Wynn Worlds

Vagabond Photographer, full-timer in a tiny trailer.

Trailer Life

Review: O’Leno State Park, FL

Review: O’Leno State Park, FL

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Continuing my November tour of Florida State Parks within driving distance of my home base of Gainesville, I stayed four nights at O’Leno State Park, about five miles north of High Springs, and maybe 15 minutes of I-75 and Alachua. If you want a stop on the way north or south, this is a pretty good park.

It does have one big drawback if you’re sensitive to noise: you can hear the I-75 traffic, night and day. As the crow flies it’s only a few miles from the interstate, so the trucks and cars provide a constant background drone. Even when hiking, I was reminded that I wasn’t that far away from “civilization” and its attendant noises.

The big attraction for me at O’Leno was two-fold. First, this suspension bridge is way cool. It moves a bit as you walk across it and it has good water views of the Santa Fe River flowing underneath it. Reminded me of playing on a kid’s size suspension bridge years ago in Monterey with my little friend, who delighted in making the bridge bounce up and down. I might have done a little bouncing on this one because Liam was right, it IS a fun thing to do!

The second big attraction at this park were the cabins and this beautiful outdoor space, both built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. Every time I see these CCC creations, I wonder why we can’t do that type of program now, and give people meaningful work if they need it. Our parks, our open spaces, our cities, could use the help to provide more recreation spots for everyone (well, once this pandemic thing is done and dusted). If 2020 has taught us many lessons, one of them has to be that outdoor spaces are integral to our collective mental health. Let’s invest in making the outdoors more widely available and more accessible to everyone.

The park features several trails, and I walked the river trail (about 45 minutes) in both directions, seeking out water views (one is the cover photo) and wildlife. Didn’t see much of the latter, which I suppose is good, considering wildlife here in Florida always includes gators. The traffic noise from I-75 was a distraction, but I tried my best to tune it out.

I was surprised by the beauty of the light on this dying palm and couldn’t resist taking a picture of it.

And just because O’Leno seems to lend itself to portrait images (rather than the wide landscape ones), here’s one more, the underside of that suspension bridge reflected in the still waters of the Santa Fe.

O’LENO STATE PARK (FLORIDA STATE PARKS)

  • Site 12 in the Magnolia loop (water/electric). You can’t really tell from the map, but 12 and 13 are almost “paired” sites they are so close together. For privacy, the best sites in the loop are 14, 15, and 16. Site 22 is the lone pull-through site, good for an overnight stay, but it is very close to both 21 and 23 so not much privacy at all.
  • The campground loop and the dump station are both unpaved, sandy roads, so take them slowly. Reserve at Florida State Parks on ReserveAmerica.
  • Services: electric/water with dump station. Bath house with showers and toilets. One trash station with aluminum can recycling (yay!)
  • Decent ATT and Verizon signals, ATT slightly more reliable.
  • Groceries: 10 minutes south to High Springs, where you’ll find a Winn-Dixie, a few gas stations, and the closest Post Office. 15 minutes to the Publix in Alachua, along with I-75 and fast food places.

I would rather be amongst forest animals and the sounds of nature, than amongst city traffic and the noise of man.

Anthony Douglas Williams

Alto: 2019 Mods

Alto: 2019 Mods

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Editor’s Note: I started writing this 11 months ago, but then, well, 2020 happened. I finally finished it, mostly so I have a record of the changes I’ve made over time.

Sooner or later, most people modifies their living space, whether it’s a two-story house in the suburbs or a tiny trailer. It took me about a year to make ANY changes to my Alto 1743. The trailer comes with a 2-year warranty from Safari Condo, so I respected that and didn’t go drilling holes or changing much until that 2 years was up. And then this year, I definitely worked on making my tiny house a more comfortable home. 

So in order of how much they changed my life, here’s the five biggest things I changed in 2019:

  1. Lagun table mount
  2. New cushion covers
  3. Surge protector
  4. Dump hose carrier
  5. Bathroom door, wall, and mirror

Lagun Table Mount

One of the big perks of the Altoistes Facebook group is reading about other people’s modifications and thinking if that’s something I could use. It took me about a month after the first Lagun mount conversion pictures were posted before I decided to go for it. I bought the kit and brought it to Colorado, where I camped with fellow Altoistes, including the designer of the additional mount supports for Altos. He installed it for me, which I really appreciated since I was still fighting altitude sickness and a slight case of bronchitis at the time. 

