Berea, KY

I'm really glad we had a fun time at the lodge at Buckhorn Lake last night, because today was hot and long. After a continental breakfast there, Auggie and I packed up and headed out. Bye, perfect pool!

The drive out confirmed that it was a good idea to stick at the lodge yesterday. The campground we would have stayed at was a good 25 minutes away (despite someone telling us it was only 5 miles away), and was really just a place to park the RV. I gave myself many mental high-fives.

Let's talk GPS devices. 98% of the time they are a real godsend, and I would never want to go back to a time without them. The other 2% of the time, they can tell you to "continue 0.7 miles and then take a right" when you are looking at this.

Yes, that is a body of water with a pontoon parked in it. No thanks.

It was another long driving day, with our 60 miles taking 3 hours. Only two quick stops in there. The first was a full-service gas station. I didn't know there were many of those still around. By the way, what's the rule of thumb for tipping the attendants at these stations? Is it supposed to be a percentage? I have trouble tipping more than a dollar or two because I'd rather pump it myself for any more than that. That can't be the proper etiquette for determining though.

The second stop was a roadside pit stop because we ran into Daddy along his route! That was the first time that had happened and we were excited to stumble upon his location. Kentucky is really making me miss Indiana at the moment. All of the roads are narrow, there's not many crossroads, and since it's not flat like Indiana visibility is always an issue. We had to drive for another two miles just to find a place to pull over. As you can imagine, I get a lot of stares behind the wheel of the 30-foot RV in the backwoods. Today one family came out onto their porch just to watch me attempt a turnaround on (you guessed it) a narrow road. I gave up on that one eventually, probably out of pride, and found a relatively flat driveway I could use another mile down the road.

I wish I had a picture of Chris cycling so you could see what the view is as a driver, but alas, I was fully focused on operating the vehicle and August wasn't quick enough with the camera. I will sub in a really cute "Blue Steel" picture of August a few days ago on the old Radio Flyer we brought along for him.

Also, Chris wound up getting really lost today. I think he said he his ride was supposed to be 75 miles for the day and he ended up around 105. A guy came out of his house to see if he needed help (awesome) and gave him directions to help him get back to his route after which he got even more off of it (not so awesome). By the time he arrived a few hours later than he expected, we were all a little grouchy.

We were in Berea, which was almost 90 degrees today, and ended up strolling around Wal-Mart for a while just to stay cool. Stopping for one of my favorite cold beverages helped a lot. We've identified the broken part on the A/C unit and the good news is it should be a $10 fix, but the hard part will be locating it as it's somewhat of a specialty item apparently. We may make a detour through Lexington tomorrow to pick it up. Everyone keep your fingers crossed that tomorrow night we will be blessed with cold air.

We are at the Oh Kentucky campground tonight. The KOA is a palace compared to this particular park. One of our favorite hobbies is checking out the other outfits around the place to see if ours is the oldest/most run down. Usually it is, but not tonight by a long shot.

A few thoughts on Virginia and Kentucky so far. I thought the change from Virginia to Kentucky would be gradual and that the sights would slowly start to feel different. It was actually very distinct and immediate when we entered Kentucky. Virginia shares Appalachia as well, but it in no way seems to share the economic blight that is apparent in what we've seen of Kentucky so far. All of Virginia had a pastoral vibe, with healthy gardens and loads of historical significance, even the western part of it. The Kentucky we've driven through is very clearly the ghost of what was once a place settled for the coal and timber booms. I have too much respect for these people to take pictures of their situation for my silly little blog, but trust me when I say that you will probably never encounter another area with so many mobile homes, vehicles up on blocks, and general lack of prosperity. The areas we drove through today are consistently ranked among the very poorest in the entire country, with more than half of the residents living below the poverty line. Chris put it well when he said that "Someone once made a lot of money off of the strip mining that was done around here, but it doesn't seem to be any of the people who live here."

