Happy Thanksgiving!

 Happy Thanksgiving!

We left Fries, VA on Sunday the 13th and arrived at Stone Mountain, GA on Monday the 14th.  We made it with all our tires and slides still working.  We here to visit Donna's brother and sister-in-law.  We got to see Elizabeth and one of their friends (family), so we've had a great visit.  We're back in Stone Mountain Park, but we're in a site that's over by the dam and parallel to the park road.  Nice site and close to restrooms, but not our favorite area (shown in the picture above).  Hilly, so you get a good work out walking around.

Still waiting on a part to repair the hydraulic system.  So far we've been able to find a happy spot with the leveling system that seems to keep both us and the hydraulic leveling system happy.  Springs on a valve controlling the flow of fluid to move the front legs up or down are weak after 12 years of usage.  One direction appears stronger than the other.  If we can remember to move the legs one specific direction as the last movement of the front legs, the leveling system holds; otherwise the front of the trailer drifts down over a couple of hours. 

Put all new tires on the truck while we're here.  That covers Christmas for the next three years!

We plan to move tomorrow to Birmingham, AL for Thanksgiving.  As always, that's the plan and always subject to change. Everyone have a great holiday and be safe on the road.  We plan to!  Hope to be in Gulf Shores, AL Sunday.  David

New River Trail State Park, Fries, Va

 

Happy Veterans Day!

Time to catch everyone up.  We were able to get the trailer back on Nov 1st.  We moved it to the KOA in Fredericksburg, VA where we dewinterized it.  That was on a Tuesday.  We moved back in on Wednesday, and left Friday for High Point, NC to visit friends there.  

This past Monday we moved back north to Fries, VA next to the New River Trail State Park (we're at the Fries RV Park) for some bicycle riding.  We got a couple of rides in (Tuesday & Wednesday) and got an almost two hour walk near Galax, VA) in on Thursday.

Today is Veterans Day, we're still in Fries, and we haven't lost another wheel, yet.  We're riding out the remnants of Hurricane Nicole.  It's predicted the rain will lighten up tomorrow, and we plan to head south on Sunday once temps get above freezing.  We've got reservations for an overnight stop near Gaffney, SC for Sunday.  We move on to Stone Mountain on Monday to visit Doug & Louise.  That's the plan and gets everyone up to date with us, where we're at, and what we've got planned.

As to our location, the New River Trail State Park is about 57 miles long and ranges from an easement of 100 feet wide to areas that is measured in acres.  It runs from Galax, VA to Pulaski, VA.  We're on a 5.5 mile spur that runs from Fries, VA to a point called Fries Junction on the trail.  The trail is relatively level (railroad grade) and covered in small gravel.  Pictures from our bicycle ride are posted below.

Fries RV Park is a small park tucked into a hollow in Fries, VA.  It was recommended to us by members of the Folks-on-Spokes, Gulf Shores.  We're told it is big-rig friendly and it is, but you need to talk with the owner so he can plan ahead (and use the park's directions list on its website when coming here).  It's really a nice campground, and the owner will try to place you (big-rig) into a buddy site for more room.  The park is not satellite friendly. The Wi-Fi is great. The cable requires you to hook up using the cable company's box (think 1980s technology though the equipment is smaller and can handle HDMI cables).  As our trailer is 12 years old and there's nothing "smart" about our TV & speaker system, using the cable company's cable box is usually a big fail for us.  However, the owner is tech savvy and was able to hook us up running the cable input through one of our unused exterior satellite TV hookups to the cable company's box (using the line we use for the portable, exterior satellite TV antenna).  He ran the signal from the cable company's box through an unused TV cable input line we have conveniently stored (zipped tied) out of the way in a far corner of the stereo system cabinet.  For the first time in 12 years, this all worked.  We've color coded the lines we used so we can repeat this if we ever have to.

I know, long post but I needed to cover two weeks and document how the cable system hooked up for future reference.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  More later, David