2022 Fall Trip: On to Cape Hatteras, West Virginia and HOME

 

Wednesday, 10/19: 245 miles, parked at the Auburn RV Park in Auburn, Alabama

US 59 to I-65 to I-85

Auburn RV Park, site A

Our site, overlooking a softball complex.

 We were on the road by 10:00 and arrived at Auburn RV Park about 2:15.  The drive was pleasant.  There was a lot of stop and go stoplight traffic for the first 15 or 20 miles north out of Gulf Shores, but from then on, traffic was generally light.  This RV park is located right off I-20 and is easy to get to.  The sites are a mix of pull-thru and back in.  There appeared to be many seasonals, but generally well kept up.  The park is very near Auburn University.  I read online that many campers park here during the entire football season.  Our site overlooked a gorgeous and very large softball complex.  We even got to see them play under the lights.

Beautiful view from our site

Thursday, 10/20: 245 miles, parked at Heritage RV Park in Augusta, Georgia

Yikes, we woke up to frost on the ground this morning.  In fact, the morning temperature was colder that it was back home in Northern NY! 

 

I-65, to I-285 bypass around Atlanta, to I-20

Heritage RV Park, site MH-47

We got an early start and were on the road by 9:15.  Georgia is in the Eastern Time Zone, so we have to add an hour on the clock.  So the 4 hour drive today is 5 hours on the clock.  Sure enough, we pulled into Heritage 4 hours later at 2:15.  Many seasonal campers here, but well kept.  There was a mix of basic sites and nicely landscaped ones.  Most had a cement patio and metal picnic table.  Our site was a nice back in.

Friday, 10/21: 237 miles, parked at Spacious Skies Sandy Run, Fayetteville, NC

I-20 to I-95

Spacious Skies RV Park, site 3

A new section being developed at Sandy Run

Nice drive today, considering it was Interstate all the way.  Traffic was generally light to moderate, although it was pretty heavy around Atlanta.  But there was none of the typical  "stop and go" traffic on 95, which can be an issue sometimes on that road.  Another 4 hour drive and we arrived in sunny and 70 weather.  In fact, it was warm enough to sit outside for a bit.  This is a comfortable park, and most sites had concrete patios.  It was over half full and a lot of the sites appeared to be well kept up seasonal campers. It seems like we are seeing that more and more where we travel; long term campers. 

Saturday, 10/22: 269 miles, parked at Cape Hatteras KOA, Rodanthe, NC

I-95 (with slight detour caused by traffic backup) to US 64 to NC 12

Cape Hatteras KOA, site 807

Well, our streak of carefree Interstate driving ended today.  Siri kept wanting us to take a detour that was not included in the route I planned the night before.  I refused.  Damn, she was right after all.  😀  We finally hit a major traffic stoppage.  We never did figure out why; construction or accident?   Luckily an exit soon appeared and about half the traffic was taking it.  Siri wanted us to take it, but I'm always nervous what kind of road we are going to end on pulling a big camper.  A tractor trailer was ahead of us, and Judy said, "follow that truck" and I did.  Sure enough 10 or 15 miles later the tractor trailer took us right back on I-95 with free flowing traffic.  Moral of the story, trust the females in your life: Siri and your wife!! 

We have stayed at this KOA once before; the last week of October in 2019.  At that time, the park was nearly empty.  Oddly, this year, it is nearly full.  Why?? On second thought, it is the weekend.  Sure enough, by the following Tuesday the campground had thinned out a lot.  The Outer Banks of North Carolina is a long series of barrier islands along the eastern shore of NC.  In some spots, the islands are less than a half mile wide.  The long term future of the islands is certainly in jeopardy due to rising seas and increasing beach erosion from storms. Some areas are loosing an average of 13 feet of beach each year due to erosion! I can't even begin to imagine what it will be like in 100 to 200 years from now. This article does a good job of explaining the future of the Outer Banks.

https://e360.yale.edu/features/outer-banks-climate-change-flooding

Wikipedia also does a great job of explaining the geography and history of the Outer Banks. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Banks

One of the reasons for the stop here was to connect with our Gouverneur pals, the Audet's and the Meyer's.  They are renting a beach house in nearby Avon for a week.  We had a wonderful 5 days although it was cool and cloudy with occasional showers most of the time.  Sunday we lunched at the Oceana's Bistro.

http://www.oceanasbistro.com/

One night we met at the beach house and Chuck and Anne made a fabulous meatball and pasta dinner.  In between showers we took the Zoeys to the beach and when it rained, we caught up on our reading and laundry.

