First Landing State Park - Virginia Beach, VA

We (probably more I than we) decided not to take the quicker but longer interstate route from Smith Mountain Lake to Virginia Beach.  The only little hiccup in the plan was the commencement exercises at Liberty University in Lynchburg.  It turns out that Liberty University is the largest Christian university in the country/world.  Trump gave the commencement address in 2017 and this year, Mike Pence (the current VP, in case you are reading more than two years after I wrote it, and have no idea who Mike Pence is) gave the address which cause huge traffic snarls and the presence of  dozens of State Police cruisers.

Our site was the only site left when I booked it a few weeks ago...on the ocean, next to a boardwalk, isolated from other sites.  It must have been a cancellation since it’s the Best site we have ever had (site 190, in case I want to book it again).  One small problem is a major storm that has been predicted for the past week.  By 7:30 we had a tornado warning and we all had to congregate in the bath house for about half an hour.  Nothing happened here, although there were places where the tornado touched down in Suffolk and Portsmouth.

Tomorrow is suppose to bring more rain in the afternoon, so it will probably be breakfast, a walk, and off to home.

Smith Mountain Lake State Park - Moneta, VA

We have been here before visiting friends...this time we a just passing through.  The drive here brought us back  through Pigeon Forge, with upside down mansions, building that are entered through sharks mouths, exploding building, building held together with ten foot tall hands and, of course, Dollywood.

After a short hike, we went out to find a Friday night dinner spot.  Found a sport’s bar with Bacon Cheeseburgers and Reubens...life is good!  Back at camp, Deb took a quick look at our site and decided that it was appreciably better because they used “78” gravel instead the more common “68.”  I’m not sure exactly what made it nice, but there wasn’t even a leaf out of place.

Tomorrow we head for Mother’s Day First Landing.

Elkmont Campground - Great Smokey Mountains NP (2 nights)

Three years ago, I decided that I no longer wanted to say fly fishing is something I did.  I wanted to say fly fishing is something I DO!  But whenever I try to go fishing, something comes up.  This year, we made a concerted effort.  A day and a half of fly fishing and hiking and fly fishing.  My casting ability has gone from a D- to a B+.  I got to try out my new waders that I bought two years ago.  They kept me completely dry, except for when I fell in.  I didn’t catch anything, but that’s not really the point.

The Elkmont Campground, which is very close to exactly where I wanted to go fishing, is the largest  campground in the Smokey Mountains,  which means that it has the absolute best people watching potential on the east coast.  Our site neighbors encouraged the entire campground to gather at our site for a photo opportunity of a four high nest of hammocks.  We were anticipating a domino catastrophe but in reality nothing exciting at all happened.

Besides the fishing we did a nice little six mile hike with a substantial uphill component.  Our first real hike of the year.  Needless to say nite-nite Time was very early.

Tomorrow off to Smith Mountain Lake State Park.

Hungry Mother State Park - Marion, VA

After a very busy spring, we are out for a short trip.  In planning the trip, I realized it fell on Mother’s Day week.  There are traditions that must be observed, and one of those is First Landing State Park for Mother’s Day eve, with blue sky’s, no bugs, and comfortable temperatures.  Seems reasonable.  So it’s fly fishing in the Smoky Mountains and beach-combing on the Chesapeake.

Having been here before, we know that the sweet spot of this park is the creek.  We have a picture perfect spot right on the water.  Our camp-hosts followed us in on  their ATV...apparently it’s fun to watch RV’s back into trees...sorry to disappoint (I have an awesome spotter!).  As a reward for my backing skills, I got to buy some firewood.

After dinner, I went out and laid the fire with a “Dragon in a Box.”  As I come out of the RV with butane lighter, our site neighbor was standing by our fire pit with a large branch and an even bigger smile.  Clearly, he was going to teach me how to start a fire.  Wait a minute...someome is going to teach ME how to light a fire...calmly, I reholstered my butane lighter, and explained the finer points of RVing...  we never, ever use kindling.  I explained this to him, gave him a “Dragon in a Box” sample and sent him off.  Then lit our DIAB and within a minute had a lovely fire. We even had marshmallows...

Tomorrow, off to the Great Smokey Mountains!