Tag Archives: Lexington (VA)

2013_10_21 (M) I-64, Do U?

We had decided yesterday that we would try to return home from the Lexington, Virginia area via I-64W across West Virginia to US-35 N into Ohio, branching off on US-23 N towards Columbus, Ohio and eventually getting on I-75 N and following US-23 N through Sylvania, Ohio (by-passing Toledo, Ohio), into Michigan, and home.

We needed a place to stay this evening, and I needed to order some parts for the coach from Prevost Car, Inc. so Linda researched campgrounds while I looked up part numbers on the Prevost CatBase Viewer.  I got the parts ordered and she identified two possible fairgrounds: the Gallia County Junior Fairgrounds near Gallipolis, Ohio and the county fairgrounds near Chillicothe, Ohio.  She called the phone number for the Chillicothe fairgrounds but never got an answer.  A woman answered when she called the Gallia Country Junior Fairgrounds and said they had 50A full hookup sites and we were welcome to stay there for $20.  Deal!  Gallipolis is only a few miles into Ohio on US-35N and the fairgrounds were only a mile or so off of the highway with good access from a major road.  She also found a listing for a Good Sam RV Park near Chillicothe, but the listing said their season ended on October 15.

L-to-R, me, Linda, Marilyn, Mary, and Ron.

L-to-R, me, Linda, Marilyn, Mary, and Ron.

After a light breakfast we prepared the coach for travel and helped Marilyn gather and move all of her stuff back to Ron and Mary’s mini-van as they got their A-liner ready to travel.  Checkout time was 11 AM, and we had both planned 5 hour travel days, so we were in no hurry to leave.  We were all packed by 10:30 AM, so we took a few group pictures, had our goodbye hugs, and made our exits just before 11 AM.

Welcome to West Virginia!

Welcome to West Virginia!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather was perfect today, with clear blue skies and temperatures climbing into the 60’s.  I-64 through Virginia and West Virginia is a designated scenic route, and it should be.  On the trip through western Virginia and into W. Virginia we often had the highway to ourselves.  This is mountain country and the road is rarely straight or level.  We had numerous long grades (up and down) and several that were marked 7% for up to 5 miles.  Reminiscent of our travels through the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, I was downshifting manually a lot, and on one long uphill had to drop into 2nd gear to keep the RPMs around 2000.  Unlike the trip over the Bighorns, I knew better how to drive mountains and the engine coolant temperature never climbed above 198 and the exhaust pyrometers stayed below 1000 degrees, typically 900 degrees or less.

I-64 joins up with I-77 in central W. Virginia and becomes the West Virginia Turnpike.  Traffic got noticeably heavier from here on.  We paid two tolls of $3.25 for a motorhome towing a car.  The WVT has toll booths staffed by real people, no tickets to take, no machines to feed money into.  Nice.  We tend to avoid toll roads not so much because of the cost, although that can be excessive, as the unattended mechanisms make it very difficult for us to pay tolls.

Welcome to Ohio!  (The bridge over the Ohio River was being resurfaced and down to one lane in each direction.)

Welcome to Ohio! (The bridge over the Ohio River was being resurfaced and down to one lane in each direction.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found the Gallia County Junior Fairgrounds easily and pulled in around 3:40 PM.  The place was deserted except for one car and a “campground” was not obvious.  Linda called the phone number she had used in the morning and did not get an answer.  We both walked around, peered in windows, knocked on doors, but nothing.  She eventually found signs with trailers and arrows and followed those to what might have been a campground, but no evidence of 50 A full hookups as we had been told.

The stop gave us a chance to rest and nibble, but after about 45 minutes we decided we needed to make other plans.  Remember, a true traveler has no fixed plan…  In looking at our (out-of-date) Trailer Life Directory (2010) we returned to the listing for Sun Valley RV Park near Chillicothe, OH (a Good Sam Park).  It said they closed October 15, but we called anyway.  They were still open!  And they had space!  And they were only another hour up the road!  And that was the direction we needed to go anyway!

Sun Valley RV Park near Chillicothe, OH as seen from the driver’s position in the coach.  Our site was ahead to the left but we had to circle around to the right get lined up so we could back in.

Sun Valley RV Park near Chillicothe, OH as seen from the driver’s position in the coach. Our site was ahead to the left but we had to circle around to the right get lined up so we could back in.

So that’s where we went.  It was less than 2 miles from an exit off of US-23 which was only 4.5 miles from the junction of US-35 and US-23, so it was not out of our way to come here.  We arrived around 5:45 PM.  Although the sun had disappeared behind a thickening cloud cover it was still daylight.  We opted for a back-in full hookup 50A site as the pull-through sites did not have sewer connections and getting to the dump station from those sites the next morning would be more difficult than we wanted to deal with.

We unhooked the car in front of the office where the road was widened for large RV to pull over while they registered.  I walked the route from the office to our site to check for adequate turning radii and an absence of encroaching tree limbs.  It all looked good, and we were got parked and leveled easily.  After hooking up the electricity and sewer line and making the interior ready for use we went for a walk around the park, as we often do.  Sun Valley is mostly seasonal trailers and park models, but it was in nice shape (which is not always the case).

We had leftovers for dinner, but really, Linda’s leftover meals are still a treat.  She was very tired and went to bed early while I stayed up and worked on photographic image post-processing, redoing the picture of our coach on our website home page, and catching up on writing blog entries.  I also had a long conversation with Joe Cannarozzi, our mobile mechanic, who will be working on the coach starting on Wednesday.

