THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Time for us to get to our summer workplace in Virginia, as we had committed to begin work on the 1st of May.  Confident that we had packed (almost) everything we needed for the summer, we began our journey the last week of April  We only had to travel about 600 miles to reach our destination just across the Blue Ridge Mountains as compared to previous summers when we traveled over 2800 miles to Wyoming and 1500 miles to Maine.

The first night was spent in the middle of South Carolina at a small campground just off of I-95, after driving nearly 300 miles.  Our stop was uneventful, as there were no sights to see in this part of the south other than swamps.  

In the morning we headed to Concord, North Carolina to spend the night in the campground at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.  This was not your typical campground - nearly 500 spaces all on gravel with no shade trees anywhere to be found and the speedway within walking distance.  Luckily, the temperatures were in the 60's.  Here is view of the speedway as it will look on Memorial Day when the Coca Cola 600 race is run. 

While there is a NASCAR museum, we are not fans of NASCAR so we decided to explore the area.  We used the internet to search for craft breweries in Charlotte, wanting to sample one of the local beers, and easily found the NoDa Brewing Company.  Notice the hops depicted on the left of their sign.

 
If you look closely on the chalkboard you can see a list of the NoDa beers.  The tour was good, the price was right--free, and the beer was tasty and cold.  We both liked the Hop Drop N Roll, their IPA.  Catchy name for a really good tasting beer.

Because of the nasty weather predicted to roll into the area, we got up early the next morning to get on the road to try and beat the rain.  After attaching the car, we checked the turn signals and brake lights like we always do to make sure they are working correctly.  Uh-oh - no brake lights!  But we were in luck!  Right across the street from the campground was an RV dealer.  We were in their parking lot by 7:45 am.  We were fortunate to have the service department take care of us within the hour.  The technician found a loose wire, which he tightened.  It cost us a bit of time and only 1/2 hour in labor fees.  We were blessed that morning with a fortunate circumstance.

We crossed the North Carolina / Virginia border in the rain and stopped at the Virginia Welcome Center.  Paul is standing in the cold rain next to a flowering dogwood tree, a sure sign of spring, although we were chilled in our shorts.

We began to climb up a steep grade for several miles to get over the Blue Ridge Mountains, so we knew we were close to our home for the next four months.  We got off the highway, drove through the nearest town of Hillsville and then back out into rolling hills.  We took this campground photo several days later after the sun decided to shine.

We were cold and damp, but we arrived safely and had plenty of time to get things unpacked and situated in the motorhome before it was time to go to work.  Our one month "vacation" between the end of spring training and the start of our summer job was over. It was now time to learn the Lake Ridge RV Resort way of doing things.