Monday Oct 7th Loft Mt Park, Shenandoah National Park
today we did a drive down to Kathy’s Diner in Staunton Viriginia https://maps.app.goo.gl/yG5sscwM4m5LDifG6
got a sausage omelet with american cheese and 2 biscuits. When you’re in the South, ya gotta try the biscuits. Seriously. Just go for a walk later or something.
they had a couple Halloween decorations out. snapped these for Jacqui. She loves bat decorations but they have to have a "cute" quality to them. Think Muppets. the bat pic below is probably slightly on the "too scary" side.
After breakfast (2nd breakfast for me technically, Jacqui would be proud!) we went to the Krogers right up the hill, i got a 12 pack of Coke Zero, and off we went for the next errand.
There was a yarn shop nearby that hand dyes yarn. Jeff’s wife Maureen is a huge knitter so he got her some yarn that were in the Halloween color scheme, not garish. a bit more subdued, but Halloween-y. Ha weenie
I suppose in retrospect I could have gotten some for Mom, but last I saw Mom has tons of yarn already and this was a high end shop. Could be wrong, but I think Mom just knits stuff for kids in the hospital. That sounds worse…nevermind. I’ll stop digging myself deeper in the hole.
On a funny note, I think the lady was confused by 2 guys from Mass yarn shopping. Especially when we mentioned our wives. Ha!
Anyway, we drove back to camp at Loft Mt, getting back around 1p.m.
Relaxed for a bit just doing internet stuff via Jeff’s Starlink, and then asked Jeff if he wanted to walk over to the campground store. He did.
It was about 1-1.5 mile walk along the Appalachian trail (which skirts the campground). then up 150yard spur trail to the store. We each got an ice cream, then we cut back through the campground to see if there were any interesting campers.
this one caught my eye. I like the bikes up front. Good tongue weight.
the attached awning/tent room is nice for hanging out with bug and sun protection and the slideout kitchen is becoming more popular than the rear kitchen teardrop. I bet that’s also for towing reasons. the rear kitchen adds to much weight way out of the rear.
then we came along the NuCamp. the couple loves it and they usually do roadtrips for 1-2 months at a time, also 1-2 times a year.
sorry for the blurry photo. they explained it has a queen bed in the back. on the other side is the kitchen. close to me in the photo is the bathroom and the dinette. It's the boondock version of NuCamp.
here's a screenshot from their website
anyway. then we just settled in for our last night in Viriginia.
right at dusk some white tailed deer walked through the empty site nearby.
Jeff started a fire around 6p.m. using the remaining 3 duraflame logs he had (we had a fire the night before too, but I forgot to mention it until now).
Anyway, we were hearing a big ruckus on the short trail that goes to the Appalachian trail behind our site, and Jeff said it was the deer trying to come up into the campground via our site. but they were seeing us big scary humans by the fire and turning back. They were being super noisy because it was a narrow trail, so you can imagine the chaos of 5 deer trying to turn themselves around and bumping into each other in the process. The night before Jeff had heard the same thing, but didn't know it was deer. He'd worried it was the black bear that the Ranger told us about when checking in.
Tuesday heading North
we drove up the Skyline Drive parkway through Shenadoah National Park. Stopped at the visitor center to get another patch for my collection (i sewed fuzzy velcro strips to the wool blanket i have suspended in the camper’s ceiling. Keeps condensation from dripping on me and blocks light coming through the white roof panel.)
at the first town out, I stopped for gas and got a gyro from the sketchiest gas station I’ve ever seen. You know it's bad when the bathrooms are closed and there's just stuff piled everywhere.. But wth, you only live once. I noticed a decent line of people getting pre-made sandwiches. And when I asked, the lady working the kitchen in the back said she could make it in a few minutes but she needed finished handling the raw chicken she was frying first so she wouldn’t waste the gloves. Which told me she cares about food hygiene. Also, I’m typing this the next day and I didn’t have any tummy issues.
it was a great Gyro with feta cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion with a side of seasoned fries. It was super tasty. I figured the food had to be good if people were willing to buy sandwiches from the looks of that store inside.
Anyway, we continued north on i 81 and a little south of Scranton got on i80 east for 10 minutes to go to Hickory Run State Park in PA. we’d booked our own sites the day before via the Reserve America app. about $30 with fees and taxes for a basic site, but it was quiet. Worth it.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/oeSGTR7F3jyarazMA
Nearby, there’s a bathhouse with toilets and free hot showers. So I’m about to change into shorts and go for a bike ride around the campground, then take a shower before driving the 4hrs up to my folks. Figure it’s best to not arrive stinky.
Also, I don’t have to leave until 3p.m. from here.
Oh and maybe one downside for people, in PA, alcohol consumption is not allowed in the parks. I’m sure you can sneak a beer if you pour it into a container, but they’ll kick you out for being loud and drunk. No hooligans allowed. A good idea I think.
Here’s a photo of my campsite. nothing special
in the Summer, it looks like you’d be on top of other campers here. picnic tables everywhere.. Nice and quiet right now though, but in the Summer, the no booze policy is making more sense. It did get down to low 40’s just before sunrise, so that keeps the crowds away.
this morning I used the instant pot to cook more steel cut oats. I oil a ½ liter titanium backpacking cooking mug/pot. ⅓ cup oats, 1 cup water in the pot, add the lid. in the instant pot, add a ¼ inch of water first. place the trivet in the water. Mug on the trivet. close up the instant pot.
Set for 6 minutes at high pressure. then let it naturally release (cool) for 20 minutes.
I do the mug thing because then I don’t have to clean the instant pot’s inner pot or lid. Just leaves hot water in there if I take the mug out carefully.
Anyhoo. added some brownsugar, and half of the apple filling I made at home before leaving. mixed with half the oatmeal, and poured the other half of the oatmeal into the apple pie filling container for breakfast tomorrow/Friday. I’ll zap it in the microwave.
it’ll be close to 10a.m. soon. time to go bike around camp, then shower, then pack up, and truck on North.a
Wednesday drive and Belleville
the drive up was uneventful. from Hickory Run, I went 80 east, 380 north, 81 north all the way up to Belleville.
Thankfully it rained some after getting North of Syracuse. The truck needed the virginia expo mud and clay to get washed off
Thursday
went to Sharpes, a local Mennonite Bulk Food store. Here's the health food aisle...jk! Quite the impressive candy display
I walked there with my backpack, easier then closing the truck camper up and driving over. Only a 10 minute walk.
On the way, the old corner coffee shop is a garage, and this was one of the trucks parked out.
had a nice visit overall with my folks and older sister. Had enough time to help my Dad out with some technical tips and we even had time to make a couple meter long light strips from the led lighting stuff I bought him back for his birthday. Got the remote configured and the app sorted. The plan is he's going to have 10 different, meter long strip lights on the one wall of his train room so he can add some accent lighting for all the trains he has displayed.
Here's an amazon list of some of the stuff i got him for making lights. Useful if you want under cabinet lighting in the kitchen, accent lighting for a bookshelf or curio cabinet. Whatever
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/36W5PCBTOARLD?ref_=wl_share
this video is really good too for learning more about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uib6KUwnA2Q
Last but not least, here are some photos I took when biking around Hickory Run State Park in PA
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| the pond is stocked with fish |
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| down by the pond. No swimming though. :( |
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| their Ampitheater |
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| Probably as old as I am... |
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| when you pass the visitor center, you take a left and set back on a road is the camping area for large RV's |