Here it is, late October and we are off for our second adventure in our 37 foot Holiday Ramble Motorcoach. Please read the first trip Lake George, NY to read a full description of the motorcoach and see how our first adventure went. This time we set out Southward for a much longer adventure to the small town of Monroe, VA at a campground called Wildwood Campground which was just a mile from the Blue Ridge Parkway ( a 400 mile long mountain road ) which connected the Skyline Drive to the North to the Smoky Mountain Parkway to the South.

The elevation of this area ranges from 2000 feet to 4000 feet above sea level - much higher and dramatic than the Lake George trip. This trip though was the final of the season as Winter is coming quickly in our region. I had hoped that my mother would join us for this vacation, but her health is poor and the 9 hours on the road was just too much for her to handle. So she stayed home and tended to our three well behaved cats, Tuxie, Patches and Fluffy.  (photo insert - view from 4000ft elevation on the Blue Ridge Parkway)

It's a sad thing when traveling from New Jersey to the South, there are really no good ways to get there from here. You could take Interstate 95 and deal with the outer loop around Washington, DC which is one of the most congested bypasses in the country or you can opt a much longer route across the state and on to the Pennsylvania Turnpike known as I-76. We opted to go the I-76 route out past Harrisburg, PA ( about 4 hours ) and then south on I-81 a fast moving truckers road that eventually ran parallel to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

This also was the first trip that we were going to bring a car along. We had planned this trip on a last minutes notice and we were limited on HOW we were going to attach a car to the motorcoach. Ideally, we wanted a Blue-Ox hitch which is highly recommended by all RV manufacturers as the best hitch available, but getting the base plate welded to Tracey's car would have taken nearly ten days including ordering the hitch and the installation itself. Instead, we chose a tow dolly which is a wide two wheeled platform that the front wheels are driven up on to and then securely strapped down using thick nylon straps. There were a number of reservations about the tow dolly over the hitch, but we got the tow dolly at a good price and figured if Tracey purchased a new vehicle in the next year or two, then the tow dolly could still be used, where the hitch's base plate would have to be bought again.

Our main concerns about the tow dolly were: It made the over-all length of our rig nearly 60 feet long, a scary thought for a new driver like me and if you needed to backup, you would 1) have to remove the car from the tow dolly and also remove the tow dolly from the motorcoach. With a hitch, you just unhook the car and back up the bus. The thought of ALWAYS needing to think way ahead to avoid having to back up the bus was also frightening - especially when fueling the bus or getting caught in a situation where road construction required us to back up. Luckily, neither of these occurred this trip, but it is something that always lingers in your mind.

So we loaded the bus with food, clothes and even 4 rented movies to play on our DVD player - this campsite didn't offer cable, but we found out that nearly a dozen TV stations came in using the roof-top antenna and the built-in amplifier, so we had lots to watch when we arrived.

So Finally We Set Out On The Road

We left at Sun up on Monday and made our way toward Route 195 West in New Jersey and took that to the long stretch of the PA Turnpike. I had only driven the bus with the tow dolly and car a few miles previous to taking off the morning, but I knew that the bus felt different and I needed to adjust my driving to accommodate the extra 20 feet of vehicle behind me. As I mentioned in the Lake George Trip, you get some weird drafting and side wind forces when passing or being passed by large trucks. This was even exaggerated more with the car being towed behind. But after a short time, I had a good idea of what to expect and I felt comfortable driving around these large 18 wheelers.

We made it to the Harrisburg area in about 4 hours and found I-81 easily, but knew that I-81 would be the longest stretch of the trip, passing from PA, thru MD and WV before finally getting into Virginia. The good point about this was that I would add a bunch of new states to our states map which only had NJ and NY on it until this trip. (photo insert - small local park we stopped for a short break while driving the BRP)

We also picked up Delaware on the way home (a big mistake as I'll explain later) but for now, we were happy to see that the foliage change was well into swing, although it was not yet in peak. As we passed into West Virginia it had gotten quite hilly and mountains were slowly rising on either side of the highway. We stopped for fuel twice on the way there and each time I had to carefully route my train through the self serve gas stations. Home in New Jersey we are not allowed to pump our own gasoline, something I think is so stupid - but it is the law. In all surrounding states and throughout most of the USA you can pump your own fuel, so it's always fun to travel and relive the memory of when I pumped gasoline for about 6 months in my youth. At each stop I would check the straps on the tow dolly, make sure that everything was ok with the car and the bus and then quickly get back up to speed and reemerge with highway speed traffic.

