What We Did On Our Summer Vacation

I have been a bit lax in the maintenance of this journal for the last many months.  Faithful readers may think that Dorcas and I drove our motor home off the edge of the world and disappeared forever.  But no, we are both alive and well!

We departed from our winter home in Titusville FL and arrived home in Winston Salem on April 22.  In the following weeks one or the other of us had a doctor's appointment about every other day.  We maintain a busy travel schedule, but we try to be home for a month or two in the spring and the fall, when North Carolina is at its finest.  So that's when we schedule all our doctor's visits.  Heaven help us if one of our doctors has a sick day or otherwise takes a day off, and we have to reschedule!

In June we took the coach down east for a 2-week trip.  Our first event was the Newmar Kountry Klub (NKK) Carolinas State Rally in Fayetteville.  We stayed at the Fayetteville RV Resort & Cottages just north of town right off I-95.  I don't often mention this, but I was born in Fayetteville.

Our camp at Fayetteville RV Resort & Cottages

While at the rally we visited the US Army Airborne and Special Operations Museum.

I love my folding bikes!

We lunched one day at Gaston Brewing Company, where I found a very interesting and unique plumbing fixture.

Recycling at its finest: returning fluids to their source

On another day we visited the Cape Fear Botanical Garden where we enjoyed a private guided tour.

Our next stop was at Sycamore Lodge in Jackson Springs for 5 nights.  Sycamore Lodge is a membership camping and cabin resort associated with Travel Resorts of America (TRA).  We had a coupon for 3 nights free camping, and we acquired 2 more nights relatively cheaply.  After attending a very low-pressure sales presentation, we were presented with a coupon for 3 more weeks of free camping at any other TRA resort.  (Spoiler alert: We didn't buy the membership.)  There are 3 such resorts in Minnesota, so hopefully we can use at least one of these coupons when we head north in the fall.  

Sycamore Lodge: A Resort With a History. The Loverings, a Boston family, purchased the property, that would become the Sycamore Lodge, in the early 1900s.

They planted trees along Sycamore Lane, hence the name of the estate.  The Loverings planned to grow Peach Trees here, but the sandy soil in this section of North Carolina doesn't support this type of tree. Undeterred, the Loverings decided to farm trees.  Pine, Sycamore, Dogwood, Oak and Magnolia Trees were planted on the property.

The first building on the property was a barn with living quarters on the second floor. It is now the the Registration Building & General Store.

The 6000 SF lodge was built around 1905

On one day we paddled with the Lumber River Canoe Club on a nearby section of the Lumber River.

Our final leg of this trip was for a campout and gathering at the Little Pee Dee State Park near Dillon SC with the Lumber River Canoe Club.  Here we paddled, biked and told tall tales and lies around the campfire with old friends and new friends.

At Little Pee Dee State Park, while riding my RAD Power Bike I stumbled upon a Rivian Adventure Network (RAN) charger.  Go figure! Rivian is placing chargers specifically at trial heads, parks and other places to facilitate the outdoor enthusiast.

My RAD by the RAN

In July we attended another NKK rally, the Mayberry Rally in Mt. Airy.    CLICK HERE to see the video.

Dorcas, Andy and Opie

This guy brought 2 Lamas in the back of his mini van.  Then he went back to the farm and brought 3 more.  Check out the video to watch lamas exiting the mini van.

Aerial view of Mayberry Campground

In the meantime we have been doing home chores and other local activities. I have been playing pickleball regularly and Dorcas goes to yoga at the Robinhood YMCA almost every day.  

Exciting news!!! Three local public parks have opened dedicated pickleball courts: Joanie Moser Memorial Park, Oak Summit Park and Sedge Garden Park.  All of a sudden: so many courts, so little time! 

The City of Winston Salem converted 2 existing tennis courts to 6 dedicated pickleball courts at Oak Summit Park.  They left one tennis court to placate the other riffraff .

