We pulled out of our site at Bay Meadows without any problems and took off for the States. It was very windy which kept moving our trailer from side to side making the truck feel like it was slipping on ice. I kept having to correct our path and was hanging on to the steering wheel tightly. Then we were in New York and were met by a snowy area while hail was coming down. The wind was still blowing which made matters worst. We stopped at one of the many texting stops to gather our thoughts. There was a truck parked there and a police car so I decided to ask either of them if they knew how long these weather conditions would last. The trucker turned out to be a wonderful young French Canadian who told me how that area was known for bad conditions and that it was only for about 10 miles and then would be ok. So we continued our route going slowly and being very careful while I gripped the steering wheel with much more force than needed.
We finally arrived at our first destination, Highlands Campground, in Pennsylvania. The host/owner was really nice and we had a choice of sites. We pulled into one of the few pull-throughs since we were only staying one night. The campground was practically empty of people so Cheeka was able to roam free and explore the forest. Very quiet and surrounded by trees, this place feels like real camping. We will definitely go back on our way back home as they open April 15th and the fact that it closes Nov. 4th makes it a good stop on our way down.
Then we made our way to Chesapeake Bay Campground in Virginia where we stayed for 4 days. With the Thousand Trails zone pass, we can stay up to 4 days in one of their campgrounds and go directly to the next T.T. campground. We always enjoy our stays at Chesapeake Bay. The staff is very pleasant and it is a nice place even when most of the activities are shut down. There are trails where we can walk Cheeka off leash (not supposed to but nobody is ever on those trails).
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| Weird spiral tree |
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| Entertainment during the seafood festival |
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| Different vendors came to sell their wares |
From there normally we go to The Oaks in South Carolina but they didn't have room for us so we booked at Carolina Landings which is further west. Our friend Michelle met us there to continue the trip down with us.
The first impression driving into Carolina Landings is good. The office building is cute and well landscaped and the campground is gated. At this time of the year they were decorated for fall and it looked really cute.
BUT, that's where the magic ends. As soon as you cross the gate, you see rows of RVs packed like sardines on the right (where Michelle ended up) and we went left down a terrible road to an area where we slid down the gravel hill as I was trying to keep our speed down to then trying to figure out where one was supposed to park the rig as the sites were so uneven and rough. We continued on to a flatter area where we finally found a spot. Each site has a cement patio so to be beside that patio we ended really close to our absentee neighbour. If that old motorhome had been occupied it would have been really uncomfortable. And.... there was no sewer connection. On a brighter side, the water pressure was fabulous!
Glen who likes to take showers in the public ones provided (don't understand why) couldn't get any of the showers to work as the faucets were all broken and half coming off the wall. I didn't check the ladies' room as I didn't care.
We did find a nice trail to let Cheeka run on. Once there it wasn't so terrible but it certainly will never be our first choice for a stopover.
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| Eastern Blue Bird |
We decided to leave one day early and drive halfway down to Florida and stay at a rest area for one night. It's not the quietest place to sleep (a lot of large trucks run all night long) but it's safe and it's free. We were glad we did this as it made the next day so much easier.
So here we are finally in Florida at Winter Quarters Pasco. I'll tell you all about it in the next blog!
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