North Bend State Park (WV)

Aug 2-6, 2012
(Another state but still catching up.)

Cairo, WV
North Bend State Park
Cokeley CG site 25

There are two cg’s at this state park.  River Bend is better suited for smaller rigs that can handle hairpin turns and low branches.  We opted for the big rig friendly Cokeley CG.  It’s also walk-in only so it was no problem getting adjoining sites since we arrived on Thursday.

 

I got back in the habit of my morning power walks and one morning I counted 21 deer in separate herds!  I like to see that kind of wildlife while I walk.  I’m sure that the deer think I’m crazy but it makes me smile.

We chose this park because there is a Rail Trail that borders the cg.  The four of us packed our lunches and set off for a hot day on the trail.  It is a 72 mile trail but we rode a little more than 14 miles and called it a day.  It’s pea gravel instead of paved so it wore us out.  Here is where it adjoins the state park.

There is a 353 foot tunnel right at Bonds Creek near the park.  In 1956 a train wrecked as it emerged from the tunnel and it went into Bonds Creek.  The engineer and fireman were killed and 45 other folks were injured.

 

We rode our bikes past Cairo to the next tunnel in that direction.  It is the 1376 foot long Silver Run Tunnel and it is said to be haunted.  Glad we had flashlights and our head lights!  It was dark in there!

 

We enjoyed the spots of shade and it was nice to slow down and enjoy the rock formations that were blasted to create this railway in the mid 1800’s.

On our way back to camp, we stopped in the little town of Cairo to have some ice cream and stretch our legs.  The ice cream shop had just opened for business that morning.  The woman working the counter struck up a conversation with us when we mentioned that we were staying in the cg.  She had given some water to Howard and Linda of RV-Dreams a couple of years ago and still follows their blog.

The town of Cairo has a rich history but unfortunately it seems to have a poor future.  It was an oil boomtown in the mid 1800’s and the railroad brought in supplies for the growing town.  I loved some of the unusual architecture and the way they are trying to preserve it with the Rail Trail.

 

I liked the Town Square and the old Hardware Store…

 

but I especially liked the old Bank of Cairo.

 

It was a great bike ride but we were worn out and just relaxed for the rest of our stay here.  I think we were all happy to be away from the big crowds of Niagara and in more natural surroundings.

Thanks for dropping by and enjoy each day of your life’s journey by finding beauty in the ordinary.

Geneva State Park (OH)

July 31-Aug 2, 2012
(Only stayed two nights but wished for longer.  Maybe next time!)

Geneva, OH
Geneva State Park (OH) site 56

We left Niagara and traveled with Dan and Tricia to Geneva State Park in Ohio.  Since we were all headed south in the coming weeks, we thought it would be nice to travel together.  We decided on this cg because it was on Lake Erie and within our driving range of close to 200 miles.  We had 50 amp and had to put water in our tank since there was no hookup at the sites.  The shade was very welcomed.

 

 

One of the delights of this cg was the paved bike path that goes along Lake Erie and into the quaint little resort town of Geneva-on-the-Lake.  We all pedaled in to town one afternoon and enjoyed some unhealthy eating.  Burger, fries and ice cream served up 50’s style.  We figured that we would have to pedal a lot to burn up some of those calories.

 

This is a nice state park with a resort lodge and marina on the grounds.  I’m glad that there are some states that think it’s worth saving and promoting their natural resources for everyone to enjoy.  Gin’s checking up on Neptune.

Thanks for dropping by and enjoy each day of your life’s journey by finding beauty in the ordinary.

Cedar Point NC

Cedar Point CG Site #37
Croatan National Forest

I first want to say “thank you” to those who left encouraging words about our yard sale last Saturday.  It seems like such a long time ago but it was a big step.  We are now at the CG in Cedar Point, NC near the beach of Emerald Isle.  It is part of the Croatan National Forest and is a very nice place to hang your hat.  We are on site #37.  It has a very private patio area and is the last site in the park.  It is also close to a water bib.  Our 50 foot hose reel just barely reaches.


Thursday, Gin left the house early with the kayaks on top of the Suki and the bikes in the rack.  Her cousin Pam left Rocky Mount, NC and arrived at the CG about 1:00pm.  It was nice to know that they had a good site.  After paying for our site and leaving the Suki here, Gin and Pam went to the shore for the afternoon.  They enjoyed sitting and chatting.  I left left work a little early and arrived at 8:15pm.  It was a long day.

Friday was a relaxing but warm day.  I moved the vu qube from it's bracket at the top of the ladder to the front of the roof to get it out from under the tree limbs.  Pam and I rode the bikes around the park some and down the nature trail.

