2017 - Blog #9 West Virginia to Atlanta and home!

Watsadler Campground on Hartwell Lake in Georgia

After leaving Ohio, we headed southeast toward the Appalachian Mountains.  Our first stop on this last leg of our 5 month journey was at Lazy K’s Campground in Elkview, West Virginia, just a bit northeast of Charleston.    We discovered that good campgrounds are very hard to find in this area.  The roadside park that we had planned to stay in was a disappointment and the nearby national forest campground sounded perfect except not suitable to safely accommodate our 28ft. long trailer.   Our only option was an interesting campground tucked back on a one lane, gravel road in a mountain “holler.”  It rained 2 of the 3 days that we were there and for the last 11 hours that we were there we had no electricity.  In fact, by the time we left, we didn’t even have any water.   It’s a pretty spot and the owner was a nice guy who has dreams of turning this into a destination campground but we think they are just “pipe” dreams. 

Riding over restored railroad trestles on the beautiful Virginia Creeper bike trail

more scenery along the way

The Green Cove Station - restored in the early 1990's

Our next “destination stop” was in Damascus, Virginia where we had reservations at Hayes Creek Side RV Park and at The Bike Station for the shuttle to take us up to Whitetop Mountain.   The Virginia Creeper Bike Trail and the Appalachian Hiking Trail both pass through Damascus and it’s a beautiful area.   When we were out west, we heard about the creeper trail from fellow campers and we are so glad that we took their advice.   The stretch of bike trail from Whitetop into Damascus is a 17mile, downhill ride through the countryside on a re-purposed old railroad track that meanders alongside the cascading Whitetop Laurel Creek and parallels (and sometimes intersects )the Appalachian trail.    We rode it on a crisp fall day with yellow leaves falling down like rain and covering the path like a quilt of orange, red, and yellow patches.  The trail is downhill most of the way, in fact we rode our brakes for the first 16 miles and only had to pedal the last mile into town.  At the halfway point on the trail we stopped at the Creeper Trail Café for lunch.  It was a glorious day and we are already looking forward to riding it again but we’ll ride it in the spring the next time.

a painter's dream scene!

the Whitetop Laurel Creek cascading alongside the trail

the second day we rode the trail through town and ate lunch here.... need we explain why?!

As we headed south, we had planned to stay 5 nights in Springfield Campground, an Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) campground, on Hartwell Lake, just outside of Anderson, South Carolina.   Once there we were chagrined to find that we could only stay for 2 nights as it fills up every weekend “because of Clemson football games.”   Lucky for us we discovered that there was another ACE campground, Watsadler Campground, just 12 miles south, still on Hartwell Lake, that we could get in to.   This was an even nicer campground and the nearby town of Hartwell is a much better town to visit and shop in than the part of Anderson that is closest to the Springfield campground.   Even though we really didn’t care for what we saw in Anderson, we have to admit that eating at The Coach House Restaurant there and meeting the owner was a lot of fun.   The owner is an outspoken Greek man who is a hoot to watch and listen to as he interacts with the customers and his employees.   Jean started talking to him and he ended up giving us a tray of eight peach-cobbler muffins… ‘just because he wanted to do “something nice” for us!

Springfield Campground near Anderson, South Carolina

Finally, we arrived at our last “destination stop” of this trip….. Atlanta!  Actually, we stayed outside of Atlanta in another ACE campground near Cumming, Georgia and the Buford Dam.   The Sawnee Campground was a fabulous place to stay, on Lake Lanier, and just 20 minutes from Jean’s sister, Janet and her husband Tim’s house.   

That's our HiLo and truck in the trees at Sawnee Campground

  While we were there our time was filled with wonderful visits with family.   We were able to spend time visiting with Janet & Tim, Wes (nephew), and Jess (our youngest son) & his girlfriend, Liz.  We were sad that we didn’t get to visit with Torrie (Wes’ wife) who had to stay home to nurse a very sick kitty.   Jean and Janet even got to go to lunch and shopping together, just enjoying long-needed “sister” time.  It was bittersweet for Jean when we left Atlanta!

Family!!!  Wes, Janet, Tim, Liz, Jess, Jerome, and Jean

sister's lunch in Lawrenceville

When we left Atlanta it was pouring down rain and made for a slow day of driving with all the accidents caused by the rain-slick roads, heavy traffic, and drivers that refused to slow down.    We decided that we were fortunate that we only had a couple of drizzling rainy days of driving on this whole trip and this  was the ONLY day of driving in heavy rain.   Just outside of Cordele, we stayed at Georgia Veteran’s Memorial State Park, on Lake Blackshear.  We have stayed here before and really like this campground.   For our last campground we chose to stay at Payne’s Prairie State Park, near Micanopy, just south of Gainesville, Florida.   This is a beautiful “southern” campground nestled under oak and pine canopies bordering on the “prairie”.   We both agreed that this is definitely a place that we want to return to and spend more time.   

Puc Puggy Campground in Payne's Prairie State Park

horses grazing on Payne's Prairie

From here we headed on home to Venice.

No matter how fabulous a time we have had on the road, there is something special about returning home.    The familiarity of our brick and mortar house that we built with our very own blood, sweat, and tears.   The home where we raised our kids and have lived most of our lives.  

home sweet home with palm trees and blooming bromeliads!

