PEAKS OF OTTER….

Well folks…

There you have it…the Peaks of Otter…on the Blue Ridge Parkway….bet you never thought you would see me on the Blue Ridge Parkway…well I didn’t either…and take a good look..never again!! We  stayed at the Peaks of Otter campground with Liz & Thistle…I am glad I did …but really don’t want to do it again…

Peaks of Otter Mountain

Below is the entrance to the CG…that is perched on the side of that mountain you see above…This trip north…I have really disliked the mountain driving..but on the way back it has been better with new bushings and new tires…

Entrance to the Campground

Below is Liz’s pull thru site …that in reality is just a pull off on the side of the road going around the loop…Nice home on wheels with tow car behind…but no comforts of home..no elec. no water…did have dump station…no internet …to phone..my first real boon docking camping experience …(Wal-Mart don’t count)..in bear country no less…

And this experience came with a lot of “Firsts” starting with the boon docking…Well actually just getting to the CG was the real first…Liz worked out a route so that I would not have to drive the Parkway much at all..only 5 miles…but there was rt. 43 I had to take off I-81.. 5 miles on it to get Parkway…she was not sure about it…could be a little iffy…but it was only 5 mi. …well let me tell you more than a little iffy!!!(but I don’t blame her she did not know)…the most harrowing 5 miles of my life…it was  small ..skinny road what we would call in Pennsylvania  a paved cow path…STRAIGHT  up the side of the mountain…with very sharp curves winding upward ..some almost like a switch back…OHHH MY…is all I could say.. white knuckle driving…people who know me know that I have a real problem with high places…I once froze on a 10 foot garage roof…friend had a heck of a time getting me down…any way that is the reason I didn’t want to go on the Parkway…but really want to camp and have some fun with Liz…the 43 road that I took to access the Parkway was a mess also in some places it looked like it was washed out by rain and they would threw some black top on it …no grading it or anything…When I pulled in Liz said she was surprised …she didn’t think I would come..we didn’t have much communication because of no phone at the CG for her… I have  never driven on this kind of road in my truck or van let alone a motor home… Another first…I really don’t do a lot of long term camping with out at least elec. and water…so this was the first time I used my fridge on propane…worked out fine…below is a pic of my pull thru..same as the one Liz is in..First cable TV also…but that is later at another campground…

On the other side of the rig is where the picnic table, fire ring are located…to get there you have to go up the stairs…this CG is really on the side of the mountain…You can see the steps in the pic below…

On up behind the table is a path to the rest room…just before we left I was walking down and seen a hickory nut lying on the path…I looked up and there was a big old hickory nut tree…so I started to gather some of them up…my grandmother (dads mom) use to make him a hickory nut cake every year for his birthday..he has not had one for years..he ask me to find out from my aunt if she had the recipe…I think we found it…finding the nuts would be not easy…so I was thrilled I found some…so I am going to make the cake for his 90th BD on Nov. 5th…As I look back on this experience on the mountain…I think if I would have not had the rt. 43 mountain climb first off..I would have done a lot better..I was fine coming down the mountain..we did take a different rt…but glad I did have fun with Liz…I will make a few other post on some of the things we did…thanks for looking and come back soon..blessings to all G&M