Cheraw State Park, Dreher Island State Park, Hamilton Branch State Park, South Carolina; Fort Yargo State Park, Georgia; Coleman Lake National Forest, Rickwood Caverns State Park, Alabama; Tombigbee State Park, Wallace Creek Corps of Engineer Campground , Enid Lake, Mississippi; Lake Chicot State Park, Arkansas

Our last issue left us heading for Cheraw State Park in South Carolina.  That was following US Route 1 south from Jordan Lake State Park in North Carolina.
Website for Cheraw State Park-South Carolina
On Lake Juniper, this park also features what it describes as an 18 hole championship golf course. We enjoyed a hike around the lake , including a nice section of boardwalk.

Many people enjoying the park on the weekend. 

Continuing south on US Route 1 towards Columbia. Then north a bit on Interstate 26 to catch Dreher Island State Park on Lake Murray.

Most of the sites have a water view or are on the water.

A perfect spot for a nice campfire.  We rarely carry firewood with us and will not pick up firewood unless we know how the campsites are arranged.  Many campsites now have newer fire rings that are so high you cannot easily see the fire. It is nice when you do see a great fireplace to have wood available in the campground.

Website for Dreher Island State Park, South Carolina

A short video from our visit to Dreher..

Amazing to see so many great campsites unused this far south. But------it is cold down here too.

A spot for some major national fishing tournaments. Some 348 acres on Lake Murray with 12 miles of shoreline , very close to Columbia.
The map above shows how so much of the campground is on the water. A little confusing at first glance, but the two main camping areas are enlarged on the map and are shown in the gray areas of the main map top and bottom.

Staying still in South Carolina, we follow US Highway 378 west to Plum Branch and Hamilton Branch State Recreation Area. This campground is on the Georgia border where the Savannah River flows southeast to the Atlantic. This park is on a peninsula of the Strom Thurmond Lake. Where Lake Murray was 348 acres, Strom Thurmond is 70,000 acres!!

Most of the sites are on the water.
Website for Hamilton Branch State Recreation Area

Still following US Highway 378 , then US Highway 78 to Athens, and then US Highway 29 to Fort Yargo--west of Athens.
We also made the mistake of driving into Athens, thinking it would be easy to find our bank there.  Well, the bank was in downtown Athens and Lady Blue had a challenging time with some heavy traffic and narrow streets.  But she did great. By the way , it dawned on us as we went through town that this was the home of the Georgia Bulldogs-top of the SEC east college football. As you can see above, Fort Yargo was a very quiet spot in Winder, Georgia

Still some color in the park.
Website for Fort Yargo, Georgia

We made some short stops at two campgrounds after Fort Yargo. We were staying north of Atlanta to avoid heavy traffic. Even on State Route 20 to Interstate 75 south for McKinney Corps of Engineer Campground on Alatoona Lake, there was heavy traffic. This would have been a very enjoyable stop, except for a very noisy crew of tree trimmers .  From McKinney we headed south on State Route 92 to US Highway 278 west, US Highway 27 south, and then US Highway 78 west into Alabama. Coleman Lake is a wonderful National Forest Campground. Normally a very easy place to find, this year it included a five mile detour over a very dusty dirt road. Still a favorite campground though.

Thought we would take this opportunity to illustrate a website we use to look up information on National Forest Campground. This information was compiled by Fred and Suzi Dow. Basically they traveled all across the United States-first in their Class C Motorhome and then in a larger unit. If you look below on a portion of  the Coleman Lake Info, you will see a great deal of good information for RVers.

Website for National Forest Camping

A big Thank You to Fred and Suzi Dow. This is an enormous task well done!

Our next stop was a bit more challenging. We followed Interstate 20 into Birmingham , Alabama. A simple connection to Interstate 65 north became a detour through the street of downtown Birmingham---interesting and nerve wracking---signs could have been clearer. But we found our way to Rickwood Caverns State Park.

Unique experience to go into a cavern that has the usual formations of most caverns plus Christmas decorations.  

A short video of some of the decorations.

A few more examples. Many families were enjoying the hour long walk.  Guides along the way were dressed in holiday costumes.

Many colors

Also sections where the level rock was used to create winter villages.

Still, as here, you can see the cavern formations like these curtains.

