Living Our Dream

Unexpected Detour to Pittsburgh

When we decided to head to Charlotte to meet Lora, J. Michael, and their friends for the fall race at Lowe's Motor Speedway, we had no idea we would be heading back to Pittsburgh after the race. While we were heading toward Charlotte, Paul began experiencing a problem with a tooth the dentist had worked on when we were in Pittsburgh back in early May. Since we had time before our scheduled reservations in Myrtle Beach on November 1 and since the price of gasoline was dropping, we decided we would make a quick trip back to Pittsburgh even though it was several hundred miles out of our way. We are both much more comfortable with the doctors and dentist we have gone to for years, so we decided the detour was justified.

Even with having spent a long day at the NASCAR race at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Saturday, we still headed out Sunday morning from Yates Family Camping and traveled north on I-77. While we could have made the drive all in one day, we do like to keep our travel days shorter...because we can. :) Also, because of the long day (and night) at the race, we decided to make the first day's drive relatively short at about 2 1/2 hours. We stopped at Fort Chiswell RV Park, a Good Sam Park, in Max Meadows, VA. It was a good thing we decided to keep our first travel day short because, unfortunately, Margery woke up Sunday with a stomach virus. However, we had made an appointment with the dentist so we needed to soldier on.

Fort Chiswell RV has gravel roads and pads, relatively widely-spaced sites with grass between, full hookups, mostly pull-throughs, cable, and free Wi-Fi. Many sites have small sweet gum trees that provide some shade. Although these trees may eventually grow to over 100' tall, they are not yet big enough to interfere with our satellite dish. The photo below shows our site at Fort Chiswell RV. Margery was happy to see a picture of the campground since she spent the rest of the day in bed and didn't get much of a chance to look around.

Although we could hear the traffic on the interstate in the distance, the campground was relatively quiet. When we arrived around 1:00 PM, there were only a handful of RVs in the campground. By 4:00, the campground was about 75% full.

The next morning, we set out for Pittsburgh to stay with Lora and J. Michael. One of the joys of traveling via motor home is you carry all the conveniences with you. Margery was feeling a little better and was hankering for a cup of hot chicken broth. So Paul started the generator, and Margery was able to heat up the broth in the microwave as we traveled down the road. She used a deep mug to make sure the broth didn't slosh out if we hit a bump. You gotta love it!

The plan was to use the gravel pad that Paul enlarged during our visit with Lora and J. Michael this past spring. We were gratified they were able to make room and time for us on such short notice.

We were hoping we would only be in Pittsburgh a few days and then be on our way back south. It wasn't that we didn't want to spend more time in Pittsburgh, but it is getting cold in the north. Unfortunately, Paul needed two trips to the dentist to resolve the problem with his tooth, so we had to wait around to get a second appointment scheduled. Between dentist appointments, we had time to do some visiting, catch up on laundry, do some car maintenance, get flu shots, do some shopping, and celebrate Lora's birthday which is the 25th. Paul even had had a couple of small projects and got to use his old table saw and belt sander.  :)

During our stay, we got a chance to visit Shared Acres with Lora. Shared Acres is a Community Support Agriculture Program located in nearby Clinton, PA, that grows fresh vegetables for its shareholders. Shareholders receive also a portion of the fresh fruit from several fruit trees on the property. Each shareholder is assigned a specific plot, and for their seasonal fee, shareholders receive the harvest from that plot. Lora and J. Michael found out about Shared Acres and signed up as shareholders this past spring.

Shared Acres is operated by Dwayne Bauknight and his wife, Renee. Dwayne uses intensive gardening techniques to get the maximum benefit out of each garden plot.

The photo below shows some of the garden plots at Shared Acres. Although it was near the end of the growing season and there had already been a couple of light frosts, the cold-tolerant crops were still producing.

We tagged along on Lora's pick up day. It was drizzling rain the day we went, but we still got to enjoy the fall color. Even the leaves that had already fallen brightened the landscape.

In the photo below, Dwayne is handing over the weekly harvest to Lora. She got salad greens, some broccoli, a couple of small peppers, and some cherry tomatoes.