I am hoping to pack in a little more fun to our travelling tomorrow and am still eagerly awaiting shorter driving days for August's sake.

Buckhorn Lake State Resort Park

This morning started with the one thing about campgrounds that gets on my nerves - there's always a kid riding his bike around at 7am waking everyone up. We had zero room to be upset though, as we had a crying little one during the night that I'm sure our neighbors heard through the open window. I soon realized August was infatuated with watching the bike riders, and I'm starting to wonder if in a few years he's going to be that kid.

"If only I was a little bit bigger"



I wanted to take some more time this morning to see what Breaks Interstate Park had to offer, so we stuck around for a while. The park was having some activities as part of a special weekend event, so we decided to hit up the Bird Feeder Craft Activity. It was near our campsite, so we could just stroll over there. It was supposed to start at 10:00, but at around 10:30 there still didn't seem to be anything happening at the designated spot. I started talking to another family that was waiting and they said the Park Naturalist had been "held up by a pack of Girl Scouts" but should be there soon. A few minutes later he showed up and I could tell immediately we were in for an experience.

This guy was actually here when the gorge started forming I think. I hope I'm half as spry when I'm his age. I'll let you in on the secret steps to bird feeder making, and I am not making this up. You start with a bagel, tie a piece of string around it, then tie a piece of bear corn (also know as squaw corn) next to it. Then you smear peanut butter on both sides of the bagel, and dip it into a bucket of bird seed. Voila! August's dexterity wasn't quite there for this task, so we were able to take the demo bird feeder home to the RV with us.

After that we packed up and headed out. We were determined to try to make use of the nice pool and splash pad we'd seen yesterday, so we stopped by there on the way. There were lots of cars and lots of people, so I figured we were in. We got all changed, and schlepped across the parking area to get some swimming in. At the ticket counter, the guy said, "We're not letting anyone in right now. They found poop in the pool." Sure enough, everyone was out of the water and it appeared that it was going to be some time before it would get the all clear. We decided we could pass on the pool, and headed on towards our destination for the day.

So the first leg of Kentucky exploring began. The downside to driving through the mountains is that going 90 miles takes way more than the hour and a half you could assume it would take in Indiana. August and I spent almost three hours in the RV this afternoon. It's tough to ask that of him, and it's hard to feel good about it. He usually handles it as well as you could expect, which we are thankful for. I will be glad when the terrain starts to even out and the drives are shorter.

On our drive we took a wrong turn in Hazard, KY and ended up in a county park. We had some extra time before we were to meet Chris, so I decided to let August stretch and maybe check out the playground. There were a bunch of cars there, and I soon noticed we were at the Perry County Relay for Life. It's always awesome to see people rallying for the fight against cancer in honor of their loved ones and we enjoyed walking around taking it in.

What else could we do but hit the photo booth the Kiwanis Club had set up? One of the props was this hilarious Duck Dynasty head band and beard wig, and August wore it so well. Of course, photo booths weren't designed for 18-month-olds, so it was hard to get a good pic. Lots of fun though, and I was really glad we had happened upon it.

We ended up missing one turn in the mountains near our destination, Buckhorn Lake State Resort Park, and by the time we got turned around and to the park, I was feeling a little frustrated and ready to stay in one place. I stopped at the lodge

to get directions to the closest campground, and was dismayed to learn it was another 5 miles around the mountain, and did not seem to have a pool. Long-distance bicyclists have a real affinity for an end of the day swim, and August was itching for a swim with daddy. The lodge was really nice, and we decided to splurge and stay here instead of continuing on down the road. I am soaking up the A/C right now, and the pool was perfect for a late afternoon swim.
This is how August felt about swimming.

