Raccoon Branch Campground at Mt Rogers NRA

So long, Strom Thurmond Lake, as always it was a peaceful and picturesque visit and the camp hosts were very pleasant. Modoc CG will definitely be revisited in the future.

After a brief goodbye to my Aunt Gussie we were on I-20 headed to Columbia, SC where I would fuel up and spend the night at Flying J.

It was a pretty peaceful night considering trucks were coming and going but they slowed down after awhile as usual. I spent the morning at Fort Jackson getting necessary stuff done, like car registration (since mine was expired), pharmacy and commissary. Then I headed to our property in Ridgeway and unhooked the car again so I could go and spend the afternoon at the courthouse. Just as I drove up the realtor arrived and we looked the place over. It's finally for sale.

That evening I stopped by to see my good friend and neighbor, Delores. We had a nice visit and I got to meet her daughter Val. I think we would be good friends if I had stayed there, I liked her a lot. Just before dark, another friend and neighbor, Eric, came down and visited for a while. I'll miss these great folks when I sell the place.

I left around noon the next day and headed up I-77, and over to Hickory where my nephew, Mike met me. After a nice visit we unloaded a lot of genealogy stuff plus a lot of puzzles for his Mom and Dad. I was trying to lighten my load before reaching the mountains which were right ahead. It was really nice of Mike to take the time to come and meet me and I appreciated it.

I drove way past my usual stopping time and when I started looking for a campground I ran into a little trouble. I was on hwy 321, a great 4 lane highway and I saw a sign that said "camping next exit" so I got off there. There were no more signs to the CG so I turned around (luckily there was a place big enough) and got back on the road. I passed a WalMart and should have gone there at Erwin, NC or TN but I didn't. The next camping sign was something like Nokiechucky CG on the Nokiechucky River. That sounded nice so I headed for it. Wrong decision!!! The road continued to get narrow and narrower. I met a couple of people and they assured me that the CG was just down the road away. Just down the road away, right! The road turned into one lane with a river, six inches if that far, from the right side of the road, the left side was a rock wall, one huge, really deep pot hole ahead that I had no choice but run over and then I saw it. A 9 foot cement wall on the left side of the one lane road just at a bend in the road where I had to drive between the cement wall and river which now was right next to the road. I couldn't see what was ahead but I couldn't turn around either. Blood pressure rising, stomach in my throat and my heart racing, I inched forward, waiting for one of my wheels to fall into the river. Whew!!! I made it! No pull thrus, I wasn't going to unhook for one night so I had to turn around and go back through hell's highway again. This time I was afraid of not only falling into the water but of clipping the jutting rock wall. Needless to say I managed to get out of there safely but I also learned a lesson. Check it out with the car first! even if I have to unhook. I drove to Bristol VA and spent the night at WalMart with some other RV's.

Only about 50 miles from Marion and the scenery was gorgeous. I tried holding up my camera and snapping a few photos but they didn't turn out. I reached my exit, #45, and headed south on hwy 16. It kept getting prettier and prettier.

Somewhere on this mountain was my destination.

This is the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area's Headquarters building. It's really a beautiful building and everyone inside was just as nice as could be. I had to stop there and let them know I had arrived and introduce myself. I filled out some forms, received lots of brochures, time sheets, work schedule and other papers then I followed my boss to the campground where I will be for the next 3 1/4 months.

As we turned into Raccoon Branch I was thoroughly knocked over by the beauty of it.

Just exactly what I had hoped for! Large spacious sites with a creek running through it and lots of trees and shade. It was almost full when I drove in since it was Memorial Day weekend. There were a lot of tents set up on one side of the campground but as we made the loop to the second half of the CG it was mostly fifth wheels and trailers.

My campsite is below. It's surrounded by lots of grass, has woods to the side and behind it, there is even a trail through the woods that Magic and Snoopy love to go into. When I sit outside, I can hear the water in the creek, so relaxing.

The pictures below show what my view is off to the drivers side and the little creek that is just behind me. On the other side of the creek is the Virginia Highlands Horse Trail.

This is everything I had dreamed of and more. The day after I got here, Saturday, I drove around but forgot my camera. I went into the next campground up the mtn and met the camp host. She too was by herself and we hit it off right away. I think we'll be doing lots together.

I passed some beautiful rhododendron in dark pink and purple, I've never seen these before. The locust trees are in full bloom in the campground and they smelled wonderful. There were several horse camps, one I saw was full of horses, dogs, kids and trailers that housed both the horses and people, separately of course. There were other places under trees where people parked their horse trailers for the day while they rode through the trails. I passed the Appalachian Trail parking lot that seems to always be about full while their owners hike the trail. Dogwood trees are still in bloom, big magnolia blooms are popping out of wild magnolia trees. Wild flowers everywhere are just bursting in colors from yellow, white, pink, purple, blue and everything in between. Hawks were gliding over the road, crows hopping around in the trees, red winged blackbirds sitting on the fences and the beautiful little bluebirds flitting across the road. My eyes could barely take it all in and my senses were reeling in delight at all the colors, sounds and smells. As I drove around it dawned on me that there was a big smile on my face and it also felt as though it went clear to my heart. I think it'll be a beautiful summer.