Jan. 29-31, 2021

This weekend we ventured about 2 hours north to Cedar Point Campground. Cedar Point is a National Forest on the coast of NC, near Emerald Isle. No Monday holiday this week, so we headed out Friday afternoon, arriving at about 4:30 – still plenty of daylight to get set up and go for a walk.

Cedar Point is a National Forest campground, but reservations are similar to the state parks. Each has a centralized reservation platform – https://www.recreation.gov for the national forests, national parks and Corps of Engineers campgrounds, https://reserve.southcarolinaparks.com for SC state parks and https://northcarolinastateparks.reserveamerica.com for NC state parks. We were within 3 days of arrival, so we couldn’t make a reservation for a specific site – within 3 days, the sites are first come/first served. I could see that only a few had been reserved, so there should be plenty of choices for us. We drove the loop through the campground, scoping out a site to choose, and checked in with the host. All of these sites have an electric hookup, and there are water stations scattered throughout the campground. There is also a potable water filling station and dump station. No need for us to fill as we are just using bottled water for now.

We do have an annual National Parks pass, but only the senior pass will get you the discounted rate ($17/night instead of $27/night). Just a couple more years… Still a great deal at the full rate.

Dinner was a salad of roasted brussel sprouts, lentils, greens and salmon (all prepared at home this time).

Saturday breakfast was pancakes – freshly made in the camper!

Saturday was nice and sunny. We walked down to the boat ramp where quite a few people had launched that morning. One fisherman said that they catch red drum in the area – we were at the end of the White Oak River, not far from the open ocean waters. There is a very nice nature trail with 2 loops – .6 miles and 1.3 miles. We took the long loop and enjoyed walking through the marsh and forest, with some good bird sightings. There are a few feeders along the way, and the local girl scouts have put up many bird houses. This tufted titmouse was at one of the feeders. The great egret was across the river – a few of them flew over our heads, but we aren’t fast enough with the camera.

The tide was high…

After our walk, we headed over to Emerald Isle – about 4 miles to the fishing pier on the beach. Emerald Isle is a small barrier island just south of the Outer Banks. The fishing pier was closed, but we enjoyed a nice walk along the beach. The sun was warm and it was really nice when the breeze died down.

In case there was any question…

Out of the 40 sites, 12 were occupied on our first night. Many had campfires, but it was really cold again! This campground does not sell firewood, but allows you to collect anything that has fallen on the ground. One guy had his electric hand saw and was cutting up some long pieces – a note for future trips, bring something to cut firewood. We collected a few pieces the first night, and in the morning I found an armload that had fallen during the night. Inspired, I did some foraging in the woods and came up with a pile worthy of burning. Now it’s time for that fire! There has been a lot of rain lately, so all of the wood was pretty damp. I took a lot of coaxing, but my persistence paid off!

We woke to rain on Sunday morning, so headed home after breakfast. Another successful trip in the books!

Jan. 16-18, 2021

We are taking some short vacations from our vacation. While we have the camper with us, we might as well use it. Our first weekend excursion was to Little Pee Dee State Park in Dillon, SC, about 2 hours away. We arrived around noon on Saturday and took a walk around the small lake. There’s a nice picnic area, kayak rentals and a small dock for fishing. A few families were enjoying the nice day, fishing and metal detecting.

Then we made our way over to the campground and found our site waiting for us. It was chilly, so we fired up the heater, made some tea and relaxed in our cozy nest.

Being a long holiday weekend, there were quite a few campers. But given the cold temps, folks stayed mostly inside and it was very quiet. We took advantage of the extremely clean – and warm – bath house, but once we tucked in for the night, it was nice to have our own bathroom. We haven’t de-winterized the camper, so no running water. We can make do with minimal use of the toilet, and that will be easy to winterize when we head north again.

We’re still figuring out what meals are going to be “camper friendly”. Each trip we learn something that works and something that really doesn’t. Hot tea is a staple, although we wished we had hot cocoa on this trip. Put that on the packing list! On our way out of town, we stopped at the local fish market and picked up a red drum fillet. I wrapped it in foil and we fired up the Coleman oven on the stovetop. It took about 10 minutes to reach 300 degrees and the fish baked nicely. Served over some veg stew that we brought made for a tasty dinner. Another thing to add to the packing list – spices! The oven works, but it’s big for our small stove. We’ll get an outdoor kitchen set up and it will be easier to use there. We’re looking forward to testing out some of our regular baking recipes while camping.

The next day was spent relaxing with books and knitting, taking a walk on the nature trail, spotting birds and napping. A lot of the campers had moved on by Sunday afternoon, and our immediate neighbor had left for the day, so there was no one nearby. The campground has firewood for sale and several campers had fires going in the evening. We were being wimps and stayed toasty inside. As much as I love a good fire, sometimes I like being warm better. Maybe if we had s’mores fixin’s…

It’s so easy to hook up the camper (and unhook back at home) that a 2 hour trip to a campground for the weekend is a piece of cake. Backing into the spot under the house is the hardest part – and we’re getting better at that! Now to plan for the next excursion…

Of course it is! In this current pandemic world, it’s actually nice to have some projects to work on around the house. We aren’t checking out the local sights, or shopping or dining in the local establishments, so we need to keep busy somehow.

