Post #1: Recap, July 19 to August 6, 2022
I realize that it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted on our travel blog (March 2020, pre-Covid). Since my last post, we’ve actually covered quite a bit of ground.
I was hoping to document our current New England trip right from the start, but I’ve managed to find multiple reasons not to do it; fatigue and laziness topping the list. I’ve been trying to keep everyone somewhat up to date with my Facebook posts, but that’s really not a good option because those posts get so long. So, I’m going to give a brief update (covering about three weeks of our trip so far, so probably not “brief” enough) that recaps where we have visited up to now. Going forward, I will try to continue posting via this format (including pictures) every few days as our trip progresses. So, if you want, you can skip this post if you’ve been following us on Facebook.
We left home on July 19, heading for a Harvest Host just outside of Wichita Falls, Texas. On that drive, we saw temperatures on the truck thermometer as high as 116 degrees and it was still 113 when we arrived. It was so hot that the owners actually offered us a bedroom in their house, but we chose to gut it out and run our generator all night to try and keep us cool.
The next day, we traveled to another Harvest Host just outside of Tulsa, OK in Claremore. This was the Will Rogers Museum. That day wasn’t quite as hot (103), but running the generator again worked fairly well. If you’ve never visited this museum, it’s really quite nice. They have a lot of exhibits about his life and many videos showing the impact that he had on the country during his lifetime.
We then did a quick overnight in Sullivan, MO at a campground that had no staff, no real amenities, but did provide full hookups. You reserved your spot online for 14 hours, 18 hours, or full day increments. They unlocked your water, electric, and sewer connections remotely. It wasn’t our original plan for this area, but fine for an overnight and allowed us to run both of our air conditions, which we desperately needed.
After driving to Dale, IN, we stayed at another Harvest Host called Steckler Grassfed Farms. The farm was a family run working farm. The owner had just put in a couple of 50 amp outlets, so we took advantage of the connection and were again able to run our air conditioner. (Are you seeing a pattern here?) They were in the middle of record high temperatures and the connection was welcome. We also purchased a dozen eggs from his free-range chickens. A couple of the eggs were so large that we couldn’t close the egg carton.
From there, we made our way to our first multi-night stop, the Kentucky Horse Park campground in Lexington. This was a very large campground immediately adjacent to the KHP. If you’ve followed my Facebook posts, you’ll know that we took some tours and watched some demonstrations that we found to be pretty informative. We also visited the Camp Nelson National Monument, a very large Federal Civil War encampment, and took a tour at the home of Mary Todd (Lincoln) while staying there. Please check out those Facebook posts from July 23-24 for more detail and some pictures.
After Lexington, we finally got Debbie to one of her other bucket list locations, Babcock State Park in Clifftop, WV. This park was just minute from her main objective, the New River Gorge National Park & Preserve. The New River Gorge area is full of history and quite beautiful. We were there from July 26th until July 29. Once again, please check out our Facebook posts from that timeframe for pictures and details.
On July 29, we once again took advantage of a “free” Harvest Host location, Brix & Columns Vineyards in McGaheysvill, VA. This was a beautiful vineyard located right at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Since we were there on a Saturday night, they had live music and we were able to sit out on the back balcony of the event center there and enjoy some catered food with the music.
Following our brief stay at the Harvest Host in Virginia (see my last post), we moved on July 30 to one of my bucket list areas, Harpers Ferry, WV. We spent several days in the KOA campground there. KOAs are not my favorite type of “campground” but was in a prime location for us to visit several things that were on my to-do list. On our first full day there we drove down to the Manassas National Battlefield Park (location of the first and second Battles of Bull Run for you Yankees) and the Cedar Creek National Historical Park, another Civil War battlefield. From Harpers Ferry, we were also able to visit the Antietam National Battlefield and the Monocacy National Battlefield. We’d never heard of the Battle of Monocacy before but learned that it was a one-day battle that possibly saved a lightly defended Washington, DC from being attacked and/or captured by Confederate General Jubal Early. Some people call it the “Battle That Saved Washington”. And of course, on our last day we again visited the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, where we also climbed the hill to Maryland Heights for an amazing view of the town of Harpers Ferry from about 800 feet above the convergence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, where the town sits. Pictures and details from this stop on our trip to New England were on my Facebook post of Aug 2.
From Harpers Ferry, we moved on August 3 to the Clarksboro, NJ KOA which is just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, PA. Again, this was a good central location for us to visit most of the sites that were on our to-do list. We started by riding the subway from NJ into Philadelphia to see the Independence National Historical Park which is the location of the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the Benjamin Franklin Museum, and a few other Revolutionary War era sites. Before leaving Philadelphia, we walked to the Philadelphia Museum of Art where we took pictures with the statue of Rocky and Debbie climbed the steps like Rocky did in the first movie. We also ate dinner at the Reading Market. That place was MASSIVE with so many vendors selling fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, etc., plus so many places to eat. Check out my Facebook post from August 4. The following day, we visited the Valley Forge National Historical Park, home to George Washington and the Continental Army in the winter of 1777/1778. Over the next couple of days, we visited the Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site and he First State National Historical Park. Again, you can find pictures and details on my Facebook post on August 6.
Now that you’re all caught up on how we got to where we are currently located on our trip from Texas to New England, I’ll likely only be using my Facebook page to provide links to this blog site. It’s much easier to provide trip details and additional pictures on this format. I’ll again apologize for the sheer length of this “brief” summary of our travels to date but wanted to have a starting point from which to continue documenting our trip.
LyndDebTravel 