Spring 2023: Charlotte, North Carolina then on to West Virginia and HOME

Wednesday 5/10:  252 miles and parked at Carowinds Camp Wilderness, Charlotte, NC

I-95 to I-26 to I-77

Site 199

The campground is actually part of the Carowinds Amusement Center next door.  An interesting feature here is that everything is cashless.  I bought a three dollar souvenir refrigerator magnet, and they would not accept cash.  Credit card only.  Safer, the staff said.  Makes me wonder, will cash become almost obsolete someday?  On the other hand, because of the convince fee credit cards charge, some businesses prefer cash?  🤔

I had arranged to meet old friends Patty and Dale.  We arrived at their house about 5:00 and had a great catch up visit and wonderful dinner.  I had not seen them in 12 years, and Judy had never met them.  We were back to the camper by 8:00.  Now, Charlotte traffic was not as wonderful.  The normal 30 minute drive to their place took us an hour during rush hour traffic.  The return trip at 7:30 took only 30 minutes.  Dale and Patty said you just have to learn how to avoid the traffic with timing and route selection.

Patty worked with me at Potsdam High School back in my teaching days.

Thursday 5/11:  150 miles, camped at the KOA in Wytheville, Virginia

I-77 all the way.

With only a short 3 hour drive today, we didn't leave Charlotte until 11:00, and we checked in at Wytheville right on schedule about 2:00. The warm and sunny weather is still holding, although as we go inland and uphill, the temps are cooling off. This campground was one of the ones that was one of our early stops on this trip, and now is one of our last few stops. It is very convenient right off I-77.  And to top it off, we purchased the cheapest diesel fuel of the entire trip here.

Friday 5/12: 220 miles and parked the driveway of Matt and Jaime Sipher, Shinnston, WV

I-77 to US 19 to I-79

This is one of our go-to family stops on our longer RV trips.  The other long distance family go-to stops are in Eugene, Oregon and Houston, Texas.

Venus setting over their home in West Virginia.

Monday 5/15:  258 miles, parked at the KOA in Westfield, NY

I-79 to I-90 to US 11

It was a smooth drive today.  I-79 to I-90.  The KOA is located right off I-90 about 10 miles into New York.  The campground had recently opened for the 2023 year and was not crowded at all.  I took Parker for a walk across the street to view Lake Erie.  There is no water access here because of the 10 foot cliffs along the shore line.   We ordered dinner from the onsite food truck, and I had the fried Lake Erie smelt.

Tuesday 5/16:  309 miles and HOME!!!

I-90 to I-81 to US 11.

Today was a long, but uneventful drive.  We backed in to our driveway just about 2:30.  The dogs were ecstatic to run free in the back yard, and we had 8 weeks of mail to think about.  Over the next several days we will unpack some daily necessary items, but we leave the power on to the RV all summer, so a lot of the refrigerator stuff will stay there.

As always, it fun to travel, but also great to land back home.  We are blessed to have the best of both worlds.  So to sum it all up, we traveled 5,326 miles over 55 nights and 56 days while camping in 12 states.  We connected with a lot of family and friends, and also met new friends.  Thank you for following along with us.  Sharing is a way for us to stay connected with our roots.

So, stay tuned for further adventures, and be well.

Spring 2023: Savannah

 Sunday 5/7:  82 miles and parked at CreekFire RV Resort, Savannah, Georgia

CreekFire RV Resort, site 119.

We had the shortest drive of the trip today at only 2 hours and checked in at Creekfire about 1:00.  We have stayed at this resort before, and it is excellent.  Large manicured sites and lots of area to walk the dogs.  Parker met another new friend.  Our neighbors in the motorhome had 2 retrievers.  Maggie Mae is a female puppy 2 weeks younger than Parker and Molly is her 3 year old mother.  Parker and Maggie played for about 10 minutes and went crazy.  Unfortunately they are only staying one night.

Long time friends Robert Trithart and Charlotte Landon, who live in Savannah and are transplanted Northern New Yorkers, brought pizza for dinner at the camper.  Charlotte and I taught together at Potsdam High School back in the day.  Char had scheduled a glass blowing class for us at Hostess City Hot Glass at 7:30 this evening, and wow, did we ever have a great time!!

Ron, the owner of the shop was our teacher, and he was great.  He had a bubbling Type A personality and was full of enthusiasm.  We each got to make an implosion bowl, and he let us do 80% of the work.  He was careful, but trusting and encouraged each one of us, even if we made a slight mistake.  He obviously loves his craft and is a great teacher.  We, to put it simply, took a ball of hot glass, rolled it in colored glass chips, blew air into the hollow tube holding the glass to create a balloon, and then sucked air out to cause the bottom of the balloon to collapse, thus creating a bowl.  Trust me, the process actually works!!!

Adding color to the molten glass ball.

Shaping the molten ball.

Blowing air into the ball to create the balloon.

Sucking air out to collapse the ball into a bowl.

A final blast of heat.

Adding the bowl to molten glass to create a base.

Group photo with Ron and Chris.

Robert and Charlotte with the team.

On Monday we met Robert and Char at their house, and they drove to downtown Savannah in the Historic District.  We spent the afternoon walking along the riverfront, exploring the repurposed original power plant that is now a shopping center and event venue.  We did some shopping along the riverfront, and had an early dinner at the River House.  Robert ordered some fried green tomatoes to share.  Judy and I had fish tacos, and I just had to try the lobster crab bisque, which was excellent!

Stairs of Death

We were back to the camper by 7:30 to walk the dogs and spend a quiet evening.

Parker wanting his share of attention.

Tuesday morning we met Char and Robert at the nearby Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens.  The gardens are run by the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension.  We spent a wonderful 2 hours walking around the various theme gardens.

We also took a stroll through the orchid house.  What a collection of shapes and colors!

We happened to get lucky and see a rare occurrence.  The Agave americana,  commonly called, misleading, the century plant.  This reference in Wikipedia explains how the plant generally only lives to be 10 to 30 years old.  It produces a tall flowered stem just before it dies.  The plant reproduces by producing adventitious shoots from the base. 

Today is the last day of our 36 day string of camping on or near the ocean and fresh seafood.  So to celebrate, and say goodbye,  Robert prepared his homemade shrimp and cheesy grits for dinner, and it was excellent and on par with some of the best I've had.  After dinner we went to Hostess City Hot Glass and picked up our glass blowing projects.  They turned out amazing.  We have had such a grand time with Char and Robert.  Lots of learning, lots of laughs, and lots of memories.

Well, it's finally time to wind up our southern trip this year.  As we make the 6 day run home, we'll have stops in Charlotte, NC and Wytheville, VA.  We will spend the weekend in West Virginia with son Matt and family, and on to home by Tuesday.