New England Trip

We took a scenic drive south through the valley and entered the Shenandoah National Park at its southern entrance station, Rockfish Gap, where the Skyline Drive travels north up the ridge, and the Blue Ridge Parkway heads south.  The National Park consists of the Skyline Drive (which travels 105 miles along a continuous ridge) and the slopes on either side of the ridge.  The elevation ranges from 2,500 feet to about 3,200 feet.  Every mile or so, there is an overlook with great views.  Unfortunately, today was hazy so we could not see far into the distance. 

The speed limit on the drive is 35 mph so it is hard to travel the full distance.  There are only four entrance stations at the following mile markers: 0 (northern end at Front Royal), 30, 65, and 105 (southern end at Rockfish Gap).  Today we only covered 40 miles to Swift Run Gap but it took 3 hours counting frequent overlook stops and a stop for lunch.

A couple of pictures from the drive follow:

 

We looked at the campground at Loft Mountain, which was only 25% full.  There were some large class A motor homes as well as large 5^th wheel campers in the campground, so it looked like we could fit in as well.  The campground has no hookups at the individual sites, but there is water and a dump station available along with a bathhouse that one would have a short drive to.   We may come back and use the campground in the spring or fall when air conditioning would not be needed as much as it is now.  Temperatures today in the area were in the high 80’s to low 90’s.  Although we have experienced higher than usual temperatures at various locations throughout the trip, we felt like we were back to the hot South today.

Driving back from the Skyline Drive to our campsite, we took Highway 340 North to New Market, and enjoyed seeing beautiful farms in the valley between the Shenandoah National Park and the George Washington National Forest; then doubled back south down I-81 to the campground about halfway between New Market and Harrisonburg.  We always enjoy taking local scenic routes near the places where we camp, and the scenic routes here were really special.  Several times we saw breathtaking views of the mountains across the valley, and wished we could have captured the view in pictures, but the beautiful wide expanse of mountains and sky just can’t be captured in a photo.

For dinner, we had planned to go out, but we were tired enough to try the convection microwave feature on some frozen fish fillets for a quick supper.  The convection microwave worked really well.  We have a lot to learn about how to use it for various kinds of cooking, but tonight’s experience was a pleasant surprise.

Tomorrow we have a long drive to Statesville, NC, where we will have just a one-night stay.  We called Steve’s doctor in Hartwell for an appointment to figure out what is causing his persistent cough, stiff neck and headaches, and were able to get an appointment on Thursday afternoon at 4:00 (Doc. doesn’t work on Friday).  That means we will have a very early start from Statesville on Thursday to make it to Hartwell in time.  It will be good to find out what’s causing all this trouble for Steve and hopefully get some medicine to fix it.

It has been a good trip, with lots of wonderful experiences.  We wish that Steve had not felt so bad so much of the time, and would like to come back to many of the places we visited to enjoy them again.

As always, it will be good to be home.