Patapsco Valley State Park Trip, Day 8

 

Does This Look Familiar? (Binghamton, NY)

Binghamton, NY, July 31, 2021,  163.3 Miles, 674.6 Miles For the Trip

We left Jonestown around 11:30 with an uneventful drive north on I 81.  Anne & Guido unpacked what was necessary from their trailer.  Since we are heading to Selkirk State Park next Thursday, much can be left in the trailer.  I'll do the same tomorrow.  

I do have a project - a machine screw holding the inside end of my rear passenger side stabilizer jack seems to have bit the dust.  It was difficult to get the crank on the bolt end to raise it when packing up at Patapsco.  I bungie corded it to the sewer storage pipe & will climb under the trailer to fix it when I get home.

Dinner will be Bubba Burgers, Bush beans and Brussels sprouts.

Patapsco Valley State Park Trip, Day 7

Jonestown KOA, Jonestown, PA, Friday, July 30, 2021, 114 miles, 511.3 Miles For the Trip

Site 14

Site 13

Since we didn't have all that far to go, we took our time getting out of the park.  1:00 was the check out time; we left around 12:00.  We did our best to stay off interstates, at least after we got out of the Baltimore area and pulled into the Jonestown KOA around 4:00.  

We had tried to reserve a "Buddy" site, but none were available.  The person taking the reservations told us that they could put us next to each other as long as we could deal with back in sites.  No problem, at least during the reservation.  When we arrived, they put Anne & Guido in site 14, and me in site 77, sites about as far apart as possible & be in the campground.  I went to the desk & asked if we could be put together. They were very accommodating & moved me to site 14, a very tight site for my 21, but I'm in. 

Both sites are full hookup on gravel, fairly level, enough that I didn't need to unhook.  $53.10 with the KOA membership discount. 

We spent the rests of the afternoon reading & drying out Guido's Clam.  Anne put together her Shrimp Scampi for dinner, which was as delicious as usual.

Patapsco Valley State Park Trip, Day 6

Anne, Guido, Jon, Karin, Zoe, V and Brian

 

Patapsco Valley State Park, Thursday, July 29, 2021

An interesting day.  It started with a visit of Karin, Brian & the granddaughters.  We sat around talking, taking some photos, and general goofing off.  To avoid confusion, Valerie is now V.

Anne, Guido, Karin, Zoe, V, and Brian

V, Zoe, Jon

Karin & Brian

Guido, Karin, Brian, Zoe, V

Brian & V

Jon & Karin

They stayed until it was time to head out to deliver V to Theatre Camp.  We sat around a bit more, then Anne's cousin Bill & wife Deidre stopped by for some blueberry pie.  While finishing up the pie & ice cream the weather warning alert went off letting us know a tornado was on its way.  Bill & Deidre headed out & we sat in out vehicles watching lots of thunder & lightning, very heavy rain, but no wind.  The weather radar showed the warning area passing south of us.

Dinner will be a cheese brat & fruit.

Patapsco Valley State Park Trip, Day 5

  

Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge

Patapsco Valley State Park & Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge, Wednesday, July 28, 2021

We drove to the Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge to meet Karin, Valerie & Zoe, my daughter & granddaughters.  They will be visiting the park tomorrow, and today we decided to meet half way between the park and their house.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

The Butterfly Cycle

Canada Goose

Egret?

Karin, Zoe & Valerie

Egret?

Water Lily

Water Lily

Zoe

Karin, Zoe, Jon

There is a Visitor Center that had a number of displays, and a very informative desk attendant that handed out maps, etc.  The girls enjoyed a live display of the various stages between eggs to butterfly, although no butterflies were ready today.  Sorry for the order of the photos, but for what ever reason, Google isn't letting me change them.

We took a short hike around a pond, and Karin & all headed off to summer camp drop offs.

After that we stopped at Anne's cousin's, then all headed to lunch.  I had one of the specials - A chicken fried steak sandwich, very different from most - it included a fried egg, chorizo sausage, cheese and fried onions.  While it sounds a bit overdone, it was actually pretty good!

After that we went back to Bill & Deidre's to relax, then headed back to the campground.  No dinner, all of us were still full from lunch.  I did bake a blueberry pie to share with Karin & family tomorrow.  Glad to have the air conditioning.  While the oven does add lots of heat to the trailer, the AC can handle it.

Fresh Out of the Oven

Patapsco Valley State Park Trip, Day 4

 Patapsco Valley State Park, Tuesday, July 27, Day 2, 0 miles, 397.3 Miles For the Trip

A quiet, but hot day.  At least the humidity broke.  Rather than 95% it is down to 90%  in my outside thermometer sensor (which is in my ladder storage 5" fencepost under the trailer).  That position usually lags behind with humidity changes, so I suspect it was actually lower.

Anne & Guido went to the store to buy "stuff" including a 20" fan to put inside the Clam.  Clams are great for keeping down the bugs, but the "no see em" mesh doesn't let any breeze through.  The fan went in the middle, aimed up and the curve of the top forced the wind down the sides, making it a bit more comfortable. 

Anne's cousin and wife stoped by & we spent the day chatting with them.  Not much else happened.  We did get to see the disadvantage of a large RV.  A 40' or so class A pulled into the site across from the Guido's.  There was no way he could make the turn to back in, and got hung up on my site marker.  We got that around his steps, and Guido moved his van so he could pull the class A into Guido's site to back into  his site.  That was the excitement for the day!

Dinner was a grilled pork loin & Bush beans.