Chilling out at Lake Thurmond Recreation Area

October 30-November 4, 2013
Appling, Georgia
Petersburg COE Campground



One of the obvious benefits of reading RV blogs is learning about good places to camp that are not on our radar. I heard about this very large Corps of Engineer Recreation Area from Paul of R Sanity RV Adventures as he and his wife Marti volunteered for their first work camping position here this fall.  We have been very impressed with every COE park we have been lucky enough to stay at, so I was curious to see where this park was and if sites were available. We hit it lucky on both points as the location of this campground, Appling, Georgia, was a perfect midway point to our next location on the South Carolina coast.  I was able to book a choice site on-line through Reserve America, and the biggest bonus is the cost: with a senior national park pass, you pay half-price—$12 a night for a site with 50 amp electric and water hook-ups.



This map gives you an idea of the size of Lake Thurmond or Clarks Hill Lake.  (It’s called Thurmond on the South Carolina side and Clarks Hill on the Georgia side.)



Having never been to this part of Georgia before, we were not really sure to what to expect. The park is situated on a very large lake; in fact, it is the “largest Corps of Engineers lake east of the Mississippi River encompassing 1,200 miles of shoreline, 70,000 acres of water and 80,000 acres of land”—Recreation.gov. The closest town to the park is Augusta, home of the Masters Golf Tournament. Other than that, I still can’t tell you a thing about Augusta as we never even bothered to venture the 18 miles into town. 

In spite of our last minute reservations, we scored a great site, #48, right on the water looking to the southwest.  No satellite TV but who cares when you can have campfires every night and a gorgeous view of the night skies. The dogs were in heaven too as the first day we were there no one else was in our loop and I let them get out their zoomies. (Definition of zoomies from Plop Dog Blog: Zoomies is the act of running full speed, usually in a circular motion around the backyard, open field or in your living room.)  It didn’t take long before they were both in the water having a good ole time.  Did I have my camera to record this event? Well, no.

By the time we arrived here, our plan was to just chill out for a few days. It turns out we met another couple doing the same thing. Shortly after arriving, I discovered that Jane of Flamingo on a Stick, and her husband John were in site #58, just one loop away.  I took a walk and knocked on their door to introduce myself. Jane and I spent the next hour on their “patio” sharing away. There is definitely a special connection when you meet folks who have bravely gone in the same direction as you—selling one’s home and choosing this gypsy lifestyle.  I also learned that Jane and I have another connection and that is being mom to two sons. (Those of you who have daughters would never understand.) 



Having been deprived of the usual social connections I thrive on, I invited Jane and John over for happy hour which we enjoyed way beyond happy hour.  If you have been following my blog, you would know that I have been collecting wine as we travel across the country and I was eager to share.  Vic and I both felt grateful to meet this special couple who have a year on us as full-timers. We hope to have another chance to get together again. It sounds like the giant Tampa RV Show in January might be a grand opportunity for a reunion.





While the guys were visiting around the fire, Jane and I grabbed our cameras, excited to catch a beautiful sunset on the lake that night.





One disappointment of our stay was learning the work camping couples I was looking forward to meeting had gone on vacation for the week so we did not get a chance to meet Paul and Marti or Mike and Terri. However, I discovered Jim and Judy of The Meandering Maddox’s were scheduled to arrive here the evening before we left so we had the chance to meet them also. We have been following each other for quite a while now so it was very special to meet this lovely couple in person and hear their fabulous Georgia accents. And for the record, Jim’s is twangier than Judy’s. Ironically, their only son used to work at Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis (our home town), but now lives in Portland. It sounds likely we will be in Oregon at the same time next summer but we hope to cross paths sooner than that this winter in Florida. (For many RVers, all roads this time of year lead to Flo-ri-da. Imagine that. . . . ) Jim and Judy are also planning to attend the big Tampa RV show in January.  I am starting to consider organizing a blogger extraordinaire Tampa RV Show gathering. Chime in if you are interested.  Neither of us took any photos of each other.  Here is a photo of them I stole from their blog.












Back to our 5-day stay here. It is easy to write about since chilling out was our main pastime. We had one very rainy day that was part of the same storm that moved eastward after flooding Texas.   



