2026-27 Trip to the Southeast, Day 14

 Day 14, Saturday, October 31 - Day 13 - Lake Norman State Park, Statesville, NC, Day 6, 0 Miles for the Day, 868.3 Miles for the Trip

Happy Halloween! 53°F this morning and about the same for my morning walk. It is definitely going to be cooler than yesterday; only 56°F at 11:00AM. I'm glad I took a shower yesterday evening. Even with yesterday's warm 77°F day it was still cool in the bathroom. The block walls hold the cold from the night, and running ceiling fans don't help. Rather than fight for drops of water coming out of the shower head in the small stalls, I used the disabled shower. Much larger with two benches, one well away from the shower. Two shower heads, one hand held. Both provided a fair amount of spray and plenty of hot water. By the way, the bathrooms are well kept up & clean. I'd rate the disabled shower a B+, the only thing missing is some heat in the room.

During my walk I noticed that while there are still many empty sites, almost all of them are reserved. I'm not sure why the many folks that had reservations starting yesterday haven't showed up, but there are more tenters than there were yesterday.

After breakfast I sat in the trailer and read. 

During the afternoon I took a short hike to Lake Norman, and took a couple of photos:

After that it was back to the trailer & some reading. I sat outside for a bit, then as it cooled down below 65°F (66°F was the high for the day) I moved inside.

Dinner was a chicken Bubba Burger.

2026-27 Trip to the Southeast, Day 13

Day 13, Friday, October 30 - Day 13 - Lake Norman State Park, Statesville, NC, Day 5, 0 Miles for the Day, 868.3 Miles for the Trip

52°F this morning when I got up & 60°F when I went for my walk. While there are many empty dry sites in the campground, most of the full hookup sites as well as most of the cabins are booked for at least the weekend.

I didn't do much other than sit outside & read. It reached 77°F with clear skies. I have some shade in parts of the campsite, so I spent the afternoon moving with it. I finished The Scarred Woman by Jussi Adler-Olsen and started another in the Department Q series, Locked In. I also finished McTiernan's The Murder Rule audio book and started The Specialists by Lawrence Block.

That was about it for the day.

Dinner was a Saffron Road Chicken Tikka Masala bowl.

2026-27 Trip to the Southeast, Day 12

Day 12, Thursday, October 29 - Day 12 - Lake Norman State Park, Statesville, NC, Day 4, 0 Miles for the Day, 868.3 Miles for the Trip

56°F this morning both when I got up & when I went for my walk. Before leaving for my walk I changed the sheets on the bed. While it is easier than it was with my previous trailer, an Escape 17, it is still a project. After that it was off for a loop around the campground. It was nice enough that I sat outside after my walk and listened to more of The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan, my current audio book.

After breakfast I did some internet reading, then packed up the old sheets and the rest of the laundry and headed to the Morresville Coin Laundry. It is listed as the closest to the park; 15 miles & 1/2 hour driving time. There is a Walmart 7 minutes from the laundry. The Morresville Coin Laundry is very clean, has an attendant, and bathrooms. $6.00 to wash in a 4 load front washer & a quarter per 6 minutes to dry. Comfortable chairs & plenty of folding tables and rolling baskets to get from the washers to the dryer and the folding tables. 

After that I headed to Walmart for a few things, then back to the campground in heavy traffic. After putting everything away I sat outside and read until 4:30, did my evening exercises, then made dinner.

Dinner was a Chef Ramsay Chicken Marsala Pasta bowl.

Until Tomorrow -

2026-27 Trip to the Southeast, Day 11

 Day 11, Wednesday, October 28 - Day 11 - Lake Norman State Park, Statesville, NC, Day 3, 0 Miles for the Day, 868.3 Miles for the Trip

51°F this morning both when I got up & when I went for my walk and a high of 72°F. 

After breakfast I did some on line reading, then sat outside reading on the Kindle. I finished Dan Padavona's The Bone Forest, and while there are at least 13 more in the series, I really need a change. I started The Scarred Woman by Jussi Adler-Olsen.

Around 2:00 I decided to make a trip to a grocery store. I checked my GPS and it showed a Publix 5.8 miles away. In this area "as the crow flies" distances mean little. The actual mileage to get there on a road is 18 miles & 30 minutes. There is a Food Lion that looks further away, but road wise it is only 11 miles & 22 minutes away. So, it was off to Food Lion in Troutman. I found everything I was looking for and a bit more. In fact, for the first time I came back to the trailer with more than would fit in the freezer. It was too tempting to find Tillamook Ice Cream. I had an early dinner of a P. F. Chang's Orange Chicken which made just enough room for the ice cream. 

After my early dinner I sat outside and read. While it never got cold enough to want to move inside, at 67°F around 6:00 I headed in.

Until Tomorrow -

2026-27 Trip to the Southeast, Day 10

 Day 10, Tuesday, October 27 - Day 10 - Lake Norman State Park, Statesville, NC, Day 2, 146.9 Miles for the Day, 868.3 Miles for the Trip

Only down to 50°F overnight with a high around 70°F, but still only 50°F when I did my morning walk. I did the loop around the campground that is a little over 1/2 mile. While there are 44 sites in the campground, only 10 have hookups; the rest are dry, some with paved driveways that are too steep for an RV. There are also 6 very nice cabins that have a full size platform as well as a pair of bunk platforms. There are mattresses in the platforms but I don't believe they have bathrooms; I didn't get inside one to check. They do have heat & AC.

A Cabin

A fairly relaxing day. I moved outside when the temperature hit 65°F and read. I finished Lee & Andrew Child's Chain Reaction and went back to the Dan Padavona Wolf Lake series. I'm on #10, The Bone Forest. 

Around 3:00 I headed to the bathroom for a shower, but there was a crew working on a drain backup. They said about 15 minutes but I gave them a little more time and headed back at 3:30. 

A shower report: 3 stalls in the men's bathroom, one disabled. There is also a separate full bathroom. I used the one closest to the toilets in the men's bathroom. A very small dressing area (18" deep) with a bench & 1 double hook. The shower head aimed directly at the drying area although there was a shower curtain between them. I still expected the entire dressing area floor to get wet. Nope! Seems this is the most anemic water flow I've ever encountered. While there is a 3" shower head, only the bottom third spits out a weak dribble of water. It does get hot, but there isn't any spray, just a little water coming out of the bottom of the shower head. I managed to wash & rinse, but it wasn't much fun. At least the dressing area floor stayed dry. Since I'm here for 2 weeks, I hope either of the other showers is better. This one gets a D.

Dinner was a Boston Market Chicken Pot Pie.

Until Tomorrow -