Look at all that room under the table now!

This table mod literally changed the way I feel about my front area. It’s SO EASY to move it around, get to the storage areas, and clean the floor. The horrible tracks on the floor that used to hold the old table setup are gone and the floor is completely clear of obstructions. I’m so happy with this mod, I think everyone with an Alto would love it.

New Cushion Covers

When I ordered my Alto, I hesitated about choosing the cushion covers and lost out on the last round of green fabric, so I went with the new turquoise that Safari Condo was offering instead. It was OK, but it took a beating over the last three and a half years of my vagabond life. So when a new blue fabric was announced, I figured that was my sign to go ahead and order new covers direct from Safari Condo.

It was change out the covers on the front cushions, except the velcro has reversed sides since 2016 so I had to buy some sticky-back velcro to put on the walls that matched the velcro on the new covers.

Front cushions with the new blue fabric!

The hard part was the two long back bed cushions, where they are screwed into a long L-bracket. Thankfully, my clever and patient nephew, Kevin, figured out a few hacks to get things put back together, although we had to uncover the Truma to get at one of the screws and we both did a little swearing at screws and tight clearances. Now, though, worth it! 

Re-installing the back cushion over the Truma (in foreground) with four hands, one stubby screwdriver, and much patience.

Surge Protector

Thanks to another very talented and generous friend in Virgina, my Alto now has an onboard surge protector. It’s tucked into the front storage hatch, above the caravan mover and just to the left of the inverter/converter. It has a little readout for status, which I ended up mounting that right next to the big black box because it’s very convenient when I’m hooking up the power. 

I’ve always had at least minimal surge protection, using a big heavy yellow thing I plugged into the power pole at the campsite, and then plugged the big heavy yellow power cord into that and then to the Alto. Now, I just plug the power cord into the power pole and Alto, then watch the Progressive do its thing to check the power is good. After 15-20 seconds, the click and display numbers tell me I’m good. And if there’s a low voltage or surge, the device turns off power to the inside of the Alto. The first night, as a matter of fact, there was a power dip, and it clicked off and the A/C went with it. About a minute later, power was restored and the A/C restarted too. So it definitely works! 

Dump Hose Carrier

If you have an Alto, you’ve probably directed at least a few strongly worded phrases towards the default hose holder, tucked under the left front area of the trailer. I know I have 😉 So when I saw this longer hose carrier mounted just behind the battery box on the tongue of a friend’s Alto, I HAD to have it. Picked it up a friends’ house the next month, installed it with some industrial strength sticky velcro, and I love it.

It easily handles the better, longer, Rhino hose I used to have as a backup. And it is SO EASY to pull out the hose and put it back. Oh, man, I should have done this about two days after picking up my Alto in 2016. It’s that much of a game-changer for “dump tank” days. (Note: the velcro had a hard time staying stuck, due to the curve of the coroplast, so I crazy-glued it on. Seems to be staying now…)

Bathroom Door, Wall, and Mirror

I probably wouldn’t have changed any of this except for ticks. The bathroom door on the Alto has a round mirror about face height, which makes it difficult to see ticks anywhere other than my head. After three tick scares in one year, I wanted a bigger mirror. So I decided to dump the door and get a better mirror at the same time.

I put up light curtains from Target, which makes the bathroom so much easier to get in and out of. I went online and bought a custom-cut glassless mirror and had it shipped to where I would be in a month. The wall next to the ex-door is actually the one place in my Alto that can take a decent length wood screw, so I mounted the mirror with some serious screws and then added decorative screw covers.

I also found (on Amazon) another of the book racks that Safari Condo uses and it acts as a bookcase or fruit and veg bowl, depending on the day. 

The new mirror meant the coat rack that had been hanging out on that wall (sorry, bad pun!) had to find a new home. I found a nice straight four-hook holder from Target that easily screwed into the reverse side of the wall. Yes, it’s the bathroom, but it’s also the coat closet, laundry bag storage, and trash and recycling area. I make my bathroom multi-functional!