We wisely chose to see a matinee that day, Captain Phillips, at a theater about 12 miles down the road. Even though we knew the outcome, the film was highly engaging and Tom Hanks performance Oscar-worthy for sure. Another pastime here involved renting two Red Box discs of House of Cards, a series that was a Netflix exclusive starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright. We would give it an 8 out of 10; some parts of the Washington, D.C. political scene seemed overblown, but not having an insider’s perspective we may be way off base.  Another film we rented that I had been anxious to see was Baz Luhrmann’s Great Gatsby.  This version of Gatsby excelled in portraying the visual delights of the setting vs. the dramatic storyline. I would give it a 6 or 7 overall, but still think it was worth seeing—especially for the Red Box price of $1.30.

After playing tourist in so many places in our cross-country tour, I was more than ready to hang around a campfire, take a few walks, fish a little in the lake, and maybe go kayaking. We burned up all the rest of the firewood we have been carrying since July and were lucky enough to have a camp host bring us at least two more loads that he discovered at empty sites. We did not get in any kayaking due to strong wind on the lake and rather chilly temperatures. Sometimes just having a great campground that calls you to stay there and NOT do anything else is the highest accolade. 

More fun to come: the South Carolina low country. Fresh seafood at long last!

A short stay in a North Carolina mountain retreat

October 26-29, 2013
Mountain Falls Luxury Motorcoach Resort
Lake Toxaway, North Carolina




In planning our fall adventures in the Blue Ridge Mountains, we wanted to take advantage of some free stays at campgrounds we learned about at the Tampa RV show last January.  Our experience staying at the first one, Deer Creek Motorcoach Resort, in Galax, Virginia was fantastic so we were looking forward to another free 3-night stay in a similar resort.  



Lake Toxaway on the map looks like it would be about an hour’s drive from Asheville as it is only 50 miles. I was already forewarned when I called a few days ahead for a reservation at Mountain Falls that we needed to be sure to take Hwy 64 to Brevard and then east to Lake Toxaway as other routes are not recommended for motorhomes.  Okay then. Hwy 64 from Brevard to the resort was 20-25 mph curves up and down hills for about 16 miles. Not exactly an easy trip to get to this place, but knowing that the resort was built for large motorhomes gave us more confidence as they all had to get there the same way.

We arrived from Asheville about two hours later and were pleased to see an absolutely gorgeous park nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains. This place was formerly an Outdoor Resort of America called the Blue Ridge Mountains Motorcoach Resort before they sold out. It is now owned by a couple who is making tremendous improvements with a two year expansion plan. Most of the lots are owned, but they are open to the public for rentals at about $50 a night.  It is a motorcoach only resort restricted to Class A or Class C motorhomes that are 26’ or more in length.  



We actually had our choice of several lots as this time of year most of the owners had already headed south. They had assigned us to a owner’s lot that had an outdoor fireplace, granite kitchen, and patio furniture, but renters are not allowed to use these amenities. (I think that is somewhat typical—not sure.)

The resort has a lovely pool and spa, but they were also already closed for the season. The elevation is  3200’, so the temperatures were pretty chilly here already—60s in the day with mid-40s overnight. They also have a nine-hole par 3 golf course that is part of the resort and a small lake with a fountain.



Our first day here we just took advantage of walking around this fairly large park (140 sites with another 85 in development) and enjoying the landscaping with many plants ablaze in fall color.








We were especially impressed with the new section they area adding to this park called The Ridge at the top of the mountain. The views were incredible and these lots are designed to have coach houses, or as coach cottages as they call them.









If this area was a place I wanted to spend about six months, it would be very tempting to check out the cost.  However, we don’t see ourselves ever purchasing a lot as it would defeat our intention to see as much of this country as possible before we go back to a stick house.  I think to make it worth your while you would need to find a place that you would want to use for at least six months and have a long term plan to continue owning a motorhome.  So far in our travels, Florida is the only place we would consider staying that long, but the bigger question is for how many years?  I thought these free stays would include a sales presentation but that never happened in either place.  It would have been interesting to hear their pitch for owning vs. renting as a way to be better understand what motivates people to buy their own lots.

On day two I had hopes of hiking around Lake Toxaway, but I should have done more research.  We didn’t find a public access point, only a country club and some private home developments.  Instead we drove back on the very curvy road to check out the mountain town of Brevard and get some groceries.  The town has a charming historic district with lots of cute shops, restaurants, and historic buildings. It was voted one of the coolest small towns in America so it must have more attractions than meets the eye. I did learn it is famous for its music festivals in the summer and annual cycling events.

On our last day here, we decided to head in the other direction (west) to check out the town of Franklin, North Carolina in the Smoky Mountains. I had met a couple who spends every fall at a place they highly recommended called the Great Outdoors RV Resort (not to be confused with the Outdoor Resort franchise.)   Franklin supposedly has much more to offer than the smaller town of Brevard, so we thought it worthwhile to check out as a place we might want to stay for a month next fall.