Oak Summit Park

The City of Winston Salem converted existing tennis courts to 10 dedicated pickleball courts at Sedge Garden Park.  CLICK HERE to see a short video clip of the new courts at Sedge Garden Park.

Sedge Garden Park

The two Winston Salem city parks described above opened quietly and with little fanfare.  For several years we had been playing pickleball at Joanie Moser Memorial Park, which is a Forsyth County Park, on tennis courts using portable nets. On August 18 there was a major ribbon cutting ceremony at Joanie Moser Memorial Park for nine new dedicated pickleball courts.  County Commissioners, county park staff, the general contractor and members of our Winston Salem Pickleball club made remarks, which altogether lasted way too long ... and then we played PICKLEBALL!!!!  I'm proud to say I won the 1st 3 games I played at the new Joanie Moser Park.  And of course I launched the drone and made a video. CLICK HERE to view the video.

Joanie Moser Memorial Park

Two more Winston Salem city parks are scheduled to convert tennis courts to pickleball courts.  One is Old Town Park, only 11/2 miles from my house, where we will have 8 new dedicated courts. 

In other news, we have finally "cut the cord", so to speak, and disconnected our Spectrum cable TV/internet service, and have begun streaming.  We picked up a T-Mobile 5G Gateway router that provides pretty fair cellular internet service, generally 50-100 Mbps, which has proved to be adequate for our internet and TV streaming needs.  Additionally I installed a TV antenna on the roof, and we get all our local programming over-the-air.  I bought a Tablo device which is a DVR with a local programming guide for over-the-air TV viewing. We have subsequently subscribed to a number of streaming app services: Netflix, Prime Video, AppleTV, Paramount+, all at no cost.  By dropping Spectrum and going to T-Mobile the sum of our monthly bill for cable and cellular services has dropped from ~$330/mo to $130 mo, but with enhanced service.  Best of all, we can take our T-Mobile router with us on trips.  The T-Mobile plan has unlimited data usage, while previously we had been limited to about 5gb/mo by Spectrum Mobile using the personal hot spots on our iPhones when traveling.

Miscellaneous Videos

In September 2022 we attended the Pisgah Forest Waterfalls rally hosted by the Southeast Country Coachers, in Pisgah Forest NC.
Click HERE to view the video of that rally

 In December 2022 we attended The "Holly Jolly" rally in Punta Gorda FL with the NKK Fulltimers chapter, of which we are members.  One excursion was a sunset cruise through the canals of Punta Gorda to see the Christmas decorations.  Hurricane Ian, a category 5 storm, devastated this area in late September, only about 10 weeks before.
Click HERE to view the sunset cruise video 

In mid January 2023 we attended a rally hosted by Country Coach International at Camp Margaritaville.  One highlight of the rally was a concert by a top Beatles tribute band.
Click HERE to view the rally video 

Later in January 2023 we paddled on the Silver River at Silver Springs State Park.
Click HERE to view a few short video clips of cool wildlife.

And then there's always PICKLBALL!
Click HERE to view the TGO Pickleball Challenge February 11, 2023
Click HERE to view the Winston Salem Pickleball Club MLP tournament held May 20, 2023

Leaving Ely

Ely likely has more open canoes per capita than any other town in the world. Canoe Heaven!

Downtown Ely

Kawishiwi Ranger Station Superior National Forest

Zup's has moved!   When we first drove into Ely we saw that Zup's was boarded up. CRAP!!!  We have been buying groceries for the wilderness at Zup's for 25 years.  We were relieved when we learned that Zup's had opened a new, larger store 12 blocks east of their old location

Zup’s is a family-owned food store originally established in Ely in 1916 by John Zupancich. “Grandpa John” operated the business with his seven sons, and it quickly became popular for its wide variety of products including their store made Old-World sausages. 

The new Zup's includes a liquor warehouse. Can it get any better???

We like to eat at Stony Ridge Cafe, located on Shagawa Lake in Ely.  Their specialty is gourmet and stuffed burgers.  