Exiting I-81 and Riding Route 130 to Monroe

Driving at highway speeds is one thing, but nothing prepares you for real mountain driving in something as long and heavy as this motorcoach and tow vehicle. As we left the Interstate and moved on to route 130 we started seeing these road signs which showed the symbol of a truck descending a steep decline, these were followed by signs depicting twisting and turning roads ahead. I knew that the next 10 miles were going to be some of the most frightening of my life - and they were.

I keep a GPS on my dash board and we were at nearly 2900 feet elevation when the above mentioned signs first appeared, ten miles later at the campground we were around 900 feet. That 2000 foot difference was a not stop downhill twisty turny road that clung to a steep mountain cliff on one side and a short but sturdy looking railing which looked nearly straight down for about 1000 feet on the other. Breaking was a real effort, and downshifting was a must - the one thing I didn't need was a gas pedal so I replaced it with a prayer and a few crossed toes - my fingers were too busy for that last feat.

Of all the things in this downhill run that scared me was that the turns not only snaked back and forth, but were also greatly banked like a race track. I thought of Bristol or Talledega and quickly tossed those thoughts from my head. At one point we heard some scraping and thought that maybe I caught the railing with the tow dolly, but after later inspection I think it was something in the road that I may have dragged for a few seconds. All the while, huge 18 wheelers loaded to the brim with freshly cut timber buzzed past us at in the opposite direction at incredibly unsafe speeds. Later in this adventure I'll tell you about what happened to one truck along this same road - something that still haunts me.

Finally the road leveled off a bit and we passed the entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway - the entrance to the campground I knew was only a mile from there. We pulled in and met both Jim the owner and Brian the handyman as we paid for the stay. Jim jumped into his golf cart and escorted us to our pull though site. Finally, at least for the next four days I could relax. Tracey had promised to do all the car driving while we were there and she kept that promise.

 
At Wildwood Campground
We leveled the bus, hooked up the electricity, water and sewer and unhooked the car from the tow dolly. The left side ratchet was being uncooperative and finally Tracey grabbed some cooking oil from the pantry and I poured a few drops on to the gears - it easily released the nylon strap and Tracey backed the car up and parked it. (photo insert - our campsite at at Wildwood RV Park)

We had no thought of driving any more this day after nearly 10 hours on the road - no matter who sat behind the wheel. Instead, we extended the slide out living/kitchen area and bedroom, kicked on the AC units and put up the TV antenna.

At first I was very unpleased with the reception, although I had figured that we'd had limited stations in this mountainous area, then I remember to flip on the amplifier and what a difference, around 10 more stations magically appear and most were very clear. But I had wanted to see one movie in particular, especially after hearing it had a lot of motorhome stuff in it, so I popped in About Schmidt with Jack Nicholson who is always fun to watch. A side note that "HE" wont admit to is that his father, a man named Don Rose owned a beauty shop right in our home town of LAkehurst, NJ. Jack, who was raised by his Grandmother never admitted any connection to his father, but it was commonly known to be true to all the locals of a generation ago.

The movie was great, it involves a man who is dealing with retirement from a job he may not have loved, but had spent so many years doing it that he felt empty without it. Things change quickly when his wife suddenly dies and his daughter is about to marry a real "Nincompoop" thousands of miles away. Schmidt and his wife ( mostly her idea ) bought a Winnabego to travel after retiring. After finding out that his wife had had an affair with a close friend of Schmidt years ago, Schmidt decides to take the Winnie across country to see his daughter long ahead of the planned wedding which he greatly wishes to prevent. The groom-to-be's mother ( Kathy Bates ) is every bit as funny as Nicholson in this film and the whole movie is held together by letters that Schmidt writes to a sponsored child in a foreign country - Schmidt reads these letters to us throughout the movie and we realize these letters are more therapy to Schmidt that just a kind monetary effort to Undugu the supported child. Needless to say, we loved it and we highly recommend it to everyone.

Day Two a Rain out Day

We ended up going shopping at a Super Walmart - the main difference being that it had a food store built-in to the regular sized Walmart store. I will say that the meats were the nicest I've seen in any food store any where. I bought a pack of center cut pork chops and a 18 pound cured ham among other things, both of which came home with us at the end of the trip. We also visited a dollar store where most items cost more than a dollar, but all ended in even dollar amounts as in $5.00 and $8.00. It was cool and drizzly all day and totally not worth a trip onto the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We watched another movie or two and lots of TV that day, nothing else to do at the campground which wasn't noted for it's amenities. I enjoy just hanging though, Tracey and I rarely get a day off together during the week and it was great just to hang and enjoy each others company. Many neighbors came and went over this four day stay and another Class A had pulled in next to us during the early morning hours. I saw the elderly woman walking a small dog on this rainy day, but would not have known they even had a pet unless I actually saw it. I was suprised to hear from Tracey that this couple actually had two dogs in their RV, both were very quiet and I only heard some barking when I was reconnecting our car to the tow dolly on our last day at Wildwood Campground.
 

