@WanderingLabs
October 2022
Oct 07 - Oct 20 2022
@WanderingLabs
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Oct 07 2022

Oct 5: Propane Fiasco

Spent the day addressing a suspected propane leak. Did not leave home (for the second time that day) until 4:40pm. Arrived at Richmond Hill,GA KOA after 10pm. We broke our rule, “arrive at the campground before dark”, on the 1st day. Mary topped off the late and stressful day by stepping in a pile.

Tomorrow morning, Mary realizes what she thought was an owl box is really a doggie poop bag dispenser. How appropriate.

“Propane Fiasco” sums up day 1.

Not an owl box.

Oct 6: Back on plan

We had miles to make up after our initial shortened day. One tire pressure false alarm from the TPMS, outside of Charlotte NC, \240gave us a scare. Arrived at Mayberry Campground outside of Mount Airy,NC before dark, and were immediately greeted by friendly camp neighbors.

Oct 7: Change of Seasons

We are officially in Fall! We woke up in a very chilly camper this morning. Blizzy’s teeth were chattering. We were able to walk the campground \240and explore Mount Airy and the Mayberry nostalgia while wearing flannel shirts,. A welcome change from the humidity we left at home. The original WanderingLabs, Humphrey&Blizzy are A+ travelers/explorers.

@WanderingLabs
Oct 09 2022

Oct 8: Alpacas, guard dogs and freeze warning

Ridge Valley Alpaca Farm, in Fairfield VA, was our next stop. It was our first experience staying at a “Harvest Host”. HH stays are “free” with the caveat that you will support the small local business that hosts you. It is a boondock situation with no electricity or water hookups. Our host, Janice, gave \240us a short tour of her operation and we met Bebe, a pregnant alpaca. The farm has 3 beefy,muscular, no-kidding guard dogs(Anatolian Sheperds) \240who protect the alpacas. They live and sleep with their alpacas and do not hesitate to bark, day or night. We wondered how they manage to protect alpacas in different fenced areas until we saw 1 of the 120lb dogs shape-shift thru the bars of a gate. Remarkable!

There was a freeze warning for the night which made for an interesting situation with no electrical connection. We woke up(warm-ish) to a beautiful 30° morning with \240frost on the ground.

Humphrey and Blizzy walking thru and licking the crunchy frost.

Oct 9: Lost in Harper’s Ferry

After getting set up at \240Harper’s Ferry KOA we briefly checked out the visitor center and started planning for tomorrow’s sightseeing. We drove to Murphey’s Farm and explored this Civil War battlefield and Shenandoah River overlook w the pups. \240We decided to scout out the lower town area of Harper’s Ferry and promptly ended up leaving WVA, entering VA then MD in a matter of minutes. Thankfully we were not pulling the camper! No more exploring without a map.

Murphy’s Farm Battlefied

Shenandoah River overlook

@WanderingLabs
Oct 11 2022

Oct 10: Lunch in Harper’s Ferry

After tiring out the WanderingLabs with a 2 mile hilly walk, we took the dogless shuttle to Harper’s Ferry. We explored the lower town and read about the importance of HF location in the Civil War. . Restaurants were busy and in order to get seated we shared a table with Matt and Lynda Packerd of MD. We shared our Nat’l Park history, kid info, and love of labradors (their lab Kona had lunch w us). Such a great lunch with good company.

After lunch David and I stopped by the AT Conservancy. This is the 1/2 way mark of the Appalachian Trail. We met a sweet SOBO hiker, Beacon, and the gentleman manning the shop looked up Ben’s picture from last year. A really special stop.

Oct 11: Antietam

We took the auto tour thru Antietam. It is a gorgeous park which is well maintained. The perfect weather and changing colors make it even more beautiful. It is hard to believe this battlefield site was the deadliest day in American wars with up to 23,000 people killed, injured or missing after 1 day of battle.

