Dang RV

Pittsburgh, PA II

By Katrina Kane, on June 14th, 2009

Another trip into Pittsburgh to see my aunt before I head back west, as promised. My aunt and Pittsburgh are both like potato chips. One week was just not enough. I ended up staying 3 weeks again and still we came up with ideas for more things to do when I eventually get back. Sheesh.

It started out with me coming in wore out from Washington DC. I was exhausted. I had to stop at the welcome center/rest area at the border of Maryland and West Virginia for a 2 hour nap just to get to Pittsburgh. I love having my home and bed with me everywhere I go! We continued on and happily had no problem whipping the trailer into her driveway again. Again, I stayed in her house and ran the trailer refrigerator off propane and batteries with a plugin to recharge once.

My aunt, cousin, and I went into town to see a broadway play called Spring Awakening at Heinz Hall. It won 8 tony awards and had at least some of the broadway cast members. The play was written in 1891 and is set in Germany. It is about teenage awakening. It was so racy that it was not allowed to be performed in english on the stage for 100 years. Not only did we see naked butt and a couple sex scenes, but their best songs are “Life is a Bitch” and “Totally Fucked”. Everyone roared with laughter when they broke into the latter song. I rather enjoyed the “blah blah blah” lyrics myself which so sound like teenagers. It was both shocking and highly entertaining. We had great seats for it too. The ending of the play is not at all happy so be prepared.

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Washington DC III

By Katrina Kane, on June 3rd, 2009

With the Memorial Day holiday fast approaching, it was time to make plans and reservations. Every full-timer dreads the holidays when finding a discount at a campground is impossible unless you stay somewhere for a month. Forget using Coast to Coast, Passport America, etc. The Good Sam and Escapees discounts will usually still work and if you get reservations way in advance, there are always state parks, regional parks, and Corps of Engineers campgrounds.

My cousin and I had been trying to get together for a trip all year. She came up with the bright idea to meet up near Washington, DC to camp and spend the holiday in Washington at the museums and Arlington Cemetery. Now personally that seemed a bit crazy with the obvious traffic and crowds that would be there but after thinking about it, it also seemed rather perfect and certainly smacked of adventure. To keep the cost down and get around my work schedule, I went in early.

To get to Washington DC from Pigeon Forge, I had to stay overnight in Blacksburg, VA at New River Junction Campground. Now there’s a campground I would NOT recommend even to a gopher. While it sits on the banks of a lovely river, provides tubing and canoeing, and is a Passport America park, they have no bathroom facilities at all, are surrounded on 3 sides very closely by quite active train tracks, and the person who checked me in gave me a major load of attitude. He questioned why I would come a little out of my way to stay there for one night and flat out called me lazy for not picking up a phone and calling ahead for a reservation. Since when do campgrounds, hotels, motels, etc. absolutely have to have a reservation?! Isn’t the point to be there for weary travelers as well as those who actually know they need to stay there? And with the campground nearly empty what the heck was the big deal? I hadn’t called because I was not sure how far I was going to drive that day and since it was still out of season, the risk of him being full was minimal not to mention there were other campgrounds down the road if needed. How far out of my way I go is also none of his business. I don’t know what business that guy thinks he is in but it certainly isn’t hospitality. I will NEVER EVER go there again.

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Pigeon Forge, TN

By Katrina Kane, on May 17th, 2009

On up the 59 through Alabama lies the next destination, Pigeon Forge, TN. One thing I can tell you, I have not been on such a lousy main road since I was on the I90 through Minnesota. Ick! It shook my nerves and rattled my soul. I couldn’t wait to get to the I75. It was a long hard drive. I should have calculated the time better and broken it up into 2 parts. The closure of I40 through Knoxville TN didn’t help any. We stopped at the rest area/welcome center just across the border for food, restroom visit, and quick snooze. The dang cat was pushing for a stop as much as I was.

Finding the Eagle’s Nest Campground on Wears Valley Rd. sure wasn’t hard. Lots of campgrounds along it. This one is Passport America with no restrictions, good level well-defined sites, great free wifi, and free cable TV. The laundry room is a bit expensive at $1.75 per wash load and taking out the trash requires a car but the rest is good and it has a trolley stop right out front. Definitely a good place to stay again.

Oh my God! I have stumbled into another Myrtle Beach with bunches of dinner shows to decide between, wonderful restaurants, a gazillion fun tourist traps, Dollywood, Smoky Mountains National Park, fascinating stores, and on and on. Oh my God! Way too many decisions to make while I’m here. I will definitely have to come back when I have more time.

I had planned to hit Dollywood first thing on my day off but of course they had to be closed that day. Switch to plan B. I took a drive through the town to get acquainted, located the trolley station at Patriot Park since I will likely go to Dollywood by trolley, then got sucked in by Lid’l Dollys gigantic quilt and little girl’s dress store. I had to get beautiful and ridiculously frilly southern belle dresses for my granddaughters, a quilt for the daughter-in-law, and my youngest son will be glad to know I now have another blanket/quilt on board for the times he joins me for some fun.

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Childersburg, AL

By Katrina Kane, on May 1st, 2009

The idea of camping in a theme park attracted me to Childersburg, AL and Desoto Caverns not to mention it is very close to Talladega International Speedway. I’m not a huge racing fan but do appreciate the sport. I purposely came right after a big race. I’m not inclined to pay $70 to sit in the hot sun all day watching cars go round and round but I did want to see what the track is like up close and the International Motor Sports Museum.

The RV park at Desoto Caverns is right up against the theme park. They had assigned me a spot against the fence of one of the attractions but I quickly told them that would not do as I need to sleep during the day which would be impossible with all the noise of the kids. I had already driven through the park and knew where the open spaces were. Luckily, one farthest away and in a location with access to the southern sky for my satellite dish was available. It was level, angled, and easy to slip into by myself. They do have some nice pull thrus as well. They provide full utilities and most spots are level. Being Passport America, the price was right. I enjoyed staying there and the location is excellent.

The theme park was interesting though expensive for what it is. During the week many schools go there. Weekends is for families. It is fun watching the people mice running through the maze from the tower. Walking the wall, the maze, water balloon battle, archery, and the ship to ship nerf ball cannons were popular. The cave crawl looked interesting though I would not want to be trapped in the box with others as some did. My favorite was racing potties and bathtubs. I kid you not. They have motorized battery driven toilets and bathtubs with a whole lot of pep to race around a track.