Black Forest Family RV Resort

 This is Fritz, the mascot for the Black Forest Family RV Resort in Cedar Mountain, NC right smack on the South Carolina line and just a hop, skip and a jump from DuPont State Forest and its many waterfalls. My very intrepid friend, Joan, suggested we visit the waterfall district and this clearly was the place to stay.

All the places we have stayed so far have been nice but this place was exceptional in that all the camp sites really were in woods and each site was oriented so that they had a private feel. The area was hilly and the roads (all of which had great German names) were curved so the sites were like small terraces up and down the hills. Anyway, it was a nice setting, had a lovely pool and lots of family activities.

We visited Hooker Falls and Triple Falls (pictured here courtesy of Wikipedia as my photo mysteriously disappeared) in DuPont State Forest and another falls on the way into Brevard. All were stunning. Triple Falls was a bit of a hike up and then down 116 steps (according to a fellow visitor) and then back up again to leave. The picture below shows Joan at about the half way point. Someone graciously included benches about every 30 steps.

There were barricades and areas marked with "No Climbing" signs but we were both amazed at the way

folks clambered about on the rocks regardless. Another falls, High Falls, was another 2000 feet above us (we did not make that trek) and the site of tragedy the next day when a 20 year old man fell to his death climbing the rocks in front of his family. The news reported that this was the third death in the forest within a month.

The falls were well worth the visit, but nature is to be respected as much as it is to be admired. Later that evening I crossed paths with a hornet and was reminded of this again.

We also explored Brevard, a lovely art center with wonderful restaurants and the best blackberry sorbet I have ever had, and rode the countryside to Ceasar's Head, a magnificent overlook where the Blue Ridge plunges 2000 feet to the piedmont below. I had been there years ago with my late husband trailering horses down from the ridge. I remembered the treacherous road descending and was grateful LibraryAnn was parked at Black Forest and not behind me as we made our way down.

 When my son was young he was in love with LEGOs and K'Nex. We saw this magnificent Ferris Wheel in a toy store window in Brevard. Now he builds walkways like the one pictured above at a 4H Environmental Education Center in Reidsville. It was fun sending him pictures of both and thinking about how his love of building things had remained. He has his hands on real tools making real "things" now, but he still has his tubs of legos and I catch him playing with them.

This was Joan's first trip in LibraryAnn and my first trip without the kids. We did well (translation: we are still friends) and I hope there will be more trips in our future. Right now, she's off to see a new great grandbaby and LibraryAnn is in the shop for a new power converter. However, we have reservations on the New River in a couple of weeks. The kids and I will be trying out the new kayak rack. Stay tuned!

RVing Women

So I've joined a couple of RV clubs, one is the Fiberglass RV club and one is a women's club, RVing Women. Most of their membership is in the southwest but a North Carolina member proposed a gathering of women from NC and VA at her private RV park near Blounts Creek, NC. Sounded like just the trip for me and Jessie. 

As it turned out, 25 women initially responded but all of them but us bailed. So our hostess decided to just invite a group of her local women friends over for the weekend but invited us to join them. I really didn't want to crash their party and almost backed out, but am so glad I didn't. 

I had no idea the park was right on Blount's Creek. She advertises by word of mouth only as the park is right at their home and she wants to be comfortable with who is staying, but I am tickled now to know about the place and hope to return. There are half a dozen hookups and several tiny cottages. She has kayaks available to explore the creek and a lovely dock.

Jessie and I explored Washington in the morning and points east in the afternoon when thunderstorms threatened a kayak outing. My friend, LaNelle, recommended a wonderful local seafood place with outside, dog-friendly seating, which we totally enjoyed until the dog slipped his harness and the waitress cleared our unfinished food before we got him back. That evening we were invited to join the evening bonfire. The gathered friends had obviously known each other a long time. The laughter and stories were a delight. I look forward to camping with these women again, and exploring the creek.

Again, the trailer has provided an opportunity for a good time we would otherwise not have had, to see new parts of North Carolina and meet some lovely folks. I've got a kayak rack on the truck now, we will be back.

LeConte RV Park in Gatlinburg

About 55 years ago, my grandparents first brought me to Gatlinburg. I remember the lovely stone and timber shops, the enormous porch on the grand lodge, and the Arrowcraft shop featuring the work of local craftsmen. I returned again for other visits with my parents, and as an adult since my late 20s, I have enjoyed classes at the Arrowmont Craft School.

