2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 167

Day 167, Friday, April 4, 2025, Smith Mountain Lake State Park, Huddleston, VA, Day 5 - 0 Miles, 4,732 Miles for the Trip

Even warmer than last night - it stayed in the 70's throughout most of the night, hitting a low of 67°F at 8:00AM. I'm daring the weather by changing to shorts. It is suppose to hit the high 80's today. While rain wasn't predicted on my weather app as of yesterday, it shows a 30% chance today. I'd say 100% - it started a short period of heavy rain around 8:30AM, but the sun was out 20 minutes later. Now (at 1:30) it is cloudy with short bursts of very light rain and 73°F. 

I did the dishes. At home I do them after each meal, but since I (at least in the past) spent most of my time dry camping my habit when in the trailer is wipe down my knives, spoons & forks (and use paper plates & plastic cups), toss them in a tray I keep in the sink, and wait until I run out of silverware. I wash the entire load at once. That saves water & avoids short runs of making hot water using propane in the water heater. Of course when I have hookups my water is heated by electricity and I could do as I do at home, but I'm still in the dry camping mode. It does save space in the gray tank.

After lunch I stayed in the trailer to avoid the light rain and am reading Journey by James A. Michener. An interesting semi biographical novel about crossing Canada to get to the Klondike Gold Fields in the late 1800's. 

I did get outside for a bit, but while it is 74°F and a few breaks of sun, it is mostly cloudy and my weather app keeps warning of approaching rain. Around 3:30 I folded up my chair, headed inside and listened to the tail end of Science Friday. The latest rain started 5 minutes after I moved in. At lest the rain will wash some of the tree pollen away. My white truck has become a yellow one, and my grill is covered. While I have managed to be allergy free most of my life, over the last few years Spring has given me itching eyes & a watery nose. Not sure which pollen is doing it, but the timing suggests pine trees.

Dinner was a Healthy Choice Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo with Broccoli Cafe Steamer bowl.

Until Next Time -

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 166

Day 166, Thursday, April 3, 2025, Smith Mountain Lake State Park, Huddleston, VA, Day 4 - 0 Miles, 4,732 Miles for the Trip

A warm night at 55°F. A short burst of light rain around 3:00AM, but just cloudy this morning. 

A quiet day mostly spent outside reading. Same books as yesterday. Around 3:00 I headed for a shower. 4 individual shower rooms, 2 that are designed for the disabled. The two smaller ones were in use, so I used the disabled shower without a hand shower head. A large drying area with a movable stool/bench, and 4 double hooks well out of the way of the shower. The shower head is perpendicular to the drying area, but no shower curtain & the same level floor. A 3" fine spray shower head with lots of pressure (just short of needle like) and plenty of adjustable temperature hot water. 2 shelves in the shower area and a permanent bench opposite the shower head. While the drying area is large enough that the shower spray doesn't cover the floor, it gets wet anyway because there is little ventilation in the room. It quickly steams up the room and the cold walls & floor condense it making everything wet. Still a solid B overall.

Around 4:45 I headed to Alessandro's for their Thursday special, Chicken Marsala. Far more than I usually eat. The salad & Marsala was good but the garlic bread served with it was not impressive - Italian bread buttered toast sprinkled with garlic powder.

Since it was still in the 70's when I got back I sat outside and read until 6:30, then headed in to do my eye drops and post my journal.

Until Next Time -

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 165

Day 165, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, Smith Mountain Lake State Park, Huddleston, VA, Day 3 - 0 Miles, 4,732 Miles for the Trip

Another cool morning; 49°F for my morning walk. I wore my photo vest rather than the quilted jacket, but with a long sleeved shirt. OK for a walk, but I wouldn't want to sit outside wearing that. During my walk I saw folks in shorts & "T" shirts sitting around drinking coffee outside so it is just me. 

By the way, if there is a campfire ban it isn't being followed - there were fires in about 1/3rd of the campsites last night.

I'm sitting inside reading this morning. Still 49°F at 10:30AM and cloudy. At least there is little or no wind.

Around 2:00 I headed to the nearest Kroger's, about 17 miles away. A long wait for construction on White House Road & for some reason my phone number didn't work at the store. It worked at all the other Kroger's I shopped at so I dug out my phone & used my CardStar app which has all my store cards on it. That worked fine and saved me $20.00. A short wait for the construction on the way back. 

After putting the food away I did more reading. Still too cool at 53°F to comfortably sit outside. I finished Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty and started a non Kindle library book - Ace Atkins' Dead End Street. I usually try to avoid reading a book & listening to an audio book (currently listening to Slow Burn by Ace Atkins (a continuation of the Robert B. Parker Spenser series)) by the same author, let alone the same genre, but in this case they are different enough that it might work.

Since it was a cool day I decided to fire up the trailer oven & bake. So, dinner was a Boston Market Chicken Pot Pie.

Until Next Time -

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 164

Day 164, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, Smith Mountain Lake State Park, Huddleston, VA, Day 2 - 0 Miles, 4,732 Miles for the Trip

Last night's storm wasn't. A bit of rain off & on, but by the time the front reached us, no lightning or thunder. I will add that as much as I like most Impossible Foods meals, the Chicken Enchilada Bowl is a bit too spicy for me. 

47°F at 8:00AM. Our host left this morning. According to the rules we can no longer have campfires after midnight (they are only allowed between 4:00PM & midnight) since the campground is hostless. I don't ever remember being in a campground where a campfire was still going after midnight, but I guess folks having a party might have one. Then again, there is a state wide burn ban between February 15 and April 30th.  Glad I don't like to have a campfire.

Lots of other folks left this morning. It was still only 47°F during my morning walk, back to the quilted jacket but at least no gloves. The campground is a circle with the bathrooms located on a cross road in the middle. A very nice design, however the walk is a workout since the entire loop is built into the side of a hill, much like Fort Yargo State Park; the only flat parts of the park are the campsites.

After breakfast I read some forums & journals, then downloaded a new audio book. I finished Michael Connelly's The Crossing, and downloaded Slow Burn by Ace Atkins (a continuation of the Robert B. Parker Spenser series). On the Kindle I'm still reading Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty. 

Still only 52°F outside at noon so I'm still reading inside the trailer. Around 1:00 a large class A pulled into the host site so we now have one.

While it did finally warm up to 65°F, I never got outside. I decided to hit the local restaurant for dinner.

Dinner was a plate (3) Alaskan Shrimp Tacos at Alessandro's. Not sure what was Alaskan about them, but they were OK. Total with a sweet tea was $21.37 plus tip.

Until Next Time -