Four hooks in a row, and a cool little push light from a fellow Altoiste (thanks, Tom!)

These changes means the coats are out of the way and I have a mirror where I can see every inch of skin for a tick check. And, yes, I know how to do a tick check now. 

  • Mirror from Dulles Glass and Mirror: 
    • 14″ x 24″ Custom Glassless Mirror, 1/4-inch thickness
    • Brushed Nickel Round Mirror Clip Set (1 set)
    • Note: Use screws about 1/8 inch smaller than what is shipped with the clip set or they will go all the way through the wall.
  • Black wire rack from Amazon

Making Changes…

Making modifications to your trailer is a very personal decision, just like deciding which model of trailer to buy in the first place. What works for me may not work for you or anyone else, but that’s the fun of customizing things. Don’t be afraid to make changes that will make your trailer feel more like home, it’s totally worth it. 

The essence of interior design will always be about people and how they live. It is about the realities of what makes for an attractive, civilized, meaningful environment, not about fashion or what’s in or what’s out. This is not an easy job.

Albert Hadley

Review: Reed Bingham State Park, GA

Review: Reed Bingham State Park, GA

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You know that saying, “It’s the journey, not the destination?” Well, this post is all about that because getting to Reed Bingham was definitely about the journey. I took all back roads because my brief foray with just the Ridgeline onto I-75 was enough to convince me I didn’t want to tow on that interstate: four southbound lanes of fast 18-wheelers, cars, and trucks and a lane repaving project that meant changing lanes involved a bit of a height change as well. And when I say fast, I mean I was going 70 mph and getting passed by almost everyone. So going 55 while towing on that interstate was definitely a non-starter.

Besides, the back roads are way more interesting. Check out this T-intersection. I have yet to figure out what a Primitive Baptist Church is, but I see signs for them a lot on back roads. And if look carefully at the blue billboard in the background (wow, that’s a lot of B words lined up there…), you can see it’s for Perdue, one of the people now in a run-off U.S. Senate election in Georgia.

A while later, I pulled over at a Walmart to do my grocery shopping and parked behind this trailer with a very bored cow inside. She did not even give my rig a second glance. First time I’ve ever parked next to a cow, though, so that was kinda fun.

Then it was time for the wrong turn and the hapless Garmin episode of the day. I missed the turn but Garmin assured me that the road 2 miles on would get me to the other side of the campground where I was headed. No obvious places to turn around so I just kept going. The turn looked good, paved with a stripe down the middle, which usually indicates it’s a “good enough” road for me. But, I was wrong. About a half mile in, the road became the red dirt that made the South famous in songs like Emmylou Harris’ Red Dirt Girl.” It wasn’t too badly rutted, and again, nowhere to easily turn around, so I kept going, albeit at 10 mph to avoid leaving a huge dust trail behind me.

I passed several farms, some with workers who just looked at me and probably mentally shrugged at that woman driving a camper down a dirt road, but whatever. I did find out what kind of farms because it was rather obvious by the bales of cotton in the fields. The last farm on the road had pink-wrapped bales so I stopped to take a picture because I can tell you it’s not every day you’re going to see pink bales of cotton. Between this and the cow at Walmart, it was an exciting day to be a vagabond. At least in 2020.

The state park and campground were nothing special, to be honest, just a two-night stay on my way back down to Florida that fit into the plan well enough. My pull-through site was generously sized and I did enjoy the full hookups, to the point where I did some serious tank rinsing the second day. Always good to get the tanks full of clean water and some Dawn detergent then drain them out again, all while staying on site and not having to deal with driving to the dump station. It’s the little things that make my day, and full hookups are definitely in that category.

There’s a nice lake and boat launch and I enjoyed walking around there and also on some of the trails. There is actually an extensive trail system for hikers, but with only two nights, I didn’t have time to explore it that much.

The thing that made me smile at this place was the live oaks dripping with Spanish moss. It’s such a common sight in Gainesville that seeing them here felt like a definite signal I was going home, or at least to my legal domicile. Live oaks are moving up in my hierarchy of favorite trees, not yet beating out the redwoods or sequoias, but they are getting up there.

