North to Newfoundland!!!

"Travel is fatal to prejudice"     Innocents Abroad   Mark Twain

The third time's a charm, right?  The Newmar Kountry Klub, the owner's club for Newmar Corporation, the maker of our Dutch Star, offers a lot of really nice events, rallies and caravans.  We have been on quite a few of their offerings during the 5 1/2 years of our Dutch Star ownership.  One such recurring event is a caravan to the Canadian Maritimes including Newfoundland.  We initially signed up for this event for 2021, but that trip was ultimately canceled due to the COVID pandemic and concerns about crossing the border.  We signed up again for 2022, but ultimately bowed out before the cancelation deadline due to health concerns, both Matilda's and mine.  Matilda's health had declined significantly starting about November 2021.  She ended up passing during the time we would have been on the trip.  Also, my left knee was failing, and I was experiencing significant mobility issues, leading to a total replacement in May 2022, about the time we would have departed on the trip.  In retrospect it was a good thing we didn't go on the 2022 trip; the trip leader had some mechanical issues, with his coach, and had to leave the caravan.  Apparently, the trip went downhill from there.

So here we go, on our third attempt to attend this caravan.  We arrived home from Florida on April 27, with the first of about a dozen doctor’s appointments over the next 2 weeks. Plus, we had a number of home and coach chores to perform, and research to do on crossing the border into Canada.  The rules can change almost daily.  Suffice to say we have been very busy.  

Pickleball friends Dave and Robyn from TGO dropped in and we played a few games

My tool shed had been crushed by a red oak during Hurricane Debby last August while we were traveling in Colorado  My insurance company totaled the shed and bought me a new one.  In October I moved the old shed about 75' and rebuilt it, making it about 5 feet shorter.  Now Dorcas has a she-shed.

So sad!

I built a ramp for the relocated and rebuilt damaged tool shed

Ready to go!!!

Ultimately, we departed Winston Salem on Thursday May 15. We weren't finished with all our chores, far from it, but we had "A long way to go and a short time to get there" (quote from "East Bound and Down" by Jerry Reed from "Smokey and the Bandit".  The caravan officially starts on May 24 (we will arrive on May 23 for a pre-rally event) in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, a distance of 1180 miles from home.  We finally hit the road at the crack of noon and headed north on US 52, I-77 and I-81.  

Whenever we head north, we pass Pilot Mountain a NC state park, about 15 miles north of our home. It is an old friend.

After an easy driving day of 254 miles, we arrived at Endless Caverns RV Resort, just off I-81 in the Shenandoah Valley near New Market VA. We stayed here once before in July 2022 on our way to Maryland and West Virginia.  The campground is built on the side of a mountain with fairly steep roads, but with very level and nicely terraced camp sites.

Giraffe's eye view of Site E62

Bird's eye view of Site E62

The campground was far from full

When we stayed here in 2022 we stayed just one night and did not do a cavern tour.  On this trip we stayed 2 nights and went down into the caverns.  The tour was about a mile long and lasted about 1 3/4 hours.

Tours can accommodate up to 30 tourists.  On our tour there were only 4.  It was a lot like a private tour.

In the afternoon, after our cave tour, we visited Virginia Museum of the Civil War operated by the Virginia Military Institute.  The museum is located on the site of the Battle of New Market, which occurred on May 15, 1864.  From Wikipedia: 

"The battle is primarily remembered today for being the only time in American history a school's student body was used as an organized combat unit. During the battle Confederate general John C. Breckinridge ordered cadets from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), averaging 18 years of age but with several child soldiers no older than 15, to join an attack on the Union lines. The event is central to the Institute's history and heritage."

"Of the 247 VMI cadets at the battle, there were 60 casualties (around 24%), with five cadets killed in action, five more dying later of wounds received, and 50 others wounded in action but surviving. Eight VMI staff also accompanied the cadets and the Commandant, Scott Shipp, was wounded in action as well."

We visited on a Friday and volunteers were preparing for an anniversary event to occur over the weekend.  These tents were staffed by the Society of Civil War Surgeons.  While talking to one of these volunteers, we mentioned that we would be in Newfoundland in a few weeks.  This volunteer told us he had been flying on 9/11 and his flight had been diverted to Gander, Newfoundland. When the U.S. closed its airspace after the September 11 attacks, Gander International Airport took in 38 commercial aircraft and four military aircraft, and accommodated nearly 6,700 evacuees.  This event is chronicled in the book "The Day the World Came to Town" by Jim DeFede.  We will be visiting Gander in about 4 weeks.   I have the book and hope to read it by the time we arrive there.

 

The battle occurred on the Bushong farm.

The Bushong house was used as a field hospital

Most of this afternoon the weather was threatening and there were very high winds.  The Society of Civil War Surgeons' tents and exhibits were blowing over.  Consequently we did not risk a long walking tour of the battlefield.  So we headed back to camp and prepared to shove off the next morning.

We really did like this campground, but we might not ever return.  We had a bit of a disagreement with the management over our bill.  None of their statements specifically stated the nightly rate of our stay, and when we questioned the management, we could not get a straight answer about the charges.  They claimed they used "dynamic pricing" which apparently meant they charged as much as they thought they could get away with before the customer revolted.  Our charges were higher than expected based on our initial deposit and our initial understanding of the rates.  After several long debates with management we did get a modest credit, but I'm still not convinced it was right.  I think they just gave up to make us go away.

On the other hand, they did have pretty nice pickleball courts ...