Day Three... A long but fun day
Okay... Hide site would have us up and about around 7am, instead we got on the road around 11:30am. I felt a bit like we were racing against the clock to get everything we had planned for this day done, after all it would be our last full day in the mountains. As mentioned before we were only 1 mile from the entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway, somewhere near mile post 51 which meant we were 51 miles below the point where the BRP turned into Skyline Drive. (photo insert - front view campsite, note the tree to the front, it was a tight turn getting out)

Now it was Fall and the day was warm, what was missing was the full color change of the leaves. As mentioned, I don't have as much choice of vacation time as most of my coworkers who have been with Navy Lakehurst for many more years than me. So getting a full week, especially so close to lighting off the boilers for the Winter was something I was delighted to get. Ideally we could have waited about 2 weeks longer for the full color change. What we got was a lot of reds and browns mostly, the bright yellows were not to be found until the last week in October, at least this year that is.

We entered the BRP with Tracey at the wheel of her car and I had my camera ready for any photo opportunity - and there were plenty on this snaky and elevated two lane road. I was amazed that just 24 hours prior it was a dreary and unpleasant day where such a ride would have been wasted. But this day was perfectly warm and clear for a hundred miles, and literally you could see that far at certain points along this road. I sat glued to my seat as we slalomed each turn, turn after turn being more scenic than the previous.

We took a side trip off of the BRP toward a small lake hidden quite well way off the main road. At first we thought there was a charge because a guard shack sat directly between us and the lake, but there was no one manning the shack - I assume this was because it was out of season. We parked and walked along the lake, bath houses and piers. MAny people were there with us, all of them I assume made their way off of the BRP as we did. I took a bunch of images of a small stream using a slow shutter and high f-stop giving the illusion of misty or smoky looking water. We stayed about half an hour, much longer than we had expected, I could feel the clock ticking away and we still were about 90 miles from Luray Caverns.

Along this route
were scenic overlooks
often packed with cars, but occasionally vacant of anyone save us. I will say though, it was ONE WINDY DAY! I guess being 4000 feet up and with a vista of 100 miles will intensify any small breeze into a serious sustained wind.

I will post one image here of a daring older fellow who ventured out onto a rocky overhang where he took several photos practically straight down a thousand feet or more. (photo insert - view of an old timer overlooking a 1000ft drop on a very windy day) To get there he climbed over the guard railing, made his way through some thick bushes and balanced against the ever blowing wind. I was happy just to take a picture of this guy doing what I dare not do under these gusty conditions. On a windless day I would have fought him for this photo opportunity, but standing against such winds, especially when the gusts sometimes stopped suddenly was more daring then I wanted to challenge.

We passed many RVs along this route which actually was less threatening to RVs than the road we took to the campground. Mostly though we passed cars and other small vehicles, I suspect that the larger trucks weren't into scenic over passes. We took about an hour and a half to make it to Skyline Drive where we met with a toll booth. There was a turn around there and we could have made it back to I-81, but I highly doubted we'd soon return to the Blue Ridge Mountains and passing up an opportunity to see the Northern part of the highway might be something that we'd kick our self in the pants about later. So we paid the highly outrageous $10.00 fee and continued North.

Finally we got off of Skyline Drive and started our way to Luray Caverns. The shadows from the car were long and we were losing the sun. I had read in the brochure that Luray had it's final tour at 6pm, but this also could have been a seasonal thing. It was already near 5:00pm and we had many miles to go. Luckily we made it, parked our car and got tickets for the next to last tour. Tours were started every 15 minutes we found out, so we did call it very close. As the tour started we heard over the loud speaker that ticket stubs could be used to enter the antique auto museum after the cavern tour was complete.

Luray was incredible!
You start and end in the gift shop of course - lol. It was a modest decent to the caverns and the tour guide ( who looked a great deal like Britney Spears ) told us the complete tour was 1.5 miles long - to this day I highly doubt we walked anywhere near that length, I think she might have meant the total cavern passes, many of which were not public passes compiled added to 1.5 miles. At best we walked half a mile, but it was totally amazing and without a doubt the best caverns we had ever visited.  (photo insert - guided tour in Luray Cavers)

The most memorable part of Luray was a small section where a shallow pool of water reflected the towering stalactites above it giving an illusion that the water was as tall as the ceiling. The water was only 18 inches deep at it's deepest, but anyone looking would swear that the pool was crystal clear and more than 40 foot deep. I've seen many illusions, both natural and man made during my life, but this was incredible to witness. I'll add the photo to this page but I know it will not do the illusion justice.

