Today the Airstream saw it all. More Blue Highways in PA, and then a dash onto I-81 to make a little progress. We’ve got to get to Georgia after all.
The morning found us winding around crazy curves and road blocks on Route 209. I’ve seen so many small and medium sized towns in Pennsylvania now. Some that look run down, and others that are clearly tourist towns now. Narrow streets, on street parking, and me with an Airstream in tow. Fortunately though I’m pretty good at hauling my silver bullet, so no incidents.
Have you ever been driving along a road and seen a sign, “Road closed in 2 miles. Local traffic only……?” I did twice today. And twice there were no detours in these small towns. Instead you just drove right up to the barricade, mentally flipped a coin, and let fate take you where it will. Fate was good to us both times, but still, a detour sign would have been nice.
After an hour and a half on the country roads of Pennsylvania we emerged onto I-78 and headed for 81. Speeds and distance covered improved, but there was little to see.
Today we’ve rolled through PA, MD, WV, & into VA. The Airstream got parked by 3:30 p.m. and we’re winding down from 6 hours of driving time. I’m happy to report that the interstate traffic in Virginia is nothing like the traffic in MA & NY. I didn’t have the feeling that other drivers were trying to kill me once today. So that’s a plus!
What to do tomorrow?
Currently we’re parked at the Shenandoah Valley Campground off of Exit 269 in Virginia. It’s a new park, family run, and pretty nice! 4G LTE is available here, as well as their own Wi-Fi network. My 4G connection? Blazing fast. 11.5MB download and 5.1 MB upload. The park’s Wi-Fi? Slightly over 1 MB download and well under 1 MB upload. So I’m on my 4G tonight, and that’s okay.
The park is near the Shenandoah Caverns (less than a mile up the road), and we’re debating visiting them tomorrow morning. First tour is at 9 a.m. But at the same time we know we need to keep rolling. So I was thinking about driving down the Blue Ridge Parkway for a bit. There’s a spot on the Appalachian Trail I’d like to stop at. 😉
The final option is to just roll on out and get some miles under the wheels. I know this area very well, and years ago I really thought about relocating to Virginia.
I guess we’ll see what we do tomorrow when tomorrow happens.
Navigating
Once again, the Garmin missed this campground completely. In this case though I’ll forgive them. It’s a new campground. Unlike my Garmin, Allstays is keeping up with new parks. I found the park with the Allstays App.
As we’ve been making our way south I spend a little time each morning looking at Allstays and The Ultimate Campground App. In time I hope we start hitting more state parks, city parks, etc (where the Ultimate Campground Project comes into play). But for convenience we’re at another commercial park. Nothing wrong with that, especially if it’s a nice park, which this one is!
Finding parks is a lot easier these days. A smartphone or tablet will go a long way when traveling. So where my GPS misses some things, my IPhone fills in.
National Monuments of the Southwest Project Update
Last night I heard from Bert Gildart. He had gotten in touch about the project. And I liked what he had to say. He backed the project, which I really appreciate. And in addition, he popped up a Facebook post for all of his followers about the project:
I have a photographer friend, Rich Charpentier, who is really tops, trying to seek donations to round out his superb vision of photos about the national monuments of the SW. I’ve contributed through Kickstarter to this project and thought others may also be interested. Bert Gildart
Coming from a respected photographer, travel writer, guidebook author, and the rest of Bert’s credentials I’m so thrilled that he passed this along.
I know it’s a long shot to get this project rolling, but I know it’s possible too. So far we’re only 1% of the way there…..but we are on our way. If you can, back it. If you like the idea, share it with everyone you know. The whole idea of this crowd funding project is to get a crowd! In this case, a large mob of people could be doing something good! 😉
Wrapping up for today
I’m currently in line for the shower. Once I get cleaned up we’re off to photograph a covered bridge down the road. Then dinner will be in order. So, this is it for today!
- Date: 8/6/14
- Camped at: Indian Ridge Campground
- Fee: $42 per night
- Month total Camping: $254
- Average Nightly Cost: $42.33
- Mileage: 235