@WanderingLabs
Oct 12 2022

Oct 12: Twister and bagels

Getting packed up to move to Gettysburg PA, Artillery Ridge Campground. Prepping \240breakfast, washing dishes and packing camper while stepping over dogs is kind of like a big game of Twister.

Our first laundry stop will be determined by running out of undies and socks. We re-wear shirts a time or 2 since we have had such cool weather, and have agreed the policy will be “tell me if you smell me”. A new “David-ism”.

Blizzy’s fav location…in the kitchen in front of the refrigerator door and bathroom door. So convenient.

Our hunting dog, Humphrey, had a successful hike this am. He found a thrown out bagel in the campground. \240He has an uncanny nose for tossed out half-eaten bagels.Today was a good Humphrey-day.

After a quick set up at our new campground, we were able to join an end-of-day ranger led walk at Gettysburg. This was a 1 hour walk which turned into a 2hour talk with Matt, an extremely chatty ranger. He described himself as an OleMiss grad with a 2.4 gpa, but he certainly was knowledgeable and gregarious. A good start to our Gettysburg visit.

@WanderingLabs
Oct 13 2022

Oct 13: Rain and Gettysburg

We had our first rainy day since hitting the road. We had a slow morning then all loaded up and drove the first half of the Gettysburg auto tour w the CD set we borrowed from Jeff. A great way to get a good overview of the 3 days of fighting. \240What an incredibly beautiful time of year to be here.

Eternal Light Peace Memorial at Gettysburg

We made our first grocery run since leaving home and came back to our silver bean for dinner and more rain. Tomorrow should be a sunshine day and a great day to dive into the visitor center and more Gettysburg history.

Humphrey and Blizzy taking a history break. No bagels were found on this walk.

@WanderingLabs
Oct 14 2022

Oct 14: Weekend crowds

A big Gettysburg day. 3+ hrs of the Visitor Center: movie(excellent), cyclorama and museum with David Grider…reader of every informative plaque in a museum. We completed the auto tour with Humphrey and Blizzy. The park is much more crowded today than the previous 2 days which is a bit of a drag. \240The photo below is the”High Water Mark” or site of Picketts Charge from day 3 of the Gettysburg battle. A gorgeous location for a horrific day. I don’t know if “horrific” \240is the correct word, but wow, what a day.

I am thankful that Pat suggested we watch the old Turner “Gettysburg” movie as a \240“Gettysburg for dummies” intro. Having seen that before the trip with some of Ken Burns Civil War documentary really helped in putting together the 3 days of fighting, along with the key leaders. Great advice!

Back at the campground…the weekend looks to be a big smokey party. What was a sparsely populated beautiful campground is now bumper to bumper campers with Halloween decorations, campfires galore and lots of squealing kids(I’m ok with that part).

Ugh

@WanderingLabs
Oct 15 2022

Oct 15: chaos in the campground

Saturday in the fall in a campground. Bumper to bumper campers, smokey fires, lots of dogs and kids, Halloween decorations, trick or treaters. This quiet campground has gone nuts. We leave tomorrow and that is good.

We found the quaint downtown area and farmers market but we did not stop. Traffic and parking were tricky and we were on our way to a ranger talk that actually occurred yesterday☹️. Frustrating.

Our last tour thru Gettysburg was topped off with a walk through Gettysburg National Cemetery.

Many unknown sites

Numbered gravesites

It would have been great to have had a ranger tour thru the cemetery. We saw tombstones from Spanish American War, WWI and WWII. We heard in the visitor center that only Union soldiers from the Civil War are buried there, the Confederate soldiers were not allowed.

A few frustrations today,but Tennessee beat Alabama, breaking a 15 yr losing streak, and that made the day a bit better.

@WanderingLabs
Oct 16 2022

Oct 16: dog attack

It was an uneventful drive from Gettysburg to Shenandoah River State Park in Bentonville VA. We passed interesting things along the way but did not stop. Pulling a 25’ camper seems to make spontanaity a no-go. Out new campground has nice private sites and it is beautifully maintained with plenty of bear warning signs.

