Sylva – Moonshine Creek

Posted on July 24, 2011 by Missy and Roy

Moonshine Creek Campground – Blueridge Parkway Sylva North Carolina

Darkness arrives almost an hour before the sun sets at Moonshine Creek Campground because this wonderful little campground is tucked back in a narrow valley with high mountain walls on each side. Just a few miles away the temperature was in the 90′s when we arrived but it was in the upper 70′s at the campground. If you are looking for a refuge from the fierce summer heat Moonshine Creek offers a quiet mountain respite. Contributing further to the mountain ambiance a bubbling stream tumbles through the middle of the campground dividing sites on each side of it.

The couple that owns and manages Moonshine Creek is meticulous about the grounds and the bathouse, though old, is clean and well kept. When I asked about hiking in the area the owner didn’t just tell me there were maps in the office but brought one to our site.

The RV sites offer full hookups including cable if you pay a small fee. Wifi is available at the office but does not reach through the campground. Separate sites are set aside for tent usage and there are a few cabins for rent as well.

In the town of Sylva there is a great outfitters store called Black Mountain Outfitters. If you need any new hiking gear, camping gear or just want to browse; it’s two floors of inventory should meet your needs. A Walmart with groceries is also close by.

Our journey on the Blueridge Parkway began about 2.5 miles from Moonshine Creek. We had decided in advance that we would average driving only about 30 miles a day. Our desire was to be deliberately slow in our progress so that we could enjoy the sights and not be pressed by any schedule. This adventure was to cover about 469 miles and take 16 days.

The stretch of the Blueridge Parkway from Cherokee to Asheville in North Carolina is so curvy it is a haven for tourists on motorcycles and they seemed to outnumber people in cars. Scenic overlooks were frequent enough that it took us four hours to drive about 40 miles. Each new vista seemed to offer an ever increasing level of stunning scenery. Our feeling was that if we didn’t stop at every pull off we would have missed something special. The decision to just amble along with no agenda proved to be the only way to truly enjoy the natural eye candy spread before us.

 

 

 

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Tierra Verde – Fort Desoto

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Missy and Roy

There is a good reason that Fort Desoto’s beach was named America’s top beach in 2009. The sugary white sand and crystal clear water have lured us back many times. The campground is one of the most inviting places to stay we have ever encountered. Our friends the Kellars like it so much that it has become one of their favorite RV parks and they are returning for a second stay in January 2011.

Pinellas county operates the park, and like other county owned parks we have stayed at, it is managed extremely well. The staff was helpful and friendly and seemed to enjoy what they were doing. Each site has water and electricity with a dump station nearby. TV reception with an antennae was excellent and cell phone – data signal strength was good as well. The sites are so private in some cases it seems you are alone in the campground. There are also sites located on the water. To be able to rent one of these you will need to book many months in advance.

I could make a vacation out of riding bike trails all day long for days on end. We enjoy riding together but don’t ride to that extreme because I want to stay married. The bike trail ( Greenway ) got me drooling in anticipation and it didn’t let me down. The 34 mile long trail is paved and was easily reached just a few yards from our campsite. Since it is paved it’s an easy and scenic ride.

The beach at Fort Desoto is what draws more people than any other amenity. We love to take long walks on the beach watching the cresting and breaking of the waves as they crash ashore. The sound of the ocean waves is mesmerizing and though we have walked on the beaches for many decades it never gets old. We marvel at the birds flying in formation inches above the water with an ease that makes you wonder why they don’t fall.

During this stay at Fort Desoto we sold our motorhome. The last evening of our time here was spent cleaning and preparing the motorhome for the new owners. We wanted to present it to them as pristine as possible so their RV’ing life would get off to a good start. Then all our belongings were packed into our truck and we headed eastward almost 200 miles to pick up our new RV. Stay tuned for details in our next post.