Dinner was at the Dining Room here, and it was delicious. We've been having good luck with our meals out lately. A couple of years ago the cafeteria at DePauw served something called a "Hot Brown" and I tried it. It wasn't like anything I'd had, and now I always order it if I happen to see it on a menu, which is rare. Horribly unhealthy, but so yummy. It is basically toast, with ham and turkey on top, covered in cheese sauce, and topped with tomatoes and bacon. Sounds a little weird, tastes like heaven. The Kentucky Hot Brown offered here did not disappoint. Chris had the philly cheesesteak and we shared some green beans and an order of pintos and cornbread. Pintos seem to be a common side dish down here.

We met a super nice guy from Zionsville named Jim who was here for his wife's family reunion. He was intrigued and enthusiastic about our trip, and it was great to happen upon some Hoosier Hospitality down here. To top it all off, he had secretly picked up the tab for our dinner. The world is a better place for kindnesses like that. If you happen to read this, thanks Jim!

Breaks Interstate Park

This morning found us in Damascus, waking up with the sounds of the creek a couple hundred feet from our campsite. Chris managed an early take off to prepare for a long riding day. August and I explored the creek a bit after breakfast, then packed up and headed out of the campground. It was an interesting one, because it was in a beautiful location, nestled between the creek and the Creeper Trail, but it wasn't very well kept.

The owners were friendly, going out of their way to thank me before we left, but the whole property was like grandpa's old rusty shed with stuff lying around. There was a row of quaint tiny cabins on a deck overlooking the creek, but seeing the condition of everything else at the place I wouldn't have considered renting one of them.

Before leaving the area I took a drive through Damascus since the rain the night before had cut our exploring short. This morning confirmed that it is a really neat little town. Even though tourism from hikers seems to be its only industry, it didn't appear to be struggling. The houses were all tidy, and I saw a large park and multiple trails that had lots of users, both out-of-town and local. Population 840, it can still support about a dozen restaurants, 3 bike rental/shuttle shops, and even a couple of outfitters. Trail Town, U.S.A. seems to be a happy place indeed. I wanted Auggie to try out the park, but he was asleep within minutes of leaving the campground. So, off we went towards our next destination.

I knew Chris was riding about 80 miles today, so I was surprised to see the GPS said it would take us two hours to get to our stop. The first hour was uneventful and I was starting to wonder how this could possibly take so long. Then we hit the mountains again. The road we took through most of the mountains was one of the most remote I've ever been on. For 25 miles of hairpin turns and very narrow roads, the only other vehicles we saw were a couple of coal trucks. We've hit coal territory, and it will continue through much of Kentucky. I was very glad to return to civilization eventually, with other passenger cars and places to turn around should we need to.

The last 15 miles of our route took us on Chris' route, 76. I hoped several times that the other drivers were as worried about not clobbering a bicyclist as I was knowing my husband was out there somewhere. It helped to know that he always hits the ditch when he is on a winding road and sees a car approaching in his mirror. The drive today was challenging for us, so I could only imagine how tough it was going for Chris. He had texted early on that it was going well, and I didn't have the heart to tell him about the awful steep grades waiting for him up the road.

After all of that, we made it to Breaks Interstate Park. Interstate because it lies partially in Virginia and partially in Kentucky. It features two rivers that run through the deepest gorge east of the Mississippi. Nicknamed the "Grand Canyon of the South", it is very scenic though to compare it to the Grand Canyon is a bit of a stretch. This is the hilliest park I've been to. To get from here to the camp store is the only place I'd realistically walk or bike within the park, and even that wore me out. Normally I make fun of people who go to a park and then drive everywhere in it, but today that was us. It wouldn't take long to get super fit here if you ditched your car.

There were a few glitches today - something in our A/C unit broke this morning so we're temporarily without it, the really nice pool and splash pad here happened to be closed today only for maintenance, and the ride today took a toll on Chris, who was in worse shape tonight than he's been so far. That shouldn't be surprising, as he was due for a bad day somewhere near the beginning of the trip and to make it 6 days until he hit real pain is pretty impressive. Some ice and a good dinner helped his mood and muscles. Even with the glitches though, I have no complaints. We are living the dream out here.