A few years ago, we purchased our future retirement home on a NC beach. We aren’t beachfront. We’ll let the 3 rows of houses between us and the water take the brunt of the storms – and there have been some doosies in the last few years – Florence, Dorian, Isaias… We had 3 feet of water under the house after Isaias blew through. Since the house is on piers, that’s not a big problem for us (we just can’t leave a car parked there during a storm). The house is currently an AirBnB and the summer is the high season here. That works great for us, as we’d rather be here now and in the spring and fall.

We’re taking this extended stay to get lots of little projects done. In the 3 weeks we’ve been here, we’ve –

• Replaced the HVAC system (it was working “ok”, but given the age we didn’t want to get the call on the hottest day of the year that the A/C is broken)
• Bought a new refigerator
• Replaced all tv’s with Roku tv’s (cable adds $120/month to the internet bill)
• Restocked with new bed linens, blankets and bath towels
• Replaced most light bulbs with LED bulbs
• Changed air filters
• Replaced all smoke detectors
• Replaced fire extinguishers
• Fixed torn window screens
• Fixed the porch screen door so that it swings and closes properly
• Bought a new outdoor couch for the screened porch

One tiny thing that we did is something we comment on almost daily. Our kitchen cabinets are the “sleak” design with no knobs. For some of the doors, it’s not clear what side opens. As those rubber bumpers age, they turn more to glue, and you can break a nail trying to open a cabinet – usually because you’re trying to open the wrong side. I went around the kitchen with a $3 pack of new bumpers and now the doors swing open with ease!

Anyone who knows us knows that we cook – and bake – a lot! This kitchen has counters of 6″ tiles. How are you supposed to roll out a pie crust on that? We’ve been using the glass-topped dining room table for those kind of things, but that’s not ideal. Before we came down, I found someone selling a nice marble pastry board and that’s been a great addition to the kitchen. Unfortunately, we can’t leave nice things out for the guests (someone will use it as a cutting board), so that will be packed away when we leave.

Our “To Do” list is pretty short now, which feels good. We leave a goody basket for guests, so I’ll make sure those supplies are stocked for the upcoming season. The vacuum cleaner is on it’s last legs, so that will probably get replaced.

We have big plans for when we move here full time. For now, the vacation rentals have been working well for us and we really enjoy spending time here whenever we are able to come down. It’s the best AirBnB that we’ve stayed in! Let us know if you need a beach vacation!

While 2020 was a crazy year all around, we were fortunate to remain healthy and maintain employment as desired (retirement for me has been much quieter than anticipated, but there have been many masks to sew and no shortage of yarn for knitting!). Since the wildfires in the west put a kibosh on our road trip to CA last fall, we thought we’d make another attempt in the new year. Unfortunately, the virus is still too rampant to make that long trip. It’s now been over a year since we’ve seen Matt and Meghna, and even the 4 months since seeing Katherine feels like a long time – fingers crossed that we’ll start to see improvements and the possibility for a safe trip west.

Our compromise was to make a shorter trip to our beach house in NC. We picked up the scamp from storage on a cold January morning. Hooking up took a bit longer than usual, because we had removed the battery and propane tank for storage. After re-installing those, removing the winter cover, and attaching the new license plate – barely feeling our fingers at the end – we were on the road in an hour.

We have done the drive to NC in a straight shot a few times, but pulling the camper adds time to the trip. Luckily, we are traveling with our self-contained house, so we just need to find a spot to park and sleep for the night. We were thinking about trying out the free overnight parking at Walmart (or one of the other large chains that offer this), but the temps weren’t improving as we drove south. A little google searching led us to Pocahontas State Park near Richmond, VA. That would give us a place to spend the night with an electrical hookup – but we didn’t have a heater! A few miles before our exit, we pulled into a Walmart and grabbed a little ceramic heater for $29.

We arrived at the campground after dark, but the check-in board at the entrance had our name with instructions on choosing a site and campground rules. There were quite a few campers, but plenty of open sites to choose from. Sites are well separated and we didn’t have any close neighbors. Once parked and leveled, we plugged in and fired up the heater. Within a few minutes, the chill was gone and we were warming up nicely. Dinner was homemade soup (what didn’t spill all over the fridge and leak onto the floor – lesson learned to secure everything in the fridge for travel!). The heater kept us toasty warm all night, and we woke up to a 28 degree morning! Hot tea, more muffins, a walk around the campground, and we were back on the road.

By that afternoon, we had the scamp tucked in under the house and we were on the beach! Not exactly “warm” weather, but it’s nice to be down here for a while.

Waking up to smoky air and a fine coating of ash on the car and camper was confirmation that we shouldn’t head farther west. I was really hoping that the 11 days of our journey to Colorado would be enough time for the fires to be contained and safe passage to California would be possible. Looking around at other places we might visit came up with no good options. Taos looked like a fun place to visit, but then NM put in a 14-day quarantine for out of state visitors. The other problem with going to new places is that the options for things to do is very limited in the time of Covid – the dining scene is out, as are all of the indoor sights, and any other popular attractions that tend to get crowded. We are still being extra cautious.

