Are you going to Scarborough Fair? (Ok, probably not the same one.)

Well, we did not make our 7am departure time the other day, but we did get out by 7:30, which has to be a new record. Our RV specific GPS (see earlier posts) continues to frustrate. It told us to turn right out of the campground, so we did. Then it said "recalculating" and sent us in a circle to go back the other way. We did buy a new atlas before leaving home that has RV safe routes highlighted (I highly recommend this for you other RVers out there), so we are consulting that as well.

We had a long day of driving with several traffic jams along the way. We arrived at the campground in Scarborough, ME, about 5pm. After setting up and grilling some burgers, we started a campfire (well, Chuck did) and played some SpikeBall. Lots of curiosity about it again. Side note: the campground rules state no ring toss allowed after 8pm. Ring toss makes me think of the carnival game. Is that a thing people do while camping up here or is it something different? After SpikeBall and s'mores, we called it a night. The bugs are pretty bad here.

This morning Chuck was all, let's go exploring, but then he had to watch the Tour de France. So around noon we finally made it out on our bikes. We did not bring our Jeep along this time. This campground is like 1/2 mile from the beach, so we rode out that way.

Only stayed a few minutes, then we rode down a street paralleling the beach through a cute coastal town. I looked up at one point and saw a big ferris wheel. We had stumbled upon an honest-to-goodness boardwalk amusement park. Turns out it was Palace Playland and we were in Old Orchard Beach.

We didn't ride anything, but the suckers boys played several games. Ben actually won a basketball, so then we had to buy a tote bag to carry it back on our bikes.

After we got back, Chuck went and checked out the Eastern Trail. I decided to sit and read. :-) Ben took his new basketball to the campground court. Chuck saw him on the way back in and came back & got Zack and the 3 of them played. Chuck apparently was fouled by Zack and ended up on the ground. He was bleeding in several spots and keeps complaining about how sore his hip is tonight. Not gonna lie, glad the injured party is not me for once.  

The rest of the day was more reading and relaxing, walking Ellie, after dinner SpikeBall and s'mores.

The weather here has been amazing. We did have a pretty good amount of rain very early this morning, but we had put everything under the awning last night. 

Tomorrow morning we are heading up to Bar Harbor, ME. 

Chocolate everywhere!

Yesterday we headed out of Virginia at about 8:30 in the morning for Hershey, PA. I know, some of you are having a hard time believing the time, but it's true. We had a pretty uneventful trip. We briefly drove through WV & MD and both were pretty windy. About 5 miles from Hershey there was an "incident" ahead of us that added a little time, but it wasn't too bad.

We got to the campground sometime in the afternoon. The Hershey Park Camping Resort doesn't appear to have that many full hook-up sites, and those are crammed together. We were in a water/electric site that was pretty roomy on the end of a row. Getting in was a little tricky, but some nice campers from NJ across from us moved their trucks and helped back Chuck in to the spot. They seemed pretty good at directing him (and he actually listened to them), and one of their wives told me they back trucks for a living.

After setting up and eating an early dinner, we took a shuttle bus over to Chocolate World.

There are some different things to do there that require tickets to each, but everything was sold out. There is a no-ticket-required tour of how chocolate is made but when we got to it, it was temporarily not operating.  What to do while we wait...well, there's a big store there - I guess we'll have to shop. Too many dollars spent later, we got on the tour ride, got our free Hershey bar at the end, and then headed back to the campground.

Once back and with Ellie taken care of, we settled in for the final 2 hours of History Channel's "Alone". (We do have cable here.) We had just gotten addicted to it and binge watched the other episodes the week before. It didn't disappoint.

This morning Ben & I headed out early for Hershey Park (amusement park). Chuck & Zack took a hard pass on going. I took Bonine in case I got up the nerve to ride something with Ben. 12 hours later and I still feel drugged.

We had a good day. Ben only rode 2 roller coasters because he said it was boring by himself. But we did some other rides together. Hershey has a walk-up food stand that is dedicated allergy free!

I wish all amusement parks would do this. I got some gluten free chicken tenders and some gluten free pretzel bites. Ben helped me eat them. I don't think he was impressed with the chicken tenders but he said the pretzel bites were legit.

Oh, there is also a zoo attached to the park and we ended up going through it twice. Ben said it was more relaxing, and I have to agree.

It is really hot here. We only have 30 amp electric, which we found out 2 years ago in Lake Powell isn't really enough to run 2 ACs.  Luckily this site is way more shaded than that one was, so it hasn't really been a problem.

