Advertisement
Published: September 30th 2009
Home
This is our home for the next couple of weeks.Up to now it has seemed like a holiday, a hectic one but a holiday all the same. Now for something new. We picked up our new home for the next two weeks, a giant 30ft RV (Big Camper Van) from Cruise America, bigger than the one we ordered but ‘no problem’ we said, that was before we had seen it. Loads of college types came and went but we were given the full induction (and still confused after that) how difficult can it be after a removal van? Wrong, it was huge, and we are going to do some real damage with that. After a few hours though it didn’t feel so bad however Lisa has yet to drive it and is secretly hoping that she won’t have to!
The RV was actually relatively spacious inside, although preparing food in the small kitchenette area is a challenge and having a long luxurious shower is absolutely not happening. Also not remembering to safely secure everything has meant that we have had things flying around in the back when we have been driving - so we have learnt quickly. However we think we have mastered everything now and feel that the
adventure has now really started as we are embarking on something both of us have never done before.
Just to be on the safe side we killed 2 birds with one stone and didn’t travel too far. About an hour down the road is Fredericksburg, site of some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. For those of you who slept though history lessons, for about 80 years after kicking us out peace reigned in the US then the bickering of trying to keep different cultures together got too much and they started a war. (Europe, take note). Before the war Fredericksburg was a prosperous industrial and commercial city but became the scene of carnage on the scale only seen since under General Haig. In November 1862, the Union army (North), under Ambrose Burnside, tried time and time again to take a well fortified, heavily armored hill behind the town, Marye’s Heights. Despite an obviously hopeless situation he continued to send more troops to their death. Even now, nearly 150 years on, standing on that hill it is obvious that it was a suicide mission.
We then moved onto Spotsylvania, the scene of the second titanic battle
between General Robert E Lee (South and Dukes of Hazard) and Ulysses S Grant, now in charge of the Federals. One of the key conflicts was the battle of Bloody Angle where over 6000 men (and a couple of women) lost their lives in 20 hours of hand to hand fighting. Difficult to imagine as you stand there now, but all of the monuments show how significant a place it is in American history. A sad reminder of the things men do.
Now we are in to unplanned territory, we knew we wanted to visit Asheville and the surrounding area, but just hadn’t planned any more. It seemed such a shame to use the Interstates when you were driving a house. Good old Google (and a mention to Neil) and the idea of visiting the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia came to mind, finding a lonesome pine, where Lisa could carve her name and I could carve mine….. enough of the Stan & Ollie moments. As we looked we saw a road called the Blue Ridge Parkway, that started about 60 miles from where we were and finished where we wanted to be. Perfect.
What a road this
turned out to be. I’ve never driven through Switzerland but I think it would struggle to match this. It was quite simply breathtaking. 469.1 miles of winding road literally carved out of the mountains. Building the Parkway through mountainous terrain was a monumental task. The road rises from 600 ft at the start to over 6000 ft nr the end. Authorized in the 1930s, like the statue of Liberty and the Hoover Dam it was a depression-era public works project. The Parkway ended up taking over 50 years to complete (a bit like the Weymouth Relief Road). It was America's first, and ultimately longest, rural parkway, connecting Shenandoah National Park in Virginia with the Great Smokey Mountains National Park in North Carolina. Driving 150+ miles in a day was for the first time fun. For those of you who have been there it’s like the Glen Coe road from Tarbert up to Fort William but bigger longer and with more ‘wows’.
We stopped for a couple of nights in a RV park in a place called Fancy’s Gap, great name, OK camp but nothing fancy, had to sorry. It did give us the chance to finally do some pleasurable
‘out of town’ walking along the New River Trail, apparently one of the only rivers that runs South to North, not sure if that’s true but sounded good. A second night in the mountains proved more taxing as, and I suppose mountains should have given it away, it was piggin freezing. After hardly any sleep and Lisa actually wanting to cuddle up, Chris got up and inspected the manual and found out the RV had a perfectly good heater. RTFM my boy.
Onwards and upwards as they say and it certainly was upwards, as the parkway rose to over 5200ft, and as it was a bright sunny day, offered magnificent views for miles. The great thing about carrying your home around is that when you see a great sight you just pull over, put the kettle on, fix the lunch and relax and enjoy. Nice. 240 miles later we arrived at the Great Smokey Mountain National Park, with the clutchbrakes smelling horrible, the fresh water all leaked out and no hook up for the water or electric but who cares. What a great road. If you are ever in Washington with a few days spare, rent a car and
drive it. Magnificent.
Chris has now decided that travelling in an RV is the way to go - we will have to wait and see if he feels the same by the time we get down to Florida. Maybe he will be a little bit more tolerant of caravans on the winding Dorset roads - no chance!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.116s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 10; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0639s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.2mb
mum and dad
non-member comment
rv
wow how beautifull it all looks fantastic, travelling a bit like a snail with your shell on youback but a little bit bigger, I am writing this on the lap top which I am really using , ta muchly Chris. Keep the info coming it is another world out there and we are both enjoying it so much