This year, we are starting our Summer trip by first attending high school graduation celebrations for two grandchildren. The first was in Charlotte, congratulations Finley! and the second will be in New Jersey for Lucas. In between we are spending a week in the Finger Lakes so Jack can catch up with his friends, and visit his favorite places and restaurants.
It takes me two days to prep the RV for a trip, cleaning and lots of backing and forthing loading our stuff from house to RV. The weather in Charleston while I do this? Record breaking real-feel temperatures. Ugh.
Had to take frequent breaks and drink a LOT of water. The day before we were leaving, I walked out the back porch door and what slithers in super fast? A snake! Really. Went under the porch furniture and I moved things around a bit, but he kept finding another hiding spot. I was pretty sure it was a garter snake like this one, but he was on the large size and I wasn't 100% sure. Put out a call on our Legend Oaks Helping Neighbors website, and Sean Hanley came by about 5:30 and checked everything. Apparently, the snake made his own way out the back door that I left open in case he decided he didn't like the accommodations at the Pitt Stop. A huge thank you to Sean.
We left Saturday, June 8 and drove to Rock Hill South Carolina for a campsite at Ebeneezer Park on Lake Wylie. It is gorgeous - not too big, and newly renovated. In addition to lake access for boats, there is a small sand beach, a fancy new playground, pickle ball court, volleyball court and a fabulous semi-circle pier for fishing and picnicking.
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| Using his golf cart to transport his swan to the lake from the campground! |
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| State of the Art Playground |
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| Lake Wylie |
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| A portion of the giant pier |
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| Some very impressive mansions on the lake |
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| A better distant shot of the pier |
On Sunday, we attended Finley's graduation celebration (middle Charlotte granddaughter). We returned to the campground and left the next morning for the Finger Lakes in New York. We usually drive fewer miles/hours because I am the only driver now and the animals (Beau the Bernedoodle and Luna the tuxedo cat) don't like to be cooped up too long in the RV, but we decided to do a long first day and then two short days.
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| Hmmm, my side of the dinette. |
Our campground was in the Shenandoah Valley in New Market, Virginia along I81 at the Endless Caverns. Huge place with very steep and rough roads, but campsites are nice and spacious. Drove about 3 hours the next day and stopped in Pennsylvania at Paradise Island campground along the Susquehanna River. A small campground right on the river was perfect and the weather finally cooled down a bit and the humidity dropped a lot, making outside Happy Hour very comfortable. Luna got to try out her new Pet Playpen.
Monday morning we woke to 57 degrees - great sleeping weather! And when I check ed the online newspaper from home, the early morning temp was 77 - glad to be out of that heat and humidity. We are getting on the road earlier because Luna wants to eat no later than 6:45 and she starts letting us know the clock is ticking around 6, meowing and climbing all over things, making a racket. We drove north on Route 15, the road winding along with the Susquehanna River. After Williamsport (home of the Little League) the road left the River and it was a beautiful drive through wooded hills/mountains.
For our time in the Finger Lakes, we rented a car and picked it up at the Penn Yan airport at the northern end of Keuka Lake, then drove to Camp Elmbois, our campground on the west side of the lake. Another very small campground on a couple of little ponds, but the property is huge - really nice and the weather is great, although we are getting a lot of haze from the Canadian wildfires, but thankfully, no smoke. This will be our home base for a week while we visit Elmira and the Finger Lakes.
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| Walking Beau around the pond. The back of our RV is hidden in the trees across the pond. |
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| Our site in the trees, backed up to the smaller pond. |
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| Lovely property |
