The Last 900 Miles - 2015 Return Home to Vt

We left Sevierville, TN on 4/21/15 around 12:30. We had helped out with the Escapee SmartWeigh program which concluded with us getting re-weighed at around 11:45 am.

Sure wish this was our rig.......

We headed east on I 40  until the road forked. And we followed those famous directions: If you come to a fork in the road, take it. East Fork was I 40 and headed to Ashville, NC. Next time. Not this time. We took the other fork which put us on I 81 heading for Bristol, TN. Bristol was about 95 miles.

We continued past Bristol, having missed the NASCAR race by 2 days, and then drove another 120 miles or so and then pulled in to Fort Chiswell RV Park, in Max Meadows, VA. What a nice little park. Very convenient to I 81. Very pretty country. Mileage for the day was just under 220.

That's us - right in the middle. Park was definitely FULL.

Another view of our site......

Two spots down from us was a couple from Ontario, Canada on their way home from a winter in Florida. They had a special traveling companion - a Boston Terrier named Buddy. Buddy was pretty neat. He was an older dog, I believe they said he was 14, and was very close to blind. But he was a character as was evidenced by his chasing and playing with his ball......

Buddy with his ball

Some pics of the park......

Cows grazing on the hillside adjacent to the park

A couple of older airstreams

Another view of the park - looking at swimming pool.

Another view of the park

We left the park bright and early the next morning. Our plan for the day was to make it to Hamburg, PA where we would stay at Cabela's for the night. This trip would cover a little over 400 miles. The trip itself was thankfully uneventful and included a couple of rest stops along the way.....

The driver of the rig behind us walked over to Molly and I where he proceeded to tell me about his Boston Terrier back home. And what a great dog they are.

Our trip took us through most of Virginia(disappointed that I did not allow time to "take it slowly" on the way home. Definitely will the next time and will for sure take advantage of traveling on the Blue Ridge Parkway).

And then in to West Virginia(check out the Redbuds in bloom in the picture), then Maryland, and finally in to Pennsylvania. We traveled through Harrisburg and got on I 78 heading east and our days travel culminated at Cabela's in Hamburg, PA. The days mileage - around 415 miles.

We pulled in around 4:00, found us a spot with the other rigs......

Cabela's will let travelers like us stay overnight for free. If you visit the store, then it becomes the most expensive overnight fee going. And yes, we did visit the store.

A turtle!

And yes, we not only visited the store, we did buy a few things.....and when we returned to our Airstream, low and behold there were 2 of them......

I had originally planned to get together with Jim and Debbie and maybe go out to dinner with them and sure enough, things worked out and around 6:00 Jim & Debbie showed up and took us to dinner. We went to a nice little restaurant in Hamburg called Westy's. Had a great meal, some good conversation and spent some quality time with some good friends. And they wouldn't let us pay- not even Dutch. We owe them! When we got back to Cabela's, the Airstream count was up to 3. Quite a few rigs taking advantage of the free camping. Next morning we were up bright and early to a pretty cold start. Not used to temps in the low to mid 30's, but that is what they were. Got everything ready to roll. First stop was down the road a short ways for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. And then we hopped back on I 78 heading for I 278 in NJ. Timing was not the best as we caught a whole bunch of traffic heading east bound in to NJ & NY. Frequent slow downs and moron drivers confirmed that we do not like driving in this part of the country. Anyways, we made it and got on I 87 north. Initial plan was to stay on I 87 to Albany then cut across to VT. Fear of snow in the mountains, ie, Woodford, Searsberg,  and Hogback had me change plans and quit I 87 and get on I 84 which would take us through Newburgh, NY to Danbury, CT to Meriden, CT where we would hop on I 91 for the trip to VT. Everything went great and we made it home at around 2:15 pm. Mileage for the day was about 320.

