Our Little Guy Travels

Not too many places to choose from which seems to be the way it goes for us on our last day of sleep on the road. This place had great reviews so we called ahead and told her we were coming. It’s basically a parking lot with electric hookups and wifi. But be warned, byob (bring your own bathroom.) Good thing we brought our porta potty which we hadn’t used until this place. If we had known, we would have stayed in goodland Kansas at the KOA we stayed in last summer. For $5 more dollars we could have had it all. We didn’t even take a picture.
We are road weary and with just 250 miles to go we are ready to see our lovely town of Salida again.

$20 for electric hookup and picnic table. Again hardly anyone else here.

I seem to have a system where we back up to the end of a picnic table and set up the umbrella tied to the table and small bungees to the latches of the galley lid.

We were surprised it stated raining right after we settled in for the night. I jumped out and threw Simons bed back in the car and propped up the chairs so they wouldn’t get filled with water. The rain lasted maybe 10 minutes but repeated through the night with short bursts.

Over all a pleasant park. There’s a large pond nearby that we rode our bikes to, running Simon.

We stopped at the Clinton IGA grocery store before heading to camp. We thought the prices were a little high, a perspective we attributed to having shopped at Walmart’s most of the trip.

Susan thinks the town of Clinton feels like a step back in time. Old, tired, stuck in their ways. The camp host said he’s lived here his whole life. It seems like the sort of place kids would move away from and where you’d not want to move to. Guess living a farming life is just foreign to us.

The sunset was pretty though. This pic doesn’t do it justice.

After two nights in Four Mile Creek State Park it was hard to stay in a Walmart parking lot last night. So we decided to head down to Clay’s Park. It’s a little pricey but not too bad for a “primitively site” at $35. But sure could not beat the peaceful, quite serenity of our surroundings. We discovered that parking under the trees alleviated the damp wetness of the morning dew. When we stayed here a few years ago we woke up to much condensation inside our cabin. Not this time though.

Here’s looking out our doors this morning after a super great nights sleep.

The peacefulness was only disturbed by our watching the presidential debate last night. Fortunately our surroundings allowed us to relax and forget about the craziness.

Since we didn’t even unhook last night it was easy packing up this morning. We headed on down early to Pleasant Valley Tear Drop Trailers. They’ve got a beautiful new location sort of near where they were before, but that’s another post.

Here’s our site number 177. It’s a back in with no hook ups. We don’t need em anyway. The expansive lawn is nice.
They require proof of rabies vaccination for Simon. We’re waiting for Mt Shavano Animal Hospital to send verification to Susan’s email. Then we’ll tell them we have our Simon with us or we might just wait until they ask us.
Lake Ontario is beautiful. Pics to come. It’s nice to stop and rest in such a beautiful place.

We scanned the parking lot for a little while before we decided on this spot.

Woke up to partly cloudy skies and headed for the Blue Ridge Parkway. Skies quickly socked in and we found ourselves in thick fog. Every now and then the skies cleared and we could see the beauty of the mountains and Shenandoah national park. But it was frustrating not to have the sunny days we are used to so we got off the parkway and decided to go further than we thought to shorten our day tomorrow.
When we got to Chambersburg it was deja vu. We had been to this Walmart before! Checking our blog confirmed this. Shortly after we arrived a big RV parked behind of us. Same thing happened the last time we were here!

We are road weary and ready to reach our destination. Simon’s ear hurts him now so we want to take care of that.

We didn’t realize it until We got here but we stayed here three years ago in our Silver Shadow tear drop. I think we’re parked in the very same spot even.

We wanted to tour the Blue Ridge Parkway National Park today but it was so foggy we didn’t get to see much of it. We considered staying in one of the campgrounds but thought it wouldn’t have been worth the hassle with mud and rain and not far enough along to where we are going. So another Walmart it is for the night. We were surprised to discover we’d stayed here before. We’re even able to verify it by reading past posts (See it here).

Here’s a pic I took today hoping it will work for our blog header.

Here’s a pic of Simon scratching himself. See how he can balance on three legs while using a back leg to scratch his ear. Well now that I look at it he isn’t balancing on three legs in this picture, but I did see him do it today.

He’s traveling well, but we think he has an ear infection . We’re thinking of taking him to a vet.

Found a pretty nice spot at this Walmart parking lot. It’s quiet. We are way on the other side near the home and garden parts. Not too many people over here because they close that section for the night. The 24 hour part of the store is on the other side of the parking lot.

Met a guy from my home town parked right next to us about my same age. He must be doing better than me. Here’s his rig.

