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2009
To see our complete Photo Album at our
Webshots Site.
To see a summary map of our route,
click here.
May
31 We had some strong
storms last night, but their cleared out and today should be a beautiful day.
We took a walk around the campground and then laid out in the sun and got some
rays.
30
Today was a full
day. It’s bright and sunny. Finally! Also it should be in the high 70’s. So
we are going to the pool. Our neighbor workampers Jim and Jackie are having
karaoke at the pool. Jim sings karaoke all the time and has all the equipment.
I got up and did a couple songs. After catching some rays, we headed over to
the waterslide to watch the rubber duck races. Those ducks really move on the
waterslide. We heard Hillsville is having its monthly Downtown Celebration. So
off we went. There is supposed to be music, food and beverages. In Floyd,
beverages meant coffee, milkshakes and sodas. So we brought a small flask of
rum so we can make Pepsi plus. When we got to Hillsville, we parked at the
courthouse and there was an Antique Car Parade starting. That was pretty cool.
We were surprised all these antique cars were there. We still didn’t see a
band. So we asked a merchant. She told us the band was behind the Hardware
Store Restaurant. Then she said, THERE IS ALSO THE BUDWIESER BEER TRUCK.
Halleluiah!!! A beer truck. You are limited to a total of 5 beers per person.
You have to understand. This is not a dry area, but it may as well be. There
are no bars at all. Just a few restaurants and just a couple of those sell beer
and wine with your meal. So to listen to music outside with a beer truck is
great. There were two bands. Both were good. For Hillsville, it was crowded.
It was a nice evening. It was very nice, having a couple beers and enjoying
good music outside. The band contract went to 9pm, but they played until
930pm. We are looking forward to next months Downtown Celebration.
29
We were supposed
to be working the waterslide today, but they had enough people so off we went.
We headed to Ivanhoe to catch the New River Trail. John is still working on
completing the whole 57 miles of trails. It will actually be more, since when
he hikes with me he comes back over the same path. Today John went from Ivanhoe
to Byllesby Dam. This was 6 miles. I dropped him off and met him at Byllesby
Dam. Then we walked 2.5 miles (5 miles round trip) to Fries Junction. So he
ended with 11 miles today and I had 5 miles. We drove back through Galax and
stopped at Applebee’s for dinner.
28
Today is another
rain out. We did have some new neighbors move in next door last night. They
are Denny and Lisa. They are also workampers at the Café. John cleaned the
outside of the cow and then we just hung around and played on the computer and
did some reading.
27
This morning it
was down pouring rain. We were on for workamping and getting the pools
cleaned. We only did the pool readings. Then we hung around the cow and did
some computer stuff and read. Hopefully this rain is going to be ending soon.
I think a couple more days.
26
Today is an early
workamper day. We started at 730am. It was overcast and drizzling. We did the
daily maintenance on both pools and got the waterslide up and running. We were
done early around 1030am. Then we hung around until early afternoon. We really
needed groceries and other supplies, so we headed out to Galax shopping since it
was raining.
25
Workamper day –
John and I are working the waterslide. It’s overcast and some drizzle but
warm. We did have quite a few on the slide. There are two slides, so when both
sides are open you need two people up top and one on the bottom. The people up
top, help the kids on to their mats. The bottom person just has to monitor the
kids and help if they have a problem. Cerella and I were on top and John was
down below. We closed one side at 3pm, so I got off. John had to stay on for a
while longer.
24
This morning we walked around the campground and
then headed over to Floyd around noon. We stopped to check out the golf course
and then went back to Main street in Floyd. Our first stop happened to be
Nancy’s Chocolates. We got a couple to go and went to check out the town of
Floyd. There is not much there. A couple restaurants and The Floyd Country
Store. We stopped for lunch at the Mexican restaurant.
Then we walked pretty much next door to the
Floyd Country Store. This is
like an old time country store. It sells pastry, ice cream, sandwiches, and
hard candy. It also has root beer and ginger ale. We are here because on
Sunday afternoons there is a bluegrass jam session. In the back of the store
there is a small stage and dance floor. Today anyone that wants to play can
join in. They are set up on the dance floor in a circle. There are fiddles,
banjos, guitars, and a few instruments I’m not familiar with. There were other
chairs set up so people could listen. We got some coffees and enjoyed the
bluegrass for a couple hours. There was even a young kid maybe 12 playing. A
few folks got up to dance. It was a nice afternoon.