 

Paul made it to his final dental appointment, and we were on our way the next day. We were heading south with a another short detour through Amish country in Holmes County, OH. Since we were fairly close, we decided to take a few days and visit one of our favorite areas and restaurant, even though the weather was turning colder.

As we've said several times before, we love the rural atmosphere and the neat, Amish farms in Holmes County. We always stay at Scenic Hills RV Park in Berlin, OH. The campground is very well kept and is convenient to many of the shops and restaurants in the area. There are three levels to the campground, and on this stay, we stayed on the same site we had this past spring on the lower level.

One of our favorite restaurants anywhere is Der Dutchman Restaurant in Walnut Creek. We went three times in the three days we were in Berlin - on the first day for the salad bar for a late lunch (or lupper as we call it), on the second morning for the breakfast buffet, and on the third day again for lupper.

There are also many other good eats in the Holmes County area. While we were there, we picked up some ham loaf mix at Sugar Valley Meats in Sugar Creek and some smoked beef snack sticks in at Winesburg Meats in Winesburg.

We also stopped at Hillcrest Orchard to pick up some apple cider. There's something about fall that just makes us crave fresh cider.

The employees were busily sorting the different varieties of apples and getting bushel baskets ready for the weekend.

We enjoyed seeing the displays of fall produce, and Margery picked out an acorn squash for a future dinner.

The Amish Flea Market in Walnut Creek is a favorite of ours and we stopped again on this trip. When we were there in the spring, we learned they were converting the flea market to a conference and expo center. They said they planned to relocate the flea market in 2009; but at that time, the exact location had not been announced. This time, there were signs at the various vendors announcing the new location would be several miles west behind Zinck's Fabric Outlet. In fact, once we found out the new location, we realized we're able to see the construction from Scenic Hills. We do enjoy walking around the flea market, and we were happy to see they have found a new location.

As usual, we usually drove the back roads to see the Amish farms. Unfortunately, much of the harvesting was complete so we didn't see many Amish working in the fields. We did see a few buggies like the one below on the roads.

Although there were a few leaves that hadn't even changed yet, the majority of the leaves in the area were all well past their peak. There had been some rain the week before, and there was a lot of wind the day we arrived, so the most colorful leaves had already fallen.

It was also getting even colder. Although it was sunny, daytime temperatures were only in the 50s, and it dropped to 30 at night. It is time to head back south.

NASCAR at Lowe's Motor Speedway

We spent a little over a week at Ebenezer Park just south of Charlotte in South Carolina until Friday before the Bank of America 500 NASCAR race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. As we said, we would be meeting our daughter, Lora, our son in law, J. Michael, and their friends, Jon and Kathy, for the race. While the others would be staying at a motel, we found a small campground within sight of the track where we could stay the night before and the night after the race.

On Friday before the race, we drove about an hour from Ebenezer to Yates Family Camping, which is located behind Lowe's Motor Speedway just north of Charlotte in Concord, NC. We thought the price at Yates Family Camping was extremely reasonable at $30 a night for a non-electric site (with water only) considering the convenient location and close proximity to the track. Many other campgrounds cost $75-150 per night on race weekends. The photo below shows our site at Yates Family Camping.

Yates Family Camping has about 40 sites and about 10 to 15 of them have electricity. We didn't call soon enough to get an electric site, but we figured we would be just fine with our on-board generator, especially since the weather was cooling off to the 70s and we wouldn't need air conditioning.

For those staying a little longer or with extra people in their RV, the Porta-John truck drove through the campground every day in case you needed to empty your holding tanks.

As you can see in the photo above, the campground had tight quarters with side-by-side and back-to-back hookups. And, of course, a race weekend is a party weekend. Everyone had flags with their favorite driver's number as well as their grills, chairs, coolers, radios and TVs set up outside. But Yates calls itself a family campground; and, although everyone had a good time, the crowd was by no means unruly. The photo below was taken in the morning, but you can see some of the set-ups as a few folks are beginning to gather at the site to the rear for breakfast.

The most noise at the campground was made by the inexpensive, portable, contractor-type generators. These are the kind sold by home improvement stores and and designed for construction site use, not the close quarters of camping. On-board RV generators are usually fairly quiet and sound like a car running at a fast idle. Honda also makes a series of very quiet, portable generators, but they cost more than twice as much as a contractor-type generator. Unlike the contractor-type generators, the Hondas also provide very clean alternating current power suitable for electronic equipment like TVs, computers, and microwaves.

