Back in Ole’ Virginnie

Sunday May 26, 2013  Site 11 Paradise Lake, Keeling, Virginia
Monday May 27, 2013  Charlottesville, Virginia

 

 

SUNDAY

We are again packed up and on the road by about 10:00.  With our comparatively short driving days of 130 –150 miles per day, we don’t have to push ourselves to leave at the crack of dawn.

156 miles takes us into Virginia, just past Danville and to Paradise Lake Campground in Keeling Virginia.

 

 

Sorry no pictures of the actual Paradise Lake; pond seems to be more appropriate.  I seem to forget my camera in these really memorable locations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one, like Lake Hartwell in South Carolina, is another little privately owned locally populated rural campground.  Nearly every car had a Virginia plate. 

David  booked us in here with FHUs for $29 WITH Good Sam’s big 10% discount.  The roads are the regular irregular dirt paths.  The sites are on various versions of hills.  But ours actually had a perfectly level spot. 

It’s just that I wasn’t outside when David pulled in as I should have been and he overshot the level part trying to get as close to the hook ups as possible.

 

 

 

We really like pull throughs for one nighters so we don’t have to take off the car and the dolly to back in.  This is a pull through.  But you don’t want to pull too far through as it starts going down hill toward the road at a pretty steep angle.

 

 

 

 

 

We get leveled up with lots of blocks and chocks but check out Winnona’s front tire.  The pull in is on a bit of a curve so there’s no backing Winnona up a couple of feet with the dolly and the car as we have done before on straight aways. 

So here we are for the night.  I’ll bet you can just imagine what I think of this set up.  I won’t keep you in suspense.  We DO NOT roll down this hill.  But the dolly does scrape bottom the next day as we drive out.

 

 

On to Monday

 

 

Seems we are on the road just a little bit later each day on these short stretch overnights back to Virginia.  Today it’s 9:50 before we are back on Route 29 headed north into the foothills of the Blue Ridge.  No doctoring needed to make this Blue Ridge we are driving toward look Blue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More and more it looks like our home country.   And the last few miles especially so as we drive by the turn off to the farm.  Winnona can’t go there without our first going out in a truck and clearing the trees and bushes along the 3/4 mile farm lane to the right height and width for her.  That takes a couple of days to do sometimes so she’s staying in town since we won’t be here long enough to make that much effort worth it.   I know she’s sorry as the farm is a lot nicer camping spot.

 

 

 

I love coming North in this way on State Route 29 rather than coming from East or West on Interstate 64.  We drive right into the mountains not just on top and over them.   Really a beautiful drive especially once you pass Lynchburg.

 

 

 

 

At about 12:30, We pull into Charlottesville where Winnona is going to stay.  We  have lots of errands to run here before going out to the farm.  We need to make a grocery run and to get oil and filters for all the vehicle maintenance chores which are planned.  And of course there are those pesky prescription refills.  

 

 

 

 

But we get it all done and about 7:00 we drive through the trees and out into the valley on our own rutted gravel driveway to the Greenfield Mountain Farm farmhouse.    You can barely see it driving in everything is so green and so overgrown.  Usually we take pictures in the gorgeous colors of the fall when the trees in the yard have lost their leaves.  The farmhouse is almost hidden this time.

 

 

 

In this dusk light, from a distance the farmhouse looks yellow but it is really a three shades  of green. 
Boy do those fields need mowing. 
Task #1 for our two week stay.