While we were busy enjoying ourselves, Gin was busy helping some other campers with their satellite tv.  She’s so helpful that way.  We all went to the shore for a bit so that I could get some salt water and sand on my feet.  Pam mentioned that Captain Charlie’s in Swansboro was a good seafood restaurant so we all enjoyed an early supper there.  I even had leftovers for lunch the next day.

Pam left on Saturday.  I hope she enjoyed relaxing with us as much as we enjoyed having her join us.  Gin and I hung around the CG and napped a little in the afternoon.  It was a windy day but I grabbed the camera to take a some pics.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll post a few.  We may go for a paddle if the weather cools a bit and the wind dies down.  Stay tuned.

Rally

Longs, SC
Willow Tree Resort site #8

We arrived at Willow Tree today around 1:00, got a bite to eat, and went to the RV Dreams social and checked in for the rally.  This is a really nice campground but as Howard noted, it is in the middle of nowhere to be so close to Myrtle Beach.  I had to trust the tom-tom when we got close, so the last 15 minutes took us 30 minutes of driving.  We rode our bikes around the big pond.  It's 1 mile around.  Our site is waterfront.  We may get the kayaks in the water tomorrow afternoon if the weather is nice.

There was a "small world"  moment at check-in when I noticed a couple that had the last name of Rommel.  They were from NC so I asked them if they had a son in Raleigh.  They did.  I work at the same place as their son.  I guess that's not quite as "small world" as a couple of years ago when we were at the NC Outerbanks.  I saw a camper and truck from Maine that had a Raleigh thin blue line sticker.  I asked the couple about it and their son worked with me also.  Maine.  Small world.

We had a catered dinner and social time.  We met Jim and Linda that have a blog that I have followed for quite some time.  Sitting at our table were James and Tonya.  They are from Jacksonville, NC and have lived in their 5er for 4 years while he finishes his time with the military.  He retires this summer and they hit the road.  Also at our table were Sherry and David.  They made their maiden voyage here in a 2004 Winnebago Brave 34 ft.  They had posted it on the rvdreams forum and we posted that we had a rig very much like theirs.  They were hoping to meet us and we will gladly show them some things that Gin did to make the rig a little better.

It is an interesting blend of folks here.  Most are not full-timers yet.  Several don't even have rv's.  But we all seem to know how to enjoy each others company.  We plan to go to some seminars in the morning so I better get some beauty sleep.

Rest?

Murrells Inlet, SC
Huntington Beach State Park site #119

Since we had spent quite some time walking at Brookgreen Gardens on Sunday, I thought that Monday would have been a day to relax but we stayed busy.  Gin started the day by saying that we needed to spend some money so we went to Camping World near Myrtle Beach.  We had made a list a few days before so it was planned and needed.  It was a nice day so we went for a bike ride and geocaching.  As I pedaled across the causeway, I glanced to my right and saw an alligator just a few feet from me basking in the sunshine.  There is a wonderful 6-8 feet wide paved bike path as you enter the state park.  We rode for about 9 miles.  If that wasn’t enough exercise, we hiked the nature trail about 3 miles round trip.  We were looking for a cache that we missed last year when the battery died just as we got close to it.  We found it and the beautiful view of the ocean from the viewing platform.  We walked some more so we were sore.

So Tuesday was a restful day for us.  We still went for a bike ride and found another cache but not that far.  Not much walking involved either.  We started an afternoon campfire and enjoyed relaxing there until dusk.  Another raccoon awakened from his perch in a nearby tree.  It was another day of reviving the body and rejuvenating the soul.

Croatan National Forest; Cedar Point NC

November 21-27, 2009
Croatan National Forest, NC
Cedar Point CG Site #15
$51 for 6 nights
271 miles round trip, 7.0 mpg

