Where’s Ollie?

[Mike and Carol]

Lake Ouachita State Park near Hot Springs, Arkansas last week.  This is our second time here, very nice park!

 

[Patriot]

Ollie in the Wild -

We recently spent a week at Natural Tunnel SP in the South Western tip of  Virginia...a nice and private site at Lovers Leap. Water and electric only with a dump station. Showers were super clean and fairly new looking. Would highly recommend this SP.

Our site was all nice.

We hiked up to Lovers Leap -

Quite a view of the tunnel -

[John E Davies]

38 minutes ago, Patriot said:

We recently spent a week at Natural Tunnel SP

Quite a view of the tunnel -

OK, I’ll bite.... why does a natural tunnel have train tracks going into it?

John Davies

Spokane WA

[Patriot]

22 minutes ago, John E Davies said:

OK, I’ll bite.... why does a natural tunnel have train tracks going into it?

John Davies

Spokane WA

Here is a bit of history. 
https://brookandholler.com/blogs/trail-guides/viewing-the-eighth-wonder-of-the-world-at-natural-tunnel-state-park

[rideandfly]

Early in my career on the railroad, used to operate heavy track equipment. When we were working and traveling, used to see some of the most beautiful scenery from the rail. Have not been through this tunnel, but traveling through mountain tunnels, next to rivers, and over high bridges, were absolutely beautiful!

Nice shots!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Patriot]

Ollie in the vineyard - 

We stayed last night at Hodges Vineyard near Camp Hill Alabama last night. Our first Harvest Host Experience and it was really great. Free samples at the wine bar great cheese straws and full hook ups. We already booked again for an over nighter on our return trip from Pensacola Beach. Very kind staff and a quiet place to relax. 
Happy Travels!

 

[SeaDawg]

Pretty spot! (Pretty trailer, too! 😊)

Thanks for sharing. 

[Mike and Carol]

We’ll be staying at a couple of HH next week as we head to KY.  One farm and one winery!

[topgun2]

And a concrete pad too!

How many pads do they have?

Wine any good?

Bill

[mossemi]

A short camping trip to Sherando Lake Recreation Area in Virginia.

First night.

Second night at Lake Powatan National Forest near Asheville, NC.  We had dinner with topgun2 and his wife.  No pictures because they kept us out after dark.

Third, Fourth and fifth nights.

Sixth night at "Key to Escape" a Harvest Host located in Statesville, NC.

Seventh and eighth night.

 

Mossey

[Maverick]

2 hours ago, mossemi said:

A short camping trip to Sherando Lake Recreation Area in Virginia.

 

We have reservations at Sherando Lake Recreation Area in Virginia next month; this is a hard place to obtain a reservation, it has always filled up fast.

[mossemi]

3 hours ago, Maverick said:

We have reservations at Sherando Lake Recreation Area in Virginia next month; this is a hard place to obtain a reservation, it has always filled up fast.

We were visiting a friend who is hosting in loop C.
It is a nice campground that has a variety of hiking trails.  There were vacancies each day we were there, but it was Monday through Wednesday nights in early April.  And we made our reservations in February.

If you haven’t been there before, it should be a nice visit and the trees should be in full bloom.  They were still bare while we were there.

Mossey

[mossemi]

14 hours ago, Maverick said:

We have reservations at Sherando Lake Recreation Area in Virginia next month; this is a hard place to obtain a reservation, it has always filled up fast.

I forgot to mention that access to the campground is by keypad code if no one is manning the gate house. The code was in my reservation email and I didn’t pay any attention to it.  So when we pulled up to the gate, we couldn’t get in. The is no Verizon coverage, so we had to turn around and backtrack about 3 miles to find cell coverage and retrieve the email and gate code.

Several campers complained about the gate code requirements because they didn’t read the email any better than I did.  None of the campground personnel would provide the gate code to you as it is a security issue.

Due to COVID-19, the campground is short on staff and part of the campground and facilities were closed.  You may have a different experience being a month later.