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The Smokies – Pigeon Forge

Posted on September 24, 2010 by Missy and Roy

Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited national park in the country. The Smokies get more visitors each year than the next three parks added together. It is also one of just a few national parks that collects no entrance fee. The Smokies offer a greater variety of vistas, wildlife, waterfalls, creeks, and foliage than any national park we have visited. That is significant because we’ve been to most of them over over our lifetimes.

We fell in love with the Smokies many decades ago and ended up moving to Pigeon Forge almost thirty years ago. This is a break from the normal pattern of our blogs as we are writing about our home area rather than where we are visiting.

We have never become jaded to the huge playground that surrounds us. We go hiking in the Smokies at least once a month and camp in one of the national park campgrounds 4-5 times a year. We have never tired of the Smokies even though we probably have hiked to places like Laurel Falls more than fifty times.

The three primary campgrounds in the Smokies are Elkmont ( about six milesfrom Gatlinburg ), Cades Cove ( about fourteen miles from Townsend ), and Smokemont ( about six miles from Cherokee North Carolina ). All three campgrounds lure you into the middle of nature in a raw and wild environment. There are no hookups but dump stations, water, and bathrooms are available. If you feel you need hookups there are plenty of commercial campgrounds around the edge of the Smokies. Take a look at rvparkreviews.com and check out the RV parks in Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Townsend, and Cherokee NC.

When you need a break from nature Dollywood can provide a relaxing and enjoyable day listening to mountain music and eating at mountain restaurants. In October the whole month is dedicated to it’s craftsman and artisans.

Almost two thousand people each day during October come to Patriot Park in Pigeon Forge and visit the huge tent hosting the Pigeon Forge Rotary Club’s annual craft fair. One very popular booth is owned by a friend of mine ( Fred ) and he will make a custom wooden sign for your RV with your name on it. If you come in the morning between 10 and 12 you will find me ( Roy ) selling kettle korn, popcorn, ice cream snacks, sodas, and Otis Spunkmeyer cookies. I’ve been involved with the craft fair for 28 years helping raise money for the community with the Pigeon Forge Rotary club.

October is the busiest month of the year in the Smokies because of the leaf change. The colors in my opinion are unrivaled and the cool but comfortable temperatures create our favorite time to enjoy all our mountains have to offer.

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Asheville – Campfire Lodgings

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Missy and Roy

We have finally found a campground in Asheville North Carolina that we actually loved. Campfire Lodgings is about ten minutes from downtown Asheville giving you good access to all the fun the mountain city has to offer.

Camping with electric, water, sewer, cable and wifi is frequently connected with crowded commercial campgrounds. This RV park is quite different with the space surrounding each site more like what you would find in a state or national park. Their premium sites offer concrete pads and views that will make you think twice about even leaving the campground.

If you have family that would like to go with you and they have no RV or tent Campfire Lodgings has some inviting Yurts available on a nightly basis. They come equipped with full kitchens and bathrooms along with comfortable bedrooms.

There is a separate area for tent camping that offered the only disappointment of our labor day weekend adventure. Our daughter, son in law, and three grandchildren had no water or electric hookups at their tent site. The tent site was beautiful but leaving out the hookups seems short sighted.

Visiting the Biltmore Estate in Asheville is something that shouldn’t be missed. The gardens and tours of the mansion provide glimpses into a very opulent lifestyle from the past. The gardens relax you like a salve for the soul.

After Biltmore one our favorite Asheville attractions is the REI store. We have chosen a lifestyle that puts us outside playing in God’s natural playground and this store tempts you with toys to make it even more fun. We had to restrain ourselves from needing a mortgage to leave the place. Stylish clothes, innovative tents, super small camp stoves, and many more camping enhancements will tease you into spending some money.

