June 09
Hillsville, Virginia

2009

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 June
   30   Today we both had a workamper morning and John is on until 330pm for breaks and lunches.  I headed into Hillsville to the post office, bank and a few other stops. 

   29   Today is a workamper day on the waterslide for John.  I am working on TCI stuff and other paperwork.

   28   We headed to Woodlawn to hike the Crooked Road Trail.  John was going to do 10.8 miles.  However, when we got there we couldn’t find the trail.  We started driving to look for it and come to find out, the trail was also the road.  So we ended up driving the 10.8 miles which would have been impossible for me and hard for John.  Up and down and all around and up and down again and again.  We ended up back at the parking lot and John did a mile or so hike and then got hung up by a fast running creek crossing the path.  That was it.  As we were getting ready to leave the parking lot some fishermen gave us 7 rainbow trout they had just caught but wasn’t going to eat.  So we had a nice grilled trout dinner when we got home.

   27   Now that we finished The New River Trail we have to venture out on new ones.  Today we went to Fancy Gap to a hiking area called Devils Den.  This trail has much more elevation than the New River Trail.  We hiked down to the cave and on the way down, we saw a deer.  You couldn’t really go into the cave, but we looked around.  We hiked back up and checked out the overlook.  We ended up hiking about 1 mile, but it was up and down.  We came back to the cow to regroup.  Tonight is the Hillsville’s Monthly Downtown Festival at 6pm.  So we headed to Hillsville.  The band was “The Entertainers”.  They played until about 930pm.  We really enjoy the downtown festival.

   26   John did it!!!  He finished the New River Trail.  Even though the trail is only 57 miles long, he actually did more than that since I did short segments, he hiked back with me on some of them.  Today he did 7.5 miles from Draper to Pulaski.  We made a quick stop in Hillsville and then back to the cow.  We lounged around the campsite and did some reading.  Since today is Friday the weekend warriors are coming in and the pool and waterslide are packed.  So were staying away.

   25   Today is a hot and sunny day.  John was supposed to work the waterslide, but there were enough help, so he was off.  We headed to the pool for a few hours.  Later we relaxed by the cow and did some reading.

   24   Workamper Day.  I was on until 1030am and John was on until 330pm.  They are shorthanded, so I helped out on breaks and lunches.

   23   Today is a workamper day.  Since Lorene called in sick, both of us are on all day.  It’s a warm and sunny day and working the waterslide and paddleboats is no big deal. 

   22   Another beautiful sunny day!  We drove into Galax to golf at the Galax Golf Course.  This is a 9 hole par 36 course.  It is very scenic and very hilly.  You can’t beat the cost, 17.00 for 18 holes including a cart.  We only saw a few other people out on the course.

   21   Today is a beautiful sunny and warm day.  Finally!  We headed to Allisonia to the New River Trail.  I dropped John off and drove to Draper.  I hiked in about 1.5 miles to meet him.  I ended the day with 3 miles and John ended it with 6 miles.  We stopped for some dinner and a few groceries.  Then back at the campground, we relaxed outside and then visited with our neighbors Willa and Steve.

   20   Today our campground is having a big corporate picnic.  They are expecting about 500 people.  The theme for the day is Hillbilly Days.  We are manning the Closest to the pin golf game.  We had a good time.  It was one of the busiest games they had.  We averaged 45 people an hour.  After we were done, we just hung around the cow.

   19   John headed out to help get the members pool done this morning.  We had a nice day reading.  In the afternoon we headed out to Wytheville to the Wohlfahrt Haus Dinner Theater.  The play “The King and I” is running.  We had a couple cocktails in the German style lounge.  Then at 630pm we went into the theater for dinner.  It seats 200 people but they did not have a full house.  We were seated in the first tier so we were right at the stage.  The play started at 8pm and was over about 1045pm with a short intermission.  It was an excellent performance.

   18   Today is a workamper day for John.  I worked on my Trams recordings.  Later in the day we had wine on our veranda and talked to our neighbors Lisa and Denny.

   17   Another rainy day.  When is the rain going to stop?  We are on workamper today.  We have pool duty.  Since it was raining yesterday, we didn’t vacume the pools.  Today even though it’s pouring, the pools have to be vacuumed.  I was off at 1030am and worked on my TCI stuff.  John is on until 330p and has to fill in for breaks and lunches on the waterslide and paddleboats.

   16   Workamper day.  I got off around 11am and John got done at 330pm.  I worked on getting campground info in the keys.  We went to return movies and picked up a few groceries.

   15   We had a relaxing day at the cow.  We did some project and some reading and watched a movie.

   14   John is still in North Carolina and I helped Diane on the pools.  John got home around 2pm.  We just relaxed at the cow and watched a movie.

   13   This morning I was up early to help Diane with the pools.  It is a beautiful hot sunny day, so I know the waterslide will be crowded.  When we opened it at 10am, there was a line.  I was on until just after the rubber duck races which were around 4pm.  John is still in North Carolina helping get the other campground back together after the tornado hit it.  I just talked to him, and I think he’ll be back tomorrow night or Monday. 