I included this photo only because it is the exact opposite of the weekend campground experience. It’s quiet and calm in the photo, while the campground was sold out, packed with kids on bikes and party-loving, football-watching family groups. Me, I was dumping tanks and wearing airpods 🙂

Reed Bingham State Park (Georgia State Parks)

  • Site 43. Two loops, one with full hookups. Sites farthest from entry on both loops are the most private: 33 and 35 in the full-hookup loop, 5, 7, 9, and 11 in the other loop. Be aware that sites 15, 16, 24, and 25 are really close to each other, despite being in different loops; great for groups but not so great if you’re not in a group. Reserve at the Georgia State parks site. If you’re a senior, try to choose the partial payment option and then when you check in, ask for the senior discount.
  • Services: full hookups, electric/water with dump station. Bath houses with showers and toilets and laundry rooms (which I have come to really like in 2020). One trash station, close to both loops, but no recycling 🙁
  • Decent ATT and Verizon signals, but not fantastically fast.
  • Groceries: 15 minutes east to Abel, GA where there’s a decent Walmart, gas stations, and fast food places.

Sometimes it’s about going there, not getting there. Sometimes it’s the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination.

Drake

Review: Hamilton Branch State Park, SC

Review: Hamilton Branch State Park, SC

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This was my first time here, since I usually stay at the USACE Modoc campground about 2 miles south. Modoc closed Oct 1 for the season, so if I wanted a midway point between Asheville and my first Georgia stop, it had to be Hamilton Branch.

The campground is huge, with nine separate loops. Most sites are waterfront or close enough to it that you can launch a kayak from your site. But, and it is a BIG but, the sites are small, weirdly done and good luck if you get one where two sites share an access road. I saw a few big rigs that had driven head-in and I guess they hoped the other campsite would be empty when it came time to back out and go because otherwise, it was going to be a long, painful series of back and forth motions to get out. Not all the roads to individual campsites are paved, and those dirt roads are badly maintained. The stuff inside my trailer got all shook up, even though the road was only a quarter-mile at most and I was going 5 miles per hour.

So instead of showing THAT, I’ll go with a lovely view of the lake…

It IS lovely waterfront, and I did enjoy that fact morning, noon, and night.

There are so many campgrounds around Lake Thurmond that I really can’t recommend this one if you’ve got anything bigger than a van or 20-foot trailer, unless you can see exactly what your site looks like and what the access to it is. For $35 a night, I expected better than I got with this campground. (Also beware that SC state parks use demand pricing, so if you change your reservation before you arrive, you might be charged more for each night of your stay if the demand for camping has gone up. So far, SC is the only state I’ve seen do this, and it’s really a painful surprise should you need to alter a reservation.)

Hamilton Branch State Park (SC State Parks)

  • Site 31 (water/electric) had a water view and was a 10 second walk down to the edge of the lake. Could easily launch kayak from here. It was also a reverse site, meaning that if you backed into the site (the traditional thing to do), then the trailer door faced away from the lake and the utilities were on the wrong side of the trailer. Lucky for me I have a caravan mover so I just rotated the Alto 180 degrees.
    Most of the sites have water view and/or access. But beware, some of them are dead-end sites that requires some creative backing and turning to get into or out of. Reserve at the South Carolina State Parks website.
  • Services: electric/water, dump station, bath houses with showers and toilets. One trash station (near the dump station) and one recycling barrel for the whole campground 🙁
  • Decent ATT signal. Weak Verizon, mostly useless.
  • Groceries: 10 minutes south to Dollar General; 20 minutes north to McCormick and a Food Lion. 45 minutes to Augusta, GA, and all the stores you’d ever need.

Never settle for second best.

Anonymous

Review: Fort Hamby, NC

Review: Fort Hamby, NC

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I needed a two-night stop between Falls Lake, NC and Elizabethton, TN, so Fort Hamby fit the bill nicely. That it is also a USACE (Army Corps of Engineers) campground was a plus, since it gives seniors a serious discount on the daily rate. And it was only 15 minutes from Wilkesboro, where I could stock up and find some supplies at the hardware store that I needed.

After a bit of drama finding my campsite, which involved a couple of wrong turns and a serious amount of backing out of a campsite that I thought was the road, I finally found my site.