I’m sure we will be back. On Fridays they have a
jamboree starting at 630pm. The first hour is gospel bluegrass music. Then
regular bluegrass until around 10pm.
23
Hillsville has a Memorial Day Flea Market. It’s
not as big as the Labor Day one, but it’s still big. We went to check it out.
Then we took a nice walk around our campground. We played some Putt Putt Golf.
In the evening the campground had a live band in the café.
22
We headed out to the New
River Trail for some hiking. John and I hiked around Shot Tower. Then John
Hiked 6 miles to Ivanhoe Depot. I hiked in to meet him.
17 - 21 We had
some workamper days and spent time at the campground. On the 20th there
was a cookout for all the workampers. John also went pool diving to help
replace a drain.
16
Today is a workamper day. We checked in and
Bryan, Diane, John and I are getting all the chairs ready for the pool to open.
As long as we can get the chlorine problem corrected, there ready to open.
Hopefully by next weekend, Memorial Day they’ll be good to go. We ended our
shift and then a big storm came in. So right now we are reading and working on
computer stuff.
15
We’re heading out hiking again. Back to the New
River Trail. This time I dropped John off at Lone Ash and he hiked 5 miles to
Foster Falls where I met him. While I was waiting, I found a reading area along
the river with a family of Geese and did some reading. Then we both hiked 1.5
miles to Shot Tower and back. So I ended with 3 miles and John did 8 miles
today. After lunch, John was on a mission to make a batch of his hot salsa.
14
We headed out this morning for a new area along
the New River State Park Trail. As I said before, this is a 57 miles long
trail. John wants to complete all of it while we’re here. So we parked at Lone
Ash and started there. We hiked about 2 miles to Barren Springs and back. For
me, 4 miles is perfect. It’s along the New River so it’s very scenic. We did
see a small snake poking his head out of a hole in a tree. When we were done,
we drove back over to Barren Springs. This is where I dropped John off and he
continued on the trail. I met him at Allisonia which is about 6 miles. Then we
headed up to explore Pulaski. Not much up there, so we stopped to pick up some
stuff for dinner and headed back to the cow. We were sitting outside having a
cocktail and our neighbors Jackie and Jim came by. We visited with them for a
while, and then we needed to get dinner going. We were hungry.
13
Another workamper day. We got done early and had lunch. Then just hung around
the campground.
12
Another workamper day. Today is sunny but a
little cool. We got in our golf cart and headed for the main pool to get our
supplies. We were on our own today. Bryan did check on us to see how we were
doing but no worries. Afterwards, we had lunch then John had to make up another
batch of his hot salsa.
11
Our 2nd workamper day. It’s raining
and cold, but we still have to go. We headed over to the office at 845am and
had coffee and chatted with the other workampers. Bryan, Diane, John and I
headed off to check the pools. Even though it’s raining, we still need to keep
on top of the pools to get them in shape to open. We checked the levels,
temperature, did shock treatments and added chlorine. Then we went to the
waterslide to learn about how that operates and how to clean and prepare it.
After we were done, we had lunch. It was still cold and drizzling so we just
lounged and did some reading at the cow.
10
This morning is a nice sunny morning. Candy and
Traci came down for coffee before they hit the road for home. It was great to
see them again. We decided to do some domestic stuff like laundry and grocery
shopping. Then we just relaxed around the cow.
9
This morning John and I had to report for our
workamper assignment. We worked with Bryan and Diane. We are learning all
about pool preparation and cleaning. We were on for 4 hours. Then Candy,
Traci, John and I headed to Galax to hike part of the New River Trail. We did a
total of 4.4 miles. It’s a nice trail, flat and graded. It runs along the
river. This trail is actually 57 miles long. We came back, had dinner and
just relaxed by the fire. We met some neighbors, Tiffany and Ashley.
