Walmart (I-87 at I-84), Newburgh, NY

Date of Stay:  Saturday June 27, 2015 (1 night)

Rate:  Shopping trip (varies)

Website:  Walmart
   1201 Union Avenue
   Newburgh, NY 12550
   845-567-6007

Description:  Close to the I-87/I-84 interchange used by several rv’ers.  Level parking lot near the road was level but traffic was noisy.

Activities:  Overnighter after a rainy drive on our way north.  Another MH was set up near the fireworks tent.  I believe they were actually working the sales.  There were four other rvs in the lot by morning.

 

Rainy day                                             We’re not alone at the fireworks tent

Beacon Hill Camping, Intercourse, PA

Date of Stay:  Tuesday June 23 – Saturday June 27, 2015 (4 nights)

Rate:  $45/night

Website:  Beacon Hill Camping
   128 Beacon Hill Road
   Intercourse, PA 17534
   717-768-8775

Description:  Reviewed earlier here.  This adult only campground is located in the heart of Pennsylvania Amish country.  We stayed in site 39 in the lower tier right across the street from an Amish dairy farm.  The roads and sites are gravel with FHU 50A.  The upper level is older and better suited for smaller rigs.  Nice grassy areas and large shade trees made it nice to sit outside and watch the horse and buggies clip-clop by.  The area is beautiful farmland and quite relaxing.

Trash and Recycle:  Dumpster centrally located in the cg along with intermingled recycle bins that take everything.

Activities:  We enjoyed riding around the beautiful farmland some but the main reason we came back this year was to buy a couple of Adirondack chairs from King’s across the road and to stock up on whoopie pies and meats from Stoltzfus Meats.  We fed the ducks and fish at Kings and rubbed their goats too.  We went out to eat one day at Miller’s Smorgasbord.  We enjoyed the nice weather by sitting outside and just watching the buggies ride by.  It’s a wonder we didn’t gain weight.

 

Beacon Hill Camping

 

Relaxing on site 39

 

Our view…                                            …and our alarm clock

 

Beautiful views

 

Riding around

 

Pickup truck?                                           Sedan?

 

Convertibles?

Walmart (I-81 exit 6), Hagerstown, MD

Date of Stay:  Monday June 22, 2015 (1 night)

Rate:  Shopping trip (varies)

Website:  Walmart
   17850 Garland Groh Blvd
   Hagerstown, MD 21740
   301-714-1373

Description:  Large shopping center right beside I-81.  Customer service folks said it was fine to park over night near the access road away from the store.  Quite a lot of road noise and not completely level, but had a long day and needed some rest.

Activities:  Overnighter after a long day.  I drove almost five hours from Bulltown CG to go to Roanoke Camping World, messed around with them for over three hours, then I drove another four hours or more to pull in here for the night.  We were tired.  No new air conditioner either.  The part number wasn’t what is recommended on the Coleman website so we didn’t feel comfortable having it installed there.  The new store manager, Kevin, did refund our deposit.  We called the Winnebago dealer in Bangor since we will be in the area there for the month of July.  They recommended an RV service store right on our route so I called them to get an appointment for July 1.  Hope they are competent.

  

Parked far away from the store in a large shopping center

Bulltown CG (Burnsville Lake COE), Napier, WV

Date of Stay:  Friday June 12 – Monday June 22, 2015 (10 nights)

Rate:  $15/night (Access Pass discount)

Website:  Bulltown CG
   1183 Bulltown Campground Road (use coordinates 38*47’45.8”N, 80*34’32.8”W)
   Napier, WV 26631
   304-452-8006

Description:  All roads are paved and sites and pads are gravel.  Loops A and B are older with heavy tree cover and only have 30A electric.  Loops C, D, E and F are much newer and have FHU 50A.  We stayed on site F4.  This is a large campground on a sizeable mountain lake.  Many locals bring their boats here for the weekend.  Absolutely NO Verizon cellphone signal so we had no phone or internet.  The newer loops are quite open with not much privacy.  At the entry to the CG is the Bulltown Historic Area.  Several old log homes were moved here when the lake was made in the 1970’s.  They were originally built in the 1800’s using old growth trees so the logs are about two feet thick.  A Civil War battle also occurred here mainly to get control of the Weston and Gauley Bridge Turnpike.  It was a 110 mile long North/South roadway built by private funds in the 1850’s long before the US highway system was begun.