The road to Franklin was a much more intense curvy drive than we had imagined. In fact, neither of us ever remember being on such a curvy road for so many miles ever in our lives (40 miles took us about 90 minutes). Yet, we were surprised to see several high end real estate developments along the way. Apparently, these folks don’t mind the challenging drive to get to their mountain retreat.



The resort turned out not to be very attractive to us (it felt congested), nor we were that taken with the area. I looked up popular activities for Franklin and the most popular seems to be digging for sapphires in one of several local mines.  Not something we have ever done, but it would be fun to find a big gemstone.  The Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts is located here which is probably a big draw as it is a rather new state of the art theater (opened in 2009) with big name events.



On the way back we went a slightly different route to check out the mountain village of      Highlands.  Located on a plateau in the southern Appalachian Mountains, this small town was probably the most appealing we had seen. Several high end golf courses in the area probably contribute to the resort-like feeling of the town, but in a tasteful vs. touristy way.  For a town with a population of less than a 1000, it seems to have a lot to offer with four theaters, several antique dealers, historic inns, and a center for the visual arts—in addition to the outdoor recreation in the area. I wished we had saved our appetites for a meal here as several of the restaurants have won Wine Spectator awards.  Vic was already road weary from the curvy drive and it was getting late in the day or we would have spent a couple hours wandering around main street.  I didn’t take any photos but found this chamber of commerce photo that captures the romantic feeling of the town.



That wraps up our 3-day stay in this area of the North Carolina.  Our next major destination was going to be the South Carolina coast but I discovered a COE (where several bloggers I read were staying) that was about halfway to the coast, so our next stop is Petersburg Campground at the Strom Thurmond Corps of Engineer Recreation area.

Playing tourists in Asheville: Part II

October 23-26, 2013
Asheville, North Carolina
Lake Powhatan Campground



The plan for our second day in Asheville was to tour the 8000 acre Biltmore Estate.  We added the audio tour to our ticket price as they do not offer guided tours of the house—just some additional tours of behind the scene places. We like audio tours as you can go at your own pace and hear background details that help you appreciate what you are seeing. Fortunately, no photos are allowed in this 120 bedroom home, so I am not faced with the task of creating an on-line tour here. Here’s a little background on the estate.



The home itself took hundreds of workers six years to build and was officially completed on Dec. 25, 1895. It was the private home of George and Edith Vanderbilt.They only had one daughter who inherited the estate with her husband. They lived in it as their private home until 1930. Since 1930, the home has been open to the public as a national historic treasure and “one of the most prominent examples of the Gilded Age.”  Today the 178,000 sq. ft. home is run as a family business by George’s great grandson.  The architectural details of the home are astounding.



It sure felt like we were in France touring the great chateaus of the Loire Valley.  I especially love gargoyles, so here is a small sampling.









I was a little nervous about finding this home’s ostentatious display of wealth disturbing. It wasn’t. The architecture and art simply took my breath away. In spite of the home’s opulence, I found many of the rooms quite inviting--especially the winter garden room, the library, and the billiards room.  Highlights of the tour for us were seeing the Renoir and Sargent paintings, the 16th century Flemish tapestries, George’s 10,000 volume collection of books, the wide array of vintage silk velvet fabrics and wall coverings, intricately hand-carved furniture from Renaissance Europe, and the Halloween Room—a large room in the basement whose brick walls are painted with murals featuring witches, goblins, bats and black cats. No photos, have to use your imagination.



I also need to say something about the views from the Biltmore. We were told by our “audio guide” that George Vanderbilt owned all the property from his estate to the other side of Pisgah Mountain—about 125,000 acres.  The estate included farms, gardens, nurseries, a small town, a church, and a school—all with the idea of it being self-sustaining. In the early 1980s, the dairy farms were converted to vineyards and a winery was built on the premises (about four miles from the main house).  The French Broad River runs through the property and you can even take a guided canoe or kayak trip on the grounds of the estate. There area also hiking and biking trails on the grounds that you can explore as part of your admission price or by adding a second day for a nominal fee. I wish the daytime temps weren’t so cold or we would have liked to take advantage of this opportunity.








After three hours of touring the home, we felt pretty hungry. There are five restaurants on the grounds with lots of choices. We chose to eat in the Stables Café—they converted the horse stables into a charming restaurant. The food was delicious and reasonable. 



