After our visit to Virginia's Historic Triangle, we tried our first car camping on the way back home. Whether we would be happy campers or not would be determined after we tried car camping a few times.
First Night - October 2022 - Otter Creek Campground, Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia -
On the way to the campground located on Blue Ridge Parkway, we passed through a Buena Vista outlook overlooking a gorgeous view from the top of the mountain ridge.
We got a camping site close to the restroom, or Comfort Station as they called it, and it was so tranquil, other than the generator noise until 10 PM. The first camping meal was good and we went to bed at 7 PM because there was nothing else to do. There was no wifi or data signal. Oh well... It was in the middle of Blue Ridge Parkway. Duh... I had to drive to the next Visitor Center to send my SBS message.
Everything looked new and made me curious. This sign of Comfort Station made me smile.
After early dinner, we still had time and decided to do some walking on the trail. Trees were colorful and the walk was so refreshing.
When we checked in, we learned from the ranger that we as seniors could get a 50% discount on our use of the national parks, BLMs, and national forest campgrounds with the lifetime pass which we already have. What a deal! We were happy campers.
Second Night - October 2022- Blue Heron Campground, Kentucky - After the fist camping night, we drove to Columbus Ohio for a night because we could not cancel our hotel reservation.
After a night in Columbus OH, we went to this campground in Kentucky. For the first time, we learned that we could set a campfire using dead branches collected at the campground. It was thrilling. The campground was crowded with a lot of people and the camping sites were far too close, but we enjoyed the campfire for the first time. The meal was getting better and, with the campfire, we were still happy campers.
Third Night - November 2022- Twin Lakes Campground, South Carolina - After we returned home from our trip to Williamsburg, VA, we took some rest.
In November, we decided to camp out in South Carolina on the way to Texas for our annual family gathering. Our car camping improved each time we tried. This time, our camping site was by the lake. The sun was settling when we were eating dinner and the lake turned to gold in color while a couple of cranes flew in. It was so picturesque. We even saw a deer walking around our site.
But, there was an incident where I scraped my camper into a retaining wall while I was driving the vehicle on a pitch-black night. Alas! To make things worse, I discovered that my insurance did not have collision coverage. I will have to spend a few thousand dollars to repair it. Yikes!
However, however... despite the costly incident, we were still happy campers. We were acting like seasoned campers.
Fourth and Fifth Nights - November 2022 - Cracker Barrel Parking Lot - After spending time with my family in Lavon, Texas, and visiting San Antonio, Texas, we decided to try sleeping at Cracker Barrel parking lots. Craker Barrel is a restaurant with an old country store chain of 665 stores that are located in 45 states. They welcome campers to use their empty parking lots because the campers usually use the restaurant for their dinner or breakfast.
We spent two nights in a row on the way back home. It was generally okay. It would be convenient to use the Cracker Barrel parking lot as a stopover point.
Before the first night at Cracker Barrel, we stopped over at a lake and had dinner, enjoying a fantastic sunset view. We also took advantage of the lakeshore walking trail for our daily walk. Kristin prepared Gal-bi and it was delicious.
We ate breakfast after the first night as soon as they were open.
The second night, we could not find a cozy and quiet place like the previous day. So we ended up eating the salad that Kristin purchased at a Walmart in the camper in the Walmart parking lot. At night, it rained quite heavily and we had to sleep in the shaking camper because of the storm. The following morning, we decided to leave early to return home. It was an interesting experience to sleep in the storm. Were we happy campers? Absolutely! We have definitely found a new way of traveling and were happy with gaining experiences in car camping.
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