VIRGINIA,
REMOTELY – Aug 2, make that the 4th to the 10th, 2020
DELAYS AND
ARRIVAL – August 2-4, 2020
It seems
nothing will be easy in 2020! Charleston
continues to see Covid at an elevated high albeit stable number each day and
now that August has arrived, we are reminded that the hurricane season has
arrived in earnest. We had chosen a park
in Southwest Virginia as a final run before the looming trip to Colorado for
medical treatment for Rob later this month.
As our solid
2020 travel buddies, Jack and Marcia arrived at Grindstone national campground
on July 31 without service to communicate.
As 2020 would have it, about the same time, the arrival of Tropical
Storm Isaias set its sights on Charleston.
Instead of enjoying a comfortable exit, we found ourselves frantically
preparing for what was promised to be significant flooding and high winds. We were due
to leave the day it was due to arrive and we contacted the park to hold our
spot for whatever delay was in order and waited. We stored the fully loaded RV at our son Matthew's house hoping to avoid the inevitable Charleston floods and snuck in an extra visit with our adorable (and very hard to leave!) granddaughter Madi! Thankfully, all of our preparations were for
naught. The storm passed by uneventfully
at best and we wasted no time putting the yard and the house back in order for
as quick a departure as we could make.
We had
planned to make the 6 hour trip in two days preferring not to spend more than
three hours on the road in a day.
Conversely, we were up at the crack of dawn and on the road for a
hopefully relaxed trip for the whole distance.
We made good time and enjoyed the increasingly beautiful scenery – even
the crazy roads as they got smaller and hillier along the way. Somewhere between 1 and 2 hours from
Grindstone, we lost our cell phone coverage and felt like we had made the
escape.
GETTING IN
THE GROOVE, August 5, 2020
Grindstone
was a beautifully remote and wonderfully located park with countless options
for hiking, many on the Appalachian Trail, right from the campground. Rob and I face a constant challenge of
deciding to tow our car on the RV. An
expensive option, we keep putting it off to be sure of the practicality of
spending the money. In this instance,
without Jack and Marcia’s truck being available, our options would have been
seriously limited.
Each day, we
drove to wonderful new hikes. The first
was a 9.2 mile day to the summit of Mount Rogers. With wild ponies on the trail (who weren’t
wild enough they wouldn’t eat from our hands – just grass, mind you!) and a
wonderfully balanced long hike of ups and downs, rocks and meadow. We lunched (hiker’s peanut butter – yum!) at
the summit with the resident mice.
The skies
threatened the entire hike back and Rob and I had left our rain gear sitting
right at the exit to the RV! I spent my
mental energy on willing clear skies for the final meadow stretch. The drizzle started as we were in the thick
cover of the forest and Rob was full of talking about getting wet but right as
the trees parted, the rain de-parted and I was pretty happy with my powers!!
VIRGINIA
CREEPER! – Aug 6, 2020
One of the
main reasons for choosing this reason to camp is the proximity of the famed
Virginia Creeper Trail, a 30 mile bike trail from Whitetop Mountain on an
decline all the way to Abingdon where Jack and Marcia had gotten married 7
years prior. We were all excited about
our fun day down the trail and Jack was all psyched to treat us to dinner at
The Tavern in Abingdon where they had had a memorable eve years before.
Again, Covid
posed its challenges and none of us were willing to take the packed shuttle van
with our bikes to the mountaintop! With
some creativity and local inquiry, we found Linda who drove us, all masked, and
our bikes to the top before taking the truck back to Damascus for our
return. That worked!
Today’s
challenge was that my bike – really?! – had a flat tire! Undaunted, Rob rigged the pump in the side of
his backpack and off we went. Well, that
concept was better in theory and my tire required air about every couple
miles. The routine ended up pretty
comical. Rob would pump up the tire to
bursting, I would jump on and ride like the wind utilizing the decline as well
as determined pedaling until I could feel myself riding the road hard
again. Stop, repeat, RIDE!!
All of this
silliness of course caused us to be at different intervals with Jack and Marcia
who deserved to take the trail enjoying the nostalgia. We did manage to stop at the same time to
recall their wedding and for pictures.
Marcia also had some caches to score along the way and the scenery also
did not disappoint.
This
continued until the tire gave up the ghost altogether – about five miles from
the truck’s location! The “ride” from
that point meant me on a power walk as everyone else progressed on pace. Reaching the roadside 2 miles from the end,
Rob stayed with my bike and I was able to enjoy riding the last couple miles
with Jack and Marcia to retrieve the truck and then Rob!