After a late lunch, we really wanted to walk the grounds, but the temps outside were in the 40s with a bone-chilling wind. Since it was too cold for a walk, a drive to the winery sounded like a good option. 





The winery used to be a dairy farm on the estate. It was converted to a vineyard in 1971 and today it has become the most visited winery in the United States. They grow 150 acres of vinifera grapes on the estates but 80% of the grapes for their annual production of over a million bottles of wine come from different regions in California. The Biltmore winery in Antler Village (about four miles from the house) offers free tastings of more than twenty wines, plus they offer a large selection of reserve wine tastings for a small fee. We indulged in a little of both. The wines were surprisingly good—more in the style of French wines as their original winemaker was from France. Capping off our day at the winery was a perfect way to end our visit to the Biltmore Estates.


 
It turned out that our entire five-day stay here in Asheville was during a cold spell. The days were mostly clear but cold (highs in the 40s and one overnight low in the 20s—yikes!). The cold weather dampened our enthusiasm for getting out on the trails in our park. It was also windy—too windy to enjoy biking too.  Plan B was an auto tour. Vic has wanted to see Great Smoky Mountains National Park, so off we went on a two hour drive to Gatlinburg.  The fall colors were pretty, but many of the leaves had already dropped at the higher elevations.



Along the way to Gatlinburg, we enjoyed a stop at an apple farm where I bought some great winesap, cortland, and jonagold apples. They advertised apple pie, which Vic was lusting after, but it turned out all they had were fried apple pie slices.  He bought one and it fell way short of his desire for a good piece of fresh apple pie a la mode.








Gatlinburg was a big disappointment. What a tourist trap and the traffic on a Friday afternoon was horrific.  We stopped at the Sugarland Visitor’s Center there and even that was a disappointment.  Not much to see and throngs of people. From Gatlinburg, we thought it would be pretty to take the road that goes southeast through the park down to the Cherokee Reservation. I would have liked to take the time to show Vic Cade’s Cove, but the time estimate for a 35-mile loop was three hours due to traffic. Not for us.  



The best part of our drive back through the park was a stop at the old Mingus grist mill. We enjoyed walking around the grounds imagining this place as a working mill. I bought some stone ground corn meal there and made pancakes with it in the morning. It was much better than the fortified and bleached corn meal you typically get in the store. (Stone ground needs refrigeration to stay fresh since it is not bleached.)






The views from some of the overlooks were pretty, but I think we have been spoiled forever with Glacier National Park. After living in the West for so many years, it takes a different kind of appreciation for the eastern “mountains.”  I miss the contrast of the deep river valleys and wide open spaces of the Rockies.  The Smokies and the Blue Ridge Mountains are pretty but I haven’t felt much of a wow effect.



We were even more disappointed with the Cherokee Reservation.  Aside from lots of souvenir shops, miniature golf, and amusement parks, a huge Harrah’s Casino appears to be the centerpiece of the town. I thought we might find some artisan places to stop but everything looked cheap, and with the exception of Harrah’s, run-down.  To be fair, we only drove through the area and there are probably some better places to visit than what we saw on the main highway.

Our plan was to take the Blue Ridge Parkway from Cherokee back to Asheville, but the parkway was closed due to the cold weather and ice in the tunnels. Our alternative route took us through Maggie Valley where there were many antique shops and furniture makers. This valley had more charm and would be an interesting place to stop if you were in the market for such goods.

After a long day’s drive, we settled in for a quiet evening and planned our final day in Asheville. I wanted to go to the Farmer’s Market downtown, but we were never able to find it. Someone sent us to the permanent “farmer’s market” which was more like the flea markets you find in Florida—big trucks had brought in fruit and vegetables on pallets. We did find a few local tomatoes and some Amish cheese from Ohio.  I should have researched the real farmer's market location better.

Our last day in Asheville was a little warmer, so we managed to get out for a good walk in the park with the pooches. The lake area was quite pretty with lots of trails and even a small waterfall. 





On our walk we met a couple who were very interested in our full-time lifestyle. We probably talked to them about an hour, answering all kinds of questions about this lifestyle.  At one point the husband, Jeff, asked, “What is the master plan when you are finished with full-timing?”  I am always interested in hearing Vic’s answer to this question as I often discover things I didn’t know. We do talk about it but the words “master plan” don’t describe our casual conversation.  Once we passed our first year with flying colors, I think we both thought two more years would about do it. Now that we are two months into our third year, we definitely see a year four in our future. 

Part of the fun of our adventure is to stay present to the moment and explore the more immediate choices that lie before us.  Right now, our best master plan is to LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL. . . .