On the 21st we drove to the Falling Waters campground in West
Virginia. In past years we had driven down the coast. This year we
decided to drive down inland before heading to the coast in North
Carolina.
After a night in Falling Waters we drove to Shenandoah National Park
and Skyline Drive for a three night stay without hook ups. Most
people who visit Shenandoah from the North as we did enter the drive
and park at Front Royal but when your towing a 13 foot 6 inch
trailer you can’t go under the 12 foot 8 inch Mary’s Rock
tunnel between Front Royal and Big Meadow campground where we
camped for the tree nights without hook ups. It was raining when we
got off I81 in Harrisonberg, Virginia and drove on US 33 otherwise
known as the Spotswood Trail to Swift Run Gap where we picked up
Skyline Drive and Drove 15 miles north to the campground. visibility
was not the greatest in the rain. Fortunately the rain let up when
we go to the campground so setting up was not a problem; although,
setting up without hook ups is a lot easier as there are no
water and sewer hoses to connect but the electric line must be
plugged into the generator in order to obtain electricity.
for those of you who have never driven Shenandoah National Park
Skyline Drive this is Big Meadow which has been kept as a natural
meadow first by the Native Americans then by the Mountain folks
and now the National Park Service
We had been to Big Meadow before when our kids were still home and
possibly once more when we had the New Horizon trailer prior to
2008. That Night we went to the lodge for dinner and then settled in
for the night. The next day we Drove Past Lewis Mountain and walked
on the … Pocosin Trail. It was,the volunteer at the visitors center
said, a fire road but after the first 3/4 mile it was very
rough and of course downhill. None the less we reached the
Presbyterian Ministry ruins passing an Adirondack trail
cabin before returning to the car.
Later that afternoon we walked the Story of the Forest Trail from
the camp ground and encountered numerous deer.before returning for
dinner in the trailer.
The next day we drove to Mile 41.7 near Skyland
a resort area that predates the park and hiked up to the summit of
Stony Man Mountain
Upon our return we stopped at the Fishers Gap
overlook and I took some pictures of the area where we had almost
gotten lost on our last visit to the park when the kids were
teenagers. (kids this is for you LOL)
After a great 3 day stay in Shenandoah National Park we to Fort
Chiswell just down the road for a two night stay and walked on the
New River Rail Trail.
The Shot Tower essentially molten lead dropped from the top of the
tower into cold water formed shot AKA bullets.
After a pleasant 2 day stay in Ft Chiswell we hooked up the trailer
and drove to Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, North Carolina about 10
miles south of Winston Salem. Debby’s cousin Marvin and his wife
Linda live in Germonton just north of Winston Salem and we were
there to visit them. we had a lovely visit and went to an Indian
restaurant for dinner before returning to their home to continue our
catching up. The next day we hung around Tanglewood park and walked
along the River walk and on the paved park walking trails.
In the morning we got up planning to drive about 250 miles of our
remaining 750 mile trip but it was raining so we continued driving
close to 400 miles to Brunswick, Georgia, Exit 29 near Jekyll Island
and the Coastal Georgia Campground for the night. The next day we
decided to drive the entire remaining 350 miles to Lake Worth and
John Prince park arriving one day earlier then expected.
We spent the next 4 days unloading the trailer and bringing stuff to
our Boynton Beach Condo. Among the things were files, albums and
items from our former house in Fair Lawn, NJ. Things that had been
stored in our daughter Susan’s house since we had sold ours in 2006.
On Monday we took the trailer to storage and walked the two miles to
the condo returning with the car for one last load.