Arrowmont was one of the many settlement schools started as mission work in Appalachia at the beginning of the 1900s. The Pi Beta Phi college sorority, of which my mother was a member, brought the first public health nurse and the first regular school to Gatlinburg. In addition to teaching children, the school also helped turn local handcrafts into highly marketable products by helping the local men and women preserve and develop their skills. I still have a beautifully handwoven pin holder of my grandmother's from the Arrowcraft shop. The Arrowmont School is now a school of fine handcraft affiliated with the University of Tennessee. It is no longer run by the Pi Beta Phis, a recent development, and the Arrowcraft shop, a staple of my many visits to Gatlinburg, was being dismantled and moved the weekend I attended my most recent class this past April. Arrowcraft Industries has become the Southern Highland Handcraft Guild centered at the Folk Art Center in Asheville just off the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Lots has changed since my first visit as a small child. The traffic is unbearable, the lodge is gone, and the lovely old stone and timber shops are buried beneath signs hawking tourist trash or simply torn down to make room for arcades and novelty stores. Arrowmont remains, however, a lovely enclave just a few steps off the main thoroughfare. In the past, I have stayed on campus, enjoying their charming dorms and wonderful food. This time, however, I brought both young'uns with me and we camped surprisingly close to town at the very comfortable LeConte RV Park. They left me off in the mornings for my weekend Marbling class and took off for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the riotous Pigeon Forge, home of Dollywood and many outlet stores. I confess an ulterior motive in bringing them--I'm building confidence in using the trailer so I can come next time by my self.

The tools for marbling are pretty simple--a tank, thickener, acrylic paints and bundles of broomstraw. The effects are stunning, though practice is required. We started marbling paper but the goal was to marble silk scarves. I have taken several shibori classes and dye silk scarves which I sell, when I have the time to make them, but marbling is something I have always wanted to learn. This was the first class I had seen that focused on fabric rather than paper and I was thrilled.

The instructor was excellent and the Arrowmont experience overall is always good, but it was just a weekend class and it passed in a blur. The kids were patient with me and we ended each day with a sunset ride on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, an incredibly beautiful drive. Because we rode at dusk we were pretty much alone with stunning sunsets and rich, deep woods.

I did get some lovely samples and as soon as I can catch my breath, I have all the materials I need to set up at home. But the best part of the weekend was enjoying each other. This little trailer is opening opportunities for us to be close to nature and close to each other.

Our first REAL trip...

So it is now April 2. We are camped at Wilson's along the French Broad River. Gorgeous view but lots of traffic noise. We are literally in the middle of several miles of riverside greenway. We do paddle this river in warmer times, it runs through the Biltmore estate. We had hoped to rent bikes but impending high winds and unexpected cold temps will send us home after lunch.

There is lots of traffic noise from the interstate and we are surrounded by big rigs but the view out the back is pure pleasure as are walks on the greenway.

I have been amazed at both how crowded and how private the campgrounds feel. We are typically parked between rigs that tower over us literally within spitting distance, yet folks are quiet and respectful. Many live in their rigs, some of which sport exterior kitchens as well as the ones inside. Most have large TVs. (Jessie's primary memory of a new 19' Airstream, marked down to $50K, was that it had 3 TVs and a lot of wasted space thereby). I just pack a laptop and DVDs.  We have gotten a lot of curious looks, and some admiring looks and comments. The big rigs are elegant but I suspect not nearly as carefree as their owners imagined. My over anxious self is not as carefree as I would like to be, I think we probably would be fine staying on tonite, but setup and takedown are simple and quick. And the kitchen works just fine. And that was the point.

Practice Run

Our first trip was to the mountains in January for RV driving school. My son came along to supervise and was a gracious (silent) observer as I spent five hours driving backwards at a crawl. No action shots from that trip!

Now that the weather has improved, my son, daughter and I had our first overnight in a local campground. I managed all the hookup and set up by my lonesome but was glad to send the kids into town as we discovered items I never knew I needed. We ate well, we mostly slept well. A shout out to the Amina stove top oven folks--I've made good cornbread and bump biscuits so far in this odd, but apparently effective contraption. And, despite an overactive dog and much rain, we came home friends. We progress...

The Adventure Begins for Real

LibraryAnn on her way home.

So the adventure began in my mind sitting in my community college library during a quiet spell, pouring over a book on the history of the Airstream. The man who invented it couldn't get his wife out of the kitchen so he built one they could take camping. This thought was too delicious (literally) for a woman with multiple food issues who likes to get away but hates navigating restaurant  food on the road. And who hasn't dreamed of taking, carefree, to the open road?! And for me, the dream of taking my kitchen with me was the best dream of them all!

So the search was on. I started by lurking the Airstream forums. I learned a lot about camping, maintenance and repair, and about tow vehicles. And that by the time an Airstream was old enough for me to afford, I couldn't afford the repairs. I bought a buyers guide to "stickies", or conventional stick built trailers, and learned how to search for leaks--and found many. Somewhere on a forum was mentioned ultra-lightweight molded fiberglass trailers that did not leak and I started lurking that forum. And searching for a long bed crew cab Frontier with a tow package. Found the truck in Charlotte last June, and LibraryAnn found me on the forum near Thanksgiving. Brought her home from Fayetteville in pouring rain December 2.

Her previous owner was a librarian who never got to travel with her.  She travels with us in spirit now as we make our first "get acquainted" trips.