Tomorrow we are leaving at 7am (we will see if it actually happens) for a long day of driving to Portland, ME.

Back by Popular Demand!

Hey y'all! We are embarking on another (shorter) road trip, with a final destination of Bar Harbor, Maine. And since all my readers were clamoring for more blog posts, I decided to give them what they want! Okay, it was really just my mom asking if I was going to do it.

Anyhoo, we set out about noon today and had a stopover planned in Natural Bridge, VA. About an hour into our trip, a rock flew off from a tractor trailer and chipped our windshield, leaving a little starburst pattern in the glass. Now if you're keeping track at home, you'll know this is our 3rd windshield crack on the motorhome. The last one required a whole new windshield. Everyone we called about this one said it will have to be replaced as well since it's bigger than a quarter. :-( For the record, my car is on its 3rd or 4th windshield and just got another small crack last month. I guess we have bad luck with windshields.

About an hour from the campground, we ran into a big thunderstorm with lots of cloud-to-ground lightning all around.  Luckily we just missed it at the campground. Last time we drove in rain we had a leak somewhere underneath and lots of water came in, soaking the carpet in spots. Chuck hoped he had fixed it, but this was the first real test. Good news - it worked!

After supper we set up our new favorite game, Spikeball.  Chuck & Ben won the first game, and Zack & I were able to pull off the win in the 2nd one. No, we didn't play best out of 3. It's kinda hilly here, and let's just say there were some close calls while chasing the ball. Surprisingly, none of them were me.

Chuck & I took Ellie on a walk around the campground and then on a nature trail. Didn't see any bears or mountain lions, thank goodness.

Tomorrow - on to Hershey, PA!

PS - we actually have good wifi here.
PPS - jinxed myself! As soon as I typed that and hit Publish, I discovered the wifi was not working.

Campgrounds we've been to on other trips...

And here are the rest...

Statesville Midway Campground, Midway, NC.  Have stayed in various sites.  Last one was incredibly unlevel.  There is a giant jumping pillow.  Crazy haunted trail on weekends in Oct. LOTS of stinkbugs.

Brown Mountain Beach Resort, Collettsville, NC.  Only 4 RV sites.  Quite a few tent sites.  Pay showers (like .25/2 min.) and bathrooms are not nice. RV sites are on the river.

Paris Mountain State Park, Greenville, SC.  Nice state park campground.

Jekyll Island Campground, Jekyll Island, GA.  Campground was nice.  It rained a lot while we were there, so we didn't go to the beach or anything.  Bugs were bad.

Blue Spring State Park, Orange City, FL, Site 50.  This is an amazing campground.  Sites are big and very private with all the trees.  The spring is beautiful.  No sewer hookup.

Ft. Wilderness, Disney World, FL, Site 302.  Expensive for a campground, but really nice.  Big dog park.  Site was very hard to get into due to trees and truck parked slightly in the road across from it.
Site 524 - a premium loop, so slightly easier to get in. Still had some issues with trash can, tree, and utility thing getting in the way when getting in. Still one of our favorite campgrounds.

Bryn Mawr Resort, St. Augustine, FL, Site 235.  We were right next to the beach path.  Lots of park models and permanent residents.

Lake Norman RV Resort, Lake Norman, NC, Have stayed in site 21 (back-in), 15(pull-in).  Right on the lake.  Small campground with tiers.  We were on the 2nd.  Not a lot of amenities and can't really ride bikes or anything, so if you don't have a boat there's not a lot to do.  Sites would be really hard to get in and out of if all sites were full.

Hilton Head Motorcoach Resort, Hilton Head, SC, Site 395.  Only Class A motorhomes allowed. Sites are very large and easy to get into.  I think they are privately owned, so there is a variety of asphalt, pavers, concrete, etc.  Not close enough to beach.  Closes early because they don't want people coming in after dark.  There are a few spots outside the gates to park overnight if you get there late.

Lake Powhatan Recreational Area, Asheville, NC.  Great campground.  Hookups are varied on sites, kinda randomly.  Mountain bike trails right in the area.

KOA Naples/Marco Island, between Naples & Marco Island, FL, Site A-7.  Nice sites, spotty wi-fi, horrible no-see-ums.  Not very close to beaches.

Inland Harbor RV Park, Darien, GA, Site B-4.  Basic no-frills campground with large pull-throughs and right off the interstate, so perfect for an overnight.