By Friday afternoon, Lora, J. Michael, and their friends arrived. After they checked into their motel, we met them at the race shop of Roush Fenway Racing. Last year, we visited the shops of Hendrick Motor Sports and Richard Childress Racing, so we were eager to go to a shop that we had not visited before.

Roush Fenway is the home of Sprint Cup Series drivers Carl Edwards (#99), Greg Biffle (#16), Matt Kenseth (#17), Jamie McMurray (#26), and David Ragan (#6). Of these drivers, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, and Matt Kenseth are currently in the running for this year's championship. The photo below shows some of the cars belonging to driver David Regan.

 

In addition to being able to view part of the garage area (unfortunately, we got there after quitting time, which is noon on the Friday before a race), there was also a museum touting the wins and accomplishments of the team's drivers. The photo below shows our group in front of one of the cars from the recent past on display in the museum.

Afterward, the girls wanted to stroll around the nearby shopping mall. Meanwhile, the guys went to Bass Pro Shops/Outdoor World.

We met up again at On the Border Mexican Grill and Cantina for dinner. The hot corn chips and salsa started coming from the moment we sat down. We got a "pick 3 - make your own" platter where we both chose beef empanadas, a chile relleno, and a fish taco. It was the first time either of us had had a fish taco. We had a hard time getting used to the idea of fish in a taco, but everyone said they were great. They were right! Most of the items on their menu are under $10; and with all the corn chips and salsa you can eat, it's a relatively inexpensive meal out.

On the morning of the race, we drove over to the track about 11:00 AM to meet Lora, J. Michael, and their friends. The reason for going so early was to beat the pre-race traffic and to get a convenient parking space near the gate. The photo below was taken shortly after we arrived looking across the parking lot toward the vendor area.

And this photo is the same area taken shortly before we went into the speedway at around 5:00 PM. You can see how much the crowds had grown. Keep in mind, this is only one of many parking lots.

After we met up with the rest of the group around 11:00 AM, we chatted a while and had some snacks. There was shrimp dip, cowboy cookies, peanut butter cookies, and pepperoni roll.

Then we walked down the hill to the vendor area. Many NASCAR fans are real die-hards and must have the latest NASCAR gear. T-shirts with their favorite driver's likeness and his car's number are a must. Hats and jackets are also popular. There are also mugs, posters, bumper stickers, and just about anything you can think of with driver numbers on them. Anytime a driver changes race teams and/or sponsors, the serious fan will go right out and buy new paraphernalia.

Booth after booth stretching as far as the eye could see and the carnival atmosphere reminded us a little of Quartzsite, except that Quartzsite vendors sell mostly RV-related and general merchandise. The photo below shows just some of the many vendors.

After walking around the vendor area, we headed back to where we had parked and lit the portable gas grills. Lora and Kathy worked to prepare our feast while J. Michael supervised.

We dined on barbecued beef and pork ribs, cheesy potatoes on the grill, and a delicious salad. We got quite a few envious stares and comments from those passing by on their way to the speedway entrance.

While most NASCAR Sprint Cup races are run Sunday afternoon, an increasing number of races like the one we went to in Charlotte are being run on Saturday night. Many fans seem to like the night races, probably because they can use Sunday to drive back home and don't have to take another day off work.

We headed into the track around 5:00 PM in time for some of the pre-race festivities. There was a BMX bicycle stunt demonstration and a concert by Jessica Simpson. We had terrific seats fairly close to the track just before the start-finish line. Lowe's Motor Speedway is a mile and a half tri-oval, meaning the front stretch has a bend in it making the track somewhat D-shaped. The photo below is a panoramic shot of the track at dusk during the pre-race activities.

Here is another pre-race photo with the Good Year blimp overhead.

As it started to get dark, there were the driver introductions, the prayer, the National Anthem, and finally, the command, "GENTLEMEN, START YOUR ENGINES." Forty-three, 358 cubic inch, 800 horsepower, V-8 engines roared to life. What a thrill!

