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Big Meadow Camp Ground off Skyline Drive, VA
It was a nice drive on Skyline Drive to Big Meadows. Similiar to all the driving done on the Blue Ridge Parkway.....no traffic, lots of curves, 35 miles an hour......and very relaxing. Checked-in with the ranger and she told us "no problem.....you can drive the coach and the toad to the "pull-thru" site and disconnect at the site. WRONG! The site they had assigned us had too many trees, was quite curvy, had a lot marker too close to the pull-thru, etc. We did manage to get into it, partially, avoiding knocking a mirror off, narrowly missing a tree on the passenger side of the coach and narrowly missing the lot marker post! We were just not going to get into that site so we backed up a bit (with the Jeep still attached) and managed to position the Jeep so it was impossible to "unhook". Two gentlemen who had been watching this fiasco did help us get unhooked and out of there and we decided to find a different site. The ranger sent us to a "back-in" site. Rod continues to "look at the dots on his mirrors" and doesn't listen to me or watch me give him explicit hand signals on when to turn the steering wheel and back-in. To correct the overshot he pulled forward just enough to have the front left corner of the coach crash into/over a big boulder sitting on the grass. Oopps! The damage was done when he backed up again and yanked the top portion of the boulder and shattered it. Yeah......did a little damage to the coach, too! Will post some of those pictures.
Big Meadows was loaded with deer that just roamed thru the camp ground paying no attention to the campers and in the evening about 5:30 they all went to the "Big Meadow" across the highway to feed. The Lodge served dinner and the night we were there it was so clear that you could see the lights of the city of Shenandoah in the valley below. Quite beautiful. Drove to Luray Caverns on Wednesday and I must tell you "the pictures do not do the cavern justice". It is spectacular! Did a 4 hour trek in an air-conditioned van to Herbert Hoover's Camp Rapidan, his get-away from the heat of Washington D.C.
We departed Big Meadows on Friday, July 16th and drove to Virginia Beach to spend the weekend with my twin brother and sister (Mark and Marsha) and her husband John and all the nieces, their kids, spouses, etc. Had a great time and we were very thankful that they have a pool because it was HOT! Their 7 month old Chocolate Lab, Bailey, and Moxie even spent time in the water.
We didn't make it to Williamsburg on this trip because, you guessed it, we had to get the coach back to the motorhouse hospital in Wildwood, FL. As I write this on Friday morning, July 23rd, we are at Alliance Coach awaiting word on when they will paint. We will either spend the weekend here in the coach if they don't paint until Monday or we will drive the Jeep to Pompano Beach this afternoon to spend 3 or 4 days with Leigh and Andy (pre-delivery of baby) and come back next week to get the motorhouse. Then back to Pompano Beach next week for the pending birth of the grandson!
- comments
Pete Mavromichalis You are back just in time to see Tropical storm Bonnie roar into the Gulf.
Bill Proffitt Too bad someone didn't video tape Rod's meltdown on that little bump (no pun intended) in the road! You guys should get frequent flyer miles at the place in Wildwood, Florida!!! :)
Ray Blush Kathryn: I trust your book of motorhoming experiences to date (which certainly will be a best seller) will be quickly published! Ray
Jim Bordner Rod: Speaking as someone who possesses a Class-A CDL and has someone tried to give me explicit hand-signals while backing the boat/trailer into a tight space – “Trust those dots in the mirror!” Even with a few mishaps it sounds like you are having fun. Best wishes on the birth of your grandson.
Pat Geez guys!!! Is it just me, or is this whole RV thing like a big insurance claims seminar? Same time, it's like you can feel your blood pressure spiking.....This retirement stuff is more stressful than imagined....Think we'll keep working!
Norah "Oh my!"