Lakepoint State Park, Eufala, AL, Site 29.  Another perfect stop for an overnight.  We got there after closing, but I had called and got a gate code.  Asked another camper for info when we arrived and found the loop with full hook-ups.  Long pull-throughs.

Camp Gulf, Miramar Beach, FL, Site 700.  Corner site, 2nd row, so a little roomier than the rest on our row.  Beautiful beach.  Expensive, but there are cheaper sites farther from the beach. Basketball court, playground, giant inflatable slide on certain days.
Site 75. Went with 3 other families and got 2 buddy sites.

Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park, Jacksonville, FL, Site 274.  The site was pretty unlevel. Campground is a nice, woodsy place at the beach. Mountain bike trails you can ride from the campground.

James Island County Park, Charleston, SC, Site 119.  Site was very private, with a big clearing in the trees for the fire ring.  This was a very nice campground.  The park has the best dog park we've ever seen.  Only bad thing is there's no easy way in when you're in a tall vehicle.  Live Oak trees are everywhere, hanging over the roads .  Park ranger who checked us in after hours was very nice, helpful, and energetic.

Fancy Gap KOA, Fancy Gap, VA, Site #14 and #55 (loved it so much we went twice).  Nice campground in the mountains, right near the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Boone KOA, Boone, VA, Site C6. (Have stayed a couple of other times but didn't note the site #). Not our favorite campground but way cooler temps than Charlotte! Also seems to be the best option in the area for our size. Wi-fi and Verizon signal weak.

Pine Mountain RV, Pine Mountain, GA, Site 140. Overnighted on the way to and from Destin, FL. Nice campground. Was rainy both nights we were there so we didn't try any amenities or even walk around.

Apple Valley Farm Motorcoach Resort, Lake Lure, NC, Site 157. Super nice campground, Class A's only. Sites are privately owned, so each one is pretty unique. Ours had a nice gazebo. Very good wi-fi. Very dog-friendly (i.e. slack leash enforcement).

Campground List - Summer 2014. .

Hello, dear readers (if anyone is still reading).  I thought I'd list all the campgrounds we stayed at in case anyone wanted info.  And I think I'll keep adding the ones we stay at now.  So, here goes.

Summer 2014

Caney Creek RV Resort, Harriman, TN, Site B 11/17.  This pretty campground is on a lake.  The site was pull-through, but the hookups were on the other side.

Graceland Campground, Memphis, TN, Site 31.  Small sites, but you can walk to Graceland ticket office.  Wi-fi was good.

Greenleaf State Park, Braggs, OK, Site 19 in Gobbler Ridge loop.  HUGE sites, only electric and water, no wi-fi.

Corral Drive-In RV Park, Guymon, OK, Site 63.  Basically a gravel parking lot, but really cool having the drive-in movie.

Great Sand Dunes Oasis, Mosca, CO, Site 3.  Incredibly windy, small gravel lot campground, but incredible views.

A&A Mesa Verde, Mancos, CO, Site 53.  Gravel.  Big rig sites in back were very tight.  Right across from Mesa Verde NP entrance.  Mini-golf course.

Bullfrog, Lake Powell, UT, Site 23.  Very hot and desert-y and remote.  Only 30 amp.  No wi-fi, cable, antenna channels. Some cell service.  Lots of sand burrs.

Ruby's, Bryce Canyon, UT, Sites 214 & 203.  More gravel parking lot, though there are some nice, shady sites in the woods for smaller units.  Many wi-fi networks to choose from but none worked well.

Gold Dust West Casino RV Park, Carson City, NV.  Tightest spaces ever.  Could not get into 2 different ones so ended up staying in the parking lot.

Tahoe Valley Campground, S. Lake Tahoe, CA, Site 138.  Very nice campground, not so much with the wi-fi.  Our site did not have a fire pit or picnic table even though others did.

San Francisco RV Resort, Pacifica, CA, Site 150.  Another very tight parking lot.  On the ocean, but way up on a cliff.  Very close to SF.

Redwoods RV Resort, Crescent City, CA, Site 14.  Very nice campground.  Sites are fairly spacious, with huge redwoods and redwood stumps.

Crown Villa RV Resort, Bend, OR, Site 499.  Really nice campground.  For "the discriminating RVer".  Sites are pavers and very large.

KOA, Meridian, ID, Site 12.  Another parking lot with tight spaces, but okay for a stopover.

