November 3 - November 9 2001

On Saturday Nov3 we moved out of Granite Hill Campground in Gettysburg, after filling water, dumping the waste tanks, and declining to purchase their over priced propane. We then drove to the Clarksville MD home of old high school and college friends Lee & Benita.  We enjoyed playing catch up for well over twenty years of our lives, and thrilled to some of Maryland's finest cuisine; crabcakes that were MOSTLY crabmeat with only enough additional ingredients to hold them together and spice them nicely...more YUM YUM food!! Seems like we are eating our way through the USA... but what a way to go!! :-) Lee and Benita looked just as I remembered them years ago; time has been most kind to them (although I'm sure more than a small effort on their part helped a great deal)!

Sunday after breakfast we took our departure from Lee and Benita's most comfortable home (even Purry and Pookie felt that way; we had extra leash training for both in the yard) and headed westward for the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.

 Pookie

 Purry

As soon as we were West of Washington DC on I66, we lost digital cellphone service, receiving only analog, and often very weak at that. That was a disappointment, as it cost us Sunday evening's "free" internet connect we had planned on. After fueling and buying propane for 60 cents a gallon less than offered in the Gettysburg campground, we decided to buy a one year National Parks pass at the entrance to Shenandoah Notional Park. We hope to see lots of our parks, and $10 of the $50 cost was paid back immediately at Shenandoah. Skyline Drive immediately began to climb, and the motorhome was taken out of overdrive, never to return to it for the 105 mile skyline drive through the park. The views were spectacular.

There are lots of overlook stopping areas with just wonderful views; pictures galore!! We drove 51 miles on Skyline Drive, to stop at Big Meadow Campground. The off season rates for camping were a reasonable $14 a night, but no hookups; generators were allowed from 8AM to 8PM, so we suffered no hardship. Coffee was placed in the thermos for early risers, and more could be made after 8AM. We experienced first hand the limited battery life the cellphone offers in analog mode; the phone usually lasts 4 days (receive only). With analog service we were awakened at 4:30 am to the phone beeping for low battery. We placed it on charge immediately as we did not want to miss an alarm call from the house. Monday we took a leisurely nature walk to a scenic waterfall near the campground; it was interesting that the stream was DRY at the top due to the drought, but as we descended water appeared from springs, and the falls was attractive 500 feet below. We came back to see deer everywhere; they were tame as cats. I was able to get close enough to fill a picture with one deer....amazing.

 We decided to stay second night at Big Meadows. That evening a converted school bus pulled in, spouting wood smoke from a rooftop chimney in the rear. Most interesting....it did attract the park ranger, who was concerned about violation of the dry weather fire ban, however after he went in and looked, the smoke still continued to pour out, so it must have had enough spark arrestors to be considered safe.

We decided to stay a second night at Big Meadows campground, and left early (for us) on Tuesday for the remaining 55 mile trip on Skyline Drive. We stopped to climb to the summit of Bearfence Mountain; the climb was a rock scramble, but not unsafe, and the view was spectacular.

 I am thankful for the digital camera....film cost would be prohibitive, and we would never catch up with the processed pictures in the mail. We were in need of supplies, so decided to overnight in the Staunton VA 24 hour SuperWalmart. Free use of the parking lot still made this BY FAR the most expensive night of the trip...SOOOO many things to buy. :-) We thought we should be able to conserve water by using a sink sprayer in place of the house style shower head in the shower stall, and reasoned that a sink sprayer would help conserve water while washing dishes. The well stocked Walmart had perfect matches for our desires....so money (quite a bit of money) changed hands. We were able to find a new stainless pressure cooker to replace the weightless one we brought. It was old, and had missing and loose handles; replacement was due. We found a remote reading digital indoor outdoor thermometer so we could know what to expect when we opened the door....Walmart knows what it is doing when it welcomes RVers to use it's lots overnight free. :-)

Wednesday was laundry day, and we drove South on State Rt 11 rather than I81; The driving was good and the sights more interesting. We found a nice Laundromat, spent a few hours doing laundry and "home improvements"; installing the sink sprayer in place of the shower head. When that was finished we continued on to Lexington to Saville Hill Farm, to visit with Ron & Elizabeth Jackson. They had carved the farm from undeveloped Shenandoah Valley land after "retiring" 6 years ago from Raytheon; what a superb job they did too. The motorhome wound the narrowing roads, then entered their farm lane, with just enough room to get through comfortably; after being welcomed first by the sheep, then Elizabeth and Ron at the gate, we then CLIMBED up to their mountain top home in low gear.