2013_10_19 (S) Lexington VA

As I mentioned yesterday, we are camping with family at the Natural Bridge / Lexington KOA.  We let Marilyn sleep until 8 AM, and then got up, got dressed, and started moving around the coach.  Ron and Mary came over around 8:30 – 8:45 AM, Panera Bagel Pack in tow, and we had breakfast in the coach.  Based on the weather forecast, which was overcast for today and a bit sunnier for tomorrow, we decided to go to Lexington, Virginia about 10 miles north of our campground.

As is true of much of the United States, I did not know anything about Lexington.  That turned out to be a bit surprising to me as there are three universities there, and it has a strong connection to the Civil War.  It is full of old, but well preserved/restored architecture, and has become the center of an active artist community.  All of these things combined to give it a very nice look and feel.

The backyard of Stonewall Jackson house, Lexington, VA.

The backyard of Stonewall Jackson house, Lexington, VA.

Our first stop was at the visitor center where we picked up some maps and got some tips from the staff.  From there we headed towards Main Street, stopping at the home of Stonewall Jackson.  We didn’t tour the inside ($) but the yard was open for an apple cider event.  A trio (banjo, fiddle, and guitar) was performing, and a hand-cranked apple press was in operation.  We walked the rear garden and got to taste some freshly pressed, unpasteurized apple juice.

Above photo with “oil painting” effect.

Above photo with “oil painting” effect.

While we were at the Stonewall Jackson house, we started hearing loud truck horns.  At first I thought they were emergency vehicles on their way somewhere, but we quickly found out that there was a truck parade going down Main Street.  We walked the short distance to the corner and stood there watching tractor after tractor go by.  Most of the rigs were tricked out, polished up, and looking good.  Owning/driving a highway bus doesn’t automatically make you a gear head, but it does tend to heighten you awareness and appreciation of large tractor-trailers.

Linda, Ron, and Marilyn in front of the Robert E. Lee Memorial Chapel, WLU, Lexington, VA.

Linda, Ron, and Marilyn in front of the Robert E. Lee Memorial Chapel, WLU, Lexington, VA.

We walked a little farther up the street to the campus of Washington and Lee University, where Robert E. Lee and many other members of his family are buried in the Robert E. Lee Memorial Chapel.  The founding of the university pre-dates the American Revolution and most of the buildings feature simple, pre-revolutionary era, architecture; red brick with white trim.  It was a very attractive campus, and the house that Robert E. Lee lived in when he was president of the university is still there.

3-L The Jackson Cemetery, Lexington, VA.

The Jackson Cemetery, Lexington, VA.

From WLU we walked back to South Main Street to Nikko’s Restaurant, which Linda found on HappyCow.net as a “vegetarian friendly.”  She had a vegan sandwich and I had a portabella mushroom sandwich.  Both were very good.

 

 

Stonewall Jackson Chapel, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, VA.

Stonewall Jackson Chapel, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, VA.

After Nikko’s we walked a little farther south to the Jackson Cemetery, where Stonewall Jackson and a number of his family members are interred.  We then walked back to the car and drove to the campus of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), a public 4-year undergraduate college offering a military style education.  Here we visited the Stonewall Jackson museum, which included an excellent collection of firearms ranging from pre-revolutionary era to the present day.

Stonewall Jackson Chapel, VMI, Lexington, VA.

Stonewall Jackson Chapel, VMI, Lexington, VA.

We finished up our time in Lexington with a short drive through the ante-bellum house district and then found the local Kroger supermarket.  Linda and Mary picked up a few things for upcoming dinners and some candy for the kids back at the KOA as they are doing “trick-or-treat” from 6:30 – 7:30 PM this evening.

 

 

Native American Flutes handcrafted by Ron Lott.

Native American Flutes handcrafted by Ron Lott.

 

 

 

 

We gathered in our coach for a while and Ron surprised us with gifts he had made and brought along.  He has become quite expert at making Native American flutes, and had made one for Marilyn, Linda, and me.  He had also made a small harp for Marilyn.  All of them use pentatonic scales, so almost anything you play sounds good, and harmonizes well with what others are playing.

 

Ron and Mary’s Aliner trailer, with lots of custom interior modifications.

Ron and Mary’s Aliner trailer, with lots of custom interior modifications.

Ron and Mary fixed dinner this evening.  They pan-fried vegetables for veggie fajitas, and had black beans, rice, refried beans, salsa, and guacamole, along with chips and a nice green salad.  They also had sour cream and chicken strips for the non-vegans.  We gathered at their Aliner trailer and had dinner on the picnic table.  The trick-or-treaters came around as we were eating and we enjoyed seeing their costumes and giving them the small candy items we had purchased earlier.

A flower.

A flower.

After dinner, Mary and Marilyn did the dishes while Ron got a nice campfire going using scraps from his woodworking shop.  Kiln dried hardwood makes a nice fire and we sat around it for a few hours talking about whatever and listen to the screams of joy from the “spooky trail” the campground had set up for the kids.  Sometime around 8 PM music suddenly started up.  It was far enough away to not be obnoxious, but loud enough we could hear it clearly.  It took us a few minutes to figure out that it was a live band and not someone’s entertainment system.  The band wrapped up around 11 PM and so did we.