On Tuesday we all met at Pangea for dinner.  I had a great meal of scallops over risotto while Judy had a sesame crusted tuna.  

https://pangeatavern.com/pages/menu

Finally on Wednesday, our last full day here, the weather broke and turned warm and sunny.  We made one last beach walk and then the gang came to the campground for dinner.  Judy and I cooked BBQ chicken, peppers, onions and mushrooms and salt potatoes.  It was warm enough to eat outside and we had a wonderful evening.

I made one last walk to the ocean early Thursday morning, and the ocean was gorgeous!!

Morning over the Outer Banks

Thursday 10/27: 296 miles, parked at Misty Mountain RV Park, Greenwood, Virginia

Rt 12 to 158 to 168 to I-64 to 664 bypass to I-64 to Exit 107 to RV Park

Misty Mountain, site 5

At almost 300 miles today, we had a long drive.  However, it was trouble free driving all the way.  We left Cape Hatteras KOA about 9:15 and arrived at Misty Mountain at 2:45, and that included a stop for fuel along the way.  This is a full and busy park.  There were lots of Halloween decorations up and lots of kids on bikes.  It is a nice place with friendly people.  The only downside, there is no cable, and being in a valley, almost no over the air TV channels.  It was a good time to catch up on our reading.

Friday 10/28: 319 miles, parked in Matt and Jaime's driveway, Shinnston, WV

I-64 to US 19 to I-79 to Matt's

Just like yesterday, we left about  9:15 and arrived at 2:45 at Matt and Jaime's.  It was another long drive, but traffic was fine.  We had a lot of uphill and downhill roads today as we crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains.  It was a very pleasant sunny and 65 when we arrived.  We haven't seen my son and family in 3 years. The last time we were here was pre Covid in September of 2019.  It has been way too long of an absence. 

We spent a relaxing weekend with the family.  Jaime's parents came over to visit one evening.  I helped Matt with a project or two.  We got to reconnect with the kids, who we haven't seen in ages.  They grow up so fast!  On Saturday night, we went out for dinner at a nearby TGI Friday's.  It was a great weekend, and we promised to visit again in April on our Spring southern trip.

Sunday 10/30: 259 miles and parked at the Westfield KOA in Westfield, NY

It was raining when we packed up at Matt's and we got soaked!!!!  It rained off and on the whole drive today.  We checked into the Westfield KOA about 2:30.  The campground officially closed yesterday, but when we stayed here back at the start of our trip on  September 8th, we asked if we could stay one night on the way home and they said yes.  There are only 7 or 8 campers here, and most appear to be campground workers helping close up for the season.  While walking the dogs, I met and struck up a conversation with a wonderful couple who pulled in after us and are from Montreal.  They have been spending the summer visiting the American National Parks out west.  In fact, the wife had broken her arm in Arches National Park.  So their misadventure will be a story for them to reminisce about for years to come.

I-70 to I-90

Westfield KOA, site 15

The grape vines are all picked and golden 

We happened to stay on the same campsite as we did in September.  The foliage now is a far cry from when we were here 7 weeks ago.

Westfield KOA, site 15 on September 8th.

Grape vines on September 8th

Monday 11/1: 311 miles and HOME!!

I-90 to I-81 to US 11

We had showers on and off all the way home today.  We arrived about 2:30 and the dogs were ecstatic.  Our 55 day, 6,710 mile trip was fun and full of adventure. Now the chores involved in unpacking and winterizing the camper.  We also have a lot of yard chores to catch up on before winter.

We saw new places and met new people on this trip.  In spite of all the hype on TV and social media, everyone we met was nice.  We met so many good people.  Maybe we just need to turn off our digital lives and go back to meeting folks face to face.  Something to think about....just a thought.  As the lyrics in a Luke Bryan song say:

"I believe if you just go by the nightly news

Your faith in all mankind

Would be the first thing you lose"

Stay tuned as we plan for a trip south next March and April to get a jump on warm weather.  For now, we'll just hunker down in front of the fireplace for winter in Northern New York.

2022 Fall Trip: On to Gulf Shores, Alabama

Monday, 10/10: 203 miles, parked at the Lafayette KOA in Scott, Louisiana

US 90 to Beaumont, then I-10

One of the new patio sites at Lafayette KOA, site 313 

 On the road about 9:45, arrived 1:15.  That's going to be pretty typical for our drives the next few days. We took US 90 from Houston to Beaumont, where we picked up Interstate 10 for the rest of the trip. It was sunny and warm when we arrived, and we had a beautiful patio site in a newer section at the back of the manmade lake.  This is a nice KOA that was only about half full.