The 4 of us went for a walk around the campground and a dog charged us from his site, broke his lead and attacked Humphrey. Old man, happy-go-lucky Humphrey was on his back with an aggressive dog on top snarling and trying to bite him. Lucky for Hump, he has a massively thick coat, and David was there to grab the dog off of him.(twice). \240His neck fur was slimey wet, but otherwise he does not appear to be injured. I was screaming and keeping a distance w Blizzy, who probably would never be the same if he had been attacked. David was yelling and the owner was somehow denying the incidents severity until another witness showed up. We reported the incident to the camp host and warned a nearby \240family with a toddler to avoid that area. If the dog attacked a child like he did Humphrey, the outcome would be tragic.

Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

An unrelated \240picture of the “wanderingLabs” in honor of these sweet pups❤️

@WanderingLabs
Oct 18 2022

Oct 17: shenandoah

We started the day w a 2 mi hike w the pups before tucking them in the camper. D and I drove into SNP, \240stamped \240our park passport and drove the the first visitor center to get a map and our bearings for tomorrow. The fall colors are gorgeous.

Back at the camper I cooked a big pot of vegetable soup. The temps started to drop and we were tucked in for a cold night. The pups made a nest on the floor between the beds. Very cozy. And tight. \240Lots of dogs.

Oct18: Skyline Drive

A crisp 34° in the campground this am, but as usual we all slept soundly like hibernating bears. We get our best sleep in our little silver bean.

Into Shenandoah Natl Park to start Skyline Drive. We stopped and attempted a short hike which was actually a small smidge of the AT. Too cold for Mary…37° and wind cutting thru all layers. Plus, I heard what I assumed was a bear. Strange noises in woods are always bears. A very unrealistic FOB (fear of bears).

Humphrey is very well camouflaged.

Leftover delicious soup w a toasted chicken and cheese sandwich for dinner. Yum.

@WanderingLabs
Oct 19 2022

Oct 19: COLD

Today is our 2 week travel anniversary. Things I have learned for a fall trip \240include:pack heavier winter clothes than you think you will need, pack better/heavier blankets, pack blankets for the pups. And slippers…slippers would be excellent. D&I have stayed warm at night… thank goodness he convinced me to bring winter pjs. Our blanket situation is a little lame, but we are doing fine. The floor is COLD and I know the dogs are cold. They sleep in tiny curled up dog balls. I bought an afghan at a thrift store which always has a dog on it.

We walked H&B on a trail here in the park this morning then left them in the camper as we went back into Shenandoah Natl Park. D&I hiked a nice 3.7mi trail w a beautiful overlook. No bears seen.

We saw a very cold looking toad on the trail and some wild turkeys that initially looked like a bear. It was cold in the park. And windy. And cloudy. 🥶

David put up with me while we made a quick stop at 2 thrift stores \240in Front Royal. No pyrex☹️We found a cute downtown area but we had already been gone for almost 6hrs and we needed to get back and provide a dog break!

Back to the camper for another cold night, possibly down to 30°.

@WanderingLabs
Oct 20 2022

Was a bit bummed to leave Shenandoah R State Park. It was beautiful there but with the cold weather we never enjoyed a “sit around the campsite” afternoon. We spent time in the Natl Park then huddled in our camper warming up in the evening. The big downside was there was absolutely no cell service and we felt completely out of the loop. Apparently I really like being in the loop of knowledge esp w big things in our fam.

I81 is almost as bad as I75. A racetrack. Not cool. But gorgeous views. This area of VA is so pretty. We arrived at an interesting city park in Buena Vista VA which does not take any reservations and is super inexpensive. We are here for 1 night as a stopover. There is 1 other airstream in the park. John , the airstreamer, broke courtesy rules of “let the new arrivals have time to set up”. He came over and talked D’s ear off for an hour. Ugh.

Glen Maury Campround, Buena Vista VA

Dinner of bubba burgers on the griddle and fries in the airfryer. Yum.

@WanderingLabs