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