  Reuniting with our friends and neighbors and with family that we haven’t seen in the last 5 months.  As we enjoy being home again, we know that we also have wonderful memories of the places we have seen, the new friends we have met, the old friends and family that we have “caught up with”, the experiences and the fun we have had.  We also know so well that these memories will keep niggling at the corners of our minds and eventually will propel us towards planning for our next trip.   Until next time, may the sun smile on your face and warm your heart.   Thank you so much for sharing this journey with us.   Jerome & Jean

2017 - Blog #8 - Mackinac Island to Ohio

view of the Mackinac Bridge from the ferry boat

After leaving the Upper Peninsula, we finally, finally headed south toward more family, friends, and our brick & mortar home.  We crossed the Mackinaw Bridge and stayed in the Mackinaw City Campground for our first stop.  While we were here we took our bikes and rode the ferry over to Mackinac Island where we spent the day celebrating Jean’s birthday.   We especially got a kick out of eating at the Yankee Rebel Tavern while we were on the island.  That night the 22^nd Annual Big Truck Show and Parade of Lights was in Mackinaw City and we stood with the masses of people lining the streets and soaked in their excitement as we watched the parade of approx. 170 customized semi and big trucks all lit up with neon lights, honking, and applying their air brakes, drive across the “Mighty Mac” bridge from St. Ignace, through downtown Mackinaw and back across the bridge.

stopping to eat lunch at our namesake tavern!

no motorized vehicles allowed on this island

Jean just couldn't resist checking out a yardsale on this wealthy little island

another arch rock

Traverse City, our next destination stop, was a great, fun-filled visit packed full of trying to see everyone we wanted to see and do everything we wanted to do in just two weeks.  Even though we weren’t able to see everyone and do everything that we wanted to, we were amazed at how much we really did!   Once again, we were able to park our trailer between Eileen’s and Nick’s (Jerome’s sister & brother) houses.   What fun that Jerome’s cousins, Susan Myers and Pat & Bob Mincel, and our niece, Michaela Jankowski came up from downstate for a visit.   We even were able to go out after dinner twice to hear Allan (Jerome’s brother) play with his band.  One of the evenings we were able to ride our bikes downtown and sit under the stars, on the Grand Traverse Bay while we enjoyed listening to the band.

great camping spot

The Boardman River, which actually runs through Traverse City, is just beautiful and is a kayaker’s dream.   It was a no-brainer that we would just have to kayak it while we were here.  As it turned out, Ed & Heather (Jerome’s daughter and her boyfriend), Eileen, and Allan joined us for the fun.   The other no-brainer “to-do” was to drive south of town, past our “old” house on Hammer Road and to the “High Rollaway” which is an overlook out over the Manistee River.   When the fall colors are at their peak, there isn’t a more beautiful place to be.  Unfortunately for us, the record breaking heat wave while we were here in TC slowed the color change process and it was too early to enjoy the full effect that we had hoped to see.

Jean, Heather & Ed, Eileen, Allan, and Jerome

Ed, Heather, Eileen, and Allan

the view from the High Rollaway lookout

Jean was thrilled to be able to meet for lunch with friends that she worked with when she started her nursing career thirty-nine years ago in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit in Munson Medical Center.   It was so much fun that we forgot to take a picture of us all together again.    A big thank you to Lorraine & Richard Homminga, MaryAnn Warner, Kathy Birdsall, and Richard Hall ( Jean’s awesome nursing director who hired her for her first nursing job), and Eileen, for joining us for such a special time.

some of Eileen's flowers

Our time in TC was planned around Jerome’s 50^th High School Reunion in Maple City.   He graduated from a small school near the Sleeping Bear Dunes and the reunion was held in the gym of Jerome’s middle school, which has now been restored into a restaurant and bar.   Four years of classes joined together and planned for the reunion to be held on the weekend of the Glen Lake “Laker’s” (Jerome’s high school) homecoming football game.    We went to the homecoming game but it was so cold that night that we left during the halftime, when the Laker’s were miserably losing.  To our surprise, we found out that after the halftime, the Laker’s came back strong to make a stunning win... too bad we missed it!   Jerome had a great time seeing so many friends that he hadn’t seen in such a very long time and catching up with his “trouble-maker” buddies.   Jean had a blast just watching Jerome and his buddies reminiscing about their wild and crazy times.

the "bad boys".... Jack, Jerome, and Cliff

Jerome's class of '67

It was bittersweet leaving TC.   We were sad to leave but glad to be on our way to our next destinations – the Virginia Creeper Trail bike ride in Damascus, WV and visiting with our son Jess and his girlfriend Liz, and Jean’s sister and brother-in-law, Janet and Tim, and nephew and his wife, Wes and Torrie, in Atlanta….. and home.

on our last day in TC, we hiked out to see the "hippie tree"

We stopped over in Grand Rapids to see the Grand Prize art festival and are really glad we listened to everyone that talked us into taking the time to stop here and see it.    Our friend, Sue Hakeem, rode her bike into town and saw some of the exhibits with us and we even found out the one of the finalists for the grand prize was staying in the campground (Woodchip Campground) that we stayed in, just a couple of sites over from us.    It was especially meaningful when she stopped over at our campsite to take pictures of our kayaks and told Jerome that they were the most beautiful kayaks that she had ever seen.

"Oil and Water" - on the Grand River - inspired by Standing Rock protest

"SOS (Safety Orange Swimmers) - also on the Grand River

"Team Spirit" - acrylic paintings by Anni Coulter (who we met here and again at the campground)

We’re now camping in the Ottawa Metro Park in Lima, Ohio.   It’s raining, and raining, and raining here.   We thought we had left the trains behind, but we were near one in Grand Rapids and there are lots and lots of them here.    What a surprise that Lima has huge oil refineries here and lots of long, slow trains bringing in the crude oil.   The downtown area is struggling hard to revive and survive but the east side, where we are camping, is thriving and growing.   It will be good to be on our way again in the morning.

As we are winding down on our trip, we hope you too are winding down from the summer months and looking forward to fall being here.  

 ‘Until next time,   ‘stay safe,   Jerome and Jean