I made a quick trip into town for groceries but walked out of the Walmart after seeing at least half the people in there weren’t wearing masks or had them below their noses (what is up with the whole “below the nose” thing?). I knew I could also get groceries at my next stop because I’d been to Elizabethton a month before and the mask-wearing was close to 99% at that Walmart. The Lowe’s hardware store was better, mostly masked so I found the stuff I needed, did self-checkout (one less person to be in contact with) and scooted back home.

I feel safer surrounded by trees and not by maskless people

The fall colors were starting to show here, but mostly yellows and browns. Still, it was pretty and I enjoyed strolling the campground roads and checking out the north side of W. Scott Kerr Lake. (I stayed on the south side of that lake earlier this year, at Warrior Creek, also a USACE site).

The contrast between green trees and fallen leaves was accented by the late afternoon sun.

If I had to choose between Warrior Creek and Fort Hamby, I might choose this one, for two reasons: closer to town for shopping/stocking up and better cell signal. But if you really want to get away from it all, including no connectivity, Warrior Creek would be the smart call.

Fort Hamby Campground (USACE)

  • Site 6 (water/electric) was a nice little pull-through with a view of the forest out my front door. The 34 sites here are in two loops, so pay close attention to the map or you’ll be circling the campground hunting for your spot like I did. Sites 21, 24, and 25 have the most privacy. Reserve at the recreation.gov site.
  • Services: electric/water, dump station (unpaved), bath houses with showers and toilets. No recycling 🙁
  • Decent ATT and Verizon signals.
  • Groceries: 10 minutes to Wilkesboro and several, including Walmart. Closest as station is 5 minutes from campground. Wilkesboro also has Lowe’s Hardware, Goodwill, and a passel of fast food restaurants.

Y’all wear a mask!

Betsy Price, Mayor of Fort Worth, TX

Review: Falls Lake SRA, NC

Review: Falls Lake SRA, NC

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The whole of Falls Lake State Recreation Area in North Carolina encompasses three separate campgrounds. This is a review of the Rolling View campground, east of Durham and north of Raleigh.

It was a lovely drive down from Longwood campground to Falls River, all back roads with very little traffic. The only hiccup came when I was shopping at Walmart and my watch dinged to remind me I had a concall in 15 minutes. Oops, I thought that call was an hour later. So I sat in the parking lot of the Walmart and did my call. To be honest, not my first time doing a call from a Walmart parking lot!

The whole point of me camping at Falls Lake was to be close to Durham, where my shiny new truck cap was slated to arrive from the factory sometime between September 21st and October 5th. It made its local appearance on the 28th, so I had it installed on October 2. Definitely worth all the hassle of delays and alternate arrangements I had to make to pull it off because it makes storage that much easier to have the extra height.

While at Falls Lake, I was still rehabbing my wonky knee and cranky shoulders, so I didn’t do much hiking and zero kayaking, although that big old lake right next to me tried really hard to be persuasive.

Instead, I hung out with friends, socially distancing with masks. One friend, last seen in Lancaster, PA, was down in Raleigh, so we had a fun meetup at an outdoor coffee shop and then I got to experience the joy of Raleigh’s Saturday afternoon traffic. But instead of that photo, here’s one of the blue sky and a cool building.

Another friend came by to visit and brought a “new to me” zero gravity chair she had found next to a dumpster at her RV park (a time-honored place to put stuff you don’t need when you’re camping). It was in pretty good shape, so now I have another chair trying out for a place in my collection.

And to complete the trifecta of friends, I met up Monday night with an old running buddy who used to live in Austin, Texas but now calls Raleigh home, We figured we last met up face to face in San Diego in 2014, so it was good to catch up. We did risk a bit of contact, giving each other a hug because he’s one of my favorite people and I couldn’t imagine NOT hugging him, even in the middle of a pandemic.

After almost a week of hanging out, resting up, and socializing more than I have in months, it was time to pack up, hitch up, and hit the road. Next time, I’m hoping to explore more of Falls Lake, from kayaking to hiking, and, if the pandemic ever ends, checking out Durham and Raleigh.

