Campgrounds – Page 9 – On the Road with Dan & Amy

Laurel Creek RV Park

Our 5th wheel precariously perched over the creek bank

We arrived at this small RV park in Damascus, VA on Tuesday. Backing into our site was a challenge as we didn’t have much room to maneuver. Since the backend of the RV was going to be hanging out over the creek bank, we took our bikes off before we started. The weather was sunny so we walked around town to stretch our legs. There are at least six bike shops in this very small town! Some of the local businesses, like the ice cream shop, are closed during the first part of the week so we had to settle for a beer at a trailside cafe that just opened.

Chantilly Farm Campground

After our stay in Harpers Ferry we made our way south on I-81 to Chantilly Farm Campground, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains just outside of the town of Floyd, VA. It is a beautiful setting of rolling hills and views of the mountains just starting to show signs of fall colors. The office that you need to check in with is located at the top of a relatively steep hill on a gravel road. When we arrived, they were backed up a bit checking people in so we decided to stop at the bottom of the hill and wait our turn as opposed to stopping halfway up. After we checked in, we were guided to our site that required a few attempts to back into properly. Once in, however, we were perfectly situated on our site.

Harpers Ferry

Trying to decide the route to take from Canyon Country to Harpers Ferry was challenging. Did we want to go down 15 and pick up 81 in Harrisburg or did we want to try the more western route down 99/70/76 to 81? We ended up actually taking 287 out of Wellsboro and connecting to 220 that took us to 99 and eventually onto 81 via 70 and 76. The 50+ miles on 287 and the 15 or so miles on 9 coming into Harpers Ferry from 81 were the only miles not on a 2 lane highway. This route was a bit longer in distance but the driving was pretty easy and there were no congested towns or cities to go through. We arrived at the KOA around 3:00 in the afternoon and managed to squeeze into our pull through after re-adjusting our angle into the site.

Canyon Country Campground

We were able to close up and setup in weather that wasn’t too bad. Everything in between is another story. The rains came down steadily while we traveled from the Rochester area to central PA. It was at its heaviest as we traveled route 6 from I-99/15 to the town of Wellsboro. This was also my first experience with the truck’s engine assisted breaking when towing down hill. It will take some getting used to as the truck automatically shifted down to 3rd gear and allowed the RPMs to rev. I can’t imagine what its going to be like out west with severe and lengthy downhill grades.

Our Summer in Holley, NY

To get used to living in our 5th wheel, we booked a seasonal site at Red Rock Ponds campground just northwest of Holley. We moved in on May 18th and will be moving out and hitting the road on October 11th. It has been a very eventful summer with a lot of stress.