The couple that couldn't attend the race were kind enough to loan us their scanner. The scanner can be programmed to receive the conversations between any or all the pit crews and their drivers. You can scan up and down your programmed list or select a specific team and listen in on their conversations to see what strategy they may be planning, how the car is handling, or when they are planning to come into the pits. You can also receive the radio broadcast of the race (which helps figure out what is really going on) or even listen in on the officials.

The headsets that come with the scanner also help muffle the LOUD engine noise during the race. Paul deliberately took his headset off at the start of the race just to see what it would sound like. He thought the sound of forty-three engines firing to life was impressive, but it was nothing compared to forty-three, 800 horsepower engines all suddenly going to full throttle as the drivers all mashed down on the accelerator pedals simultaneously as the green flag fell.

Because this was a night race, we didn't get many good pictures of the race itself because the cars were just going too fast in the low light conditions. But we did get a half-decent shot of the start of the race as the cars approached us on their way to the start/finish line, seconds before they all put the pedal to the metal.

Attending our first NASCAR race was a great experience, especially sharing it with Lora, J. Michael, and their friends. With multiple cameras all around the track, in-car cameras, and instant replays, you can see more if you watch the race on TV. But there is nothing like being there live. You can smell the smells of oil and tires. We could even smell grass when someone spun out in the grass right in front of us. You can hear and feel the sounds - the roar of the engines vibrates in your chest.

The race was won by Jeff Burton (#31). We had seen some of Jeff's cars being prepared last year when we visited Richard Childress Racing. With his win at Charlotte, Jeff moved up from fourth place into second in the championship chase only 69 points behind the leader, Jimmie Johnson (#48).

After the race, traffic was at a standstill. Many of the 160,000 fans who attend the race end up crossing the road somewhere in the vicinity of the speedway to get to their cars. Of course, with all those people crossing the roads, the traffic that was already there ground to a halt. As soon as the fans got to their cars, they then all tried to get onto the roadways they just walked across.

Our group, along with a few others, decided to just stay a while in the parking lot (even though it was late). We got out our chairs, had some leftover snacks and waited for the traffic to dissipate. It took about an hour and a half, but it was more pleasant sitting in the parking lot chatting and snacking instead of sitting in our car wishing we were moving. When we finally did leave, we easily got out onto the main road, waited for one or two traffic lights, and got back to the motor home in about 10 minutes.

After a night's rest, we will be making a short, unexpected detour back to Pittsburgh. It's nothing serious, just a chance to test of our flexibility.

Change of Plans - Heading for Charlotte

We left Red Bay on a Wednesday and drove an hour and a half east to the Corinth Recreation Area located in the Bankhead National Forest. As we said in our last post, there wasn't much to do in Red Bay so we had plenty of time to drive out to Corinth one day to pick our site in advance. We probably wouldn't have needed reservations; but there were so few sites where we could get satellite, we went ahead and made them just to be sure.

Corinth Recreation Area is located about 4 miles east of the small town of Double Springs and then about 3 miles south of U. S. Highway 278, so it is kind of in the middle of nowhere. (Zeller translation - the closest Wal-Mart is at least 25 miles away.) Consequently, the campground doesn't seem to be used much. That's unfortunate, because the campground is beautiful and is very well maintained. The couple that manages the campground is very conscientious. The grass was well manicured, the fire rings were all cleaned out, and the gravel at all the sites had been raked.

Corinth has full hookups with 50 amp electric. Most of the campsites are well shaded, except for about a half a dozen sites on Firefly Loop, where we were located, that are a little more open with a clear view of the southern sky for satellite. Roads and pads in the campground are paved and the patios are gravel. The America the Beautiful Pass is honored at Corinth for half-price camping. The photo below shows our site at Corinth Recreation Area.

The seclusion was refreshing after the close quarters and bustle of Red Bay. The recreation area is at the end of a county road, so there is no other traffic. We could hear birds during the day and crickets at night. There were no trains, no highways, and few other campers - except for the weekend when they were about 50% full. Even with all that seclusion, we still got 3 bars on our cell phone. Corinth will definitely be on our list of places we want to return to soon!

We got the opportunity during our five-day stay at Corinth to sit outside to read and relax (there were very few bugs), to walk, and to ride our bikes. Right outside the entrance to the recreation area is the Corinth Baptist Church, which was built in 1884. Late one afternoon, we rode our bikes to the church.

