We left Mount Cumberland and headed to my friend Fran’s. She lives east of Charlotte with her husband, kids and an assortment of animals. I was excited to catch up with her. Ms. Wynn fit nicely in their driveway. We had some lively dinner conversation over bowls of her homemade chicken chili, mmm. We planned on hiking up to Crowder’s Mountain the next morning. Unfortunately, her husband Mark was not able to join us as he had to pick up a daughter from college on her fall break.
It turned out to be a great day for hiking. When we saw the large group of kids at the trailhead, we thought the trail was going to be crowded. Turns out the group was not headed up the Pinnacle trail and were instead headed to the group campsite. They probably had enough gear to stay for a couple of weeks, but told us they were only camping out for a couple of nights. I felt sorry for those that had to carry the coolers. Well, good thing their campsite was only about a mile away. We quickly got around the group and continued on our 2 miles up to the summit. There were some nice views at the top once you climbed the boulders and ignored the warning signs about death and serious injury. Came back and had hamburgers on the grill and enjoyed some of their farm fresh produce. Peace and Peas Farm also makes some great tasting honey.
The next morning we were off and headed to Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, NC where the grandkids are!
They recently moved out there, just in time to get evacuated for Hurricane Florence. Luckily their house only lost a few shingles. Other homes in the area weren’t so fortunate. We saw a lot of debris piled up along the roadway still awaiting pickup. We had some difficulty getting on the Marine base with Ms. Wynn. Our VIN number on our insurance and our registration were different, so they couldn’t give us a visitor permit for her. Well, solution 2, have Jon drive Ms. Wynn on base and keep her parked until we were ready to leave. There’s an extra parking space right next to their house, so that turned out to be really convenient.
It was great to see the girls and meet the latest edition Xavia.
We also were there to celebrate Ari’s 3rd birthday. They grow up so fast.
We enjoyed our time there and went to the aquarium and a small local zoo. The girls had fun feeding some of the animals. The workers also brought out a couple of animals for the girls to touch. The zoo did sustain some damage from the hurricane and we’re still wondering where the alligator was. We didn’t see it in the cage and there wasn’t an off exhibit sign. So, somewhere in Jacksonville, we’ve determined, an alligator is on the loose.
Gracie was off school one day during the week for a teacher in service day, so, we took that opportunity to visit the trampoline park. We’ve taken the girls to a few and they love them. Our week with the girls was too short, but we needed to start heading back to Albuquerque.
We headed on to Fayetteville, NC to visit my oldest nephew who’s stationed at Fort Bragg. Sadly, we were not able to meet up after all, but we were able to pick up a needed part for Ms. Wynn. To get a jump on our drive the next day, we headed down to Little Pee Dee State Park in South Carolina. This park is really off in the boonies, but the campground was in a nice pine forest. It was cold and rainy when we got there, so we just setup and Will got to work on fixing the heater for Ms. Wynn. Good thing, we got the part as the night was cold. The park is located in an area that was once along the Carolina coast, but today the ocean is over 50 miles away. It’s interesting to see pockets of pristine white beach sand right next to river swamp areas.
We suffered through more clouds and rain on our drive to Greensboro, GA. Since it was raining quite hard we decided to stop in Columbia, SC and visit their state museum. The museum has a whole section on the civil war as South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union. There is also a planetarium and another theater providing a 4-D movie experience. For Halloween they had a special exhibit on the Wizard of Oz. I was not impressed with their Oz Maze, other than the Emerald City part where you can “be” the wizard. The kids there were having a good time with that. It was, however, a good way to spend a couple of hours on a rainy day.
In Greensboro we were staying at a KOA. The entrance to the campground was nice; they have taken some old train cars and repurposed them throughout the campground. We checked-in and the clerk gave us an “upgrade” on our site. So, we got to our pull-through site, which was fine as we were leaving in the morning, but the site was not level and was very narrow. The KOA parks do usually have some nice amenities, this one being no exception. They had a couple of pools, lake access, pontoon boat rental, golf cart rental and the clubhouse where activities are held. We just haven’t been impressed with KOA’s in general because of crowded sites and paying twice the price. The employees were quite friendly and willing to help.
It started off as another cloudy day, as we left the Greensboro KOA, supposedly, it would clear up and give us sunny skies. Could it really be possible? Sun? Ms. Wynn had to climb a number of hills from Georgia to our next spot outside Tupelo, MS (the birthplace of Elvis Presley). She really wasn’t feeling that well and was running a little rough. Managed to get to Trace State Park and she was dying anytime we had to stop. We had reserved a lakefront spot, knowing that the lake had been drained for restoration. Still it was a pretty setting. The park has a couple of disc golf courses as well as a nearby golf course where campers get free green fees. Nice little perk for those golfers out there. The park also offers 35 miles of trails that can be used by ATV’s, motorcycles, horses, mountain bikes, and (as they say) the occasional hiker. Really anything goes on these trails. They also have water skiing and more fishing opportunities once they are done restoring the main lake. Will did some work on Ms. Wynn hoping that she had just gotten a bad tank of gas and a little cleanup would help her out. At least we had nice weather, the skies were sunny and the highs in the upper 70’s.
The next morning Ms. Wynn wasn’t doing much better. So, we found a nearby auto parts store and picked up some spark plugs and a few other things. Ms. Wynn limped along through the rest of Mississippi and on into even hillier Arkansas. We were stopping about every 120 miles or so to refuel. On one of those gas stops we found this lovely little spot to enjoy lunch.
Spots like these and Wal-Mart parking lots are our typical lunch spots. I know you are filled with envy.
Our destination was Mount Magazine State Park. Mount Magazine is the highest point in Arkansas at 2,753 feet. The mountain got its name from the founding French explorers who arrived during a landslide. They said that it sounded like an ammunition magazine and a name was born. We had a beautiful fall day driving up the scenic Mount Magazine road. Ms. Wynn coughed and sputtered her way up and we made it to our campsite. Good thing no one was following us up the road. This park only has 18 campsites, but they also have a 60 room lodge and a few cabins as well. Got set up and Will got right to work on Ms. Wynn. I went for a walk to check out a couple of the overlooks. It was pretty, and according to the staff, we had hit a peak weekend for viewing their fall colors. Win! Sadly, we were at this park just for the one night. We really want to come back to this one as there are a number of hiking trails. Will finished Ms. Wynn’s mini tune-up and she sounded great.
The next morning we were up early as we had a long day of driving and wanted to make it to Pampa, TX about 460 miles away. Fought the wind all the way through Oklahoma, but got to Pampa and pulled into the city’s RV park. They have an RV park that offers electric and water hookups for $20/night on weekends and $15/night on weekdays. So, for 15 bucks we had everything we needed and the place entirely to ourselves. It worked out great for an overnight stay.
We made it back to New Mexico the next day, just in time for a fall snowstorm. Angel Fire got about 16 inches that day. Needless to say, we left Ms. Wynn comfortably parked there and drove Will’s truck back to Albuquerque. So, she made it cross-country and back at 34 years of age. In spite of the weather, and all the mechanical issues, we had a good trip and can’t wait for the next one.
