Two weeks ago we left homebase in Louisiana for North Carolina; I had been invited to visit the USS North Carolina commissioning, this being the latest greatest nuclear submarine. I am a patron of the Battleship North Carolina Memorial so we decided to head east to take a look at the new warship to take on the "North Carolina" name. Weather was great. Drove due east across north-central Louisiana toward Monroe and I-20. We had our first mishap in the first hour, driving very slowly through a construction site. Apparently a rock or some other object hit the freshwater drain petcock and knocked that sucker into who-knows-where, so our few gallons of fresh water were distributed somewhere on the highway as we headed up and out. Our first overnight was near Morton Mississippi at Roosevelt State Park, thanks to a recommendation from another airstreamer. To be continued.
We made it to Morton MS and then left I-20 headed north a couple of miles (toward Morton) to Roosevelt State Park. This park is very pretty and tranquil, friendly campers. We had hookups but no need for air conditioning. Last summer we had a thread going about the loud fan in the refrigerator cooling system. I replaced the loud airstream fan with a very quiet silenx unit, using the same mounts. It works great, cuts the noise down to almost nothing. Except for one thing........now that the fan is so quiet I find that the cooling fan for the power converter is too loud! Thats the fan that several persons have asked about coming on and off as power needs change. In any event I didn't even know there was a fan with the convertor until I silenced the refrig fan. Posted below is a picture of me doing what I do best....sitting around waiting for something to happen.
Well at least your drain came off where you stood a chance of getting it repaired. Mine was knocked off as we pulled into Dawson City Yk. I went to the local watering spot in town and put my Loon in to get some water> after 3 loons I discovered the puddle on the ground was from my fresh water tank as it was empting as fast as I was filling it. A cork sovled the problem till we got home.
"Well at least your drain came off where you stood a chance of getting it repaired."
If you look at the picture of me sitting in the lawn chair at Roosevelt State Park you can see (barely) the broken drain valve. On the Safari Sport 17 the freshwater tank hangs between the axle and the door. The tank is surrounded by an aluminum box bolted to the bellypan. You can see it below the door and the drain is located behind the lower left corner of the screen door. Below are some pictures of the petcock. The first is the busted petcock. The second is a closeup. The third is my "fix", a threaded bolt wrapped in teflon plumber's tape and inserted. And the fourth is my "advanced fix", the bolt wrapped in blue survey tape to remind me to fix the stupid thing before we take another trip. Also note that the little metal rock guard is untouched, unbent, and apparently un-helpful in stopping this type of thing from happening.
We left Roosevelt State Park after one overnight and drove eastbound for Alabama. Wanted to stay a night in Cheaha State Park. Twenty years ago, before we were married even, my (future) wife and I visited this park to do some rockclimbing. We had a good time then and we had a good time on this visit. The park was about 1/3 full, the lodge was open and of course the views were fantastic. We were told that the lodge is open 365 and I looked at (but did not sample) the breakfast brunch and thought it looked great. And the views from the restaurant were spectacular. Once again we were blessed with great weather, cool nights, good driving conditions. Below is a photo of the rig at the lodge parking lot as we were leaving, and a photo of the restaurant near the entrance. Note to visitors: the road into the park has switchbacks and is steep in some places.
After leaving Cheaha (Alabama) we drove further eastbound and spent the next night in Columbia South Carolina at the Sesquicentennial State Park, which seems to be pretty much in the middle of town. However, having said that, we found the park to be quiet, peaceful and very comfortable. The park surrounds a large lake and appears to host lots of day use for runners and bikers. We arrived late and left early, so I didn't get any pictures. We "self-parked", but had phoned earlier to reserve a campsite. As I said we left early the next morning and continued toward Carolina Beach. Had to deal with some commuter traffic, but that was uneventful and we made it to Carolina Beach State Park by late afternoon.
The purpose of our trip to Carolina Beach was to visit the USS North Carolina, a very much decorated battleship from WWII; our visit coincided with two other events. One, the annual reunion of WWII veterans who served on the ship, and two, the commissioning of a new nuclear submarine. I am a patron of the memorial but had not been back to the ship in about 10 years. We were amazed at all of the progress that had been made on the restoration. Most of the deck guns were in place, many of the below-decks quarters were restored, and the combat spaces had been greatly improved. I was told that there are almost a quarter-million visitors per year. Sadly, the remaining crew gets smaller and smaller each year. But this year about 35 crewmembers made it to the reunion out of about 2200 that were on the ship at any given combat cruise. Attached are a few pictures. That "machine" my wife is standing next to is a meat grinder for making hamburgers.
We stayed at Carolina Beach State Park for three days. The campsites are clean, mostly private. There are two loops. The Park locks the gate sometime after sunset. The State Park is not on the beach, but not far from the beach, easily within bicycle or walking range. The community has the tourist shops usually associated with beach property, lots of narrow homes on high piers. We saw two very narrow lots for sale for over 1 million dollars. My wife and I were able to bike several miles up and down the main throughfare without incident, but it helps to be on bicycles very early in the morning. The people were friendly and the food was good.
