2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 173

Day 174, Friday, April 10, 2026 - Greenbriar State Park, Boonsboro, MD - 68 Miles, 7,280.2 Miles for the Trip.

44°F overnight, 54°F for my morning walk, 60°F at noon on the road, and the high for the day was 71°F.

I waited as long as possible since I only had 68 miles to drive to Greenbriar State Park. I left the site at 11:00, and stopped at the air station next to the cabins. Set all the tires at 51PSI although they went up to 56PSI or so on the drive. I arrived at the park around 12:30, checked in and headed to my site. I'm in site 69, an electric only back in site on fine gravel. I needed 1 1/2" side to side & 1" drop on the tongue to level. $31.25 per night for 3 nights. The bathroom is a long walk if you follow the road, but there is a path that makes a shortcut starting from a few sites up the road.

Site 69

After setting up I headed to the nearest grocery store, a Weis about 7 miles from the campground. Fairly narrow 30 & 25 MPH roads for most of the trip. I got gas at Weis for $3.89 per gallon.

Back at the trailer i started today's journal, then sat outside enjoying the warmer weather. I finished he Shadows of London by Nick Jones and started #3 in the series, The Observer Effect.

Dinner was an Amy's Chile Relleno Bowl.

Until Next Time - 

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 173

Day 173, Thursday, April 9, 2026 - Cherry Hill Park, College Park, MD, Day 4 - 0 Miles, 7,212.2 Miles for the Trip.

34°F overnight, 39°F for my morning walk, 49°F at noon on the road, and the high for the day was 57°F.

Another cool morning for my walk, but the skies cleared so even though it is only 57°F on my outside thermometer, it feels warm. Karin came over and we chatted for the morning, then she headed out to pick up Asher from school. I did some reading after that - current book is The Shadows of London by Nick Jones, # 2 in the Joseph Bridgeman series. Libby notified me that a long awaited audio book Black House by Stephen King & Peter Straub was available, so I will start that on my drive to Greenbriar State Park tomorrow.

Here is a photo of us taken at the park after our miniature golf game:

Brian, Noah, Me & Karin

Around 2:00 I headed to Karin's. Hardly any traffic on the way. We worked on a jigsaw puzzle for much of the afternoon, then had dinner from a Salvadoran restaurant. I had shrimp tacos. They were OK, but quite a bit different from the Mexican or American ones I've had.

After that Noah opened the card & birthday presents I sent; Noah's birthday is actually Saturday but I'll be gone by then.

Asher & Noah

Karin Checking out the 2000 Piece Puzzle

After that I headed back to the trailer. Much busier at 6:00 than it was at 2:00. We even came to a stop a couple of times on 495.

Dinner was the shrimp tacos at Karin's.

Until Next Time - 

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 172

Day 172, Wednesday, April 8, 2026 - Cherry Hill Park, College Park, MD, Day 3 - 0 Miles, 7,212.2 Miles for the Trip.

33°F overnight, 38°F for my morning walk, 49°F at noon on the road, and the high for the day was 60°F.

Another cool night. After breakfast I called Karin & we will wait until around noon for a trip to Brookside Park, hoping it warms up a bit. It did and while we were still wearing jackets, walking around the gardens was nice. I took lots of photos:

More photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

We left around 2:00 & they dropped me off at Cherry Hill. Karin had meetings & a doctor appointment so I'm back at the trailer for the day. On the way back from Visitor's parking I stopped in the office and made my reservations for next spring's visit.

By the way, Cherry Hill Park does meet my definition of a Resort. Here is a photo outside the office:

I tried sitting outside, but the sun was too bright to make reading on the iPhone possible, so I moved back inside. 

Around 3:30 I headed Building #3 for a shower. 5 shower stalls, one disabled. Fair sized drying area & shower. A bench & 5 hooks in the drying area, a shelf in the shower & a small shelf in between the shower & drying area. A 4" lip between the shower & drying area, a medium flow shower head with plenty of adjustable hot water. Overall, an A. Minor complaint - the lights went off while I was drying. If it had been night, I'd need a flashlight to find my shampoo & soap dish, etc because it shut off all the lights in the men's side of the building. They came on when I exited the drying area, but waving my hand over the door didn't work. 

Since I had ham left over from Easter, rather than my usual grilled cheese & peanut butter sandwich (an old Vermilye favorite) dinner was a grilled ham & cheese sandwich & creamed spinach.

Until Next Time - 

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 171

Day 171, Tuesday, April 7, 2026 - Cherry Hill Park, College Park, MD, Day 2 - 0 Miles, 7,212.2 Miles for the Trip.

44°F overnight, 47°F for my morning walk, 55°F at noon on the road, and the high for the day was 61°F.

While one of the nice things about Cherry Hill Park is it is only 4 1/2 miles from Karin's (a 25 minute drive on a good day) it has a lot of traffic noise from near by interstates & loops. It dies down late at night, but in some sites is loud enough during the day that talking outside is difficult. Site 1401 is about as far as you can get from the noise and is reasonably close to one of the bathroom buildings (#3) but a long walk to the Cafe. 

I finished listening to The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and started The Devil Aspect by Craig Russell. I'm reading And Then She Vanished by Nick Jones using the Libby app on my phone; it isn't available as a Kindle book. I booked a couple of campgrounds for my trip next winter. Only 2 more to go. So far I've been able to get the dates & sites I wanted. I was a little worried about the Florida State Park I wanted (3 Rivers) because Florida residents can book two months before non residents. Today was the first day I could book & most of the park was empty.

A little cool to sit outside - it is 50°F at 11:00AM. 

Around 11:00 Karin stopped by. A friend and former Oswego Technical Director Ken stopped by a little after 1:00. We sat in the trailer and chatted until 3:00 or so, then I drove to Karin's house. Typical busy roads, but traffic didn't come to a stop until I got close to the turn off for Carroll Ave

I left a little before 5:00 and headed back to the trailer. Again heavy traffic, but not as bad as it was on the way. 

Dinner was a Healthy Choice Pineapple Chicken Bowl.

Until Next Time - 

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 170

Day 170, Monday, April 6, 2026 - Cherry Hill Park, College Park, MD - 216.2 Miles, 7,212.2 Miles for the Trip.

34°F overnight, 45°F for my morning walk, 5t4°F at noon on the road, and the high for the day was 66°F.

An interesting start to the trip to Cherry Hill. First, it was hand numbing cold hooking up the chains, etc. When I finally hit the road at 10:00 I noticed that there was a Loves & a Pilot at the entrance to I 81. Since I prefer Loves, I drove by Pilot Drive, then, following my GPS for directions to Loves went on a 20 mile drive through some of the narrowest paved roads of the trip. Lots of cows, farms and, thankfully, little traffic. At the end I discovered that Loves is on Pilot Drive. Anyhow, I got gas for $3.69 per gallon.

Traffic was good until I hit the DC area where it was its usual stop & go, although better than many of my visits; we never stopped for more than a couple of seconds. I made it to the park around 2:30. I'm in sit 1401, a full hook up back in site on fine gravel with a fire ring & picnic table. I needed 1" side to side & the tongue was level although I unhooked anyway since I expect to use the truck over the next 4 days. $103.00 per night. The most expensive of the trip, but close to Brain & Karin and the grandkids. 

Site 1401

Karin, Brian & Noah came over & we played a round of miniature golf, then went to the cafe for dinner. I had a grilled chicken sandwich.

Until Next Time -