On their menu they feature some challenge items, including the "Sasquatch Challenge". It occurred to me that it might be a good idea to order the Sasquatch Challenge, but not even try to eat it at one tine.  A 4-pound burger with one pound of cheese for 40 bucks is not a bad deal, especially considering their menu item burgers are only about 1/2 pound and cost over $20.  Plus we'd have leftover burgers for week!  And you get a free number sticker!  What a deal!

We departed Ely about 8:30 on Friday under rainy skies and cool temps.  We regretted having to leave Ely, but it was time. We had 3 nights to get to Pisgah Forest NC, where we were to attend a motor home rally with the Southeast Country Coachers. We successfully circumvented the major construction project on I-35 in Duluth and crossed into Wisconsin.  Rain continued most of the day.  

We spent Friday night at the Ho-Chunk Casino in Baraboo Wisconsin near the Wisconsin Dells.  Casinos often let motor homes park overnight for no charge.  Usually they are very quiet and peaceful, with a level of high security. We stayed at this casino once before in 2018.

Our Camp at the Ho-Chunk Casino in Baraboo WI

At the Illinois Welcome Center I-39 southbound

I have the hots for an EV pickup. I have deposits on two models including the Rivian R1T.   The Rivian manufacturing plant is located in Normal Illinois, only a few miles off our route.  I called to ask about plant tours, but it was Saturday, and the phone message said they were closed.  I wanted to stop anyway just to see what there was to see.  It turns out, the assembly line was running and production was in progress, but I never made it past the security guard at the front desk.  We did get some nice exterior photos. 

Amazon has invested heavily in Rivian.  In addition to the R1T, their pickup and the R1S, their SUV, Rivian has an assembly line for Amazon EV delivery vans.  

There was a row of  charging ports near the front entrance to the plant.  There were about 6 privately owned R1Ts lined up charging. 

We had no specific destination spotted for Saturday night.  Dorcas went online and discovered Charlarose Lake & Campground in Hillsboro IN.  It was close to our route and was a very reasonable cost.

When we checked in the folks here were extremely friendly and genuinely welcoming.  This park was a very pleasant surprise, and I hope we can stop in again some time.

A stormy evening at site 56 at Charlarose Lake & CG

I don't know what this was supposed to be, but these two vehicles had artifacts and items and other paraphernalia all over them. I can only assume that they were traveling together.  Trying to see all the things on the cars was very distracting and probably dangerous.

We spent Sunday, our third night from Ely at the Walmart Supercenter in Williamsburg KY, located in Whitley County, of all places.  About 1/2 hour prior to reaching camp we encountered one of the most intense thunderstorms I can ever remember while driving. I'm talking 25 MPH on the interstate, hoping we were on the road and that nobody plowed into us.  

Camp Wally World Williamsburg KY

As mentioned previously, I'll be getting an EV pickup, as soon as my number comes up.  Friends and neighbors have chided me about that decision, specifically noting the lack of available charging stations. There is no doubt that charging an EV, particularly on a long trip can be a challenge, but things are improving.  At this remote rural Walmart there happened to be a bank of 8 charging stations in their parking lot, ranging from 50 to 350 kW charging capacity.

This rig was parked next to us.  The driver has a good sense of humor

For breakfast on Monday we walked about 100 yards to the Huddle House next door to the Walmart.  We had yummy omelets, then pulled out and headed south and east once more.  Our destination today was Pisgah Forest NC for a 5-night motor home rally with the Southeast Country Coachers.

Video of the Week: Ginger Does the Boundary Waters

I just couldn't help myself.  She's so cute, and everything was new to her, and she just had so much energy  It's hard to see in the video, but in several clips she's chewing on a fresh-water mussel she fished out of the lake.  In another she is harassing a rather large bug. And of course her favorite toy: the orange squeaky bone. 

After performing for the video Ginger said "Being a star is such hard work" and crashed.  

CLICK HERE to enjoy "Ginger Does the Boundary Waters"