Powhatan State Park - Powhatan, VA

It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood.  That should be the title for our little local trips to see all the state parks in Virginia that we missed.  This time, Powhatan State Park, about 70 miles from home.  With torrential rains as we traversed Richmond, it felt more like a full day of driving.  As we arrived, the rain stopped.  We set up everything in about 5 minutes and then the rain started again for the rest of the evening.  We got to enjoy one our favorite things.  Talking with with wine and cheese, watching the lightning and listening to the patter of the rain and the occasional claps of thunder. 

Last night we ate dinner (smoked turkey with roasted garlic sauce) on our new cushions.  They are an absolute delight but terrifying.  Neither one of us wants to be the first to spill something.  As the man of the house, I think I should be first.  After all, I have always been the first to spill on everything.

Before  leaving, we hiked down to the river.  By now, we are getting to be Virginia State Park aficionados.   We rank the quality of the campground,  maintenance of the trails, attention to pollinators, and even informational signage and trail blazes.  The park got excellent grades except for two Trail blazes nailed to a tree that was less than an inch in diameter.

Bear Creek Lake State Park - Cumberland, VA

High Bridge

Okay, first to the important part.  In these COVID days, getting a hair appointment is not easy.  Deb has an appointment today at 2:00 which sets the agenda.  We decided to go to High Bridge Trail Park, a 31 mile linear park (which translates to 31 miles of railroad bed turned into a bike/hike trail), yesterday instead of today.  This turned out to be an excellent choice because what we wanted to see was the high bridge, not the other 30.75 miles of railroad bed.  Our first two or three entrances to the park were no where near the bridge.  Finally, we found the Camp Paradise entrance which was a couple miles of washboard gravel road but ended very close to the bridge.  It’s a 2,400 foot span, 150 over the Appomattox River.  It is rich in Civil War history as the final retreat of the Confederate Army.  There were still trains on the tracks as late as 2008.

High Bridge

With that hike and the 4 mile hike in the morning behind us, we snuggled into our site at Bear Creek Lake (I have no idea why it can’t be just Bear Lake or why Smith Mountain Lake couldn’t just be Smith Lake). The rain came and it cooled off somewhat, but got humid, air on, got cold, air off, made dinner, air on, watched Frozen, air off, went to bed, air on, couldn’t sleep, air off.

This morning, 5 minutes into our little hike, it started to rain, so we made it shorter than usual.  This an old park, built by the CCC, it’s rustic building style is called “parkatecture.”  Well off to the hair dresser.

Bear Creek Lake State Park

Pocahontas State Park - Chesterfield, VA

Another Virginia adventure, this time slightly southwest of Richmond.  Pocahontas State Park has a very nice aquatic park but like the rest of the world, it’s closed because of the pandemic.  We decided to take a hike once we got there but it was too hot, we decided to go before dinner but it was too hot, so we decided to just sit outside and enjoy the ambiance, but it was too hot.  So we went inside to cool off, just like home.  Deb’s folks called but we couldn’t hear so we turned off the air conditioning, we were going to talk for awhile, but it was too hot.

We watched some television and went to bed with the air conditioner on.  By midnight, it was too cold.  So we turned off the air conditioner and opened the windows and it was just right!  This might have been the basis for the story of the three bears.

By morning it was cool enough for a walk around the park.  The highlight for Deb was the pollinator garden, for me it was the boardwalks, of course.  Today we are off to Bear Creek Lake or High Bridge.

Westmoreland State Park - Montross, VA

This is a brand new Virginia State Park for us.  It’s about 50 miles from Washington, and in “normal times” has a really nice pool right on the banks of the Potomac.

The park is on the top of Horsehead Cliffs.  We got here fairly early, after driving 30 miles from our last overnight, so we had an opportunity to take the beach trail, down the cliffs to the water.  The last couple of hundred feet was in a single wooden staircase.  One slip and you would tumble to your death.  We decided to take the road back.

