Hello from Willis, VA
Sunday evening– October 17, 2021 (third post of this travelogue)
Well, we have had a change of plans. Our original plan was to drive the full length of the Blue Ridge Parkway – stopping at campground along the way. However, we drove a length of the parkway from Cherokee to Ashville without the trailer and it was like driving our twisty North Turkey Creek road most of the way (not quite that bad, but close). We quickly decided that driving with the trailer would not be fun.
So, we decided to pick two locations adjacent to the parkway and camp in those locations for three nights each and tour as much of the parkway as possible from each campground.
Our first stop was at the “Daddy Rabbit” campground close to Willis, VA (Google Map).
{google_map}36.8213, -80.4290{/google_map}
Pat has labeled this the “pretty campground from hell”, but it really is very scenic. Her objection was how difficult it was to back the trailer into the spot in the very tight space between a bunch of trees. In addition, it is very wooded and we are not able to get a TV signal (not the end of the world, but we wanted to watch the races this weekend). Also, the power was only 20 amp, but that is plenty since we do not need to run the AC – indeed, it was rather chilly this morning and the inside of the camper was 50 degrees when we got up.
At this campground, neither our AT&T or Verizon MiFi work for internet. The campground has WiFi, but it is pretty slow. Yesterday we traveled to Roanoke via the parkway and took my laptop so that we could make reservations for the next two stops.
Speaking of campgrounds, it is very difficult to find a spot in most campgrounds. We have to do a Google search for campgrounds in the selected location and then start calling until we find one with a space. It is not for a lack of campgrounds. There seem to be several for every selected location, but they are mostly booked up.
So far, the weather has been fantastic (except for the one windy day). Daytime temperatures are mostly in the 80s and evening temperatures are in the 60s (give or take 10 degrees). We have had a few rain showers, but nothing that interfered with our travels.
At first we were disappointed that we had not encountered fall colors. We are now a bit further north and the colors are better, but we have not seen much of the red colors. We hope to get into even better colors in the next few days.
I have included a photo of our “Daddy Rabbit” camp spot and of the colors we saw yesterday.
More to come.