Snake River RV Park, Idaho Falls, ID, Site C7.  Another parking lot with slightly larger spots.

Headwaters RV, between Yellowstone and Grand Teton, Site 314.  Nice national park campground. Bad mosquitos.

AB Camping RV Resort, Cheyenne, WY.  Not sure of site #, but it was in the back section. Wi-fi was weak there. Campground has BBQ every night.

Double Nickel Campground, Waco, NE, Site 94.  Really nice older campground with new owners. Right off the interstate, so perfect for overnight.  Free mini-golf. Some of the pull-throughs are super long.  In-ground tornado shelter. Wi-fi okay near the office.

Lazy Day Campground, Danville, MO, Site 21.  Another really nice stopover campground.  Very large dog park.  Bad wi-fi.

Whispering Hills RV Park, Georgetown, KY, Site 205.  Big campground, we were in the residential section.  Bad wi-fi.  Fishing lake.

Kentucky Horse Park Campground, Lexington KY, Site C139.  Campground is very symmetrical,so all the sites are pretty equal.  Horse-related competitions and "amusement park" are unique, and there are also regular campground amenities (playgrounds, basketball, tennis, pools.)

Final thoughts, random musings, stats

Well, here is our map.  FL, GA, & SC (and obviously NC doesn't really count) were from prior trips, but everything else we just added.  Notice how we went all around Kansas.  We were so close in Kansas City!

We went into 17 states and 9 state capitals.  This will shock none of you that know us, but we forgot to note the mileage before we left.  I'm going to try to find an invoice from when we had it serviced right before, but for now we are estimating 7000 miles.

We get asked a lot what kind of fuel economy we get.  Most of the time it was 7.5-8.5 mpg, but there were really windy days that it was 5.5 mpg.  It is a diesel RV.  In most states, diesel was more expensive than gas, but not CA!

We got everything unloaded today and the RV back in storage.  But the house is a mess!  I had some trouble remembering where things were in my kitchen, and I was so used to the gel mattress topper on our camper bed that I limped out of bed like an old lady this morning.  The boys helped unload stuff, but have been glued to their computers the rest of the day.

Chuck & I said the other day we never got homesick and could've stayed out longer.  This morning he said he wanted to go camping again.

If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask.  I took notes on the campgrounds and kept all the campground maps (yeah, I'm a packrat).  Many of them were parking lots, most were gravel.

Here are some observations from the road and some stuff I forgot in other posts, presented in random order with no attempt to segue between them.

Windmills - there are a lot of windmill farms.  I think the windmills look pretty cool.  They are so big and move so slowly, it's kinda graceful.  We went by some really close to the road and Ellie was mesmerized by them.  It was so funny watching her watching them.

Speed Limits - there are some really high speed limits out there.  I think 80 mph was the highest we saw.

Motorcycle Helmets - I thought SC & CA were the only two states that didn't require them, but the majority of states we went in had many riders not wearing helmets.

Tractor Trailers - some of the states out west allow triple piggybacks.  So, a rig pulling a trailer, pulling another trailer, pulling another trailer.

Elk - we saw two huge Roosevelt Elk herds on the way to Redwoods, just hanging out next to the road.  A billboard stated one of the herds is the largest in the world.

Shoes - whatever version of the Reebok zig I have was the absolute worst shoe I could've taken.  I was picking gravels out everywhere I went.

Motorcycles in San Francisco - it is very common practice for the motorcyclists to drive between two lanes of traffic to the front at a red light.

Weigh Stations - approached one in NE(?) that weighed you in the lane and then said if you had to exit or not.  The sign told us we had to exit, so we went in the weigh station with no idea what we were supposed to do.  We got the green light to move on.  Later we saw one that said no RVs, so that would've been nice to know.

GPS - our struggles with the routing are well documented, but one funny thing was in San Fran, the GPS lady turned into a sorority girl, saying several times "Golden Gate Bradge".

Dust - It is so dusty out west I was sneezing & coughing for weeks.  I cannot imagine what it was like during the Dust Bowl.

Antenna channels - we watched the ME channel a lot, Adam-12, The Big Valley, M*A*S*H.  Also, the network channels are way clearer than cable.

Campgrounds & wi-fi - also well documented here, but I just want to reiterate - if a campground advertises they have wi-fi, don't count on it.  At least one of the ones we went to had the decency to say "limited wi-fi"on their website.

