50th anniversary party - #47-02

August 28, 2004 (Sat) Mars Hill, NC - The great 50th anniversary extravaganza and pig roast was a resounding success. Guests from as far away as Japan, Ireland and South Africa and as near as next door - some 175 (more or less) in all - gathered under the huge white party tent in Bob and Pat's side yard to help them celebrate their 50 years of marriage. The sound of friends catching up with old friends and meeting new all but drowned out the sound of the the mountain music band hired to fill in the awkward silences. (Not really but it was a good contest!) The toast was given by the Bob's Best Man.

It all began at about 7:00am with the arrival of caterers who fired up the huge charcoal smoker and loaded it with a 40 pound pig (apple in mouth and all) and enough more pork to feed twice (at least) the expected crowd. Ed and Kathy arrived in their motor home not too long after that. During the morning the "permanent" guests and their hosts sat around under the tent and chatted, ate lunch and chatted. We even had time to sketch out some preliminaries of the 3 month (or so) motor home trip to Alaska 8 of us are planning for next summer. The kids (and some adults) enjoyed the swimming pool in the back yard. Local guests began to arrive around 4:00pm and the festivities about 6:00. The older kids ended the celebration with a huge bonfire in the other side yard. Needless to say, a great time was had by all!

August 29, 2004 (Sun) Mars Hill - Chip and Kim got off at about 6:30 this morning leaving a large gap in our little campground. Morning duties were few and leisurely as the many of us who were left planned to join Bob and Pat at their their church. And did. Lunch was leftover roast pork and salad. The afternoon was spent in typical Sunday afternoon chat among friends while some of the younger crowd went off to do some white water rafting and others played horse shoes or ping pong. The swimming pool was occupied all afternoon and Joy took her turn at this duty. Our evening meal was leftover roast pork and salad.

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August 30, 2004 (Mon) Mars hill, NC to Danbury, NC (228 miles) - We broke camp as Ed and Kathy got ready to go. After breakfast we moved Q up to the driveway and went into the house to say good-bye. It was especially hard to say good-bye to Mashikane and Buyile (South Africa) and Alex and Maureen (Northern Ireland) - who came out as we started out - as it will be a long time until we see them again. Double thanks to Bob and Pat - for inviting us to join in their celebration and for giving us the opportunity to see seldom seen special friends again.

It was an uneventful trip to Hanging Rock State Park - well, almost. 20 minutes out we got lost on the Asheville area interstates. With some help from Henry we got headed in the right direction on I-40 and made it to the campground. Once there we learned that the park has no dump station - badly needed after 4 days of dry camping. They sent us to a private campground 7 miles away and 1000 feet down.

The campground was understandably for sale. We bottomed out getting into their drive - bigger rigs could have sustained major damage - and found no one around to give us permission to use their facilities and take our money. We drove into the mostly empty campground anyway. We couldn't find the dump station so backed into an empty site where we needed to use the hose extension. Mark hooked up and pulled the valve. The hose immediately separated at the joint spilling -- well I won't go into the details. That's when we discovered that the sites had no water hookups - making cleanup difficult. Actually it wasn't that bad but we were just as happy that the office was still unoccupied when we left.

This is an interesting park. There are several hiking trails of varying lengths, many to view waterfalls. We were going to do some hiking while here but the trail heads are too far away to hoof it this late in the day, the road too hilly for bicycles, and the campsite too difficult to get in and out of for Q. Next time. It's also a primitive camping situation. In addition to no dump station there are no water or electrical hookups either. In fact it's a challenge for motor homes even of Q's size to find a level site big enough to get into. It's pretty though, in a woodsy way and very quiet.

Q005797 Hanging Rock State Park #73 dry $10.00s B-

To Mars Hill, NC - #47-01

August 25, 2004 (Wed) Home to Davis, VA (400 miles) - We didn't set our alarm last night but we were up at 5:15 as usual and got off at 6:50 - 64° and cloudy. Although the beginning of commuter traffic time, it wasn't too bad going up the Garden State Parkway and I-287. A couple of slow-downs but that's all. Going this route to I-81 seems like going in the wrong direction - north when we're headed south - but by the map its really only a couple of miles longer - well worth it to miss the Baltimore/Washington nightmare traffic.