Also at Luray they have a pipe organ that uses small piston hammers to lightly pound ( oxymoron ) the different rock fixtures, all of which echoed in near perfect tone throughout the cavern. The song "Oh Shennandoah"  played softly as the hammers met the natural rock formations - pretty neat stuff.

We finished the tour and made our way in the dark night sky to the antique car museum. From the window in front it seemed lame, but once inside you made your way from 18th century wagons to a fine collection of  autos through the 1940s. The collection included cars of all shapes and sizes, engines and mannequins depicting the era - it was tightly laid out, but vast in its diversity. I highly recommend that you don't pass up this collection when visiting the caverns. It was a true bonus and a fully unexpected part of the Luray visit.  (photo insert - Luray Antique Car Museum)

It was a long long ride back to the RV park from Luray, well over an hour and a half taking Rt. 29 which was by far the straightest road to get back after snaking thru many smaller roads that connected Luray to Rt. 29. We thought about stopping for something to eat but it was nearly 10:30pm and we had been out about 11 hours and we were pooped. So we went straight back to the Bus and settled down for a little TV watching and even started another one of the movies. Before you knew it we had both fallen asleep and it was morning.

Going home - the "Short Way"

We got up around 10am and set out for Natural Bridge, the other main tourist attraction that we had planned for this vacation. Natural bridge is a tunnel like formation 215 feet high and 75 feet wide that has a highway overpass above it and a nice stream and wooded area below. To get there it required Tracey to drive the same twisty road I had driven with the bus just days before, of course she had her little Cavalier and this time I got to see the scenic views as we snaked up the mountain.

We made it to the main road and worked our way toward Natural Bridge and then realized we had no cash on us, so we tried several banks looking for ATM machines - we settled on a small convenient store which had some of the best looking country fried chicken I've ever seen. I bought 6 scratch off lottery tickets to take home - we had $8.00 worth of winners out of the six tickets. Then back on the road to Natural Bridge.

We parked the car in the main parking lot and went inside the Natural Bridge Visitor Center where Natural Bridge was well hidden down a long stairway and around a snack shop. We bought tickets at the sales booth ($10 each) and was asked what our zipped was, after telling the lady she immediately (without looking at the computer screen) said Lakehurst, NJ and we were suprised to find out that this lady in Central Virginia had lived only blocks from our house for many years and also she frequently visits family back in Lakehurst. I always am amazed when coincidence like these happen, it really does prove that we live on a small planet.  (photo insert - youth group looking at Natural Bridge)

Natural Bridge was spectacular to see as you rounded the corner past the food shack, it had seating both before and after the large opening for groups of visitors to rest at. I had my camera ready and took tons of photos but no matter how hard I tried it was impossible to capture the relative size of people to the height of the "Eighth Natural Wonder of the World". We walked along the paved trails toward a mock Indian Village which had a few questionable Native Americas tanning deer hide and giving speeches to small groups of classroom students all dressed in similar colored shirts.

Beyond that was a small cave used during some revolutionary fight and also used as a safe haven for soldiers against a sizable Indian confrontation a hundred or so years prior. As I do at all the places we visit I picked up a rock and stuck it in my pocket for later labeling and display at home. Further down the trail was a waterfall, but we opted not to go the extra distance because we had many hours of driving ahead and Natural Bridge was our main theme of this short stop.

We returned down the mountain and suddenly came across an 18 wheeler who had fallen against the railing and was up on only 9 of it's wheels in the exact place I had worried about days earlier. I mentioned above that these banked and twisting turns made my oversized rig feel top heavy and THIS was exactly what I had feared - if not for the sturdy railing, this 18 wheeler would have fallen nearly 1000 feet to the valley below. A bunch of police cars and regular folk were directing traffic flow around this tilted rig while he awaited help in uprighting his trailer. I can only imagine what the driver had felt like when he started falling over and suddenly be saved by the 3 foot high rail. I think Tracey finally understood what I was trying to say to her when we took this frightening turn days before. Rarely do I suffer any kind of anxiety, but that trip down the mountain was a serious mental workout for me and it also played a huge part in my decision to go home a different route.

I got this stupid idea in my head to go back the I-95 around Washington, DC and thru Baltimore route, especially knowing that we would have had to make it up the mountain and around the tilted 18 wheeler who would still be there clinging to the rail and holding up larger traffic until help came. Theoretically it is about 2 hours or 70 miles shorter than the I-81 route we traveled to Virginia using, but of course the outer loop around DC is one of the most congested roads in America and down right scary when thinking about merging in and out of traffic with this super duper motorcoach of ours. But I really didn't want to travel the I-81 route again, been there and done that kinda thing and who knows, I might have gotten lucky and caught DC at a good time - yeah... right... 

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