The volunteers put a great deal of effort into placement and lighting. You could see that the volunteers in the cavern--many of  them high school age--were enjoying the experience.

Happy to avoid Birmingham, we head west on US Highway 78 into Mississippi.

Close to the Natchez Trace Parkway, we stop this time at Tombigbee State Park. We met some very nice park workers here.

At Tombigbee, a set of playground characters we had not seen before. Native American on the left and cowboy on the right. The six shooters on the right are part of the ladder.

Following US Highway 278 west, we found we could stop at Oxford for some groceries.  Well----our first stop-a Kroger grocery store =was under construction for additions and had very limited parking, So, we headed further west on the local road. Rather than coming to the next store we wound up at an entrance booth----to the University of Mississippi( Ole Miss). We told the guard that we were obviously in the wrong place, but he invited us to drive a tour through and then how to find our way. What a beautiful campus! Well planned and yet separate from the town itself.  We were impressed that the marching band had its very own separate building!  By the way, it was an easy, quiet tour because students and faculty were away on Thanksgiving break.

Above is a video from Ole Miss Halftime 2019 "A Day at the Circus" If you let it play after the halftime you should see a video of Drum Major tryouts----Interesting!
US Highway 278 and Interstate 55 south brings us to Wallace Creek Corps of Engineer Campground on Enid Lake.

Another site with lake views and a nice combination of walking loops. Many of these lakes have been drawn down 6 to 12 feet or so for maintenance of the shoreline.  We were assured there was no drought happening here.

Spots to stop on your walk or just have coffee and watch the birds and fishermen.

Back up Interstate 55 to Batesville to pick up our mail and then west and south on US Highway 278 . This follows the Mississippi River south through cotton fields and more. Connecting on US Highway 82 , this is a quiet highway crossing the Mississippi.

Hard to get good pictures from bridges, but this will give you an idea of how high the Mississippi River was.

Destination this time is Lake Chicot State Park in Arkansas.  This park is very close to the Mississippi River and at one time was part of the river itself.  The river changed its course and left this lake.  Engineers created a fresh water flow  to keep the lake alive and now it is a popular recreation area.  

Website for Lake Chicot State Park, Arkansas

Sunsets are wonderful here.

Black Moshannon State Park, Cowans Gap State Park,Pennsylvania; Big Meadows Campground, Skyline Drive, Shenandoah National Park; Claytor Lake State Park, Virginia; JomeokePark Campground, Crosswinds Campground at Jordan Lake, North Carolina; Cheraw State Park , South Carolina; and some pictures from New England summer.

From Ives Run COE Campground in Tioga, Pennsylvania,we take Route 15(instead of Route 287)south t.o Williamsport, From there we follow U.S. 220 south to Philipsburg and Black Moshannon State Park.  Above is a great gift to the park. A bench made to look like an open book. The open pages are painted with scenes from Black Moshannon. 

The lake and the trails.

And on the back of the bench, a night scene from a camping spot , Complete with lighted tent, campfire, and a full moon through the trees.

A good hiking trail around the lake. Note the bat house on the post.

One of the gifts of the Fall is being able to see things like this huge wasps nest.

Signs of active beaver around the lake.  They had a section close to the walkway that was roped off to protect a beaver lodge.

All the states do their lodging differently. Most have campgrounds. Some have shelters. And some, like above, have full service rental cabins. This one has an indoor and outdoor fireplace, grill, and more.  No water service inside though. Not quite full service.

Next stop follows US220 south to US22 southeast to US522 south to McConnellsburg. Then state Route 75 north to Cowans Gap State Park. 

Many choices for hikers from easy to very difficult. This one is part of the Great Eastern Trail and connects to Greenwood State Park. Also 2 miles of the Tuscarora Trail(110 miles) passes through the park and connects to the Appalachian Trail. It was actually built parallel to the AT( to the west) when it was feared that the AT would be closed due to over development before the 1968 National Scenic Trails Act.

You can just set out your chairs here for the afternoon and enjoy the view.

Picture from an earlier age when the Susquehanna River  was known for the Lumber production. In 1897 Cross Fork, above was the third largest producer of lumber in Pennsylvania. By 1920 it was a ghost town. 

The west branch of the Susquehanna River

Some great color along the camp roads in Cowans Gap.

