Two Hams on the Road

Hurricane Matthew and the Blue Ridge Parkway

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We watched and watched the weather forecast and decided that Hurricane Matthew was supposed to head east near Charleston, so it would be fine to join our dealer's annual Owner's Rally about 30 miles west of Williamsburg, VA. We had fine weather when we left Virginia Beach Friday midday. We spent Saturday mostly inside with about 6" of rain and 20 to 30 mph winds. Despite this, we had a good time and stayed dry (as long as we stayed inside). It was interesting to hear about our dealer no longer carrying Grand Design. We didn't suffer storm damage or flooding at home; the power didn't even go out. Love that WIFI based thermostat so we can check or adjust temperature in the house!

From Williamsburg we headed west to our usual spot at the Lynchburg NW KOA, which is about 1 1/2 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway, just north of the James River. We had beautiful clear and cool weather. We met some great folks from Roanoke Rapids, NC in a Reflection 303, and folks from York, PA in an Imagine. This is the first time we've run into any other Grand Design units (not counting owner's rallies) in Virginia.

Although none of the leaves had yet changed, we rode the parkway at bit north, then down VA 56 to visit Crabtree Falls and on to a local orchard. We also rode the parkway south to the Peaks of Otter, then down VA 43 and through the country to the Emerson Creek Pottery. Both 56 and 43 are interesting rides, but never towing anything. We had a bit warmer day, and I did get the camper a bit cleaner using WashWaxAll. The daughter, son-in-law, and 5 year old grandson came up for the weekend, and stayed in a cabin. The grandson had lots of fun with all the Halloween festivities, and won 'most original' for his robot costume. We ended the weekend with a visit to family in Forest, between Lynchburg and Bedford.

Molly did just fine on the trip, never even using her ramp to get into the camper and climbing nearly to the top of Crabtree Falls. So, we have cancelled her second knee surgery (torn CCL like an ACL), and hope she doesn't blow it out before our next trip.

Sadly we came home Monday and winterized, since it is very very unlikely we will go out again this year. We spent 93 nights on the road this year, and traveled about 7800 miles. That's a week or so less than the past two years. We have a total of about 320 nights in our Reflection (almost a year!) and have traveled about 22,000 miles.

We are both looking forward to heading to Florida near the end of January (after the main portion of the home basketball games). I plan to spend the winter working on planning a long trip to Oregon, Washington, California.

The pictures are in order right to left (oh well) -- riding north from the James River on the Parkway, riding south from the James River on the Parkway, the Peaks of Otter picnic area, and our site at the Lynchburg KOA.
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Comments

  1. Justaguy's Avatar
    Nice blog entry. Good luck in Fl. Ya'all are welcome to come back to Texas anytime.

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