We loved Alaska. We loved Canada. We loved the American West. However, we still needed to get ourselves - and the Ciaowagen - the 2,737 miles from Colorado back to Virginia and home for the winter. So in mid-October, we turned our sights and our steering wheel to the east.
As we had with our trip from Glacier NP to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, we decided to alternate multiple days of just driving with multiple days of down time. For the down time periods, we thought it would be nice to find places where we could just relax and chill - a contrast to our travel regime for much of the past six months!
The U.S. Amy Corps of Engineers, among its many roles, devoted itself to flood control and water conservation during the 20th Century, constructing dams, resevoirs, and lakes around the country. Many of these lakes include campgrounds with sites right on the water (and which are VERY popular and almost impossible to reserve during the summer). Our first "chill place" coming east from Colorado was at the Cape Fair campground on Table Rock Lake in southwestern Missouri Ozarks.
We spent much of our time enjoying the lakeside scenery. We did travel to nearby Branson one evening to attend one of the many musical shows in town. Despite the fact that 90%+ of the audience was our age or older, we were two of only about 10 people in the crowd of 1,000 that wore masks - a reflection of the many different attitudes around COVID we've run into as we've traveled the country. The theatre also had a sign that we had not seen before in our travels: "Attention criminals, this establishment welcomes concealed-carry patrons."
We left the Ozarks and drove another 900 miles over three days, overnighting at our favorite boondocking spots: the rear parking lots of Cracker Barrels along the interstates. We usually order breakfast online to pick up the next morning before leaving as a way of saying "thanks." We found that Cracker Barrel also seemed to appeal to the "no masking" crowd.
Our destination was Charlotte, North Carolina, to see the new digs of our son Mace who had recently relocated from Philadelphia. We set up our rig in a large campground on the site of the Charlotte Motor Speedway, which includes both a NASCAR track and a drag strip.
Interestingly, there was a small family cemetery embedded in the campground right next to our campsite, with graves ranging from the early 1800s to 1999. THAT was a new camping experience for us.
We had a great two-day visit with Mace. Since we were at a NASCAR campground, we decided to go all-in and visit the NASCAR Hall of Fame in downtown Charlotte. We do not follow NASCAR, so as a result we know 100% more (although still a small amount) about NASCAR than we did before. Over the years, design and engine standards have evolved and rules formulated, which now make the race all about minor engineering "tweaks" on the engine, drive train, aerodynamics, pic crew efficiency and, most of all, driver skill.
We sampled some of Charlotte's culinary wonders, including a hip food hall built in an old factory.
Having enjoyed our chill time in the Ozarks so much, we spent a few days at another Corps of Engineer campground, Oconee Point campground on Lake Hartwell, which is on the South Carolina and Georgia border.
From Oconee Point, we headed north toward West Virginia, where we visited New River Gorge National Park and Preserve (the country's newest national park). The park is probably most famous for its gorge-crossing bridge, the third highest in the country (876 feet above the river) and the longest single arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere.
The park protects over 50 miles of the river gorge and has many trails and viewpoints which were at the height of the fall colors during our visit.
We drove down into the gorge and up the other side...
...crossing the bridge that people needed to use before the construction of the Gorge bridge in 1977.
We hiked the Endless Wall trail, a popular trail along the canyon rim that goes to the Diamond Point Overlook. The rock walls, which are popular with climbers, stretch into the distance along the ridge line, giving the trail its name.
Before leaving the park, we drove to the Grandview area which overlooks a long oxbow curve in the river.
Leaving New River and heading north, we camped at Blackwater Falls State Park in the Canaan Valley area of West Virginia. When our kids were younger, we would rent a cabin in Blackwater Falls every winter to go cross-country skiing. It was a chance to revisit one of our favorite places. We had the campground pretty much to ourselves.
Blackwater Falls sits on a high plateau, and the temperature dropped below freezing at night, leaving a light dusting of snow and frosting the leaves on the ground.
While at the park, we walked down some 200 steps to see the park's namesake waterfall, colored by tannic acid from trees and minerals leaching from the surrounding rocks...
...hiked along some of the winter skiing trails...
...and took in the view of the deep canyon of the Blackwater River.
We were almost home. We spent two nights at nearby Bull Run Regional Park to give the Ciaowagen a deep cleaning and to start organizing things for transfer from the RV to the house. Bull Run has an annual "Festival of Lights" holiday 2.5-mile-long drive-through and although not officially open yet, we were able to walk through some of it from the campground.
Finally, on Friday, November 5th, we drove from Bull Run to Annandale and pulled up in front of the house, the end of our six months of Ciaowagen travels for 2021.
Later this month, we'll drop a couple of blog posts summarizing our experiences this year. It was another great one!