Rolling View Campground (NC State Parks)

  • Site 24 (water/electric) had a little path down to the lake, which I quite enjoyed. The reservation site said this was a tent site, which I didn’t realize when I was reserving it. Turns out, no problem, it was a pull-through spot with a short flight of stairs down to the campfire and picnic table. Plenty of room for a tent or shelter down there as well. A loop is smaller, and therefore quieter than B loop. C loop has no services. Reserve at the NC Parks ReserveAmerica website.
  • Services: electric/water, two lanes at the dump station, bath houses with showers and toilets. Plastic recycling only 🙁
  • Decent ATT signal. Didn’t even try Verizon since I had used that a lot already this month.
  • Groceries: 15 minutes to the Food Lion on Route 98. Because the campground is close to both Raleigh and Durham, there’s tons of shopping options, from groceries to malls and even a Whole Foods.

The universe will always send us little reminders of its chaos and power. Certainty is a complete illusion.

Gary John Bishop

Review: Grindstone, VA

Review: Grindstone, VA

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After two stops that were 14 days each, spending a quick four nights at Grindstone Recreation Area was a different experience. No awning, no firepit, and one tank of fresh water lasted me the entire stay. I snagged Site 51 a few months ago, which was a big, semi-private site. It was one of the better sites for socially distanced camping: no neighbors on one side, far off neighbors on the other, and loads of trees out the back window. It was also was a long site, so I could have put another Ridgeline and a half in front of where my Ridgeline is in the photo below.

I’m usually a very healthy person, but 2020 hasn’t been keeping that trend going. The flu shot I got on Sep 1st seems to be kicking my butt as far as muscle soreness goes, so between that and a pissed off hamstring (no idea what happened there…), I limited myself to short walks around the campground and less than 30 minutes hikes on the nature trail loop and the start of the trail up to Mount Rogers.

Even with those constraints, the campground was quite enjoyable. I sat outside reading for a few hours each day and finished off three different library e-books in my four day stay. Not having internet at my beck and call means I read more, apparently 🙂

I also took a fair amount of photos, most of them playing with the light coming through the trees at various times of day. You might see more of this in a different post within the next week…

I did need to get on the Internet one day, so I drove east to Route 58. Found AT&T signal about 10 miles into the jaunt, and parked at Grayson Highlands School to connect. Bonus: the storm came and went while I was sitting inside my pickup, so I didn’t have to drive in the rain.

A few weeks ago, I was at Grayson Highlands State Park, which is due south of Grindstone and on the opposite side of Mount Rogers. Grindstone feels more remote, and quieter because the campsites are more spread out than at Grayson Highlands. Either one, though, makes for a very cool and soothing mountain getaway.

Grindstone Recreation Area (USDA Forest Service)

  • Site 51 is big, has privacy and close to the bath house. Sites 49 and 47 are also nice, and slightly sunnier spots. If you have dogs, site 52 backs onto a grassy area good for letting them play. Reserve at recreation.gov.
  • Services: electric/water, one dump station, bath houses with showers and toilets. No recycling 🙁
  • Zero cell signal, zero wifi. Nearest signal is about 10 miles south.
  • Groceries: 45 minutes to the Food Lion in Damascas. 60 minutes to the Walmart in Abingdon. Both places have gas station; Abingdon also has a Lowe’s Hardware.

 

The country does what the city cannot. It quietens the mind and brings simplicity into one’s life. The city does what the country cannot. It enlivens the mind and brings culture into one’s life.

Donna Goddard

Review: Roan Mountain State Park, TN

Review: Roan Mountain State Park, TN

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Roan Mountain is one of the jewels of the Tennessee state park system, according to their website. After staying a full 14 days, I’d mostly have to agree with that assessment. A couple hours drive north from Asheville, NC or a an hour south from Bristol (VA or TN), and you’re in the middle of a forested campground with hiking trails, the Doe River, and a short, beautiful drive to Carver’s Gap and the Appalachian Trail.

My favorite trail was the short one down from my campsite and along the Doe River as it ran down from the mountain and through the campground. I hiked it every day just to see the changes in the river, the light, and the leaves at different times of day.

I bounced around the campground, staying in three different spots in one of the upper loops. I wouldn’t normally do that, but when it’s Labor Day weekend, even vagabonds can’t magic the perfect campsite. For that three-day weekend, I perched in a tiny spot with my truck parallel to my trailer. It was probably a van site, but with a 17-foot trailer, I can fit into a lot of small spots and the campground hosts were cool with it.

