Week 53
Last week, we crossed our last state line for this trip back into our home state of Virginia, and we exploring our own backyard again this week inching our way ever closer to home…as slowly as we can…
Day 367 Mon 04/09
This morning we drove from the Walmart in Alta Vista, VA (FYI, it was snowing) to Lynchburg, VA to stock up on groceries. We ate lunch at a yummy vegan restaurant called Urbavore and tried jackfruit crabby cake sliders and a tofu bahn mi. We have both had raw jackfruit before and thought it was not the greatest, but we have been wanting to try it prepared differently and we were a fan! After lunch we drove to our Harvest Host spot for the night at Mountain Cove Vineyards. We met the owner, Al Weed, who showed us where to park the RV and invited us in for a tasting even though they are technically closed today. Al was a good storyteller and shared how he got into this business so many years ago. He and his wife bought the 62-acre farm in 1973 for $42,000 ($235,000 in today’s money) and planted vines and fixed up the old house and barns on the property…this winery is considered a farm winery and is one of oldest vineyards in Virginia…Al and a few others pioneered the wine industry in this region. Unfortunately, he and his wife are looking to sell the winery in the near future because their kids don’t want to take over the family business. I’m sure it will sell for a lot more than that though. We found out the buds on the vines usually break mid-April, so we are a bit early and they are hoping for no more cold spells just like we are. The views and peace and quiet were perfect, and we even imagined that we could live in his tiny tasting room cabin. We bought a bottle of their rose even though it is still cold and enjoyed it with veggie chili tonight for dinner.
Day 368 Tues 04/10
This morning we left the winery and drove to fill up the propane, hopefully for the last time, at the Charlottesville KOA. I had arranged for us to volunteer at Bellair Farm southeast of Charlottesville near Blenheim Vineyards. It is an organic CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm and they are open to volunteers anytime to help out. This week a local school with about 200 kids were volunteering in the mornings everyday and they were leaving as we pulled up. Today they were planting onions in the field and we also seeded okra and scallions in the green house, in addition to unloading a UPS truck with a pallet of livestock feed. The woman who owns the farm has a large regular crew of young college age kids or people taking a break from other careers and two managers for the 40 acres of planted fields in addition to livestock. This week a middle schooler named Linden was helping out the crew as his spring break community service project. He wanted to live off the land when he grows up. I was curious about the organic certification and for the 40 acres it costs $2000/year to certify. This was a priority for the owner and based on the output and the support of the farm this is not a huge expense that they feel. They also have a 45 MW solar array to offset the barn with several cold storage coolers, the green house, and worker housing at the farm. The farm donates tons of produce to local organizations, and 20 shares to individuals out of the 500+ shares to paying customers. It was such a pleasure to be a part of such an awesome concept even if it was only for the afternoon. It was definitely HARD work and I’m gonna be sore tomorrow. We were given a dozen eggs and a place to park the RV for the night for our time and labor. The sunset was beautiful over the farm with the mountains in the background.
Day 369 Wed 04/11
This morning we left the Bellair Farm early before the crew started their shift for the day and drove into Charlottesville. We restocked on groceries at Trader Joes and Integral Yoga and Natural Food Store (recommended by one of the farmers). We also checked out a quirky art park that seemed like a good idea in concept but didn’t seem to be managed well and it was quite run down. From Charlottesville we drove to Crozet for lunch, beer, and to stop by the local running store. We chit chatted for a bit with the running store owner, Michelle Anderson, and shared some VHTRC stories. Lunch at Crozet pizza hit the spot and we stopped by the new ProReNata Brewery for a flight. Unfortunately, we were not impressed with their beer, but the facility was nice. They had a good view and a cool outdoor patio with fire pit, but it was right off the highway. We also checked out Seven Arrows Brewery in Waynesboro, and their beers were better, but the atmosphere was lacking. We found out from the bartender why both the breweries in Waynesboro were not in downtown…apparently there are people on the city council that are also business owners in downtown Waynesboro that don’t want the competition…even though the downtown desperately needs the facelift and extra traffic…it is dead. He also shared a bit about the recent million-dollar payout from DuPont to the city for polluting the water…not sure how they are going to use that money…Tonight we stayed at the Walmart in Waynesboro.
Day 370 Thurs 04/12
This morning we left Walmart in Waynesboro, and drove into Shenandoah National Park for a campsite for the weekend at Big Meadows Campground. After securing a campsite we walked to the Visitor Center and then hiked the trails through the meadow and on the AT (Appalachian Trail) back to the campground. John made Mushroom Stroganoff for dinner and it was tasty. I could see the sun setting from our campsite but decided to run to see if I could get a better view and I saw a couple coming down from the closed for the season lodge so I snuck up there to the patio for an awesome view all to myself! I will definitely be coming back to this spot tomorrow too!
Day 371 Fri 04/13
This morning John went for a run on the trails nearby and took advantage of the beautiful warm sunny day. I posted up at the Visitor Center for cell service for the afternoon to work on the blog. John’s running friend Brett met us to camp for the weekend. We hung out by the fire for a bit before an early bedtime. Brett was meeting several other VHTRC runners for a 50-mile run tomorrow morning very early. I ran up to the lodge patio to catch the sunset again. There were more people there tonight as the campsite started to fill up for the weekend and more people knew about the secret sunset spot. I heard someone else’s phone ding while I was up there so now I know it is a secret cell service spot too!
Day 372 Sat 04/14
Brett left early (4:30 am) to meet up with VHTRC for their 50-mile run in the mountains today. It was another beautiful warm sunny day today. We hung out on the lodge patio this morning to post the blog…I found out you could get cell service there last night. This afternoon we took advantage of the warm weather and we re-glued our cabinet laminate that was peeling. It was quite the set up since we were using rubber cement and it is a bit tricky to work with and it stinks really bad. We knocked out our project in a few hours then relaxed by the fire. Brett and Sheila came back early from the run and we hung out by the fire for the night sharing stories after Sheila went for a run on the AT. I made Bibimbab for dinner then I checked out the sunset on the lodge patio again. The campground was FULL tonight and felt like peak season.
Day 373 Sun 04/15
This morning John made a fire and I made biscuit cinnamon rolls to cook on the fire and roasted sweet potatoes for dinner later tonight. Brett and Sheila left this morning to head back to city life. This afternoon before the weather came through we hiked the AT north with Cooper. As soon as we finished, the fog rolled in this afternoon and this was much more the Big Meadows weather that we are used to but luckily, we had several days of awesome weather. Tonight around 9:30pm, we were woken up by the camp host knocking on the RV door telling us to seek shelter in the bathrooms and that we were under a tornado and severe weather warning…so, we packed up the animals and I grabbed a bug out bag: water, snack, headlamps, laptop, wallet, keys, Bible, phones…all John grabbed was a chair…I did forget the camera. Now I know that I am the one that needs to be prepared next time. We met our neighbors in the men’s restroom…there were about 8 of us including Cooper and Buster and another cat crammed in…thankfully this did not happen last night when the campground was FULL! The storm ended up going south of us, so the campground host released us back to our RVs after about 15-20 minutes. Thank goodness since I am super terrified of tornados! It did rain ALL night though! HARD!
This week we were excited to hang out for several days in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park that we love, and next week we are looking forward to checking out the valley and on to the Massenuttens.
This map below indicates the route we took last week from Alta Vista, VA to Shenandoah National Park.
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