The night ended with a milestone - August's first s'mores! He's been a super picky eater lately so I had low expectations for how much he'd enjoy it. He liked it though and asked for another "bah" (bite) and went crazy over the couple of extra marshmallows he got. It was a success, and it was nice to hit a high note before bedtime.

Tomorrow holds a new adventure - Kentucky. I can tell we're getting close because I've seen three pickup truck beds here full of kids and babies driving around the park. Hopefully August doesn't get any ideas, because that ain't happening!

Return to Wytheville, VA

Whoops. Chris will tell you I've been paranoid since we started that one day we would end up at totally different locations. He teased me a little as I would double check and then triple check the town and address for meeting up. Well, today my paranoia was legitimized. Totally my fault, but made for an interesting afternoon. We decided on the Iron Horse Campground in Damascus as our destination tonight. Chris headed out, and we followed a little while later. We stopped for groceries and lunch, and then I went to put the address into the GPS. I used my phone to do a quick Google search for the campground and the first 5 links that came up were Iron Mountain Horse Campground. I noticed the city for the address was not Damascus, but I figured it was close and zoomed out on the map to check the direction. It looked...probably right? Gave Chris a quick call to double check, but no answer (not surprising as we've been going through several areas in the mountains with no cell reception).

You can guess where this story is going. Forty minutes of winding country roads later we pull into a horse stable and campground. Seemed like a nice place, I thought, and started looking for Chris. This time I was the one getting no cell reception.

While we were hanging out on the deck of the unmanned tack shop, I started looking for a map, still not sure if we were in the right place. There was a very hard to read one posted on the wall. After much squinting, I realized...we were a long way from Damascus. A nice lady stopped by to ask if we needed anything and helpfully pointed out that "Damascus was over an hour and a half away". Like I said, whoops.

So, off we went back through Wytheville in search of the Iron Horse Campground! The upsides were that it was a beautiful drive all around, probably the best scenery so far, and I drove about 10 miles on Route 76 (Chris' bike route), so it was neat to imagine what it had been like to ride through. I'll admit I have been missing riding myself, just a little here and there in the evenings. We made it to the right campground without event this time.

Shown below, August "Wake Me Up When We Get There" Hill.

Chris suggested we ride the Virginia Creeper Trail (real name) a few miles into the town of Damascus and get dinner. It was a gorgeous night for a ride, not too hot and the Creeper Trail is a great one. Once in town we couldn't resist the views at the Old Mill Restaurant, a surprisingly large inn/conference center/restaurant that overlooks the wide Laurel Creek. The food was tasty, not too expensive, and our server was really friendly as well. Chris ordered The Virginian, which was fried chicken with sausage gravy and a side of mashed potatoes with seasonal vegetables. I got the rainbow trout with cornbread stuffing and vegetables, and we shared a smoked trout dip appetizer. I would definitely recommend it to other travelers.

"May I see the milk list please?"

Six different trails go through Damascus, including the Appalachian Trail, which makes it a town very familiar with and happy to receive the business of hikers and cyclists. Our server said 50 Appalachian Trail hikers had been through the inn alone over the weekend. There is a church hostel that I'm sure sees even more hikers than the inn since it is free, so I wonder what the total numbers for it are. I am hoping to do a little exploring tomorrow before taking off.

It was starting to look like rain, so we headed straight back to the campground after dinner instead of taking an extended ride as we planned. On our ride home, it was a full rain by about a mile from our campsite, and we were treated to this unique scene.

A perfect ending to the day.