I did a few longer hikes and was amazed by the amount of rhododendrens. This park is part of the big rhododendren festival in June and I would love to see that some time. Walking the trails then must be like drifting through flower beds.

My friend Scott came up for a couple of days with his (new to him) RV and we had campfire and conversation, along with a bit of a hike along the AT. We ended the day by checking out the visitor center, where I learned that John Muir himself had stayed at a now-gone hotel at Roan Mountain.

There’s lots to do here, from hikes to day trips to Boone, NC, to simply sitting outside and reading away the afternoon. This was my second time at Roan Mountain, and I wasn’t disappointed at all in my return trip. Even the overcrowded Labor Day weekend was worth it.

Roan Mountain STATE PARK (TN STATE PARKS)

  • Site 50, site 88, site 48. 48 is the best of the three, dark at night and quiet part of the loop. Big rigs and Class A RVs are not suitable for upper loops and should stay in the lower loop. Reserve at TN State Parks.
  • Services: electric/water, one dump station, bath houses with showers and toilets. Recycling in lower loop.
  • Zero cell signal, but great FREE campground wifi.
  • Groceries: 15 minutes to the Dollar General, which has a fair selection of groceries (but no fresh fruit or veg). 30-40 minutes to Elizabethton, where you have Food Lion and Walmart.

Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home…

John Muir

Equipment Review: Camping Chairs

Equipment Review: Camping Chairs

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Sit back, relax, and prepare to be amused by the saga of finding the perfect camp chair. It’s been a four year saga and I’m still looking, so the search may continue for as long as I’m a vagabond. I offer  this equipment review of camp chairs in hopes it might save save you some time or money in looking for your own perfect camping chair.

Chair #1: The Padded One

I started out with this club chair that I picked up at Camping World. With all that padding, it was comfortable and it was warm when the weather got cold. Since much of my first few months was cold and damp, this wokred out pretty well.

Blue padded camping chair
2016: Camping in Washington State with the blue chair

But… it was also bulky for folding up and stowing in the back of the Subaru. And when the hotter temperatures showed up the next spring, it was like baking in an oven. Suddenly, all that padding wasn’t the driver it had been.

Chair #2: The Lightweight One

I saw this slightly padded Moon chair on another vagabond’s website and decided to give it a try. It was definitely lighter-weight so it folded up smaller and it also wasn’t nearly as hot to sit in.

Gray oval camping chair
2017: Camping in Pennsylvania with the second chair

But… that round shape meant the bottom, where my legs stuck out, cut into the back of my thighs. Not so comfortable after an hour or so, trust me. Great if you’re small enough to curl up in it like a cat, but my knees didn’t think much of that idea.

Chair #3: The Swinging One

The Nemo Stargaze Recliner chair was definitely an improvement in a couple of ways. It was very lightweight, being mesh, so when it rained, it dried quickly. And in the south, it rains a lot, so a quick drying chair can be a big asset. Yes, I have an awning, but when I don’t put it up and forget to stow the chair before I leave for that hike, the afternoon rain comes along and then the chair is wet.

camping chair Nemo stargaze recliner
2018: Literally the only stuff I still have from this photo is the grey ground cloth and the Alto and the orange jack pads!

But… it didn’t feel that stable as a chair and my back craved more lumbar support. I did like the fact that I could swing in it, though, so I made a mental note that a rocking chair would be nice to have at some point. (The newer model looks like it a much stronger frame, especially the lower crossbar.)

Chair #4: The Back Support One

At a hardware store in Boulder, CO, I picked up this Strongback camping chair. They have two sizes, and the smaller one was just perfect for my frame. It’s got the best back support of any chair so far, which is a big win after a day of towing or hiking. I use a small camp stool as a footstool and that works out pretty well.

Blue Strongback camp chair

I can also use this chair inside as a desk chair, which is awesome because back support means I can work longer without getting all stiff and sore. So far, chair #3 is a keeper.