The Park Rangers patrolled the campsite very frequently, although I only met one law-enforcement ranger. I forgot to mention that the campsites do not have hookups. There is a typical community dump station. I found a few very deep campsites that would handle larger RV's, with easy back-in lanes. But most of the campers had tents and only stayed one night. The young campers (without children) were beach-goers. The young families seemed to just do the usual stuff, cooking, eating, etc. I think we stayed 3 days for $45.00. I would certainly go again. The pic is of me checking tire pressure at the Visitor Center just before departing for Hanging Rock SP.
We headed back toward home after three days at Carolina Beach NC. We did not want to return by the same route so we went northward and westward toward Raleigh in order to find and stay at Hanging Rock State Park. This park is a bit of a drive off of the interstate, only about 12 miles south of the Virginia state line, I think. But the road was in good condition and this part of the state is very pretty. We made it to the park late in the afternoon, had about 25 empty campsites to choose. Later a Ranger came by to check us in and take our fee. It was a very quiet night. Early the next morning we did a 4.2 mile hike to the actual "Hanging Rock", pictures below. Again, this was a park with no hookups, but in a very quiet and enjoyable setting.
Great travel log JD and thanks for posting it. This is one part of the country that I never get to on my journeys West from FL.
Beautiful part of the country!
__________________ Lew Farber -Certified Master RV Tech (currently on Forums posting sabbatical, but lurking in the background ) WBCCI #1456 and about to resign!/VAC (assoc) #1456/ AIR # 10325 TAC# OR-1 CHARTER MEMBER: FOUR CORNERS UNIT
Hey Lew, nice to hear from you again. We intentionally planned our trip to include as many state parks as possible. However, after leaving Hanging Rock SP we thought we might give a National Park a try, so we headed over to the Great Smokies. Once again we arrived late in the afternoon at the GSNP campground near Cosby, which is in the very eastern part of the park. We were westbound (and then northbound) on I-40 outside of Asheville and this was the first campground we came to. Once again, like the state parks, this national park campground was mostly empty, but clean. No hookups, but water was available, and also a community dump station at the exit. The campground hosts were very helpful and friendly. Only about 10 campsites in the loop would easily take larger vehicles, and even we had some trouble backing into our campsite. The site we chose was not even close to level, I had to extend the jacks almost to the max on one corner. But it was a nice spot nevertheless.
JD, if you are going back home by way of Nashville, you might want to try the Edgar Evens State Park at Center Hill Dam. It's a nice state park with sites on Center Hill Lake. Has water and electricity. There is a Army Corp of Engineers campground on the other side of the dam called Long Branch that is very good also. It is on the Caney Fork River and offers great trout fishing. We will be going to Long Branch next weekend to do some canoeing and trout fishing.
If you come down Highway 111, you will pass Fall Creek Falls, another great state park. Lots of hiking, biking, and a lake for canoes or peddle boats. Another good place is DeSoto State Park in Ft. Payne, AL. Great hiking, biking, swimming, etc.
I am enjoying reading about your travels and am eager to hear where you end up next. Sounds like ya'll are having a great time!
Hi Kathy, thanks for telling me about the other TN parks. We will certainly plan another Tennessee trip as soon as we can. We found the entire state to be very nice. We did consider DeSoto on our outbound leg, but didn't quite make it there, staying in Cheaha instead. You mention canoe and bike trips. We actually own a canoe, but don't bother to take it with us very often. We always take our bikes. Wife likes to cruise, rides a townie, and I am a wanna-be racer, with both road and mountain bikes. When we ride together we both like to cruise around and just see the sights.
Well, back to my road trip. Bear with me, only two more campsites to describe. After our one night in the Smokies we headed over through the Dollyworld area. We hit the strip early in the morning and drove right on through, didn't stop at outlets or anywhere else except for a gas station. I can imagine that this place can get extremely "busy" during the season. Continuing westbound we finally re-connected with I-40 near Knoxville and discussed another new place to camp. We ended up stopping at Natchez Trace SP a few miles east of Jackson TN, maybe 100 miles east of Memphis? This turned out to be the most expensive park fee we paid for one night, $25.00, but had full hookups. There were several larger motorcoaches at this campground, which surrounds a large lake. Unlike the other campgrounds these sites were out in the open, but surrounded by trees and then the lake. We rode our bikes on the campground roads and on the road into and out of the campground. A bike-rider's dream, roads in very good condition and with very little traffic. My wife is a bird-watcher, and she actually spotted a nesting red-headed woodpecker, so I had to get out the spotting scope and tripod. Of course those two items were buried in the truck under lawn chairs, jacks, chains, camping gear, etc. Another nice park, about 3/4 full, but with considerate and quiet campers. Pics below.
OK, I ran out of upload space so I had to break and upgrade my account. Attached are two more pictures of our campsite at Natchez Trace State Park. In my next post I will describe our visit to Airstream of Arkansas, and of our final night at DeGray State Park in Arkansas.
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