RV There Yet?

The New River is not new at all. In fact, the New River is one of the oldest rivers on earth. The Appalachian Mountains started their rise approximately 300 million years ago and the New River cuts down into rocks that are 330 million years old. The New River is what geologists call an inconsequent stream. As the Appalachians were uplifted, the New River cut down into the uplifted rocks, not changing its course. The rise of the mountains was inconsequential to the rivers course.

Over the past couple of days Barbara and I have traveled around the New River Gorge National Park (NP). We visited the visitors center, Sandstone Falls, Grand View, the New River Gorge Bridge and almost everything in between. The New River Gorge Bridge was completed in 1977, is 876 feet high and is the third highest bridge in the US. The New River Gorge is the newest NP in the US. In 1978 Congress established the New River Gorge as a protected waterway and in December 2020 it became our newest NP.

The scenery here is some of the best that we have ever seen. Everything is so green, the air is clean and the sky is crystal blue. Take a look!

Today Barbara and I travelled north to the town of Appomattox, Virginia.  For those of you who don’t remember history, this is where General Robert E. Lee, on April 9, 1865, surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant.  General Grant walked in, sat down and began writing out the terms to which General Lee and his men would surrender. This was the beginning of the end to our countries deadliest war, the Civil War.  Approximately 650,000 soldiers died during the Civil War.   

It was very solemn for me being here today.  I remember back when I came to this place 49 years ago at the age of 13.  It still looks pretty much the same as I remember.  While walking the grounds today I couldn’t help but think of all those people who gave the ultimate sacrifice during the Civil War and how far this nation has come since that time.  Which make me believe even more that we shouldn’t be taking down statues and trying to rewrite history.  What we should be doing is learning from our history so we can build on what we have accomplished over the years and not repeat the mistakes of the past.  This country isn’t perfect and lord knows we’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way, but I can’t think of a Greater Nation than this one.      

Over the past few days Barbara and I have traveled north from Brunswick, Georgia to Lynchburg, Virginia to the Lynchburg Thousand Trails RV park. If I had to rate this place on first impressions, I’d give it an F. When we arrived yesterday it was raining and the roads in this park are terrible. This place is covered with red clay and now it is all over our truck and trailer. I just had both washed a week ago, but you couldn’t tell it by looking at them now. In a couple of places I had to put the truck into 4WD just to keep from getting stuck in the mud. However, last evening after the storm passed and things began to dry out, I walked down to the lake and watched the sun go down. I enjoyed an awesome sunset. Take a look!

The Southeast Georgia (SEGA) rally begins today, so I walked around the Coastal Georgia RV Park this morning and took photos of the park, wildlife and RV’s. I’ve never seen so many Grand Design (GD) RV’s together in one place before. This is our first GD rally and hopefully won’t be our last.

Since today is our last day at the Oaks RV park I took one last hike around their lake in search of “critters”. I wasn’t disappointed. Take a look!

Yesterday Barbara and I travelled to Savannah for the day. We enjoyed a trolley ride through downtown and then a leisurely ride on the Georgia Queen. This city has a rich history predating the civil war. Notable items in Savannah’s history include slave trading, the cotton industry, General Sherman’s march through the southeast during the civil war and most recently the birth of the Girl Scouts. Today Savannah is the third busiest sea port in North America and the largest exporting port in the US. Most of the exports are automobiles. Automobile manufactures like KIA, Nissan and Volvo have manufacturing plants in the southeast that use Savannah’s port to ship overseas. Today the city is frequently used as a backdrop in the movie industry. Those shots of Forrest Gump sitting on the park bench, were filmed in Chippewa Square, in downtown Savannah. The downtown is full of old oak trees, beautiful parks, churches and numerous monuments and statues, and at one time Savannah was the capital of Georgia.

My brother got a chance to get out and do some fishing. He and some friends traveled to Bridgeport Lake on the east side of the Sierra’s and were rewarded for their efforts. Take a look!

This morning during my morning hike, as I was scanning the shoreline of the lake that I was walking around, I came across several critters sunbathing. Take a look!

Today Barbara and I traveled to Congaree National Park (NP). This park is named after the Congaree Indians that once inhabited this area. This is a rare old-growth floodplain forest. In 1976 this area became one of our newest national parks encompassing 27,000 acres. This place kind of reminds me of a smaller version of Redwood NP in northern California. As we made our way along the boardwalk on the self guided tour the only sounds to be heard were to sounds of nature, mostly birds and with an occasional squirrel. Back in 1919 when the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was passed banning the sale and consumption of alcohol this area became a haven for moonshiners. There’s still an old still in the park. I was very proud of Barbara, she made the entire 2.4 mile boardwalk tour without too many issues.

Today Barbara and I traveled across South Carolina from the west side to the east side. For the next seven days we are staying in the Oaks RV park in Yemassee. It is really quiet here and when hiking along it’s many hiking trails the only sounds I hear are the sounds of nature, mostly birds talking. There is a lake in the back of the park that allegedly has a lot of unfriendly critters in it, so I enjoyed it from a distance. On Thursday Barbara and I will travel north and spend the day in Congaree National Park.