Actually he said he has a hard time finding places to park. I kind of like our set up better I think.

Late start after taking long hot showers in the campground. Finally on the road by 9:30 but we soon realized we were now in the eastern time zone so it was really 10:30.
Took the back roads to Bristol VA enjoying the scenery and conversations. Ricks back was bothering him so we decided to stop for a while and decide where to stop got the night. Losing that hour made for a short travel day. Campgrounds were expensive so we headed for Roanoke and hopefully a friendly Walmart. Got lucky again and we’re all tucked in a rear corner of the parking lot.
We’re starting to be concerned about Simon’s ear which we think is infected. He still has a good appetite and is as active as he can be while traveling but his ear is clearly bothering him. Keeping an eye on it and him. Poor guy. Heading for the skyline drive and Shenandoah national park tomorrow.

Started out by 8:00. Walmart parking lot was a bit noisy. Made our way through small towns along Route 70 until we got to Nashville around noon. Made the obligatory stop at the Grand Old Opry House but opted out of the 45 minute tour ($24😳). Stopped in the Opry Mill mall for a quick lunch and awesome people watching. Back on the road by 1:30 heading east towards Knoxville. Decided to stay where we could get a shower before moving on. Getting here from I-40 was some serious back roads with sharp hairpin curves and miles of wondering if Siri directed us right. It’s worth it. We are sharing the campground with just two other parties. Quiet indeed.

We were lucky enough to have lots of food in the frig and dined on our own tomatoes and other leftovers. We entered the eastern time zone just as we got in the park so it’s later than we think. We’ve not had any trouble sleeping though.

Kind of far off the beaten path but we picked a great night to be here. Only one other camper right now. Looks like all the sites are reserved for this weekend, but we will be long gone. Looks like they’ve made lots of improvements here recently. Nice looking campgrounds. I bet it would get noisy when there are lots of people here. Sounds seem to carry.
There are some sort of nuts all over the ground. Gonna have to take a few with us and figure out what they are. They look kind of like chestnuts but that can’t be right.
Much nicer here than Walmart parking lot. I think we’ll sleep in in the morning.

Much quieter here than the one in Jackson. That Walmart was right on I-40 and the parking lot was very sloped. At least this one is relatively flat and much less crowded.

I think I failed to plugin the trailer completely this morning. The T@G battery showed low voltage. Had to buy a styrofoam cooler and ice to save the milk and yogurt. Just glad to be settled in for the night.

Just arrived here. Simple set up. Simon is fed. Now our turn. We’re in site number 90. $8.96 per nite. The showers are a short walk. 74 degrees. Nice evening.
I find the driving a little nerving in this part of the country. I’m used to seeing the mountains and the ability to see long distances. Here we’re in the trees most of the time and no telling what’s up ahead. 😳 if it wasn’t for Siri I’m sure we’d be lost.

Ran across this quiet spot 20 minutes from Clayton. There’s no one here. We are pleased so far with how we’ve pared down our packing. The Subie doesn’t have as much cargo space as the pickup but is pulling well.

We camped in site #32 at Monarch Park for two nights. It’s less than 30 minutes from home so it’s an easy pack up and go. We set up on Friday night and came back to Salida on Saturday for a couple of events in town. Quick shower and back to camp! It was the first time we have left the T@G alone, locked up in camp. We were home unpacked by noon. Although the site itself was adequate, site #34 is the better site.

Weekends are busy in Colorado but Crested Butte seems the busiest for us. We found this spot on the Slate river about 6 miles out of town. Very dusty and dry and nothing left in or near the trees. Price was right though! Our set up worked great and we didn’t miss having a picnic table. Next trip we will be looking for trees and shade!

Rikki took us four-wheeling over Paradise Pass.  There were some wildflowers still and the views were spectacular!

img 7107

fullsizerender

fullsizerender1

This is a very large site. There’s enough room to park three cars in the parking space. Susan came up early Thursday morning to grab a site in this campground and this was the last one available for a two or three night stay. There are lots of shaded spots throughout the campground but this one and a couple around it are wide open with out trees. I’m hoping it won’t get too hot. But because we’re finding our T@G to be more self contained than our SS, we wanted to try setting up closer to the trailer not depending so much on a provided picnic table.

It’s very quiet here at monarch park tonight. We are enjoying being off the grid and away from the daily news.

Here’s our site for tonight. We decided on a whim to check out Monarch Park while we drove near it. We discovered not very many people camping here and decided to pay for a spot and we’d go home to get our trailer.

What worked out well was most of our gear was still packed from the trip we took this past week. It’s nice and cool here compared to Salida today.