   12   Today we were off and we were going to head to Galax for the leaf and string fest.  But Steve the campground manager asked if John could go with a few other workampers to Cherokee North Carolina for a few days.  They had a tornado last night and there is a lot of damage.  No one was hurt which is a good thing.  So John headed out.  I’m not sure how long he will be gone.  I did some grocery shopping and got stuff organized.  Since John and Bryan are gone, Diane and I have to cover for them as well as our own time.  It’s supposed to be a nice weekend and the pools, boats and waterslides will be busy.  That’s ok, as long as I’m outside it’s great.

   11   Today John was going to be working the boats and I was off.  I was going to be working on trams recordings.  About 1130am and here comes the rain again!  Our internet is still down from a couple days ago.  Right now they are hoping to get it up by Saturday.  We headed down to the café at 5pm.  Jim and Jackie were doing their karaoke.  I sang a couple songs.  They were done by 730pm.

   10   Today is a workamper morning.  John and I were on pools this morning and John was going to be on boats, but there were extra people so he got off.  I worked on TCI stuff and John did outside maintenance.  More rain this afternoon.  We lost our internet last night due to the storms.

   9   This morning was a workamper day we started at 730am to work on the pools.  We were done at 1030am.  We stayed around the cow for a little while and headed out to hike the New River Trail.  I dropped John off at Gambetta and went to park at Cliffview.  He had a 7.2 mile hike and I started to hike in to meet him.  However, I ended up going the wrong way.  I figured it out and started walking to meet John.  He ended with 7.2 miles and I ended with 2.5 miles.

   8   Today is a workamper day.  John and I are manning the waterslide.  Since it’s Monday it wasn’t real busy but steady.

   7   Today is a lazy day.  We hung around the cow, took a walk and did some reading.

   6   We headed over to Mount Airy, North Carolina this morning for the Fiddlers Convention.  Mt. Airy is only about 23 miles from us.  It’s a beautiful drive.  We cross up over the Blue Ridge Parkway and then down into the valley. 
          There were a lot more people there than we expected.  There were two stages, one for instrumental and one for instrumental and vocals.  I would say half the people there got there Friday night and are staying until Sunday morning.  It’s a little camping village.  Tents and RV’s.  We brought our chairs and set up near the main instrumental stage.  Then we took a walk around.  Lots of fiddle, banjo and mandolin vendors.  There was a place that was making homemade ice cream and a little snack shack.  We went into the barn where the instrumental and vocals was going on.  The way this works is… if you want to compete, you sign in and tell them what instrument you will be playing and what song.  Then you stand in line and wait to play.  Everyone we heard was very good.  Some better than others. 
         We took break and caught the town trolley to the downtown Mt Airy visitor’s center.  Mt. Airy is also known as Mayberry.  The actor Andy Griffith was born here grew up and finished high school here.  The show “The Andy Griffith Show” is based around Mt. Airy.  That’s why it’s known as Mayberry.  There is “Floyds Barber Shop”, “Snappy’s Diner”, the “Cinema”, the “Courthouse and Jail”, “Wally’s Service Station’, and the “Squad Car”.   The home Andy Griffith grew up in is now a Bed and Breakfast and you can stay there overnight.  We walked around the town and saw Floyds, Snappy Diner and the Cinema.  Otis the town drunk was walking around, but we couldn’t get a picture.  We will come back again and get to the other places. 
         So then we took the trolley back to the Fiddlers Convention and stayed for a while longer.  When we got back to the campground, we had dinner and the hayride was coming by. 
         It’s Mardi gras weekend theme at the campground this weekend.  So the kids made Mardi gras masks in the Art Center and now they are wearing them on the hayride.  We headed over to the café at 7pm.  There is karaoke.  Our neighbors Jim and Jackie were there and also our pool compadres, Bryan and Diane.  We all sat together.  Jim is a really good karaoke singer.  I sang a couple songs and we did some dancing.  At 9pm it was over, so back to the cow.

   5   This morning was going to be a waterslide workamper day for John, but it was raining.  So instead, he worked around the inside of the cow and I did some TCI stuff.

   4   John and I are scheduled for the waterslide today.  It’s overcast and showers are expected.  However, there is a school group of 7^th graders and seniors coming in for the day.  They won’t care if it’s raining.  So it may be a busy day.  John worked at the paddleboats and I worked with Jessie at the waterslide.  It was very busy off and on.  It did quite down after the kids left.

   3   This morning was a workamper day.  We headed out at 730am for the pool maintenance.  We were done at 1030am and headed back to the cow for some breakfast.  We hung around for a while and then decided to head to Mt Airy, NC (also known as Mayberry).  We were on our way and BIG storms.  Lots of rain, thunder and lighting were all around us.  We decided it wasn’t a good day to walk around so we headed back to the cow. 

   2   This morning was a workamper day for both of us.  We started at 730 and were done by 1030am.  We had pool maintenance duty.  Then we headed to Fries to hike more of the New River Trail.  I dropped John off at the Fries Trailhead.  Then I relaxed by the New River and did some reading.  I met John at Cambretta.  I did a little hiking in to meet John.  He ended the day with 8 miles and I had 2 miles.  We stopped for some groceries and then home to relax.

   1   This morning John headed out to the waterslide.  He was there all day and there were only 2 kids.  He did get lots of reading done.  I worked on TCI stuff.