 What a spectacular place to live. Ron and Elizabeth built the barns and house themselves, but the workmanship far exceeds that which we would expect from fine contractors. This is a FUN place. The border collies that help herd the sheep are a marvel to watch, the goats are cute pets, the lands tired us out walking through the hills, woods, and pastures without ever fully circling them.

The wild goodies were still present, even though frost had already browned the trees and plants. We found trees hanging orange with wild persimmons, at their prime after frost. I had experienced their delicious taste as a boy in PA, but had long since given up duplicating it in "store bought" persimmons, which are usually astringent. The prime tree ripened frost bitten wild ones do not look like much, the best are blackened and soft, but YUM YUM. More prime eating!  

We spent two nights perched on the mountain top with Ron & Elizabeth and their farm friends, and much appreciated Ron's craftsmanship when the installation of the kitchen faucet set with sprayer turned more complicated than expected. Things always seem to turn out harder than anticipated, and the longer tubes on the new faucet required that plumbing tubing be moved below a shelf to give adequate clearance without kinking.  Ron slotted the shelf neatly in his very complete shop to make it look better than the factory original installation. We enjoyed a trip to town too, touring Lexington which has a surprising variety of historic and academic points of interest, and Frank's Pizzeria as well. More YUM YUM!! :-)

If you'd like to see more about Ron and Elizabeth's operation, click this link to their extensive webpages and ENJOY!

Friday we took our departure from Saville Hill Farm after breakfast, and spent the midday hours in Lexington, completing in daylight the tour of the evening before. We enjoyed walking through Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute, as well as numerous historic buildings in the town.

The weather continued to be superb; sunny, warm, and unfortunately for the farmers, DRY. We headed back north to catch I64 East, fueled in Staunton, purchased a second remote reading digital thermometer at the Walmart there to replace the one put in service in the refrigerator freezer (an outside thermometer is a very necessary operating instrument in a motorhome that can be parked on too much slope for the refrigerator to work). We continued on to Charlottesville Friday evening to position ourselves to see Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello on Saturday, staying at a very noisy Walmart north of the city. Our Street Atlas map software was VERY necessary to find the Charlottesville Walmart from the address given in our Rand McNally road atlas; the street did not show on the city map in the atlas.

Saturday we enjoyed Monticello; Thomas Jefferson really was an avid experimenter and innovator; it is amazing to look at the features he designed into this late 1700, early 1800 home. Unfortunately no pictures were permitted inside, but we managed to fill the camera with pictures taken outside. Midafternoon we took our departure from Monticello, and headed East toward Richmond. We found the welcoming driveway of Pete and Nancy. We had known Pete from our West Chester PA days over 30 years ago, so had lots of catching up to do here too.

We had both raised our families and seen them off to college. We enjoyed real Southern style cooking at Piccadilly cafeteria here, then toured Richmond after dark; monument row, the entertainment district, and the river boat Annabelle Lee loading for her evening dinner tour on the James River. This is the first time I can recall forgetting the CAMERA...but it happened. At least I did not forget the cell phone, and received the good news that brother Don will be retiring at years end, months earlier than anticipated as his hoped for "job elimination" request has been approved. Hope you enjoy yours as much as we enjoy ours Don!

This morning we anticipate an early walk with Pete and Nancy, so will end and hopefully email this report. Our immediate plans are to head East to the outer banks where hopefully the effect of the coming high pressure cold front are mitigated by the ocean. We certainly cannot complain about this weather...the Fall has been superb, with cool weather limited to nights when we are comfortably snoozing in the heated motorhome. After touring the outer banks, we will head more directly South along the coast.