We just looked around the church and the adjacent cemetery and enjoyed the quiet.

The photo below shows the ladies' rest room. It was curious that there were only "facilities" for the women, but it WAS decorated with silk flowers in the corner. :)

Last year, our travel route took us through Charlotte, NC, in October. We were there the week before the fall NASCAR race at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and we toured the track as well as the shops of several race teams.

Our daughter, Lora, and our son-in-law, J. Michael, have gone to the fall race in Charlotte with friends the last several years. This year, we got a call from Lora saying one of the couples who usually goes with them wouldn't be able to attend this year. Since Charlotte wouldn't be very far out of our way from our route to Myrtle Beach, they wanted to know if we were interested in the tickets. We had planned to meander over to the Escapees' Raccoon Valley Campground outside Knoxville, TN, until it was time to go to Myrtle Beach for our November 1 reservations. However, we jumped at the chance to go to the race instead, and immediately began researching places to stay.

We found a county park with full hookups about an hour from the track just over the border in South Carolina, and we also found a reasonably-priced spot without electricity within sight of the speedway. The plan would be to go to the county park a week or so before the race, then move to the spot near the speedway for the night before and the night after the race. Since we usually don't like to drive more than four hours a day, we planned on stopping a couple of times between Corinth and the county park outside Charlotte.

The first stop was Wills Creek RV Park in Fort Payne, AL. Wills Creek is an 18-month old campground that honors Passport America for a maximum of two nights during the week. They have full hookups with 50 amp electric, excellent satellite reception, gravel roads and pads, cable, and relatively widely-spaced sites with grass between. The owners are working hard to make sure the campground is in top shape. There are newly-planted trees, decorative lamp posts along the roads, and they are in the process of installing patios made from pre-cast concrete pavers. The campground is relatively quiet, but there is some distant noise from I-59. There are also some construction workers from a nearby highway project staying there who leave for work in their diesel pickups about 6:30 AM. The photo below shows our site at Wills Creek RV Park.

One problem with our plan to go to the NASCAR race in Charlotte was with the availability of gas. Even though many of the refineries were back on line following Hurricane Ike, there were lingering distribution problems in the Southeast. A few weeks ago, we heard about gas lines in Nashville. Then it was Atlanta. Then, the spot shortages spread even farther, and many areas of the Southeast (particularly Georgia and western North Carolina - especially around Asheville and Charlotte) were reporting gas lines. Even though the pipeline that distributes gasoline to the Southeast had been repaired, shortages were expected to continue a little while longer.

All the stations except Wal-Mart near the interstate exit in Fort Payne were out of gas. The Wal-Mart gas station was much too small and much too crowded for the motor home, so we had to pull into the campground with less gas than we would have liked, especially since we would be crossing the border the next day into Georgia where supplies were reportedly very low.

After leaving Fort Payne, we passed many stations that had bags over the nozzles indicating they were out of gas, but there were also some stations with gas and without long lines. We were able to buy gas, albeit premium grade, in Summerville. The station we stopped at was out of regular unleaded; and all the other stations in the area, while they didn't exactly have lines, were too small and too crowded to get into with the motor home. The RV pumps at some of the Flying J stations were limiting purchases to 25 gallons, but gas was available. We are hoping things get back to normal in Charlotte before race weekend.

Our next stop was Hartwell Lake Corps of Engineers Campground near Springfield, SC. Hartwell Lake is a typical, heavily-wooded, COE campground. But, since they have photos of each campsite online, we were able to pick an available site where we might get satellite.

When we arrived it was early in the week, and we found the campground was almost empty. They told us in the office we could have any vacant site since we were only going to be there one night; however, we were pleased to find the site we had already picked was fine for satellite. Because it was also a pull-through, we didn't have to unhook the toad for a one-night stop. The photo below shows our site at Hartwell Lake COE.

The water level in the lake was way down due to the ongoing drought in the Southeast. The online photo showed the site we picked was a waterfront site; but when we got there, the inlet behind the site was totally dry. Judging from the size of some of the saplings where there used to be water, the water level has been down for some time. The photo below shows what's left of the inlet behind our site.

