, NY. It said “This water is not safe for human contact” Saw kids fishing in the Canal. Brantley Lake SP is an attractive place but nothing special. Tomorrow we’re heading for Bottomless Lakes SP. I’ve been there before; a very nice place.

Our trip out West, Spring 2008

We've been home way too long. We're both anxious to get on the road again.
This coming weekend we're going to Disney World to meet the people who are buying our 2000 Lazy Daze. Steve & Carol Crisp from New Hampshire. They're flying in and we're camping at Fort Wilderness on Sunday & Monday. They bought the motorhome sight unseen so they are, understandably, anxious to see it. We'll spend the weekend going over it from bumper to bumper.
Looking forward to the trip to Disney. Always a fun place to stay.
Spent a few hours today getting things ready for the Disney trip plus our big trip to pick up our new 2008 Lazy Daze. We were planning on keeping our 2000 LD forever but we just enjoy traveling so much, we decided to treat ourselves to a new one. It's being built now with an estimated completion date of mid-April. We're going to a Southeast Lazy Daze Get Together(GTG) at Hanna Park near Jacksonville from March 12 to the 15th then heading West. Carol & I formed the Southeast LD Club in 2006. The plan is to spend time in Texas, New Mexico & Arizona on the way to the Lazy Daze factory in Montclair, CA. The Southwest Lazy Daze Club is having a GTG at Theodore Roosevelt Lake east of Phoenix, AZ on April 4th. We're going to join them. It's always fun meeting other LD owners. After that, we'll see what the delivery schedule for our new LD is and plan accordingly. Some of the people from the Southwest Club are heading to Mexico after the Roosevelt Lake GTG. Depending on the delivery schedule, we may join them. The people who are buying our 2000, are picking it up at the LD factory on the same day we pick up our new one.
After picking up our new motorhome, we plan on touring California, Nevada, Oregon & Washington, then visiting with Suzanne & family in Longmont,CO then stopping by to see Johnny & Marge near Kansas city, KS, to be home by June 15th.
Well, that's the plan. We'll see how it all unfolds.
Carol is doing much better these days. Doesn't need her wheelchair anymore. Can get around for short distances with her cane. We'll be traveling with Gopher on this trip. Balou & Bagera are still with Jennifer. We'll be picking them up this summer.

Cape Breton Island

Cape Breton Island lies off the northeastern cost of Nova Scotia. It’s separated from the mainland of Nova Scotia by the Straight of Canso. The causeway connecting the two was built in 1955. Prior to that a ferry was used. There are three distinct cultures on the Island. The Mikmaq “Indians” or First Nations as they are referred to in Canada, the Gaelic/Scottish and the Acadians/French. Music & dance are the mainstay entertainment on Cape Breton.
On Monday the 13th, we drove from Halifax and spent the night at the Whycocomagh Provincial Park near Baddeck. A nice, well kept park in the middle of a pine forest. It rained most of the day. The next morning we drove to Baddeck and parked by the fishing dock. Walked around town for a while treating ourselves to a wonderful flax & carrot muffin. We ran into some friends we had made at a campground earlier in this trip. They too were touring Cape Breton.
We continued on to Louisbourg staying at the Village owner campground right downtown. Lucked out by getting the last campsite available. Louisbourg is a beautiful little town. Reminds us of the small coastal towns in Maine.
In the evening we went to a performance at the Louisbourg Playhouse. We say Lyrics & Laughter 2007. “A spirited performance of Cape Breton music and comedy in the historic atmosphere of the Playhouse”. We don’t recall ever attending a more entertaining event. The cast was composed of six of the most talented young singers & dancers. They are all local college students home for the summer. There was this one young women who played five different instruments, the fiddle, piano, guitar, bodhran (a type of drum), djembe (another drum), had a wonderful singing voice plus was the lead step dancer. Amazing. The weather today wasn’t much. Cool & misty. Rained hard most of the night.
On Wednesday we went to the Fortress of Louisbourg. The fort was founded by the French in 1713, captured by the British in 1745, returned to the French in 1748 by a treaty, captured again by the British in 1758 then abandoned by the British in 1768. When the local coal mines began shutting down in the 1960’s, Canada helped offset the very high unemployment rate by rebuilding the Fortress to appear as it did in 1744. “Each summer the Fortress springs to life as dozens of costumed animators become the town’s residents of the summer of 1744. Period homes and exhibits line the central streets of Rue Toulouse and Rue Royale, as well as along the busy waterfront”. A very enjoyable day. Bright & sunny.

Today, Thursday, was a down day. Cleaned up the camper, did some maintenance stuff, took walks and went out for dinner.