Williamsport, MD

C&O Canal and towpath

Cushwa Basin (C&O Canal)

We spent our week at Williamsport, MD with the intention of bicycle riding some of the C&O Canal's towpath.  To our surprise, we found the Western Maryland Rail Trail (WMRT) and spent most of our bike riding time there.  The C&O towpath is fairly rough - especially to the north.  The WMRT is paved, so you know why we spent our time there.

WMRT

Otherwise, our Memorial Day was uneventful. We stayed at the Jellystone in Williamsport.  The Jellystone there is what I describe as all the advantages of paying Disney prices without the hassle of traveling to Disney World.  Don't get me wrong.  It's a really nice RV park with lots of activities. But it's not Disney, either.  I think they call it a "destination" park.  No matter, it was full.  I think we saw one cabin not

Our site for Memorial Day

being used, and one RV did leave Sunday.  Otherwise, "packed" is how I describe it.  If you've got kids, it's got a great little waterpark.

We left Wednesday and arrived in Angola, IN just a couple of hours ago.  We take the trailer in for service and a new refrigerator on Monday.  After that and when we're sure things are working OK, we off to Two Harbors, MN.  At least that's the plan.

Later, David

A Week (Almost) at Shenandoah Natl Park

We took a chance, spent 6 nights at Big Meadows Campground, and had a great time.  A lot has changed since our last visit in October.  The campground's woodyard, showers, and laundry are under renovation.  A FEMA trailer is set up to provide showers, the woodyard moved to the gas station, and the closest laundry is at Lewis Campground consisting of one washer & one dryer.

 Despite our dislike of the FEMA trailer showers, they are effective though hot water can be hard to come by (and the showers stay dirty despite the maintenance staff's best attempts to keep them clean). The new showers, restrooms and laundry are going to be spectacular if the recent renovations to the wayside & lodge restrooms are any indication of what's to come.  Hopefully, it's all done by October.

We spent a lot of time in & around Skyland taking hikes along Limberlost, Stony Man, and Passamaquoddy Trails.  The picture at right is of what use to be the hemlock area of the Limberlost Trail.  The dead hemlocks were cut down around 2004 for safety reasons, so this picture is a good example of what the new growth looks like.

At top is Donna by an apple tree along Big Meadow's Nature Trail.  The next picture down is an early evening, northwest view from Big Meadows Lodge.

The picture at right is from Little Stony Man Summit along Passamaquoddy Trail (looking north along Skyline Drive).  This is the first time we've hiked the Passamaquoddy Trail, and it's a great 2-hour walk in the woods.

Today we moved to the Jellystone RV Resort at Williamsport, MD for a week.  The goal this coming week is to bike some of the C&O Canal before moving on to Indiana.

For the inquisitive, we left Big Meadows with little less than a day's worth of freshwater - maybe 20 to 25 gallons or so.  (I'm guessing we arrived with 90 to 95 gallons of freshwater.)  We took advantage of an old boondocker's trick and dumped our dishwater down the blackwater tank to save gray water tank capacity.  It looks like 6 days is just about our max.  It was warm most of the time, so we used less than one 40-lb tank of propane for heating, hot water, cooking, frig & generator on this trip.  We used the generator about an hour a day.

That's it from here.  Everyone enjoy their Memorial Day weekend!  David

Moving to Shenandoah Natl Park

 Our last week in Fredericksburg is almost over.  Donna got in more visits and a few days at the local hospital.  And we've continued to eat too much.  Shopping is done, and it's time to get the truck & trailer ready to move to Shenandoah NP where we'll be on our own (no services) for about six nights.  This will be our longest stay.  Hopefully, some people can come & visit us on the

mountain over the weekend.  We always enjoy the company!

Pictures to the right are of the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg.  We finally got around to walking the circle of the Rappahannock River and Canal Heritage Trails and took these two pictures.  Our clouds are courtesy of Tropical Storm Ana.

Getting back to the trail:  it's a paved path along the river and canal at Fredericksburg.  The trail is good for walking or bicycle riding & is handicapped accessible.  Took us just over an hour to make the complete circuit, so it's about three miles long.  We see other trails near US Route 1, but haven't spent a lot of time trying to locate those.  Maybe in the fall we can do that.

There's no cell phone or internet connectivity while we're at Big meadows in Shenandoah.  So if you need us, leave voicemail or send a text message.  We'll hike out to an overlook or one of the lodges to check messages every one in awhile.

Enjoy your weekend!  David

Still here

Still here.  Donna's been out shopping, volunteering, visiting friends while I hang out at the trailer and go out every once in awhile to shop for a couple of tools we need.  We both go out to eat too much.

We've upgraded our Mifi as it started giving us some problems while at Charleston, SC.  It worked OK here at the KOA (actually, Verizon service leas than ideal here at the KOA), but I could just see it going out on us when we needed it.  So we upgraded to the MiFi 6620L.

Weather's warmer and the pollen has lessened a little.  Took the opportunity to clean some mildew off the awning while I was up on the ladder checking the awning fasteners.  Of course I get the stuff all over that side of the trailer, so that area got a quick wash before putting stuff away.

So that's our week.  Hope yours was good.  Later, David

Weekly Update

Sorry!  I'm late posting this week's status.

We're following the pollen north & back at our ol' haunts of the Fredericksburg KOA here in Virginia.  We've had a busy week.  Donna's making friends with the local dentist and working with her friends at Mary Washington Hospital.  I think her & her friends make a run to Short Pump Mall (Richmond, Va) for much needed girl time shopping tomorrow. We've gotten the truck detailed, and it's now in the shop to get the windshield washer working (I rarely use it, so there's probably some toxic growth in the reservoir preventing fluid from getting out) and transmission/transaxle serviced.

We've also dropped some things off at Goodwill we weren't using, had the bikes serviced, and I finally got our portable satellite antenna to see the eastern arc satellites.  We're here later than usual, so the leaves are out and that blocks the western arc satellites (119 & 129) for the roof top satellite antenna.  The roof top doesn't easily "adjust" to pick up eastern arc satellites, so it was time to read the owner's manual for our potable antenna and do some experimenting.  It worked fine for half a day, then stopped when we recaulked some areas on the trailer near it.  Fussed with it for a couple of hours - moving, reconnecting, etc - and I finally tried to break it (in order to justify a new one that might work easier & better) and it started working.  I guess some electronics will respond to threats!

Anyway, we're fine and will be here for another two weeks.  Then it's off to Big Meadows Campground @ Shenandoah NP for a week or so.  Until next week, David