Dispatch from the Road 2023

 August 25 2023 Friday It was surprisingly warm sleeping last night; I expected it to be cooler here in the mountains. This whole trip the temperatures have been unpredictable. We’ve seen chilly nights in North Carolina and warm ones in Virginia, that’s ok, it's all good except that hot day in the cemetery. I could make a bad meme about the Bray cemetery being hotter than H@!! but they all seem like good folk so I'll refrain. One thing we’ve experienced this summer that is not good is ticks. Both Millie and I have had multiple tick bites, in spite of us using repellants. We even switched from the name brand Deet based bug sprays to tick specific repellants and tick killing treatments for our shoes and clothing. It’s just a bad year for them, I guess but I've already got one tick borne condition and I don't want another! I cooked eggs outside on the griddle and Millie made biscuits for our breakfast this morning. We will visit with the Pedigo family later today. We also ...

 August 23 2023 Millie and I made a slight error in our schedule; luckily it became an extra day. Millie told everyone we were leaving today and going to Raccoon Branch, a federal campground near Konorock Virginia. I’m the one who made the itinerary, but I said ok and never checked the calendar. It did seem like we rushed around in order to get the cemetery work done and meet with family on the day the monuments were set. Late in the afternoon I mentioned that I didn’t think we were supposed to leave until Thursday. Finally we checked our appointment book and sure enough, we were prepping for departure a day early. We briefly discussed leaving anyhow, but there is a problem with the RV and if I was going to be able to repair it on the road, Martinsville has a lot more parts stores than Konorock which has none. You may remember I replaced the propane lines that run from the tanks to the regulator at Tom Johnson Camping Center in Marion NC. What I didn’t tell you is the original leak...

  August 20 2023, Sunday The Bluegrass Festival finished up last night at 10pm; it was a surprisingly entertaining experience for both of us. We both really enjoyed it and hope to attend another one someday. We had prepped the RV for travel on Saturday afternoon and pulled off our site at Tom Johnson CG at 9am. I had studied potential routes and finally decided to take the I-40 part way to our next destination in Martinsville Virginia. You know we normally avoid interstates especially east of the Mississippi, but there just wasn’t any good alternative. I swear you could be a passenger traveling on any interstate in the eastern half of the country, fall asleep then wake up on an interstate in another state and you wouldn’t know the difference. Marion NC to Martinsville VA It was Sunday so at least the road wasn’t congested; we had smooth sailing all the way to our exit onto Hwy 421. This is still mostly limited access with on/off ramps but old school urban expressway. It kind of rem...

 The NC Bluegrass Festival August 16 2023 Wednesday, We departed Hickory Nut Falls Campground later than usual, as we only had 50 miles to travel to our next destination. For the next four days we will be in Marion North Carolina to attend the North Carolina State Bluegrass Festival.  A Short ride this morning. The Festival is held at the sprawling Tom Johnson Camping Center. The campground/Rally Park is now part of Camping World but they have kept the original name. That was a wise decision IMHO because The Tom Johnson Enterprise had an excellent reputation. It appears to me that CW is keeping the place in same pristine condition. Some of the RVs here at the festival The pavilion Our campsite is in the Rally section so the sites are less opulent than the regular campground. We are in site G15 which is at the end of the row so we only have neighbors on one side of us. It is a full hookup site, meaning it has fresh water, electric hookup and sewer. The site is thick green grass...

 We have departed on another road trip, just a short two week adventure this time. It will be, part discovering new places, part music venues and part for work in the family cemetery in Axton Virginia. Hope you enjoy the journey with us and thanks for reading the blog! August 13 2023  The first leg of the trip is from home to Chimney Rock NC. Besides a break from the summer heat, we want to hike to the top of Chimney Rock Mountain as well as explore some of the sounding area. Myrtle Beach to Lake Lure The route from the coast to the Appalachian Mountains can easily be made on interstate highways, but we’ve found a more civilized trail to follow. I won’t bore you with details, but we can drive all the way to Spartanburg South Carolina and then on up though North Carolina on good US highways.  our RV on the bank of the Broad River We traveled just under 300 miles today and are camped near Lake Lure in North Carolina. Our RV spot for the next three days is Hickory Nut Falls ...