One place that we knew we could head to was Oak Island, NC, where we could spend as much time as we wanted at our beach house – a week on the beach sounded so good! But then I checked our rental reservations, and someone had just booked it for the following weekend. Oh well, 3 days on the beach is better than none, so we started driving eastward.

East of Denver, there isn’t much happening in CO. Lots of open land with cows and farmland. The fields of CO gave way to sorghum fields in Kansas, and hundreds and hundreds of wind turbines – way too many to possibly count.

Our first stop was an Atlas Obscura site in Goodland, KS – an 80-foot tall easel with a 24-foot x 32-foot reproduction of van Gogh’s “Three Sunflowers”. Kansas is the Sunflower State, and Goodland is in the center of the sunflower industry. The artist, Cameron Cross, had planned seven of these installations – one for each of van Gogh’s Sunflower Paintings. Canada and Australia are home to the first 2, and it looks like this one in Kansas was the last to be built. Another funky sight to see in the middle of nowhere.

For the night, I had found an Army Corps campground near Junction City, KS – Curtis Creek Campground. All of the sites were first come, first served, and this was their last night of the season. It looked like there should be some spots open. The camping loops were right along a lake, and no highway nearby! When we arrived, the campground host welcomed us and said to pick any spot and pay online. We were right that there were spots open – on the loop we chose there was only one other camper. For $20 we got a great spot near the water with electricity and water hookups. We watched the sun set over the lake, and a beautiful moon came up in the other direction. It was such a nice place to spend the night. If it hadn’t been their last night of the season, we might have stayed for another night. The hosts came by in the evening to make sure everything was good, and we had a nice chat with them.

Today’s destination is Laramie, WY. On the way, we stopped to check out Carhenge in Alliance, NE. One man’s tribute to a place he once called home. With no “stones”, he used what was readily available – cars. There are also a few sculptures made from car parts that have been added to the site. It’s very silly, and a good distraction from the long drive.

Having your house behind your car on your travels is very convenient. We pulled into a nice park in Kimball, NE for our lunch stop. Pop into the camper, make some sandwiches, set up chairs in the park and enjoy a pleasant lunch. Plus, the bathroom facilities are always there – and always clean!

On the way to Laramie, we stopped in to see Chimney Rock in Bayard, NE. Since we were towing the camper, we weren’t daring enough to drive the road all the way out to the rock. It was still a neat sight from the visitor’s center.

The final leg into Laramie was not as we had expected. Just east of the city, we drove into a thick cloud of smoke from the wildfires. We didn’t have any windows open, yet our eyes were burning from the smoke. There was no way we could drive further into this and expect to camp. So, time to backtrack to Cheyenne. We were able to find a last minute Hipcamp reservation just north of Cheyenne, at Last Chance Camp. We filled our water tanks and parked out in the field where 2 other campers were set up. We could smell the smoke and the sky was socked in, but it wasn’t enough to be much of a bother.

Although we didn’t have an electrical hookup, our camper battery runs our lights and water pump, and the propane cools the fridge and heats the water. With a fairly good cell signal, we spent some time working on the blog while John is teaching me some of the code involved.

We awoke to a surprising amount of soot and ashes on the camper and car. I’m not sure how far away the fire is, but that stuff is traveling quite a distance. Our current campsite wasn’t more than camping in someone’s back yard, so we decided to venture into the unknown – Boondocking!

Since our plan is to be in Boulder, CO on Sunday, we looked for some public lands between Cheyenne and there to try our first boondocking – totally off the grid. We weren’t sure that we would be able to tell where camping is allowed in these areas, but I found a map of Pawnee National Grasslands that shows exactly where it is allowed. There is private land mixed in with public, and you need to be sure you are not on the private land. So, off we go to Pawnee. Grasslands is right – hardly a tree in sight! Paved roads give way to dirt roads, and we found a well-used site near a small watering hole. We both gave a go at practicing our trailer backing and were able to park it on a level spot.

As we pulled in there was a pronghorn on the ridge behind our spot, but he didn’t stick around for me to get my camera out. Being near the water hole, we hope to see some wildlife. I did spot 2 birds at the water’s edge, and using our new Peterson’s Bird Guide, identified them as a black-necked stilt and killdeer. Tracks in the mud show cows, deer, and something with some good claws. There was also a cool snake at the water’s edge.

We felt like we were settling into our new spot, had lunch and a little nap, but noticed an increase in the smoke and even ash falling around us. The sky was now brown with smoke and it was getting uncomfortable to breathe. I checked in with our camping hosts for the next night in Boulder, and was able to reserve a spot for the night. So, everything got packed up and we were back on the road. The drive to Boulder through Fort Collins was really smoky, and we hoped that Boulder would be clearer. We were in luck! We set up camp in a field in the back of large horse stables – I counted 27 horses in the paddocks around us. Oh, and the sun was out! Kat lives 20 minutes from here – she’s celebrating her birthday with her roommates tonight, so we’ll see her tomorrow.