Sunday, October 26, 2014

Saturday, October 25, 2014

We are currently at Rocky Knob campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway, about 10 miles from Floyd, VA.

Floyd has one stop light and a whole lot of energy.  For a small town, they are packed with restaurants and shops.  They take their tourism seriously.  A park worker at Peaks of Otter visitor center recommended we stop in Floyd and she knew what she was talking about.  Live music abounds Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the shops and restaurants.  We went in for lunch on Saturday and hit the farmer’s market, where I scored allergy friendly focaccia, bread and muffins!  Steve shopped at the century old hardware store and visited the local computer museum.

At the General Store, I had Brunswick stew and cornbread, both allergy friendly.  It was wonderful!  Steve had tomato soup, homemade bread and pumpkin pie.  He said they were good, too.

We did manage leave Baltimore on Thursday, October 16, and have been traveling the Blue Ridge Mountains ever since.  On our way to Winchester, VA, to have our hot water heater replaced at Camping World, we stopped at Harper’s Ferry.  I had never been and our one hour visit wasn’t enough, so we planned to go back the next day.

We found a campground in Winchester that could take us for three nights.  This is leaf peeping season and campgrounds over the weekends get booked.  There was also a civil war re-enactment going on nearby, but the campground managed to find us a spot for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  Luckily, the campground manager is very good at directing you to back in, as the spots were tight.  But we had what we needed. 

Friday we drove back to Harper’s Ferry and spent the day.  I think Harper’s Ferry is best known for John Brown’s raid on the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry.  He was an abolitionist and wanted to arm the slaves.  He was captured, tried for treason and hung.  This was in 1859 and was one of many things that precipitated the Civil War.  I remembered something about John Brown’s raid and that it took place at Harper’s Ferry, but I could never remember if John Brown supported the North or South.  Now I know.

What I didn’t know (or at least remember) was that there was federal armory at Harper’s Ferry, proposed by George Washington.  Harper’s Ferry is located where the Shenandoah River joins the Potomac River, making transportation easier (although nothing was easy in those days).  Because of the gap in the Blue Ridge mountains created by the rivers, it was a passage way to what was then the west.

Robert Harper acquired land there in 1734.  He established the ferry in 1764.  Jefferson visited in 1783 and climbed part way up the mountains to view the scenery.  The rock he apparently stood on is now called Jefferson’s Rock and is on the Appalachian Trail.  You can’t stand where he stood, because some of the rock has fallen and is unstable.  But I climbed up to it, along with Steve and Obi.  (Steve carried Obi.)  So I’ve walked in Jefferson’s footsteps and on the Appalachian Trail.


Walk up to Jefferson’s Rock

Jefferson’s Rock

View from Jefferson’s Rock

Graffiti on Jefferson’s Rock

Washington visited Harper’s Ferry in 1784 and several members of his extended family settled in the area in later years.  After the armory was built, it produced most of the guns used by the army, along with an armory in Massachusetts.  In 1803, Meriwether Lewis outfitted most of his expedition here.  He met up with Clark near Louisville, KY.

In spite of many floods and the passing of time, there are still a number of 200 year old buildings in Harper’s Ferry and it is an active town as well.  I always spare a few sympathetic thoughts for the current day residents of historic areas, as they have to deal with all us tourists on a daily basis.


We found a nice place to eat in an old rail car across from the railroad station.  They had an outdoor seating area, so Obi sat under the table and the waitress brought him some water.  Steve went on a ranger led tour later while Obi and I enjoyed the scenery and chatted with some other guests.  One recommended that while we’re in Texas, we try to stay at the Lost Alaskan RV Park near Big Bend National Park.  It’s supposed to be really nice and we’ll get advice for our Alaskan trip.


On Saturday, we headed for Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park.  Being the middle of October, the colors were just beautiful.  The vistas were lovely, and all the restrooms crowded!  All of the campgrounds were full.  If I had thought about it, we would have done the drive on Friday, when most people would still be at work and done Harper’s Ferry on Saturday.  But after the first couple of overlooks, we could usually park and enjoy the view when we wanted.  The traffic wasn’t that bad, but all of the ranger stations, restaurants (and there are several), and restrooms were crowded.

I had packed a lunch, so we ate in the truck.  We were going to picnic, but it was quite breezy and chilly.  We weren’t pulling the trailer, as there is one tunnel too low for it and the road is pretty twisty.  That meant we had to drive back to our starting place, but we used I81 for that.  However, we ended up 9 hours on the road that day, which is way too much.  But the scenery was worth it.

Sunday was moving day and we packed up the rig and headed for Lexington, VA.  Actually, the campground’s address was Natural Bridge, VA.  We could have tried to stay in one of the campgrounds on the Blue Ridge Parkway (our next destination) but Steve needed to attend a meeting by phone on Monday and it was time to do laundry.  So we headed for a KOA.  Laundromat, cell phone service, dump the tanks, refill the propane and the satellite tv worked.  What more can you ask for?  And we had a decent view out the back window.


Chores complete, we checked out of the KOA (KOA stands for Kampgrounds of America and is a franchise operation; very family oriented).  I didn’t have a great impression of KOA’s when we started this journey, but they are clean and well kept and have almost everything you need.

We headed for the Blue Ridge Parkway, which starts where Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park ends and continues down the Blue Ridge until it reaches Smokey Mountain National Park.  By pure luck, we are here at peak leaf peeping season and it is spectacular.  The pictures don’t do it justice.




Our first campground is Peaks of Otter campground, $8 a night with senior discount (love it!).  We stay 2 nights, driving up to the James River visitor center and checking out the canal and locks there.  They are no longer in use.  At the visitor center in Peaks of Otter, a ranger takes us on a walk up the mountain to an old graveyard.  Some of the original settlers of the valley are buried here and the graves go back to the very early 1800’s.  It’s a very rough graveyard and needs to have some work done or it will slip under the forest floor and disappear.

View out our window at Peaks of Otter campground.

The valley our campground is in was a route through the mountains for early settlers and later a tourist destination both for the scenery and to escape the heat of the lowlands.  I’m glad Franklin Roosevelt established the parkway and provided funds and workers for it.  WPA (Works Progress Administration) and the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) provided much of the labor.  These were government entities used to employ people during the depression.  Without these two organizations, much of the National Park system would be totally undeveloped. 

Yesterday (Friday) we headed for the campground we are in now, Rocky Knob.  The campgrounds on the Blue Ridge Parkway have no hookups, but do have picnic tables, fire rings and most have restrooms and dump stations.  We are running off batteries and solar.  But tomorrow we head for another KOA, just off the Parkway.  We need propane and it will be nice to have electricity, even if only for one night.

View from our picnic table at Rocky Knob

Being on the Parkway, our cell and Internet service have been very spotty.  I don’t mind.  It’s a small price to pay to enjoy the beauty surrounding us.  We try to get satellite radio occasionally during the day to keep up with the news and when we do have cell service, email loads to Steve’s phone so we can keep up with our friends and families. 

My mom seems to be settling into the nursing home and has good days and bad days.  But she walks a lot in the mornings (with an attendant) and I think sleeps better at night for that.  And when she does have a bad day, the staff takes good care of her.  Dad, Joe, Lisa, and their daughters visit her regularly and she usually knows them or is asleep.  Dad still has his aches and pains, but is getting much better sleep.

Obi is coping with his blindness.  I think he may have a little vision left, but not much.  Here he is in his bed in the trailer.


And Maria is enjoying the fall season!



Deb