On to the next campground, one of our favorites.  We take Route 75 south to Route 30 east to Interstate 81 south. That gives us a good scenic ride out of Pennsylvania, through a short section of Maryland and a short section of West Virginia into Virginia.  We like to keep heading south on Interstate 81 to Route 66 east to Front Royal . Then we prefer to head south on Route 340 to Luray. Route 211 then takes us up to the Skyline Drive. Since we are later this year, there is much less traffic on the Drive.(October 28 to November 1)

Some larger farms in Virginia

Jan and I take our chances at getting into Big Meadows Campground in the Shenandoah National Park. But it is after the main season of leaf peepers and there are plenty of sites in the Non-reservation section. Actually, at this time, there were no reservations at all.  This hawk greeted us in front of our campsite.

A number of deer roamed by our campsite. This young buck was grazing about fifteen feet away when I was filling a water bottle.

There was a large cold front that came through with lots of rain and wind. The plus of that was a very clear day afterwards to view the sights from the Drive.

Some colors were just coming in while others had already passed.
Big Meadows Campground was at 3,600 feet.

The red of the bushes and trees gives a different fall view.

Hard to avoid the haze.  Visibility up here used to be over 100 miles at one time. But now it grows shorter every year with the pollution.

From Big Meadows we head a short ways down the Drive to Elkton and Route 33 over to Route 81 south. The exit before Dublin takes us over to Claytor Lake State Park, another favorite.
Foliage is still bright here on the trails

Who??

A nature statement for the little guy?
A very healthy looking pine tree growing out of an old stump.

These colors around Claytor are looking a bit less than on the trails.

On the lower section of the park. Very few out on the water today.

Leaving Claytor, we head a short distance down Interstate 81 to Interstate 77 south into North Carolina. A little ways into North Carolina we branch off on Route 74 towards Winston Salem.  Along the way we take the exit for Jomeokee Campground in Pinnacle near Pilot Mountain.  This campground used to be a dairy farm . Now the owner has a 100 site campground and a side business of metal work. 

A great view of Pilot mountain from our site.

Not at all crowded.  If you decide to stop here, keep in mind that they do not take credit cards. Cash or check only.

One of the older buildings. A familiar look with the metal roofs and natural wood sides. From here we catch Route 66 to avoid Winston Salem, Then we catch up with Interstate 40 and Route 421. Then its  Route 64 to  Crosswinds Campground at Jordan Lake State Recreation Area.

We really enjoyed catching up with friends Bob and Elaine. Bob and I shared the smallest office space ever for about 33 years.  They treated us to a great tour of Raleigh and Cary.  So many things so close by. 

Adding a few pictures here from the summer visit to New England.
Friends Nancy and Dave with their granddaughter Cora Mae.

From earlier in New Hampshire, Alison and Jan on a rainy day.

Lady Blue is right at home at North of Highland Campground. Mostly a tenting campground with a short dirt path right to Head of the Meadow Beach in North Truro, Cape Cod. Dry camping.

This picture was taken at the Bookstore Restaurant in Wellfleet, Massachusetts . Hard to get everyone together at one time, but quite a few made it here.

Barbara has just taken the ferry from Boston to Provincetown to join in the festivities. The three sisters--Marsha, Barbara, and Janet.

A different meal. This time at Mac's Fish House in Provincetown at the end of Cape Cod. Sean. Bailey, and Lucas above. 

Recreating a move from the screen on the table. Ruby, John, Lucas, and Madison

Yes, Jan has her eyes closed. But she still loves this picture with Emilie.

Lilly and Grandpa Bruce at the Bookstore.

Above, Jan and Madison. How did she get so tall????

Scott with Lucas and Lilly in the screenhouse at the campsite.

Above are cousins Lilly, Emilie, Lucas, and Madison.

Thanks again to family for some of these pictures.

Madison, Lucas, Scott, and Lilly. On the wharf at Wellfleet harbor after some Mac's ice cream.

Lucas, Madison, Sean, Gary, Lilly, and Scott. All three brothers together.  Missed you Alison!!

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Out in front of Mac's Fish House.

Linda, Marsha, Barbara, Jan, Gary, and Emilie

From Cary, we head down Route 1 to Cheraw in South Carolina and Cheraw State Park. It is the oldest state park in South Carolina