Meadows of Dan

We recently spent a week at a new RV resort about an hour and a half from our home. Meadows of Dan is located almost directly south of us, but to get across the rugged mountain areas, we had to drive west, then south, and then back east. A very scenic drive but became a bit narrow and windy toward the end. Although, the resort was well worth it!

The objective of this one-week trip was two-fold. First, we always plan a mid-summer getaway in the RV. Usually, our destinations are just a few hours away. In prior years we have gone to Gatlinburg, TN, and Wytheville, VA. And usually, a couple of week-long stays at our local state park, Claytor Lake. We enjoy exploring rural small towns and great restaurant finds!

The second objective was to perform a good run through of all systems aboard the 40 foot fifth wheel trailer. And also the Ford F-350 truck. Our planned major RV trip Up North is quickly approaching and we needed to make sure that all systems are green for launch.

The Oaks RV Resort

This resort located just a couple of miles from Meadows of Dan is positioned directly on a mountain top with absolutely incredible views at 3,000 feet elevation. The resort is now into its second year of operating and the owners have plans to expand with cabins, an event center, pickleball, and more.

This resort is the best that we have ever stayed at in our pretty extensive RV travels. Everything was pristine and clean. Of course, being brand new certainly helped. On the downside, it is also the most expensive as well. There’s that.

Steaks on the Blackstone!

Just a few of the amenities include hiking trails, a heated swimming pool, Indoor pavilion with large garage doors, a gas fireplace, excellent restrooms and showers, concrete paved RV pads, and asphalt paved roads. They also have a laundry and dog wash facility.

The owners are a couple from Floyd VA and were RV’ers themselves for years and wanted to create a world class RV resort. They understand all the small things that make a park work well. I like to help support privately owned RV parks as opposed the Corp owned. More private owners are selling out to the large Corporations with a result of higher prices and less customer service.

Meadows of Dan VA – the town

As mentioned earlier, we enjoy exploring small towns, visiting their shops and eating establishments and chatting with the people. This little town is about a block long with small craft and gift shops on both sides of the street. With one sit down diner plus another Amish sandwich deli. And a cute little coffee shop. What else does a small town need? We visited all the above and the coffee shop twice!

Other Exploring

Our location was only about 3 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway and the world famous Mabry Mill. So, we visited a couple of times and twice took drives on the Parkway to have lunch at the winery Chateau Morrisette and the small town of Floyd VA. Great lunches at both!

On our last night we drove about 30 minutes to the town of Stuart down the mountain at about 1,000 feet. Stuart was named for JEB Stuart a confederate general. There were a few small shops, but we arrived around 5 and most were closing. The dinner at the Pickle and Ash was very good. This place was recommended by the RV park owner.

Wrap Up

This was a most enjoyable getaway trip and thankfully, everything worked as planned. It is always a bit of work to load up the RV and then unload after returning. We have stocked up a few supplies on board such as kitchen and bathroom stuff that we just leave there. That makes it some easier, but we still need to bring clothing, food items, and all the other stuff that we use at home on a routine basis. Remember, this RV is like a condo on wheels!

Next up will be a major RV trip for us anyway. A 4,000 mile to some unknown to us destinations! Take care and God Bless.

First Grandchild!

As I type this, we are celebrating the 1/2-year birthday (6 months) for our little Oliver! He was born on December 17 and is our first grandchild! His parents of course are our daughter Audrey and son-in-law Brandon. What a joy and a blessing.

After our being married for over 50 years, we were not absolutely sure that being a grandma/grandpa would actually come into being, but in this stage of life we are thrilled.

I had forgotten how quick they change from day to day. It has been awesome to watch his development to barely focusing his vision to now having two bottom teeth and beginning to sit up on his own. He is also a very happy and outgoing child, never missing an opportunity to smile and laugh.

Audrey and Brandon are both incredible and caring parents. It is very sweet to see our little girl become a caring and nurturing mother. Raising a child is not always and easy road but there are so many rewards as you help them celebrate their successes in life.

We are looking forward to many more years of spoiling this child!

Thank you, Lord, for this little blessing!

God Bless and take care y’all.

I’m Back – Blog Update

It has been a minute or two since the last update! Life has been either very busy or else we have been in the full retirement relaxing mode. And too many hobbies keeping me scrambling! One of my hobbies is to document our travels for family and friends and particularly for us to look back on the “active” phase of retirement. And I do really enjoy writing. Not sure what the next phase will be but probably less travel.

I plan to do a few brief updates of the last six months. It has been a brisk timeline. Including International travel, two cruises, birth of our first grandchild, a wintering as snowbirds in Florida, and a return to our home in the Blue Ridge mountains of southwest Virginia.

Back at our Virginia home, we have many projects and quite a bit of maintenance to keep the place up. So along with some summer fun trips we have a plateful to complete a few home projects. But we are very excited about some incredible travel plans coming up that we will share with you in the near future. Hopefully, I’ll keep this train on the track.

That’s all for now! Thanks for following along! Leave a comment, we love to hear from our readers. God Bless.

Travel Day to Lisbon, Portugal – Day 1

This fall Pat and I planned a guided tour of the back roads of Portugal and Spain. The tour company (Overseas Adventure Travel – OAT) has been highly recommended by its prior customers. I did sound like an interesting tour traveling from Lisbon Portugal (southwest coast) to Madrid Spain in the center of Spain. The route was a southern one that included may small historical towns and the real gem was staying in old historic castles or monasteries. Of course they have been mostly updated!

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Appalachian Trail – “Creek”

I had planned to continue writing about our winter in Florida, but have a new real time event that I wanted to share. I enjoy many of the local Virginia hiking opportunities either on the Appalachian Trail (AT) or any of the hundred other mountain wilderness trails. My idea of a good hike is three-four hours on the trail followed immediately by a good restaurant meal somewhere, then back home to shower and rest. We are blessed in this area to have a plethora of hikes available! This week, I joined an AT Through Hiker for a few hikes, including one that was very challenging!

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