RV travels around the USA
We left our Florida winter location on March 30th for our slow travel back to our home in the Virginia mountains. The drive is about 750 miles and while driving in the truck/trailer combination, I prefer to break the trip up into four segments, averaging 188 miles per moving day. That way we can be relocated and set up by 2pm and can go exploring.
The Thanksgiving holiday is one of my favorites. Time with family and a healthy amount of great meals. It also is a time to reflect on what we have to be thankful for. From our freedoms living in this great country to our many blessings to our beliefs. It was a full house as our son and daughter-in-law from DC came to visit along with our local son and daughter as well. It was a great time!
On a quiet Saturday afternoon, we took the short drive up to the city of Roanoke, Virginia to take in the new special art exhibit on display. The Taubman museum (LINK) has been operating for years and has many permanent displays as well as the occasional temporary exhibit. The reason for our visit was the new temporary exhibit called The Titian to Monet. This is a group of European master’s paintings that is being shown for a few weeks.
One of our favorite Saturday lunch places in our area is the town of Floyd Virginia. Specifically, the old Floyd Country Store, a local musical landmark. They host an Americana music lunch each Saturday from 12 noon to whenever. A couple of Saturday’s ago we took the scenic half hour drive south to this quirky little town…
We are now well into the fall season and the morning temperatures are sliding down below the freezing point. Although the day time temps are still decent and now into the low to mid 60’s. This is the first time that I have posted in four weeks and even though there are some activities to discuss, today’s blog is more of a potpourri diary of my thoughts. Kind of scary. It has been a very nice quiet and relaxing month. So here is a quick recap of our last month.
I have not mentioned very much of this hobby as late since we’ve had some other activities to cover. So, today I will share with you another pastime that I have enjoyed. I try to spend some time each week painting a landscape, an old building, or a still life. It is very relaxing and rewarding. And if it does not turn out well it is very easy to just paint over!
We have determined our route south this winter to Florida. No big loop to Louisiana like we planned last year. Just almost a straight south shot with a few stops along the way. Speaking of winter, the first day of fall has just passed by and the leaves have already started to drop. Our leave by date of December 1st is usually the end of the leaf raking. Today’s photos are unrelated to today’s post, but from last month’s festivals in the area.
One of my many hobbies is Amateur (Ham) Radio. And a sub-section of the hobby is setting up a portable radio station in a park and making as many contacts as possible with other ham operators. While I have been a “Hunter” for several months, this was the first time activating a park and have the hunters look for me. I selected a local state park, made reservations for four nights, and had a blast. My radio callsign is KC9LC.
Well, that month sure got away from me. I had planned to complete this post of our short week RV trip within a few days of the first post. But then my project list and all the other normal summer activities have happened. Such is life. Too many hobbies and interests and not enough time! It has been a great summer so far as we are beginning to see the end of the extreme hot spell and some more fall like temps.
We have never spent much time in the far southwest section of Virginia, although we actually live here. It is funny after all the years that we lived here and never took the time to explore very much. I think that is quite common though. When working, a vacation meant going to the beach or some more exotic location, not just in your backyard. So, it was time to hitch up the 5th wheel camper and head down there for a little vacation.