Downtown Asheville is unlike almost any other city we have visited. The eclectic stores offer a pleasant variety of both strange and useful products. The restaurants provide a diversion from franchise eateries and result in a lasting memory. When we arrived downtown it reminded us in many ways of Key West. The people were dressed in fashion that ranged from 70′s era hippie to modern day businessman. As we parked our cars and walked out of the parking garage we saw the end of a protest. The people were marching dressed in black costumes with sea animal heads. If you want to visit a place where the people seem to take pride in being different Asheville should be added to your bucket list of places to go.

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100 Years of RV History

Posted on August 28, 2010 by Missy and Roy

We are writing this newest blog for two reasons. First the RV industry is celebrating it’s 100th anniversary and we love history, and second because we are fascinated by the evolution of the RV and it’s importance to our family for the past 50 years.

This RV on the left is known as Adam’s Bungalow and was built about 1917 and the one on the right is an early pop up called the Cozy Camper from about 1916.

This ad from a 1910 Popular Mechanic magazine would have probably caused me to go the nearest dealership with a serious drool problem.

Missy and I have fallen in love with the hybrid travel trailer. We actually had one before the motor home that was totaled during a storm. This may have been the earliest known model of a hybrid though it wasn’t a trailer. The concept was amazing. It was known as the 1920 Zaglemeyer Kampcar.

Probably the most famous early RV’ers were Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone and John Burroughs who camped together yearly from 1913 to 1924 and captured the world’s attention. The media followed their trips with a fervor that generated a national desire to go car camping.

This a very cool looking motor home from 1937 called the Hunt Housecar. I can imagine that when you first drove this one home half your neighbors must have wondered about your sanity and the other half were green with envy. That part of RV’ing hasn’t changed.

This picture is of a group of campers about 1925 in the Overland Park Trailer Camp. Traveling together in groups was very popular at the time and many families would seek adventure sometimes in large caravans.

Camping began to evolve rapidly in the 50′s as more and more manufacturers began meeting the demands of the burgeoning vagabonds. The economy was booming and the demand for more creature comforts while camping caused great innovations. RV style camping began to attract the middle class very strongly and many alternatives became available.

The first picture is a 1950′s era truck camper and the second is a 1951 Victour.

When I was a boy we as a family saw a similar motor home to this one. It’s a 1960′s era Corvair Ultravan. I’m not sure how my Dad got away without buying it because my Mom and my brothers and I all wanted it badly.

In fairness to my father he built the coolest custom motor home with all the amenities we affectionately called the Blue Goose. We loved that RV and had many adventures in it.

Class C motor homes became very popular in the 70′s and a lot of people owned them and used them even during the times that gasoline prices tripled in a short period of time. The picture on the top is a 1970′s era Blazon class C motor home and the next amazed all of us when it hit the market in the 70′s: the GMC motorhome. Missy and I bought our first RV during this time. It looked a lot like the Blazon. We filled the gas tank at a cost of .35 per gallon the first time and a few weeks later it cost us 1.10 per gallon. We often wondered how we were going to afford to travel in it.

Fifth wheels have become very popular among full timer RV’ers and this early 1970′s model is elegant looking and seems very long for the time period.

Travel Trailers became so elaborate that I remember seeing a Carriage like this one that cost more than the house we bought in the late 70′s. This trailer caused many “wow’s” when we saw it an RV show.

Slide outs have changed the RV so that we recently sat in one that had a inside width measurement of 13’7”. Many RV’s now boast close to 400 square feet and some have slideouts called full wall slides. Take a look at this floorplan and wonder like I do what our great grandkids will be Rv’ing in.

Posted in Stories | 1 Comment

Cheyenne Mountain State Park

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Missy and Roy

Cheyenne Mountain State Park in Colorado Springs is the newest state park in Colorado’s system. As a result of the newness it is superbly designed and of course everything looks new. The individual camp sites compare to the nicest and most expensive private RV parks we’ve stayed in. As nice as the sites are though the price is the same as most other Colorado State Park campgrounds. Each site had electric, water and sewer connections and the view from nearly every site was amazing.