We drove
from there to Abingdon for the promised dinner to find the restaurant
closed! We had a driving tour
nonetheless and returned to Damascus for beer and wings safely al fresco before
taking our weary bones home to end the day.
HIKING
GALORE – Aug 7 – 9
With the
main event behind us, we spent the next few days doing what we love. Hiking, cooking, caching, reading, gaming,
eating, eating (ha!) and cocktails! The
next day’s hike did provide for another story.
Jack attended college in this general area and had fond memories of
hiking Whitetop Mountain. The hike being
far removed from the area of the Creeper trail, we headed there to hike.
The trail is
a magical fairyland! From the very first
steps, you enter the trees to find moss covering near every surface and
delicate and rich vegetation all around.
The trees were tall and sheltering and the trail somehow managed to be
easy and challenging at the same time.
We had planned for a five mile hike all promising this wonderful
surrounding. The 2 ½ mile turnaround at
the Appalachian Trail appeared with nearly any notice, the hike was so
captivating! But – we weren’t to
Whitetop!!
Marcia
normally has a five mile limit for uphill hikes and was casting some serious
glances at Jack who was convinced that the summit was just a short jaunt up a
side trail ahead! We started out without
the direction being completely clear and quite frankly, got ourselves we’re not
even sure where! Try as we did, over
another mile on, we never found that darn summit! We even lost each other at one point along
with cell service which was call for a few moments of, hmm, let’s call it
question!
We lunched
and laughed and turned around finally finding our hideaway trail taking us back
to our origin. We ended up logging in
nearly 8 miles that day with the last 3 being outright bears! But the day was cause for some good laughs and
a few lessons and no one really needed anything too strenuous for the next few
days!
That being
said, Rob and I managed to continue to log miles on the trails from the
campground the next few days. The trails
were so easy to reach and were so enjoyable to hike that we really couldn’t
help ourselves! Rob also was on a roll
with his headaches being in control again making time out and together so much
better. The eating, drinking, hiking, gaming and campfires carried us happily through each day. As hard as it is to leave home
behind, there is something freeing and healing to commune with nature and its
rich surprises, quiet forests and cool, dark nights.
LET’S CALL
IT A SUCCESS, August 10
With our
reservations ended and a lot to get done at home, we wake the next day ready to
get the rig ready to travel and hit the road home. Knowing we had no great options to stop along
the way home, we planned to cover the whole distance the same day and knew we’d
need to get our hearts pumping beforehand.
We took the
trail back toward Mount Rogers for one final time and logged in the final miles
to make for 46 total miles in a short 6 days!
I think that’s a record and we felt invigorated, healthy and spent all
at once!
We wrapped
up our time with Jack and Marcia hoping (and knowing, really) that we’d find a
way to reconnect before TOO long. We
cleaned the RV, put water in the tank, emptied the gray and black tanks and hit
the road with more great memories in our pockets. I’d call this one a SUCCESS!
We woke this
morning with the most spectacular red sun rising over the river and knew it
would be a good day! We took advantage
of having water and power hooked up and cleaned and wasted a bit of water with
a long shower and getting ready for the next five nights with not connections. For
another final morning extravagance, we walked to town and bought a scone and
cinnamon roll from the only café there to enjoy with our coffee. 
The party
was pretty much over on our arrival and we had the challenge of handling a
close family relationship and covid.
Causing extreme stress with Rob’s treatment looming and the risk of
Covid, we try our best to maintain distance, stay outside and stay masked
inside. The risk is real and is pretty
unavoidable, all things considered. 
We
celebrated Jacob’s birthday in fine style today. He requested my own childhood tradition of
heath bar coffee cake for breakfast. I
woke up to his call to announce his rising and got to work on the task. The rest of the day was all birthday prep and
party. Rob and I took a break for a good
hike to justify the calories of the amazing ribs Jacob spent all day smoking
and we had several salads as sides before indulging on my fresh baked deep dish
derby pie – another request – as birthday cake!
We were
joined by Jacob’s father and his wife Caryn and we had a wonderful afternoon
enjoying the beautiful weather on the back porch, eating that delicious meal
and watching a slide show I had put together of Jacob’s 40 years. It was especially rewarding having his father
and I together providing memories from each perspective to honor the dual life
he’s had all these years.
It’s been a
great start to this chapter of our journey and we look forward with
anticipation to this time with family and friends with the added bonus of a
hopefully successful treatment and another new start for Rob’s health. Yes, it’s been a good start.