Saturday-Travel day.  We enjoyed watching a mating pair of Mallards on the pond at our house before we hit the road.  It was an easy drive with light traffic.  We had mostly overcast skies.  Dorothy and Chris are in the site across the street.  They are full-timers that we met here last year.  They plan to go to California after Christmas.  We rode our bicycles around the park and to the little boat launch.  Julie and Steve, the friendly camp hosts, chatted for a while.  She said the fish were biting on the White Oak River.  We played rummy at night.
Sunday-We went to the grocery store and Lowes to get a doodad for the CG water spigot so our hose will fit it.  Gin got a nice campfire going while I cut up veggies and put a roast in the oven.  We had Gin's brother Butch, his son Nick, and Nick's girlfriend Becca over for supper.  It was enjoyed by all.  It rained and we called it an early night.
Monday-It was a drizzly day.  Gin and Nick went to the shore to fish but it rained harder.  They came back and played video games.  We watched squirrels.  One of them stuffed a lot of leaves in his mouth and scampered up the tree to his nest.  I guess that was an extra blanket for the night.
Tuesday-Nick and Becca were both off work today so the four of us went to the shore.  They fished while I enjoyed walking the beach and watching the birds.  We saw fresh deer tracks in the sand leading straight to the waves and then back to the dunes.  I can't imagine what the deer looked like gazing out over the ocean.  Pretty awesome, no doubt.  Gin caught a fish and a rag.  Nick suggested shrimp at Golden Corral for supper since we didn't have any luck.  Gin's parents got set up in the CG while we all cleaned up.  The 6 of us went to Morehead City to eat.  We all played cards afterwards.
Wednesday-It was a rainy do nothing day.  Nick came over for a bit.  The lazy, stir crazy day was finished off by playing canasta with Gin's parents.
Thursday-Happy Thanksgiving!!  The sun came out and it was a beautiful day!  All the food was ready and laid out at Gin's parents at 12:30.  Nick, Becca, and Butch were there.  We invited Dorothy and Chris and Roger (camp co-host) to join us.  A good meal was had by all.  We enjoyed a bike ride around the park and to the water.  We gave our leftover firewood to Julie and Steve.  We packed up the outside stuff after Nick and Becca played Guitar Hero.  They're pretty good.  The squirrels were gathering fresh dry leaves for a cold night.
Friday-Travel day.  It's sunny, cool and quite windy.  That made for a long 3 hour drive.  I got a good nap before going to work night shift.  Sad to say that this was the last RV trip of the season.  We can't wait until next year.  It'll be so nice to visit Sylville on a more frequent basis.

Huntington Beach Sate Park; Murrells Inlet SC

Stix n Brix; Clayton NC

It's that time of year for us gonna be full-timers that we start looking forward to the upcoming travel season. One way to look forward is to look back. The next few posts will summarize our RV outings from 2009. Travel with us.

March 13-20, 2009
Huntington Beach State Park
Murrells Inlet, SC Site #116
$182 for 7 nights
400 miles round trip, 7.1 mpg, $1.77 per gallon gas
Like sites 1,3,5,31,33,30,60,68,71,106,107,111,115,117,119,121,123,125, and 127

Friday-Travel day. It drizzled half the time in NC. It was slow going with that and an army convoy on I95. This is our first time at this nice quiet CG. It has paved roads. We are on a private spot in the woods next to the bathhouse. Satellite tv is good at this site. There is local hi-def also. We settled in and cycled the CG some.
Saturday-We rode Suki around the park. We explored Atalaya which is the castle style summer home of the couple that donated the land for this state park. We located a virtual cache at the foyer fireplace. We walked along the beach. The jetty is way too far to attempt. We found our first two geocaches!! (got a travel bug)
Sunday-We went into Myrtle Beach after driving through Murrells Inlet and had a big lunch at New China Buffet. We shopped at Tanger Outlet. I'm picky so I didn't get anything. It drizzled in the afternoon.
Monday-It rained most of the day. We got take-out from Harrelson's Seafood Market. We walked some of it off in the CG. We took the wooded walkway to the shore. Since it rained a lot, we finished the day putting together a 1000 tiny piece puzzle.
Tuesday-We drove into Georgetown and came back to bike around some in the CG. We found 3 geocaches. We enjoyed s'mores by our first evening campfire.
Wednesday-Finally a beautiful day!! It was "Wildlife and History Day" at Atalya. Some very interesting displays but we didn't think to bring a camera. A Ranger started a fire by rubbing two sticks together using a bow. The "birds of prey" presentation was the big attraction with a Harris hawk, barred owl, and yellow-billed kite (an African species) flying around the crowd. The seagulls left :). We cooked supper (Cornish hens and spiced apples) over the campfire.
Thursday-Another beautiful day!! We hiked the Sandpiper Pond Nature Trail. The Garmin batteries died just as we got close to another geocache. :( We checked out the nice Education Center. We biked the CG some more and walked along the beach. We packed up the outdoor stuff and ended the day by eating leftovers and s'mores by the evening campfire.
Friday- Travel day. It's back to work for me tonight. Gin drove the MH for the first time. It was only for 40 miles on I95 south of Fayetteville, but we both have more respect for each others usual seats.
We definitely want to come back to this CG. There are a lot of nature oriented things to do here and we didn't even get to check out Brookgreen Gardens right across the highway. We were in Sylville all week.