Wytheville, VA

Today I decided to try a new tactic - get to the next campground as early as possible and see what kind of trouble we could get into there during the day. Since we free camped last night, heading out pretty much just involved putting the RV in gear. We stopped at a Hardee's so I could get my breakfast sandwich fix. It's funny how quickly I've adapted to the big rig driving mindset. There is always one thing I'm thinking about when we're stopping someplace: where and how to park! Yesterday I pulled off a marvelous feat of backing out of a gas station / McDonald's drive thru combo after a service truck was parked blocking the pull-through. As you can tell, I am still proud of myself. I'm getting a little more comfortable with the whole process though, and was able to find a good spot at Hardee's. I think the trucking brethren are really starting to embrace Auggie and me into the fold.

One thing though, we walked out of the restaurant to find this ace parking job in front of us. There was parking all the way around the store, and it was in no way full.

Who decides 5 feet of clearance in front of a 30-foot vehicle is a good place to put your valuable car?! We had just enough space to back out and get out of there, but I'm still questioning that person's intelligence.

From there we headed straight to Wytheville and got our spot at the KOA. Chris has been purposely trying to plan our stops at places with full-service campgrounds, which makes a big difference for having lots for Auggie to explore and do.

After an afternoon nap, me and the little guy decided to figure out every patch of the place we're staying. He had a lot of fun at this neat little wooden train. It's easy to tell if he's really into something because he starts yelling and making a lot of "Oooh!" faces.

We also spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out if this dog in front of the camp store was real. After much fretting and guarded petting from the safety of mommy's arms, he finally declared that whatever it was, it was friendly.

It's actually pretty chilly here today, with a high in the low 60's and the rain has continued intermittently. Once Chris arrived they went for a quick dip in the pool. August has decided he's big enough to carry anything, especially his float.

Then we grilled out brats and Italian sausages at one of the cottage grills we "borrowed". Some mixed greens salad and roasted potatoes made it the best homemade meal we've had on the trip yet. When I do the tour of the RV on here, I'll show how little space there is for food prep. It's definitely a learning experience.

Blue Ridge Parkway

Today was our first laundry day, oh boy. I decided to get it done this morning before we left the KOA outside of Charlottesville as we weren't sure where we'd be staying tonight and Chris' clean bicycling garment supply was about to run out (yes, it's mostly spandex). It occurred to me as I was hauling three loads of laundry and one squirmy blond up the hill to the campground laundromat that it was entirely possible I was working harder than the person bicycling up the Blue Ridge Parkway. But, we made it and I have a new rule that when possible we should always do the laundry in the evening when we are both around.

Then we packed up and headed out towards our destination of Troutville, VA where Chris had a meeting set up with a Cub Scout pack and robotics students. Typically my drive takes us on interstates as the shortest way. The ultimate traveler's dilemma - do we take the shortest route to minimize the time August has to be in the carseat, or do we take the scenic route? As much as I love meandering, I love giving August time to play like the happy kid he is, so I usually am fine with taking the interstate. Because of the direction we headed out of Charlottesville, we actually ended up taking back roads most of the way today. It was rolling Virginia farms at their finest, and it took a while. I had my first taste of windy mountain driving. It wasn't bad, but it might be tough to get used to inconveniencing everyone behind me by going half the speed limit.

It was an extra long day of bicycling for Chris, and we met up with just enough time to get dinner before meeting the Cub Scout pack at the Troutville Town Park. They talked about Chris' journey, and about robotics. The kids asked questions like "How many bikes do you need to get across the U.S.?" Chris said, "Uh, one - unless it gets stolen." Most of the kids seemed to be middle school age and they had a junior leader who I would guess to be about 15 or 16. I quite enjoyed hearing him pepper the troop with preparedness questions, like what to do in case of lightning, whether you should bring a towel on the upcoming canoe trip, and whether you can get sunburned when it is cloudy outside. They were adorable, and I wanted to take them all home with us in the RV.