Trash and Recycle:  Each loop has a dumpster near the bathhouse.  No recycle.

Activities:  This campground is off the beaten path.  I enjoyed checking out the Historic Area while Gin tried to stay cool.  Our AC ran just about all day since the front unit was not working.  This was a good place to just relax although it does get busy on the weekends.

 

On site F4

 

Loops D and E

 

Couple of playgrounds in the campground

 

Bulltown Historic Area                   Displays and artifacts inside the Learning Center

   

Old Weston and Gauley Bridge Turnpike

      

Fleming House with half dovetail notching         Johnson House with cat and clay chimney

 

Cunningham House                                  St Michael’s Catholic Church

 

Wood stove and dinner table inside the Cunningham House

 

Inside the Cunningham House                            Making a quilt

Camping World, Roanoke, VA

Date of Stay:  Thursday June 11, 2015 (1 night)

Rate:  Service charge varies

Website: Camping World of Roanoke  
   8198 Gander Way
   Roanoke, VA 24019
   312-759-4524

Description:  Stayed outside the work bay with a water hose out to our water line and a 30A cord (with adaptor) out to our 50A shoreline.  Nice enough staff but we aren’t big fans of Camping World in general.

Activities:  I had called a day ahead to make an appointment (11:00) for them to check out our front air conditioner since it died on us in Bristol, TN.  They said that it needed replacement.  They thought they had one in stock but it wasn’t quite right since it didn’t have a heat pump.  They ordered one that is supposed to arrive there in a week.  The ladder they used beside our MH scraped our side in a couple of places so they did a quick touchup paint job.  By this time, it was 5:00 so they pulled the hookup out to us so we could stay the night.  With 30A, we could only run one AC so we turned on our generator for a couple of hours.  It was 98* inside so we needed to run two ACs to get it down to 80*.  Our MH has three units.  We chose Camping World because it was fairly close to our original route.  Since we were going to stay at our next stop for more than a week, it didn’t bother us too much that it was going to take a while for the new AC unit to arrive.  We wish they had been more careful with their ladder and not scratched our MH but they fixed it.  We’ll see how the installation goes on Monday (June 22).

 

Camping World work bays

Shadrack Campground, Bristol, TN

Date of Stay:  Monday June 8 – Thursday June 11, 2015 (3 nights)

Rate:  $20/night (PPA discount)

Website:  Shadrack Campground
   2537 Volunteer Parkway
   Bristol, TN 37620
   423-217-1181

Description:  The entry is a bit of a hill but the sites are all level gravel.  We were on site 181 (FHU 50A) next to D&T.  Since this wasn’t race weekend, we were almost alone and enjoyed the PPA discount.  A space was left between our rigs.  The place was well maintained and a little creek/river bordered the park.  They have several nice rental travel trailers set up.  Also a mix of W/E along with many tent sites by the creek.  Nice place but I wouldn’t want to be here, or anywhere near Bristol, when there is a car race.

Trash and Recycle:  There is a dumpster near the exit but no sign of recycle.

Activities:  We stayed here because it is close to the Virginia Creeper Trail which is a wonderful Rail Trail in the mountains of Virginia.  It has been on Tricia’s radar for quite a while.  Our front air conditioner died so Gin had a mobile tech look at it.  He said it needed replacing and didn’t charge us anything since he was already in the park.  The surgery that Gin had on her knee this past winter didn’t help her much at all so she didn’t join us for a 17 mile (mostly downhill) bike ride.  I joined D&T and rented a bike at Shuttle Shack in Damascus.  It was certainly worth the price since we knew that they checked their brakes often.  We got shuttled to the highpoint at Whitetop Station and rode the trail through woods, pastures and rock outcroppings along a creek crossing it several times on trestle bridges.  The next day, we all relaxed at camp next to the creek while Dan smoked some delicious chicken thighs.  Yum!

 

On site 181 with T&D on site 179

 

Whitetop Station                                        Green Cove Station

 

Dan and Tricia on the Virginia Creeper Trail

 

We loved stopping on the trestles

 

There were many Christmas tree farms in the area

  

Inside the Green Cove Station

 

Rock outcropping along the trail             Creeper Trail Café has good ice cream

 

Taking a break in Whitetop Laurel Creek

 

Love a trail next to a mountain stream!

 

Love the trestle bridges over the Whitetop Laurel Creek