RVing With a Purpose

Tuesday, July 6, 2021

We woke to another beautiful day Monday in Draper, VA.  We had a leisurely breakfast, reviewed our route plan for the day and readied Fred for travel.  We knew it was going to be a short driving day and couldn’t check into our next campground before 1:00 so we were in no hurry.  We headed back to I-81 and had a beautiful drive to Beaver, WV to the Little Beaver State Park.  We weren’t expecting it, but we drove through two tunnels straight though the base of two mountains on I-77.  We have been told that they aren’t mountains because we are on a plateau but they sure look like mountains to us.  Little Beaver SP is about 15 min from the south end of New River Gorge National Park, our newest National Park and the purpose for our visit here.  We got Fred parked and setup quickly.  We have a great fully shaded site that we are enjoying since the temperatures are back in the 80’s. Fred is so much easier to keep cool in the shade.

As soon as we were settled, we headed toward the national park.  Along the way we spotted the Grandview Diner and Grandview Country store. Both required a visit.  We had a BLT and a homemade cheeseburger at the diner.  We will probably go back there again before we leave.  The country store had some great looking produce as well as jelly, jam, candy, furniture, gravel, fertilizer and anything else you might want. Interesting place.  Then we headed to the park’s Grandview Visitors Center. (They have four Visitors Centers.)  First, we got our Park Passport stamped, and picked up some maps, and then we were off to explore the park.  We first went to the main overlook to get our first look at the New River Gorge.  Wow, impressive!  It is grand.  We hiked a short, easy Tunnel trail and then headed out on the more strenuous Grand View Rim Trail. Beautiful hike.  Peaceful, lots of shade and birds singing everywhere.  Surprise! When we made it to the end of the trail at Turkey Spur Rock, we still had to climb 150 steps to the top to enjoy the amazing view.  It was worth it.  Of course, then we had 150 steps back down and the return hike to the truck.  It was all good!   Another wonderful day enjoying God’s creation in places we had never visited and we get to add West Virginia to our map.

Monday, July 5, 2021

Saturday morning we left Crossville, TN driving east on I-40 and then north on I-81 to Draper, Virginia.  A new state for us.  We don’t fill in a state on our RVing map until we have spent the night in the RV there.  Saturday night qualified us to count Virginia.  Draper is a tiny little community just off I-81.  Draper Mercantile is a Harvest Hosts (HH) site and was a delight.  We wanted to get there before it closed at 3:00 pm because they announced after we made our arrangements that they would be closed on Sunday for Independence Day, and we wanted to visit all the shops and restaurant.  We arrived about 1:00 which gave us time to have a quick lunch at the Mercantile restaurant and then explore.  We each had hot sandwiches which were very good and added some of their chocolate/caramel/pecan fudge for dessert.  We love to find out of the way, interesting places that we would have never known about.  Harvest Hosts is a great resource for finding those locations.  Of course, most of the hosts have shops where you can purchase some of their products – produce, jellies, alpaca wool socks etc. and we always like to support the local small businesses so for us it’s really not free camping. Here we bought some fig jam and some of their branded salsa.  We parked at the Merc Farm about ¼ mile from the restaurant and shops.  At the farm there was a labyrinth, a fish pond surrounded by wonderful Adirondack chairs for relaxing, and some chickens that provided us some fresh eggs.  The farm sits up on a hill and the views from there are so beautiful. The people were all so welcoming and fun. Sunday morning we visited the Draper UMC and have never received a more warm welcome and from a church with less than 20 in attendance.  Sunday was also their first Sunday with their new pastor.  We had a great time visiting with the mostly elderly congregation and meeting their fairly young new preacher.

After lunch, we got our bikes out and road 8-9 miles on the New River Trail State Park.  This is a 57 mile rails-to-trails Virginia State Park.  The park goes right through Draper.  We rode from the farm less than ¼ mile to the trail.  The section we road runs along the bank of the New River for most of the way.  It is a mostly smooth crushed gravel surface that is shaded almost all the way. Very clean and well maintained.  It may be our new favorite rail trail.  Really nice ride!  What a fun and relaxing time we spent in Draper.  We do hope to return one day.

Saturday, June 3, 2021

Thursday was our first day back on the road since we sold the house.  We decided to change it up a little.  We left home at 7:15 and drove the US highways, avoiding the interstates to Crossville, TN.  That means we drove from Remlap, up through Guntersville enjoying the lake views, to just west of Chattanooga onto I 24 up one exit, and then continuing on state highways north to Crossville.  We drove through some small little Tennessee towns with some beautiful scenery. Love working our way into the mountains.  Shortly before our arrival the rain began falling on us.  Fortunately, we had a little break as we arrived at The Gardens RV Community and were able to get set up without getting wet. The rain did return and rained most of the night.  The Gardens is a beautiful RV community with homes built specifically for RVers.  We took a tour and found most of the homes are duplex type units with REALLY BIG garages and small homes attached.  Some have 2 large 14 foot high RV garage doors and one small automobile garage door.  Most of the attached homes are 2 or 3 bedroom but a few of the homes are very large. A few are single family units.  Very nice construction and very friendly community.  Beautiful landscaping.  Quiet and peaceful environment.  We looked at homes and lots for sale.  Of course we didn’t purchase anything but we did like the community and got some ideas in case we decide to build something in the future.  In exchange for taking the tour we were able to stay for 2 nights for free in their campground called “Homeless Hill.”  It’s designed for those who have purchased lots and are waiting for their homes to be built and for people like us that are looking at the community.

Friday we visited Cumberland State park, also in Crossville, and really enjoyed our time of hiking there. We also enjoyed a ranger presentation with a Great Horned Owl named Chomper.  Great information about owls and other birds of prey.  Really nice state park and it was so great to be back in the woods.  Refreshing for the soul.  The rest of the day we spent exploring Crossville, getting a feel for the community.  It was a fun visit to a new destination and we made new friends.

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Sunday was a great day of worship at Lester Memorial.  Our Appalachian Service Project (ASP) Mission team arrived back in Oneonta Saturday and several of the team members shared their experiences at worship.  We had several youth who made their first ASP trip this year and it was great to hear of the impact on their lives.  Got to get folks mission oriented at a young age.  Our children are even doing a local service project as part of our Vacation Bible School program this year.

After Sunday School we again checked on our Aunts and they are about the same.  We then headed home for some lunch and then headed to Camp Sumatanga.  We were asked a few weeks ago to help out in the kitchen Sunday and Monday.  We helped cook for 300 people involved in the Cowboy Camp.  It was a little reunion with friends who routinely prepare great meals for NOMADS when we have projects there.  Sunday dinner was barbeque and three different desserts that we helped make and Monday was taco boats with churros.  We worked on the salads, condiment cups and churros.  Fun way to give back to camp.

Today Anne did some shopping, NOMADS business and Max cut the grass and worked on getting Fred and the truck ready to go as we are trying to get everything done so we can get on the road Thursday morning.  BTW, it’s a great year for fresh homegrown blueberries.  Max cooked some awesome blueberry pancakes.