Great pic! Almost looks like a staged photo shoot with that ballon. Very nice.
Alan & Natalie McKinney, TX nüCamp: 2019 [email protected] 400 Boondock Lite TV: 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk 4x4 Dream big... work hard... never give up.
@ADRawli there were 10-15 balloons up at the same time. Most were moving higher but this one was going sideways right in front of us. The people in the bucket were saying “Good Morning!”. It was awesome
2018 [email protected] 320 S Boondock - 2011 Toyota Tacoma - Huntington Beach, Ca
Last week we joined our cousins at Julian Price National Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC for the 3rd annual twin [email protected] reunion. It was like a replay of the first time we tested our solar setup there a couple years ago, but with even better fall color.. This was our site 11 on the E-loop, and their twin tab was nearby, just up the hill from ours.. Here our cousins are standing near our solar panel - we were under trees, but with a 30' + 15' extension cable, we were able to catch the southern sky for most of the day to complete a full daily recharge cycle. We were fortunate to arrive after two days of rain, which we believe allowed us to switch to these nicer sites with sun. The trees surrounding the nearby Price Lake were showing nice color too. And of course there were the ever-present beautiful rhododendrons everywhere in the park. We also took a ride farther south to do the Linville falls hike where we had this nice view from a mountain overlook. On the other side was Linville falls (the smaller of several cascades).. Another view of our site & the huge rhododendrons surrounding the campsites.. It's times like these that we fully appreciate being able to swing our [email protected] around 90° in the parking space. We kept our ARB fridge in the van running on [email protected] battery & solar to hold food supplies for 4 more days at other parks after this - more photos to follow.
-Brian in Chester, Virginia TV: 2005 Toyota Sienna LE (3.3L V6) RV: 2018 [email protected] 320S, >70 mods
Recently returned from our annual Fall Colors trip which was 3+ weeks this year in a tour from Colorado to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and back, with changes made on the fly due to weather. Not the original route planned, but, fires. OMG the fires. Here are a few glamour shots from some of our campsites along the way. Hoping I resized correctly.
Lake Herman State Park. Madison, South Dakota. A few days in to the trip for showers and power; we drained our fresh tank on the way here and made some noise winterizing at this site.
Baker Park Reserve. Maple Plain, Minnesota. A big park with tons of sites and trails. We picked a less popular loop, had showers and dewinterized.
Portage Bay State Forest Campground. Garden, Michigan. A 7-mile gravel road to get to this boondocking site right next to Lake Michigan. Our favorite site of the entire trip and we would have stayed longer if we hadn't needed cell service for work. Vault toilets, water, and pitch black night sky.
Sunrise at Portage Bay.
Muskallonge Lake State Park. Newberry, Michigan. A site right on Muskallonge Lake, walking distance to Lake Superior, and oh the wind. We winterized on the way out.
Frenchtown County Park. Garnavillo, Iowa. A boondocking site on the west bank of the Mississippi with absolutely no facilities whatsoever, peaceful, and seeming safe. Still winterized. We'd go again.
After a few days in the NC mountains, we headed northwest through Johnson City, TN & into the western Virginia leg of our trip, to complete our final 3 stays at all 23 of VA state parks offering RV campsites. Here at Lovers Leap campground in Natural Tunnel State Park, I encountered my most challenging back-in site yet. It had a 75-ft curved driveway, which I didn't expect to give me as much trouble as it did, but maybe that's why it was the last one left when I made the reservation. It was nice & level and very roomy, and a really lovely park with nice sites. Even the dump station was well made with the right slope, an extra faucet for handwashing, and even an automatic no-touch Purell dispenser (haven't seen that before). It was just a 10 min walk from our campsite to this amazing overlook of the rock face at the entrance to the natural tunnel that was carved by a stream. At the top left of the wall is an observation path from the main parking area/visitor center behind it. View from the other side atop that rock face where you can see the tunnel entrance. To the right, at the top of the white rock column is the actual Lovers Leap from local native american folklore. Above and left of that is the overlook from which the first photo was taken near the campground. From the deck at the visitor center, looking at the chair-lift operated on weekends for those who aren't willing or able to hike down the path at lower left & steps into the river gorge to see the tunnel. We walked down & it wasn't too bad. The pedestrian path at right crosses the stream and then the railroad track for a closer look at the tunnel entrance. It was impressive & worth seeing, but at this point we still had two more parks to visit.