The bath houses are new and like the rest of Colorado’s state parks the showers were pay showers. It’s a whopping 50 cents for four minutes. Laundry facilities are available at the camper services building.

There is almost no shade because you are in the alpine plains area, but there is little need for it. With your awning out preventing the direct sun sitting outside was quite comfortable in late July. Nights are cool making for great sleeping with windows open and a blanket.

Hiking and biking in Cheyenne Mountain is astounding. The trails are well marked and the altitude increase is no more than 120 feet on any of them. We saw numerous deer on the trails and a bear was just behind our campsite the day we were leaving.

This campground is close to everything in the Colorado Springs area. Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, and Manitou Springs are within a comfortable 20-25 minute drive. The drive up Pikes Peak is an adventure that everyone should experience at least once. The road is partially paved and then becomes hard packed dirt. Don’t rush this experience as there are so many incredible vistas on the way up and back down. Just looking down on clouds and thunderstorms from a place on the ground is a rare and awe inspiring sight. They have even have a mandatory brake check on the way down to make sure your brakes are not hot. If they are there is a very unique gift store across from the parking lot you can visit during your required thirty minute cooling off period ( yes the motorhome brakes did get hot ). On the way up the mountain there are several excellent picnic areas. Just eating lunch at 11,000 feet was a thrill to us.

The Garden of the Gods is another one of those very unusual places that should not be avoided if you are in the vicinity. Hiking or biking through the park will cause you to scratch your head in wonder and delight. This place just shows God’s desire to fascinate us with odd and unexpected shapes rising out of the ground where they don’t seem to belong. I’m sure He chuckles when He sees us looking at the rocks and saying wow!

Manitou Springs offers the delight of shopping in a different environment than most of us are used to. Many of the stores are filled within Native American arts and crafts. The mountain culture is evident in the little town and just strolling through the stores was well worth an afternoon of rest from hiking and biking.

We found Cheyenne Mountain State Park and it’s campground to be one of those jewels that you just have to tell all of your friends about.

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Cost of a 30 day trip to Colorado

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Missy and Roy

We thought it might be helpful to share the cost of our recent thirty day trip to Colorado. Most people assume it cost much more to take a long trip than it really does. When we take shorter vacations we tend to spend more money to entertain oursleves than when our trips are more like living in a new place than vacationing.

We were so wrapped up in playing that we didn’t go out to eat many times and also didn’t participate in many tourist trap activities. On the other hand we also didn’t cut corners when it came to our creature comforts or the toys needed for our play.

Gasoline (4108 miles ) $888.09
Camping Fees ( 30 nights ) $806.00
Groceries and camping supplies $556.02
Meals eaten out and snacks $272.21
Recreation $133.14
Repairs to RV ( road damage ) $188.93
Laundry $48.00
Misc $93.96
Total $2,986.35

This comes out to an average of $96.41 per day

These figures don’t include the cost of the RV or it’s depreciation. We believe that even though the cost of RV’ing has risen over the years these figures reveal that it’s still a great and reasonably priced way to travel.

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Fecal Shower: Yuk or HEHE

Posted on August 22, 2010 by Missy and Roy

If you haven’t seen the Robin Williams movie RV you should. This hilarious portrayal of a family RV vacation made Missy and I laugh like few movies ever have. It does a great job of taking common RV mishaps and adventures and brings them to a fabulous family bonding ending.

I have been RV’ing for almost my whole life. I started with my Father, Mother and four brothers growing up and have continued as an adult with my children and grandchildren. During those many years I have been a spectacle for others and have been a spectator watching others as hilarious mishaps have occured.

Come on now we all know we have pulled out our chairs ( at least in our imaginations ) and watched as we knew something was getting ready to happen. My favorite people to laugh at are myself and my friends and since all RV’ers are my friends I have had plenty to laugh at.