Then the fun began.  We were both wondering what we would be faced with when we walked in to our house. A house that has been empty for the past 6 months. I must say that we were both very surprised at what we found or not found. We expected all kinds of evidence of mice, etc but there were none. We expected all kinds of cobwebs etc.....but there were very little. Two hours later we had the furnace running, and the water flowing. We had additional heat when we started a wood fire. And then I got Mary's car battery in and the car running, for a trip in to town to get a pizza. Something that we have been craving. Amazing day. Amazing night. We had initially planned on sleeping in the Airstream the first night. NOT. We slept in the house, in our old bed. Maybe Molly will settle down now. With all of our traveling she has been a bundle of nerves.

Time now to clean up and clean out- both the truck and the airstream. Get ready for the next adventure, which looks like it will be the Airstream Region I Rally in Greenfield the end of May, followed by the Escapees Region III Rally in Newfound Lake, NH in early June. Add in 3 trips to Lake Champlain fishing, and it promises to be a busy summer.

In 4 1/2 months we will do the trip west. Again. A September 17 departure date for fishing tournament with Carl at Black Lake, NY on Sept 20. And a Sept 21 departure from their home in Philadelphia, NY for an Oct 1 date at the Albuquerque, NM Balloon Fiesta.

SKP ACRE - Sevierville, TN

The SKP ACRE rally for 2015 was held at the River Plantation RV Park in Sevierville, TN. SKP is an abbreviation for Escapee and ACRE stands for All Chapters Rally East. There were a lot of states east of the Mississippi represented at this event. It was a good one and one that we would really like to come back to. The timing and location of the rally are to attract those who have been "down south" or "out west" for the winter and may be on their way back home to summer haunts. Good plan, good location.

While there we saw many different styles and types of rigs. A lot of the people there were full timers.

This rig caught my eye - a Newmar 5 th Wheel, which they don't happen to make any more.

This one caught Mary's fancy. The coach was big enough for the sewing machines and the trailer just about the right size for all the fabric.

The park was not lacking for wildlife. Besides a pair of Canadian Geese that wandered around quite a bit over in the area of the creek, we had rabbits and ducks.....

This mama duck made her nest in traffic island at park entrance - right in front of the office

Here she is after she hatched her brood....marching them down to the creek and the small pond 

Their first swim

There were a number of classes put on covering various topics of interest to RV'rs. Among them were Jim K and his class on RV Safety

And Sue S's class on photography and taking good pics....

Andrew from Coach-Net (the RV'rs AAA) put on an excellent class.

This was a highly informative class

And then there was the dinners and the fun. One thing we did do - we ate well. Every meal was very good and drew comments and high praise from all.

The breakfast line

 And I couldn't forget about the Happy Hours - although down there they called them Social Hours.

On friday and saturday night we had entertainment. And were they ever good.....

Dr Phil and his partner were regulars on the dance floor

And all too soon, the week was over. The last unofficial event was the Smartweigh program - for those that signed up and paid the fee. Surprisingly there were almost 30 rigs. When I saw that it was Just Jim & Lisa, I volunteered to help. They were very appreciative. We got started at about 7:45 on tuesday morning and finished up just before noon. For me, it was an interesting and rewarding experience.

We had an interested observer to our Smartweigh Program

And finally some final thoughts on our week. Once again it was the people we met. I especially enjoyed talking to Wayne and his wife Loiselle, from Hickory, NC. Wayne has an automotive background so I had an interesting time talking to him about racing, NASCAR, and some of his experiences. Especially enjoyed hearing about his daddy, who was associated with the auto dealership that became Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet. Not to be outdone, his wife asked me if I knew who her neighbor was growing up? Ned Jarrett.

On the last night we had visitors to our site - Herb & Ginger (the Spices) from the Northeast Kingdom of Vt and now full timers on the road. We had a very interesting discussion and for sure made promises to get together next winter in Benson, AZ. before they head to Yuma.

Lastly a couple of pics that should speak for themselves.....

Saw this and wondered where Ellie Mae and Granny were....

This is something we have to do next time

A day earlier and we would have been catching all the traffic exiting the race grounds. This was on the way to Virginia after leaving Sevierville.

I was told that there was in the vicinity of 107 rigs here at the event and just shy of 200 people. We have been told that they have begun making plans to have rally at same location and in about the same time frame next year. If this is true, Mary and I will definitely make an attempt to be here for it. This years was that good.