-Brian in Chester, Virginia TV: 2005 Toyota Sienna LE (3.3L V6) RV: 2018 [email protected] 320S, >70 mods
Our next-to-last stop on this trip was at the unique & beautiful Breaks Interstate Park at the VA-KY border (in VA, but jointly managed by both states), out in the middle of a remote region that is only accessible by secondary roads & highways, including many that follow streams between mountains & some sharp switchbacks. Sites are mostly wooded & a bit on the small side (since they are situated along the top of a mountain ridge) & sometimes indistinctly marked, such that it's hard to tell where one ends & the next begins. I enjoyed our pretty site B28, and the only thing I found a bit odd was the dump station being on the passenger side of the road as you leave the campground (no driver side approach), such that we had to turn around to use it (then turn around again to leave). Still, this was my favorite of the 4 parks on this trip, just for its unique & abundant natural beauty. There are multiple short hikes to rock ledge overlooks with stunning views of the river gorge below, plus hikes along the rock ledges as well as below them. We came back to this Towers Overlook for the sunset, named for the rock formations which are surrounded by the U-turn in the Russel Fork River. This is the Stateline Overlook, where we took the Geological Trail down below it to see some amazing rock formations in a beautiful forest setting. I believe this areas was labeled as "The Notches" on the trail map. The trail goes through this narrow notch too, with a large bolder wedged between the walls above you. Looking straight up at another formation. The sheer mass of these walls of rock was impressive. A peaceful spot with mossy rocks & rhododendrons.
Our last overnight stop at our 23rd Virginia state campground was at Claytor Lake State Park.. The beach area was beautiful, and we stopped for a picnic by the lake before heading home. This was also where I learned an important lesson to also do a second walk around the trailer AFTER visiting the dump station.. "What's that scraping sound?" I said, as we turned right into the picnic area parking lot, just a short drive from the dump station. When I stepped out, I immediately knew I had forgotten to put the lid on our sewer hose storage tube. The hose was hanging out, dragging on the pavement, and half of it had been flattened by the trailer tire & we found the connector ring in pieces in the road right where we turned into the parking lot. So that's what the sound was! Good thing this happened after our last night & were heading home. I've ordered two hoses now, so I'll have a backup/extension, if ever needed.
Oops, almost forgot... Now we've completed our collection of Virginia State Parks RV camping stickers (plus a few national parks & duplicates).. [Tap/click above image to get a high-res view] The last 4 state parks are the two at bottom right & two at top right. Many thanks to our wonderful cat sitter nextdoor, Gail, who made most of these trips possible by taking care of our girls!
-Brian in Chester, Virginia TV: 2005 Toyota Sienna LE (3.3L V6) RV: 2018 [email protected] 320S, >70 mods
First camp with my new-to-me 2018 [email protected] Bay View State Park, Washington state. October 14, 2020.
2018 [email protected] 320 S Boondock | 2015.5 Volvo XC60 T6 AWD | Seattle, WA, USA "Blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures.”― Lovelle Drachman
No site yet, heading to Disneys Fort Wilderness Halloween weekend. Getting the [email protected] cleaned up and ready.
Extra Storage Bucket light, and my version of a split backrest
More storage Our kids got us this when we got our PUP. Moved it into the [email protected] That's our 2 granddaughters.
Aldi table to replace the 200 pound original. You can see my be extension mod. There's an extra pad of foam behind the mattress. Need to find a use for every available space Motion sensor lights. I used pairs of command hooks to hang them. Have places on each side and the front. Now if we walk up at night the lights will come on.