When we were in our late twenties we were preparing to move to another state, had sold our house and were living in our motorhome for about two weeks. Since it was in February and we were in Ohio it was very cold. We had prepared for the frigid conditions in all ways except one. We had running water and the inside of the RV was warm so what could go wrong. The motorhome was hooked up to sewer but like all well educated but new RV’ers we kept the sewer dump valve closed. That worked just fine until it got down to about 0 degrees one night. The next morning the valve was frozen, and since the tank was full it had to be dumped. The forecast indicated the temperature would not even reach freezing so I had no choice. My young family had to be taken care so I bravely and brashly headed outside to fix the problem. The hairdryer didn’t work so I pulled the RV over to the dump station. I then positioned the dump valve over the cement area sloping to the hole waiting to receive the waste. My next step was to aim the water from the hose provided at the open but frozen tank.

It worked! The dam busted and all the waste came out. The problem was I was squated down right in front of and way too close to the valve opening. I took a fecal shower from about mid torso to my shoes. When I went to the door of the RV to go and get cleaned up Missy was totally out of control laughing at me but told me I was not coming in like that.

Skinny dipping can be fun but not when it’s below freezing. The bath house was not open that time of year so I did the only sensible thing I could. My underwear were untouched so preserving some dignity I took a very cold, very quick outdoor shower and prayed that Missy would let me in.

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X-press Lounger

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Missy and Roy

We’re so impressed with these chairs after we’ve had them for six months that we had to write a review about them. We wanted chairs that would fold very compactly and yet be comfortable to sit in. The Xpress lounger folds up to just three inches thick and wieghs about nine pounds.

We have used them on several RV trips including our just completed thirty day trip to Colorado. Sometimes I wake up several hours before Missy and will sit outside and read. Most camp chairs are either uncomfortable or just too large to stow away. These are so compact that we went to a festival where we had to carry our chairs for about a mile and had no problem doing so.

We bought ours at Bass Pro Shops for $39.99 each just before Christmas of 2009. Click on the video and you can watch a video showing the chairs being folded.

I had some reluctance reviewing these chairs without having had them for a while. Now they have been proven by considerable use. We’ve had more expensive chairs but nothing has matched the combined comfort and portability of these chairs.

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Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Missy and Roy

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison provoked many nervous gasps as we stared from precipeses down into open gashes in the earth. From one overlook called the Preacher’s pulpit you could hang over the cliff and look straight down over 2700 feet to the barely visible river below. It was enough to make anybodies knees weak.

The campground is one of the few in any national park to have electric hookups. There were no water or sewage hookups at the campsites. The park has to truck in their water daily so filling up your RV water tank is not an option. As a result you have to carry in all the water needed for your stay. Also there is no sewage dump in the park so it has to be toted out as well. A reserve portable tank solved our problem and several sizes are available. Other than the electric hookups the Rv sites are rustic and nature in it’s gorgeous unchanged state surrounds each campsite.

On the day we arrived a Doe was lying just behind our Rv site and didn’t even bother moving as we setup the motorhome. The pleasure of enjoying her for so long in our site bode well for the rest of our stay. On the second day at the South Rim Campground we had a bear stroll through the site next to ours. Several times during our stay we saw deer running through our site and occasionally slowly grazing with no hurries.
Missy and I hiked several trails along the rim of the canyon. One trail was called the rim trail and they mean litterally on the rim of the canyon. One of the most interesting trails was the Warren overlook. The trailhead started at the end of the rim road. As we about two thirds of the way along the trail we were standing on a ridge with outstanding views to right and left. On one side you could see awesome views of the canyon and on the other side was a tremendous view down into the valley looking over the town of Montrose Colorado.
The road along the south rim of the canyon had numerous stops and overlooks that had walks varying from very easy to moderate. Each stop revealed breath taking views and evoking constant statements of “wow”. The South Rim campground is an excellent base from which to see The Black Canyon, drive the rim road and hike the trails of the national park.
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