Tonight we are boondocking again, and it has been raining most of the afternoon and evening. There are a couple of Appalachian Trail hikers at this park tonight as well. We feel pretty smug having an RV instead of their tents, ha. This is an area where both the TransAmerica Trail and the Appalachian Trail come through, so this town of 430 people is well acquainted with having hikers and bikers come through looking for a place to stay. The park here has a sign that reads "Call 555-555-5555 for 76 cyclists and AT hikers for instructions on camping". It is really inspiring to see so many people pursuing their big journeys, and even more so to see the communities welcoming them and giving them a free and safe place to stay for the night.

Monticello, Rain Delays and Burgers

We didn't have any plans for touring this morning, so August and I were able to have a slow morning getting ready to leave the Ashland, Virginia campground we stayed at last night. Even though I'm not usually one to have just a waffle for breakfast, I thought Auggie would really enjoy the treat so we headed over to the lobby to get some. He was pretty unimpressed with the waffle though, so mom ended up with the syrup + other carbs breakfast. It was still a big win for him though as he got to have a whole bottle of chocolate milk to himself.

After tidying things up inside the RV, we did the usual packing away of the RV utilities. I am getting much better at this process in general, and hopefully I'll get it down from half an hour to 10 minutes or so in time. The wild card is definitely keeping the little one nearby while doing it. He is proving to be an apt assistant though. He sits on the log to supervise, holds onto my notebook of instructions for myself, and reads the steps out loud when I forget them. (Ok, maybe not that last part). Most importantly, he looks pretty cute while hanging out.

We headed out around check-out time and drove towards Monticello, our meet-up point with Chris. Monticello is the estate of Thomas Jefferson, and is located just outside Charlottesville, Virginia. I had heard it was gorgeous and very advanced for the early 1800s era when it was built.

When we arrived in the late afternoon the tours had been suspended due to thunderstorms. The house is basically built at the very top of a mountain, so it was easy to see why the staff would be cautious with not sending tourists up to serve as lightning rods. I should add here that even the visitor's center was an architectural delight, with rich hardwood beams, siding and benches surrounding a courtyard with lovely trees. We waited about an hour to see if the weather would clear off and the tours would resume, and happily were rewarded. Off to the shuttle and up the mountain we went!

Key points I learned from the tour: Jefferson was one busy man who dedicated himself to public service, and had the good fortune of inheriting 3,000 prime acres in Virginia on which to build his self-described "architectural essay". He wrote the Declaration of Independence at the age of 33, then served as governor of Virginia, U.S. Trade Commissioner to France, U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Vice President, and President, before at the keen age of 76 taking up a retirement hobby - founding the University of Virginia.

A man of many contradictions, he abhorred slavery while never freeing any of his own hundreds of slaves. As most people know, it is also widely believed that he fathered several children with one of his slaves after the death of his wife. I appreciated the fact that the tour guides and exhibitions there don't gloss over some of the more shameful notes of his life. They emphasize that Jefferson's constant building and re-building of things to his taste on the estate were only possible with the endless skilled labor of his slaves, and the fact that Jefferson didn't consider black people or women to be deserving of equality.

:

All in all, it was worth the $25 entry fee and even without knowing the history behind it the grounds and building are exquisite. There is a separate tour of the gardens and grounds, which I would have taken if we'd had more time. August got a little vocal during the tour, and since all the rooms are pretty small, Chris decided to take him outside for a break. I came out of the building to this view. Surely this is what Jefferson intended for Monticello:

Charlottesville is a lively college town with lots going on, and also one of the more populated areas along the route. So, even though Chris was exhausted we sought out a highly rated burger place to end the day with. Citizen Burger Bar is located in the downtown area, and serves local, grass-fed beef and all organic ingredients. Anytime you consider a restaurant like this, assume your burger and fries will be in the $20 range. I happen to really enjoy that style of burgers, so I was able to overcome the sticker shock. I got the Steakhouse Burger, loaded with bacon, onion strings, barbecue sauce and cheddar on a toasted brioche bun. Delicious! The weather was mercifully cool all evening after the rain showers, and there was a small street band playing on the plaza next to the patio, which made for great atmosphere.