Today I drove 15 minutes to the Arkansas river to do my work via the internet from there. Just something different to break the Covid fatigue, but being safe about it.
Sunset at CattleRest RV near Willcox. AZ. The Moon and Saturn not quite ready to let go. The penultimate night of an 8000+ mile, 13 state, 8 week adventure.
Do not hesitate...do not wait...do not dally. Get Out There...it is all waiting for you. An amazing country filled with welcoming folks who are more than happy to share and listen.
It's America 🇺🇸...it is your country...do NOT let it slip through your fingers.
Comments
nüCamp: 2019 [email protected] 400 Boondock Lite
TV: 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk 4x4
Dream big... work hard... never give up.
This was our site 11 on the E-loop, and their twin tab was nearby, just up the hill from ours..
Here our cousins are standing near our solar panel - we were under trees, but with a 30' + 15' extension cable, we were able to catch the southern sky for most of the day to complete a full daily recharge cycle. We were fortunate to arrive after two days of rain, which we believe allowed us to switch to these nicer sites with sun.
The trees surrounding the nearby Price Lake were showing nice color too. And of course there were the ever-present beautiful rhododendrons everywhere in the park.
We also took a ride farther south to do the Linville falls hike where we had this nice view from a mountain overlook. On the other side was Linville falls (the smaller of several cascades)..
Another view of our site & the huge rhododendrons surrounding the campsites..
It's times like these that we fully appreciate being able to swing our [email protected] around 90° in the parking space. We kept our ARB fridge in the van running on [email protected] battery & solar to hold food supplies for 4 more days at other parks after this - more photos to follow.
TV: 2005 Toyota Sienna LE (3.3L V6)
RV: 2018 [email protected] 320S, >70 mods
Lake Herman State Park. Madison, South Dakota. A few days in to the trip for showers and power; we drained our fresh tank on the way here and made some noise winterizing at this site.
Baker Park Reserve. Maple Plain, Minnesota. A big park with tons of sites and trails. We picked a less popular loop, had showers and dewinterized.
Portage Bay State Forest Campground. Garden, Michigan.
A 7-mile gravel road to get to this boondocking site right next to Lake Michigan. Our favorite site of the entire trip and we would have stayed longer if we hadn't needed cell service for work. Vault toilets, water, and pitch black night sky.
Sunrise at Portage Bay.
Muskallonge Lake State Park. Newberry, Michigan. A site right on Muskallonge Lake, walking distance to Lake Superior, and oh the wind. We winterized on the way out.
Frenchtown County Park. Garnavillo, Iowa. A boondocking site on the west bank of the Mississippi with absolutely no facilities whatsoever, peaceful, and seeming safe. Still winterized. We'd go again.
On Instagram: @dogmomming
Here at Lovers Leap campground in Natural Tunnel State Park, I encountered my most challenging back-in site yet. It had a 75-ft curved driveway, which I didn't expect to give me as much trouble as it did, but maybe that's why it was the last one left when I made the reservation. It was nice & level and very roomy, and a really lovely park with nice sites. Even the dump station was well made with the right slope, an extra faucet for handwashing, and even an automatic no-touch Purell dispenser (haven't seen that before).
It was just a 10 min walk from our campsite to this amazing overlook of the rock face at the entrance to the natural tunnel that was carved by a stream. At the top left of the wall is an observation path from the main parking area/visitor center behind it.
View from the other side atop that rock face where you can see the tunnel entrance. To the right, at the top of the white rock column is the actual Lovers Leap from local native american folklore. Above and left of that is the overlook from which the first photo was taken near the campground.
From the deck at the visitor center, looking at the chair-lift operated on weekends for those who aren't willing or able to hike down the path at lower left & steps into the river gorge to see the tunnel.
We walked down & it wasn't too bad. The pedestrian path at right crosses the stream and then the railroad track for a closer look at the tunnel entrance.