Our first stop was the Yarn Basket in Chambersburg, Pa. (We'd stopped there on our way home last month but it was closed for vacation). Joy stopped just short of breaking her budget - she saved some in case we come across a fabric store later on. It's a great shop, Dorcas, but how do you find room to park that fifth-wheel? Mark had to park in a McDonalds' lot down the road and wait for a call on the walkie-talkie.

US-50 across the Appalachian Mountains into the Monongahela National Forest is a spectacular drive, although tense - a tightly winding road both horizontally and vertically. At 3360 feet, Backbone Mountain is the highest point in MD. The road over it tops out at 3095 feet - not high by western standards but Q was impressed. (He doesn't remember crossing the Rockies when he came East from Yakima, WA - too young.) The leaves are just beginning to change in the higher altitudes. Every now and then there is a yellow branch or a small red tree. The fields and hills are many colors from pale yellow green to dark blue green. Lots of butterflies too! In the distance we see a large wind farm - we counted 32 windmills and there are probably more we couldn't see.

It turns out that this park is not too far from the wind farm but we can't see it from here. Wish we could. After we'd set up two deer wandered across our campsite and into the grassy center of the loop across the road. One looked to be just out of fawnhood.

August 26, 2004 (Thu) Blackwater Falls State Park - This is a pretty park. Some sites are quite spacious, some not. Some have shade, many do not. The toilet facilities could be better maintained and cleaner though. The men's room stalls are without latches which prompts Mark to use Q and we'll probably use Q's shower facilities in the morning as well. There aren't many campers here now but the park will likely fill up for the weekend.

There are reportedly 12 miles of trails throughout the park with some prepared for horses and/or mountain bikes. After breakfast we set out on foot in search of the trail to the falls for which the park is named. The trail to the base of the falls, with its 215 stair steps down (and back up), is under construction so we hiked around to the other side of the Blackwater River on the road to where there is a wheelchair accessible trail to an overlook. The falls, though not as spectacular as in the spring, were beautiful as was the gorge below them. We'd planned to explore some of the rest of the park but when we got to the Trading Post - not open for another hour and a quarter - Joy discovered that she had dropped her prescription sunglasses somewhere between there and the falls overlook. So back we went. We finally found them on our way back to the Trading Post for one last look there.

That being enough excitement for the day, we spent the rest of the day relaxing. As we ate supper 4 deer wandered through our site - one was the same young pre-teen from last night.

Q005171 Blackwater Falls State Park #1 e $17.15 B- (x2)

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August 27, 2004 (Fri) Davis, VA to Mars Hills, NC (398 miles) - We had cereal for breakfast this morning for the first time in 6 months. It's not exactly part of our diet but it's low carb/low fat so isn't likely to be too upsetting to our life style. Showers, breakfast, sanitary dump, and refilling the fresh water tank out of the way, we were on our way at 7:50. Henry guided us through the mountains along a series of twisting hilly roads - some with 10% grades! The scenery was beautiful. Fog between the mountain ranges made them stand out like paper cutout silhouettes of misty blues and greens. Many of the farms were clean and manicured - surprising for so remote an area.

Thinking we knew the way back to I-81, we turned Henry off. Big mistake! We missed a turn. Henry took revenge by routing us over some real mountain roads. At one point Joy said, "At least there's a line down the middle of the road." Then there wasn't. Some of us thought it was great fun.

We pulled into Bob and Pat's at about 5:30. The gathering had already begun. Their kids and grand kids were here as well as many of their neighbors. Extra special for us was seeing friends we haven't seen for many years - Chip and Kim for Charleston, SC, Alex and Maureen form Northern Ireland, Mashikane and Buyile from South Africa. There is a huge tent in the yard and the caterers had begun to fill up the space under it with tables and chairs. The real party begins tomorrow.

Q005569 - Bob and Pat's yard