As we began writing this post, leaves were falling in Houston, Texas. But let us look back at the summer of 2021:
It was a very wandering route! From North Dakota, we had hoped to head to the Great Lakes; but the popularity of RVing this year made it almost impossible to find a campground site in that region, and we ended up in South Dakota instead.
We spent a week in Sioux Falls, but didn't see as much as usual because Doug caught a summer cold early on. How we had enjoyed not being sick for 17 months while we zealously wore masks! But we became a little complacent and let down our guard, resulting in a cold that made Doug miserable for a week and grumpy for longer than that; plus Alison followed along soon after. So we'll have to re-visit South Dakota another time to get a proper appreciation!
We did take an e-bike ride around the town shortly after we arrived, before Doug got sick. Sioux Falls is named for a lovely set of shelves of red quartzite that the Big Sioux River tumbles over.
Distinctive red quartzite shows up everywhere in Sioux Falls: buildings, walls, roads, sidewalks. Even gravel driveways had a noticeable pink hue.
During our stay, we also took care of some maintenance to the rig: Decalcifying our Truma AquaGo instant water heater, repairing our entry door window shade, and washing the outside of the rig.
From South Dakota, we headed east again, with an overnight stay in Iowa at Hansen's Dairy Farm, a Harvest Hosts location. Harvest Hosts is a subscription service which lists locations that welcome RVers for free overnight, with the expectation that the guests will purchase a good or experience from the host. In our case, we unfortunately missed the fun-sounding farm tour, but did stock up on delicious farm goods (including cheese, ice cream, and steaks).
Our time in Iowa also included a visit to the site of the 1989 film "Field of Dreams". While we did not tour the farmhouse used in the movie, we did get a picture of Doug in the iconic field:
After Iowa, we continued east through Illinois into Indiana. We were scheduled to tour the Jayco factory in Elkhart, Indiana where our rig had been manufactured, but missed it. One disadvantage of not yet being retired and of not having a personal vehicle: Alison worked a bit too long that day, and the taxi couldn't get to us in time for us to make the tour. Planning to return to Indiana in September for GenCon (the board gaming convention), we will try for the Jayco tour again then.
Next, we camped in Clarksville, Indiana, across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. Doug toured Louisville by e-bike, stopping at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory, where he received both a tour and a souvenir baseball bat, a miniature version of the world-famous ash, maple, and hickory bats produced there.
From Indiana, we headed south to North Carolina for a family event. The campground in the Great Smoky Mountains (which are part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are part of the Appalachian Mountain Range) had lovely woods and streams and flecks of mica that made all the trails glitter - but not much in the way of reliable internet. We spent one working day in a grocery store parking lot in a nearby town!
Our next stop was in Waynesboro, Virginia, where a friend from Charlottesville, Virginia joined us for a few days. We're often asked if we've made friends in the RV community, and, while we've had some lovely conversations with campground neighbors, we don't anticipate gaining long-term friends until the pandemic eases and more RV conventions resume. In the meantime, the freedom to visit in person with so many of our friends and family has kept us from feeling socially isolated.
This stop also allowed Alison and our friend to replace two broken bits of hardware: a cabinet catch and the screen door latch:
This part of Virginia is a karst region, full of underground caverns. We visited the Grand Caverns in Grottoes, Virginia:
The caverns were lovely, and the tour included interesting stories of parties held in the "ballroom", and of Union and Confederate soldiers touring the caves at different times during lulls in Civil War fighting.
Our next stop was farther north, in the Pennsylvania Wilds region. The woodlands, abundantly watered by rain and rivers, are host to ferns and mushrooms in the undergrowth:
Continuing north, we reached Niagara Falls, New York. The Falls truly are spectacular, and riding the "Maid of the Mist" to the foot of the Horseshoe Falls was well worth the long line:
We continued northward into Canada, after obtaining the requisite negative Covid test and uploading those results plus our ID and vaccination information to the ArriveCAN app.
We stayed in the Muskoka region to join in celebrating a dear friend's life. We gathered together next to a beautiful lake to remember and be inspired by the adventurous and generous way he lived.
From Canada, we returned to Indianapolis, Indiana for GenCon, the board game convention. Doug had registered to attend and to have his latest board game test-played. A lovely perk of traveling is discovering the many niche communities in the United States, and how interesting they can be even for non-participants (like Alison!)
While in Indiana for the second time, we had hoped (once again!) to attend a Jayco Motorhome factory tour, but resurging Covid cases temporarily canceled all Jayco tours.
Our next stop, the Columbus, Ohio Expo Center, unexpectedly revealed another niche community. We had chosen the campground just to be close into town for Doug's e-bike rides, but we happened to be there during the setup for the month-long All American Quarter Horse Congress. I would like to have stayed to see the demos and competitions of riding, cutting, and even cowboy mounted shooting - maybe next year! As it was, seeing the exhibit halls outfitted with thousands of temporary horse stalls, and the early arrivals of horses and owners, was fascinating.
Our last stop before three weeks in Northern Virginia was Morgantown, West Virginia. It was a lovely forested campground, with dirt roads perfect for walking Hershey on, and not too punishing for Doug to e-bike on.
Our time in Northern Virginia allowed us to check in on our storage unit (we donated three boxes of books and got rid of a few other items, but not nearly enough to downsize the unit - maybe next year...), meet with various doctors for yearly appointments, visit our church and attend a relaxing church retreat near Harrisonburg, Virginia, celebrate Doug's birthday with friends, and attend a live concert.
We next spent a couple of weeks in central Virginia. Our friend from Charlottesville, Virginia joined us again for a visit to the Maymont Gardens in Richmond, Virginia. We unfortunately were not able to stay into the evening for the annual autumn Garden Glow, when specially strung lights illuminate the grounds and waters. Another event to try to schedule in a future year!
Lest it be thought that RV life is all ease and adventure: While in the Richmond area, Alison lost a dental cap; took a taxi to the Richmond airport that night; rented a car; drove back to the RV to sleep; the next morning, drove up to Northern Virginia to have the cap's core rebuilt and the cap re-attached; drove back to the Richmond airport to return the rental car; and took a taxi back to the RV park. The very next afternoon, the cap once again detached, never to be seen again. Currently Alison is concentrating on keeping the somewhat broken tooth maintained until back in Northern Virginia.
We also had originally planned to spend only a week in Petersburg, Virginia, and then a week near the Shenandoah Mountains to attend a wedding, but a cold snap had us leaving our rig in Petersburg and staying in a hotel for the wedding. We hope to make some plans to better prepare our rig for colder weather before next fall.
In the meantime, we left Virginia in mid-November and headed south!
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