Chair #5: The Soft Rocker One

My current favorite chair, the GCI MaxRelax Pod Rocker. In January, I pulled my right piriformis muscle, which meant sitting on anything for longer than 30 minutes had me reaching for painkillers and a box of tissues to wipe away the tears. While waiting for my car to get serviced in Tucson, I wandered into the nearby REI and sat down in this chair. OMG. It was the first time I’d been able to sit without pain in a few weeks. I bought the chair on the spot.

The MaxRelax Pod Rocker camp chair in blue

The bonus is that it rocks. Literally. It’s got little pistons and it rocks back and forth. Ah…

Chair #6: The Next One

Now that I have more space to carry stuff around (thanks, Ridgeline!), I’m looking for a gravity chair, one of those big hulking monsters that you can stretch out on like a chaise lounge. I tried one in Boulder at the same time I bought the Strongback and now that’s the benchmark for my next purchase.

And if I can get it in teal, so much the better!

If you enjoyed this equipment review, check out my recommendations for camping equipment outside the trailer

If it’s the right chair, it doesn’t take too long to get comfortable in it. 

Robert DeNiro

Review: Grayson Highlands State Park, VA

Review: Grayson Highlands State Park, VA

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As crazy as it might sound for a full-time vagabond, I really needed a vacation by mid-August. I’m sure we can all agree that 2020 has been a hella weird year. From my own personal drama of the sway accident and aftermath to the worldwide pandemic, it’s been an unpredictable year and a stressful one. I had been aiming for Grayson Highlands State Park all summer, longing for the cooler temperatures and the remoteness of the place. Finally, I had arrived for 14 glorious nights. Yay!

I did some photography while I was here (of course) and decided I’d put this image first because it was my favorite from the time here. The forest here is quite dense, with a lot of underbrush. In this photo, I was trying to capture that density but show it also lets the light in quite well.

After two nights in a smaller spot, I arranged to move to this longer one when the current resident moved out. GH is one of the few remaining VA campgrounds that has non-specific reservations: you reserve a water/electric site and it’s one of a group of 10-12 sites. When you arrive at the campground, you can take any of the available sites in that group. Which meant I moved after two days to a better site. Worth it, both because there was no one on one side and it had the best ATT reception in the park. I could actually do phone calls from here, whee!

I also did campfires and watched the sunlight fade through the trees. And listened to the chorus of cicadas of high in the trees, the nightly lullaby of a Southern summer.

If you look closely in that clearing down the hill, there’s a power pole and I’m pretty sure it has an ATT something on it because the ATT reception is all at this end of the campground.

I did a lot of short hikes and returned over and over to one trail that had so much to look at with camera in hand. The last day, though, I went out to see the ponies and the views from the top of this short hill. You can scramble over those rocks to get some really good panoramas. The cover photo for this post was taken from there, looking east.

The park has wild ponies, originally part of the herd from Chincoteague. There are signs that say “enjoy the ponies from a safe distance.” In the top photo, everyone is doing well with distancing themselves from the ponies. Good job, hikers!

In the bottom photo (directly above), people are NOT doing good. These two groups were literally chasing the ponies, petting them, and posing for photo ops. It seemed indicative of 2020 that it was all about THEIR photos and THEIR need to pet the ponies, rather than what was good for the ponies and colts. I walked away, shaking my head and wondering why people can’t just do the right thing.

After fourteen quiet and relaxing nights, it was time to move on to the next spot. But before I go, I have to feature one of my favorite trees in the whole of Virginia.

Yes, the tree has grown up around a huge rock. It used to be one solid rock but over time, the tree has split it into four different sections. There’s something about that tree: the persistence of growing exactly where it wants to and doing its level best to ignore that rock.

Go, tree! You might be just the symbol we need for 2020.

Grayson Highlands State Park (VA State Parks)

  • Site 63 for 2 nights then site 29 for 12 nights. Reserve through reserveamerica.com website.
  • Services: electric/water, one dump station, two bath houses with showers and toilets. No recycling 🙁
  • Cell service: Verizon (none), ATT (decent signal around sites 25-29.
  • Groceries: 15 minutes to the local general store. It has a decent selection of food and drink, including some fresh produce in season. 45 minutes to Walmart or other stores in West Jefferson (south, in NC) or Abington (north, in VA).

Traveling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, “I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.”

Lisa St. Aubin de Teran

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