At Hartwell Lake, we got to enjoy another afternoon and evening of seclusion. We walked almost the entire campground, which felt good after sitting and riding in the motor home for several hours on each of the past two days.

The next morning, we left for Ebenezer Park, which is where we planned to stay for a little over week until we are ready to head to Charlotte for the race. Ebenezer Park is owned and operated by York County near Rock Hill, SC, and is about an hour from Lowe's Motor Speedway just north of Charlotte.

Ebenezer is first-come, first-served so there are no reservations and no saving of sites. The locals have figured out a way around the no reservation policy by using tents to hold their favorite sites, so the best lake-view sites seem to be hard to get. There is a sign that says "NO SAVING SITES"; but, the ranger turns a "blind eye" while the locals use tents to hold sites for themselves or for their friends who might be arriving later.

Even though we arrived in the middle of the week and fairly early in the day, there weren't many sites left. Most of the available sites were in the one section of the campground that was heavily wooded. There was one available site, however, with a partial lake view. It looked like the tree on the back of the site might block our satellite dish, but we backed in anyway before someone else came along and snatched up the site. We sent the dish up to search for the satellite; and to our surprise, the dish found a signal!

One of the reasons the campground at Ebenezer Park is so popular is the price. Their regular rate is $15 a night, but they only charge $10 for anyone over 60 years old.

Ebenezer Park campground has gravel roads and pads. Most of the sites are fairly widely-spaced with grass between, except for the sites in the heavily-wooded section which have little or no grass. The sites all have full hookups, there is free Wi-Fi, and many of the sites have 50 amp electric. We don't know about the other 50 amp sites, but ours had 50 and 20 amp only. There was no 30 amp plug, which might be an inconvenience for some people with a smaller rig. The lack of a 30 amp plug, plus the fact the site is very close to the one to our right, may be the reason the site was still open and hadn't been saved by one of the locals. The photo below shows our site at Ebenezer Park.

 

The park is located on Lake Wylie which has a surface area of 21 square miles and a 325-mile shore line. The lake extends well up into North Carolina. The Catawba River was dammed in 1904 in order to build a hydro-electric power plant. Today, Wylie Steam Power Station is located on the northern part of the lake and Catawba Nuclear Power Station is located on the southern part of the lake a short distance from Ebenezer Park. Because of the power plants, the water in the lake must be maintained at a relatively high level in spite of the drought.

In addition to the campground, Ebenezer Park has a day use area, which is shown in the photo below. There are also boat-launch ramps out of the photo to the left.

 

From the dock by the boat launch, you can get a beautiful view of the sunset over the lake.

 

One day we headed to Matthews, NC, to visit with friends whom we had met in Davenport, IA, while we were waiting for the flood waters to subside this past June. Although they travel extensively throughout the year, they fly home every 3-4 months to see family. Our timing was just right to re-connect. We enjoyed a barbecue lunch at Mac's Speed Shop and especially appreciated eating in the outdoor dining area on a mid-70's afternoon. The pulled pork sandwiches were delish and their onion rings outstanding. 

On our way back to the house, our friends wanted to show us Calvary Church, an evangelical, non-denominational church that is stunning in its architecture, envisioned as a modern day cathedral. This photo was shooting into the sun, but it gives you an idea.

It is home to one of the largest pipe organs in the world. The blue shadows between the windows and the large panel in the back of the platform are some of the 11,499 pipes. Notice the cross on the ceiling. The sanctuary seats over 5,000 and has two balconies.

We have yet to visit the Crystal Cathedral. Until then, this is the most beautiful modern cathedral we've seen. The photo below shows the entrance to the lobby.

It was great re-connecting with friends, and we look forward to seeing them "down the road."

We will stay at Ebenezer until heading into Charlotte for the race. There is plenty of time for us to chill out. During our stay at Ebenezer Park, we will catch up on some shopping now that we're in a metro area with our favorite chain stores. Margery will be trying to pick a beauty shop for a haircut (always a challenge), we'll have our mail forwarded, and we'll need to restock our pantry. We will be tailgating in the parking lot on race day; and since the other couples with whom we will be attending the race will be staying in a motel, we're going cook ribs for the tailgate party.