It was impressive & worth seeing, but at this point we still had two more parks to visit.
TV: 2005 Toyota Sienna LE (3.3L V6)
RV: 2018 [email protected] 320S, >70 mods
PS: Your photos are too big - supposed to be 600x800 max on short x long sides.
TV: 2005 Toyota Sienna LE (3.3L V6)
RV: 2018 [email protected] 320S, >70 mods
Sites are mostly wooded & a bit on the small side (since they are situated along the top of a mountain ridge) & sometimes indistinctly marked, such that it's hard to tell where one ends & the next begins. I enjoyed our pretty site B28, and the only thing I found a bit odd was the dump station being on the passenger side of the road as you leave the campground (no driver side approach), such that we had to turn around to use it (then turn around again to leave). Still, this was my favorite of the 4 parks on this trip, just for its unique & abundant natural beauty.
There are multiple short hikes to rock ledge overlooks with stunning views of the river gorge below, plus hikes along the rock ledges as well as below them.
We came back to this Towers Overlook for the sunset, named for the rock formations which are surrounded by the U-turn in the Russel Fork River.
This is the Stateline Overlook, where we took the Geological Trail down below it to see some amazing rock formations in a beautiful forest setting.
I believe this areas was labeled as "The Notches" on the trail map.
The trail goes through this narrow notch too, with a large bolder wedged between the walls above you.
Looking straight up at another formation.
The sheer mass of these walls of rock was impressive.
A peaceful spot with mossy rocks & rhododendrons.
Our last overnight stop at our 23rd Virginia state campground was at Claytor Lake State Park..
The beach area was beautiful, and we stopped for a picnic by the lake before heading home.
This was also where I learned an important lesson to also do a second walk around the trailer AFTER visiting the dump station.. "What's that scraping sound?" I said, as we turned right into the picnic area parking lot, just a short drive from the dump station. When I stepped out, I immediately knew I had forgotten to put the lid on our sewer hose storage tube. The hose was hanging out, dragging on the pavement, and half of it had been flattened by the trailer tire & we found the connector ring in pieces in the road right where we turned into the parking lot. So that's what the sound was!
Good thing this happened after our last night & were heading home. I've ordered two hoses now, so I'll have a backup/extension, if ever needed.
Oops, almost forgot... Now we've completed our collection of Virginia State Parks RV camping stickers (plus a few national parks & duplicates)..
[Tap/click above image to get a high-res view]
The last 4 state parks are the two at bottom right & two at top right.
Many thanks to our wonderful cat sitter nextdoor, Gail, who made most of these trips possible by taking care of our girls!
TV: 2005 Toyota Sienna LE (3.3L V6)
RV: 2018 [email protected] 320S, >70 mods
"Blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures.”― Lovelle Drachman
Thanks, Jerry
2019 Honda Pilot AWD and 2018 [email protected] 320-CS hanging out on the left edge of Lake Erie.
Extra Storage
Bucket light, and my version of a split backrest
More storage
Our kids got us this when we got our PUP. Moved it into the [email protected] That's our 2 granddaughters.
Aldi table to replace the 200 pound original. You can see my be extension mod. There's an extra pad of foam behind the mattress.
Need to find a use for every available space
Motion sensor lights. I used pairs of command hooks to hang them. Have places on each side and the front. Now if we walk up at night the lights will come on.
Tampa FL
Photo removed due to size. @JPRoland - https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/47/what-size-should-my-posted-forum-photos-be#latest
PHOTO SIZE EDITED.
And on our last evening, a nice sunset...
PHOTO SIZE EDITED.
Do not hesitate...do not wait...do not dally. Get Out There...it is all waiting for you. An amazing country filled with welcoming folks who are more than happy to share and listen.
It's America 🇺🇸...it is your country...do NOT let it slip through your fingers.
Factory Victron Solar; Norcold 3-way fridge
'04 Chevy Tahoe Z71 5.3L Dino-killer
San Diego, CA
www.vividimagex.com
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