The drive Tuesday is a shorter one, so we had lots of time this morning to dawdle.  Judy decided it would be a good time to run a couple loads of laundry, which we usually do once a week anyway when traveling.  While she was doing that, I went for diesel fuel. Scott, Louisiana advertises itself as the Boudin Capital of the World.  I discovered that when I saw this City of Scott logo on a municipal pickup truck while I was filling up with diesel.

A short Google search revealed 2 things.  First, boudin is a traditional Cajun pork and rice sausage.  Spruce Eats has a great explanation @ https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-boudin-4782417 .  Second, a well know boudin meat shop is located right next to the campground.  So while the laundry was in the dryer, we made a shopping trip and we came away with several items for the fridge, including crawfish boudin and smoked boudin. We also bought some authentic Cajun seasoning and Creole seasoning. 

Tuesday, 10/11: 136 miles, parked at Fontainebleau State Park, Mendeville, LA

We finally got on the road about 11:00 for Fontainebleau after an already busy morning.

Interstate 10 all the way today

Fontainebleau State Park, site 8

Fontainebleau is a beautiful State Park located on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The campground is a small part of a much larger park that includes the remains of a sugar plantation and sugar mill, along with hiking trails and a beach on the shore of the lake.

Slave cabins used to be located under these trees.

Remains of old sugar mill

North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain

Walkway to Lake Pontchartrain pier and beach

Live oak grove

Live Oak and Spanish Moss

I didn't realize it when we traveled this route on the way to Houston, but when we crossed the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, it is the third longest bridge in the United States. Wikipedia states @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atchafalaya_Basin_Bridge that the bridge is 18 miles long, and also ranks as the 14th longest bridge in the world.  The Atchafalaya is the largest wetland and swamp in the United States.

According to https://www.atchafalaya.org/atchafalaya-basin, the Atchafalaya Basin is the nations largest bottomland and swamp.  At almost one millions acres, it is larger than the Florida Everglades.

Credit: https://basinbuddies.org/

Like many of our stops on this trip, we are discovering that one night is just not enough.  There is always more to see and learn than what we can do in one afternoon.  The next time we come to Southern Louisiana, Fontainebleau State Park will definitely be a much longer stop for us.

Wednesday, 10/12: 185 miles, parked at Gulf State Park, Gulf Shores, Alabama

I-10 to US 59 South to Gulf Shores

Gulf State Park, site 460

Toasting our arrival at Gulf State Park

It took us about 4 hours to make the drive today, right in our comfort zone.  This is our fourth time to camp here.  We love this park with the large sites, paved roads, warm weather and 20 plus miles of paved hiking and biking trails.  In fact, we were here this past April for a week.

The main goal this week is R and R, "Rest and Relaxation!!"  We got the bikes out and enjoyed some of the trails.  We did some casual shopping and had a fabulous lunch at The Wharf at Orange Beach.  We made  some wonderful gourmet home cooked meals.  We found time for sitting out under the awning and reading.  We even fit in our weekly laundry chore.  Sounds like we were busy, right?  But no, it was just a wonderful week of pacing and enjoying ourselves.  And on top of all that, we enjoyed it all during wonderful sunny 85 degree weather. 

Yachts at the Intercoastal Harbor at The Wharf, Orange Beach

Main Street at The Wharf

Pan seared white fish at Villaggio Grille

Scallop and arugula salad at Villaggio Grille

Judy's new RAD ebike.

Paved hiking and biking trail

Armadillo Run hiking trail

Grilling under the lights

Jupiter rising over the camper

Long leaf pines in the evening sky

Harvesting sod.  We went for a ride in the country expecting to
see cotton fields. However, no cotton but many turf grass farms instead.

Huge sod farm

Good bye Gulf Shores.  See you in April.

So ends our pleasant and very relaxing 7 day stay in Gulf Shores.  We love this State Park with the large RV sites, warm spring and fall weather, interesting and different foliage, interesting hiking trails, and the over 20 miles of paved biking trails.  We have already made reservations for 11 nights next April here.

Now we start our trek northeast for the final push home.  Cape Hatteras for 5 days first, then a weekend in West Virginia with family and home November 1st.