Dinner was chili with some cord-on-the-cob that we bought at a local farm stand.  With a short hike this morning, we are off to a new park, Caledon State Park.  There are no camping facilities, so it’s a day trip.

Belle Isle State Park - Lancaster, VA

We have been here once before on a day trip, but we have never spent the night, after all, it only 25 miles from home.  Our new plan is to visit as many Virginia State Parks as we can, while we wait for the “COVID thing” to pass.  Strangely, snuggling into our little hidey hole is just as nice after 25 miles as after 600.  After our last trip, Deb has decided that July in the south is not the best time or place for dry camping.  It’s lovely to sit outside, knowing that within a few seconds, you can be cool.

We have decided to take a little hike as soon as we settle in, well, maybe before dinner, but definitely after dinner.  Well actually, it turns out, after breakfast.  We probably do not need to hit the road too early, since the next campground is 30 miles away.  I took the opportunity to cancel our west coast trip to see the kids at the end of August.  Interestingly, if we continued our 30 miles a day all the way across the country, we would be there at the end of August.

Merchant Mill Pond State Park - Gatesville, NC

With the COVID thing looming around, we have not been able to travel much.  Our trip through the four corner states was just not going to happen, because of the positivity rate.  I always thought that “positivity” was a Sesame St thing.  “Ya gotta have posivitity,” but no...

We have always loved Merchants Mill Pond, and there was no one there.  Of course, dry camping when the heat index is 110 with no chance of air conditioning is a turn off for some, but not us.  We endured for one of the two nights that we reserved.   We sat quietly, and sipped our beverages (non-alcoholic, of course...NC is a “no state”), Deb drank her white grape juice, while I sipped on hoppy water.

The best part of Merchant Mill Pond is the canoe rentals with the trails through the swamp, but because of the “pandemic thing” (the ranger’s words, not mine), there were no canoe rentals, so we just walked around the swamp.  There were some lovely boardwalks (I love boardwalks).  During our walk, we determined that a second night might not be as enjoyable as the first, since the heat index was going to 116.

Well, Merchant Mill Pond does not even have a dump station.  What are we to do?  My mind races! Aha!  Chippokes Plantation State Park has a dump station, and it right next to the Jamestown Ferry (I love ferries).  I pose the idea to Deb, trying to look forlorn about the prospects of a slightly longer return trip.  I am even thinking about putting on my face mask to cover my grin, but she slowly acquiesces.

By the time we get home, the sky has darkened.  We have restarted the air conditioner in the house, and we sit quietly sipping our now legal adult beverages waiting for the storm to pass.

First Landing - Virginia Beach, VA

We were going with our plan, sell the RV and tour Europe.  We had tickets, hotel reservations, the works...and then came COVID-19, and the world closed.  After 94 days sheltering in place, we decided to pull the RV out of mothballs (nobody’s buying RV’s right now anyway) for a trip to the four corner states. Before launching a cross country trip, we decided it might be prudent and possibly even enjoyable to spend a few nights at our favorite local haunt.  Of course, we are still in Phase 1 of the “reopening” and because of Police injustice there is rioting on the streets of Virginia Beach and an all night curfew.

The RV was completely emptied and nicely cleaned last year.  So everything that was normally “just there,” just wasn’t....bath mat, citronella candles, mixing bowls, cheese board, grater...just to name a few.  Since the RV was empty, I thought it might be nice to fix a few of the storage “issues” we have had in the past.  My ideas have met with mixed success...well, really no success at all.  Well, without failure there can be no improvement.  My favorite camping accessory is “Dragon-in-a-Box” firestarter but is no longer available.  For this trip, I ripped up cardboard and soaked the pieces in melted candle wax as a substitute.  Of course, you can’t have a nice roaring fire when there is a curfew because people are lighting things on fire.  So it’s long socially distanced walks on the beach, haute cuisine...well as hautie as you can be using a sauce pan as a mixing bowl and potato peeler as a cheese grater...and quiet evening with nothing but the sounds of sirens and helicopters to break the serene sounds of waves crashing on beach.