Jeep wave - in Charlotte, Jeep drivers have a silly habit of waving at each other.  We didn't see that anywhere else when we were out in the Jeep.  Also, at the beginning Chuck kept waving at fellow motorhomers, but eventually stopped when no one would wave back.  I had to laugh when I saw another driver wave at us and Chuck didn't see him or wave back.

Roads - besides the obvious backcountry dirt roads, there are some really bad road conditions in this country. Interstates everywhere are horrible!

Roads #2 - some of the states must really get a lot of snow, when they have signs all along the interstate saying "closed when flashing. must turn around and go back." Guess I just assumed interstates would get plowed.

Man 'o War - Chuck looked at his memorial & burial site while the boys & I were in the gift shop at the KY Horse Park.  He says it's the biggest memorial he's ever seen, like way bigger than Elvis's (I think that's the only other one we saw this trip.)

SF Tolls - every bridge into SF had a toll (only one way). We crossed the Bay Bridge in motorhome w/ Jeep and had to pay $20 and wait in an extremely long line. We crossed the Golden Gate Bradge in the Jeep only, and it is automated.  As in, they take a pic of your license plate and mail you a bill.  We did not have one waiting for us in our mail.  So, we'll see if it comes.

Cheyenne Frontier Days - Chuck felt under-dressed.  He was shocked at how dressed up everyone was.  I was pretty much expecting that and wore my designer jeans.  I did not have a fancy belt or boots, however.

Remote places - this country is full of them!  I am from a small town, but that did not prepare me for how many wide open spaces there are in the US!  My cell phone spent a lot of time saying "searching" or "no service".

This was my favorite of the decorated horses scattered throughout the Horse Park - a Trojan Horse, with little guys climbing a ladder in.

I think that's it.  I'm sure I'll think of other stuff later, but for now, let us know if you want to go camping!

Kentucky is for horses.

On Mon. (7/28) we went to the part of the Horse Park that required admission tickets.  That was a very unique experience.  We went through a couple of museums and saw a couple of shows.  We had the schedule beforehand and were planning on going early but as usual we could not wake up. I think maybe we are still stuck on Pacific Time.    Anyway, we went to the later shows and found out the shows were different each time.  Oh, well.

One was the Hall of Champions.  They have several retired champion horses living there.  A woman told about the horse and then played footage from winning races before someone else walked the horse out.  We saw Go For Gin ('94 KY Derby winner), Be A Bono (quarterhorse), Da Hoss (2x Breeder's Cup winner), and Funny Cide ('03 KY Derby winner).

Go For Gin

Be A Bono

Da Hoss

Funny Cide

After that we went to the Horses of the World show, which was narrated by the same lady.  We saw an Icelandic Pony, a Marwari (super rare), a Gypsy Vanner (my fave), an Andalusian, a Morgan Horse, and a couple of others I didn't get the name of.  The Marwari is so rare, I didn't even get a pic of it. Seriously, I don't know what happened.  They have really weird ears, so maybe I was looking at that.

Icelandic Pony

Andalusian 

Gypsy Vanner

After the shows, we walked around some more and looked at the horses in the Big Barn.  Yes, it's a very big barn, but it's also where all the really big horses were.  Here are some of the pics from the museums and grounds.

We thought this was a little creepy.

These horses had mounting and dismounting instructions.

That was good for the boys since they haven't ridden before.
 

We liked this one's haircut.

Zack is about 16 1/2 hands tall.

Ben is about 15 hands tall.

These were part of a jump in the very 1st competition here in 1978.

Some miniatures.

After the park visit, we rode our bikes part of the way on the Legacy Trail, which ends (or begins in our case) at the campground and goes 12 mi. to downtown Lexington.  My bike is in pretty bad shape right now - the brakes and chain are rusty for starters.  Ben's bike is not changing gears any longer, so we were afraid to go too far downhill in case he couldn't make it back up.  But that's a nice trail.

This morning we got up and headed home.  We had booked tonight at Tom Johnson's Marion campground since they gave us 5 free nights there when we bought our RV.  We ended just up making a short pit stop since the boys were dying to get home.  We moved all the stuff from the closets and drawers that aren't accessible when the slides are closed (our driveway is not really conducive to leveling RV and opening slides), did a little cleaning, one last dumping of the sewer, and then headed home.  Got here about 7:30.

Tune in tomorrow (or maybe a couple of days since we still have to unload everything) for some final thoughts, stats, random things.