Good luck,

Mossey

[Maverick]

1 hour ago, mossemi said:

I forgot to mention that access to the campground is by keypad code if no one is manning the gate house. The code was in my reservation email and I didn’t pay any attention to it.  So when we pulled up to the gate, we couldn’t get in. The is no Verizon coverage, so we had to turn around and backtrack about 3 miles to find cell coverage and retrieve the email and gate code.

Several campers complained about the gate code requirements because they didn’t read the email any better than I did.  None of the campground personnel would provide the gate code to you as it is a security issue.

Due to COVID-19, the campground is short on staff and part of the campground and facilities were closed.  You may have a different experience being a month later.

Good luck,

Mossey

We have stayed several times at this campground over the years.  I am aware of the gate code, I print all documentation associated with a reservation, thanks for the update.  Our reservation is on loop C.

[Nancy K.]

Has the Escape Room in Statesville opened yet?  We wanted to stay there with Harvest Hosts last year but the escapes weren't being run at that time.

 

[mossemi]

 

56 minutes ago, Nancy K. said:

Has the Escape Room in Statesville opened yet?  We wanted to stay there with Harvest Hosts last year but the escapes weren't being run at that time.

 

No they are not open because of COVID, but Kim the HH invited us to stay anyway.  She was very gracious and stopped by the evening of our stay to make sure everything was ok.  It was disappointing that we couldn’t go inside and see the church and what they had done to it.  It was different staying in a downtown area but it was convenient to the interstate we came in on.

Mossey

[SeaDawg]

We just saw an Elite II heading eastbound on I26, about 30 miles east of Columbia.

Safe travels!

[topgun2]

Wish it was me!

[Patriot]

On 4/19/2021 at 10:41 AM, topgun2 said:

And a concrete pad too!

How many pads do they have?

Wine any good?

Bill

Three new concrete pads, two gravel pads. The wine is muscadine....well it’s ok. 

[Mike and Carol]

For you Harvest Host folks we are spending the night at Bee Happy Farm in Brashear, TX.  It’s about 10 miles off of I-30 between Dallas and Texarkana.  Grass fed cows, free range chickens, horses, etc. Very pleasant!  

 

[Mike and Carol]

On our way to Kentucky we stayed at another Harvest Host location.  This is Century Farm Winery in Jackson, TN.  Had a nice tasting and sat by the vineyards sipping our purchase!  Good location and friendly folks.

 

[Calypso]

If you have access to military campgrounds, this is our favorite. Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson. Especially during Heritage week. If they had a beach we would move there in a heartbeat.

[rideandfly]

Calypso,

Looks like a great air show to see F22, F16, A10, P51, and F86 flying formation together. Wonderful shots, bet it was loud, too!

[Mike and Carol]

We like Davis Monthan.  Having been stationed at Fort Huachuca a couple of times Tucson became a second home.  Fort Huachuca also has a nice campground, convenient to Bisbee, Tombstone and the Sonoita wineries.

[Mike and Carol]

Last week we stayed at My Old Kentucky Home State Park in Bardstown, KY.  Very convenient for visiting distilleries.  We were disappointed that many of the distilleries are not open for tours due to COVID.  We did visit Makers Mark, Buffalo Trace and a couple others.  

MOKHSP has a nice Stephen Foster historic center at the home used as the subject for his song, and KY state song, My Old Kentucky Home.  The campground itself is small, only 30+ campsites.  Most are not very level and in need of repair and updating.  This is one of the few campgrounds I have had to use 2 power cords to reach the power pole and two water hoses to reach the water outlet.  Some sites (the ones on the right) are FHU.  Ours was W/E.  It was a quiet campground, surrounded by a very nice golf course.  Plus, you can’t beat the proximity to some great Bourbon distilleries.

We also spotted another Oliver just across from us, Hull 781, Cliff and Stacey, who had just picked up their new Oliver a couple weeks earlier.  

Our campsite at MOKHSP.

Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort.

The inspiration for Stephen Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home”

Makers Mark Distillery.