8
Candy, Traci and the kids, Nestle and Murdock
came over early for coffee. We all planned the day and then headed out. First
we headed to downtown Hillsville to hike the Beaver Dam Trail. It’s about 4
miles round trip. It did drizzle a little, but we had our rain ponchos. Then
we headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway. We started at Mile Post 199 and headed
North. We made a couple photo stops and headed on. At Mile Post 176 we stopped
at Mabry Mill. This one of the most visited and photographed sites on the
parkway. There is also a restaurant with renowned pancakes. We got the combo
plate with Buckwheat, Corn and Sweet Potato pancakes. We made another photo
stop and then cut over to Floyd and back to Hillsville. It was a nice evening
and we grilled out and had a campfire.
7
Today we went into Hillsville. We walked around
town and did some shopping. Our friends Candy and Traci should arrive around
6pm. They are coming to visit and spend a few days. Candy and Traci and their
kids (dogs), Nestle and Murdock arrived and we grilled out and started a fire.
We couldn’t spend a lot of time outside because there were thunderstorms.
6
This morning is still rainy and cool. We had a
cow day and just hung around the campground.
5
This morning was cool and rainy. We got some domestic things done. Then we
headed out to Galax to explore the town. We stopped for groceries and then back
to the cow. It’s still rainy so were just hanging around the cow.
4
We headed out of Anderson SC this morning on our
way to Hillsville Virginia. As we got closer the scenery just kept getting more
beautiful. We got to our campground, Lakeridge RV Resort and got all set up.
Then we went around the property and we were ready for dinner. We stopped at
the Visitors Bureau, then went to dinner and stopped for groceries. That was
it, we were done.
3
Since we had such a late night yesterday, we are
getting going late this morning. We talked to Cathy and she is heading over to
the campground. We relaxed at the campground and then Cathy, John and I went to
El Arriro Mexican Restaurant for dinner. Afterwards Cathy headed home and we
got ready to head out in the morning.
2
Last night we had a little rain. This morning
we walked around the park. This is a small and wooded campground. We are in
the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The smells are different. It is
definitely spring here. Lots of robins, plants are blooming and you can smell
the fresh pine mountain air.
We called John’s cousin Cathy and went to her place around noon. After
visiting for a while, we told her she was the entertainment director and had to
show us around. So off we went. First we headed to Greenville. They have a
nice city center. Lots of outdoor cafes and restaurants. Very good area to
mosey around. We walked down to Falls Park. It was Saturday and sunny and
beautiful 80 degrees so there were lots of people out and about. Today is Derby
Day. Yes, just like the Kentucky Derby running today, Greenville has its own
Derby. The Reedy River Ken-Ducky Derby. People were buying their ducks and
lining up along the course. We were too late to get a duck, but we did find a
great spot to watch the race.
Ok, at 230pm there OFF. They got a little hung up with the other real ducks
and geese. I guess they just wanted to hang out. But they continued on. There
are only 20 horses in the Derby, but there are 10 thousand Ducks in our
Ken-Ducky Derby. Then one by one and then by the groups, over the falls they
went. Tumbling down to the river below to try to be the first to finish. The
person, who had the winning duck, won one years worth of free groceries. That’s
a prize.
Now that the race was over, people were thinning out. We also headed out.
Cathy took us over to the American Legion post 121 in Williamston. She goes
there and knows everyone. We met a lot of nice people and now the real Kentucky
Derby was getting ready to run. They got a pool together for the winner, but
our horses didn’t win. In fact, John’s was scratched and that was that. The
winner did buy a round for the bar. Cathy’s friend, Ronnie came by and the four
of us headed over to Anderson to McGee’s Irish Pub for dinner. Dinner was good
and there were 2 guys up playing guitars and harmonicas.
After dinner we had to go back to the American Legion to get Big Red. We
went in for one. Big Mistake. You know how that goes. There were a lot more
people, some from earlier and karaoke. We did some dancing, took lots of
pictures and had some drinks. We met a lot of really nice people. But it was
time to go. We ended up back at the cow around 130am.
1
This morning we got up early at 6am and got
ready to hit the road. We were on the road by 7am. We traveled about 425
miles. We went through Alabama and Georgia on our way to Anderson South
Carolina. We are staying at the KOA. John’s cousin Cathy lives nearby, so we
are going to visit with her this weekend. We got all set up and then we were
ready to just relax.
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