Salem Village and Family Time

We are currently parked in the Salem Village Mobile Park in Salem, Virginia.  Like I wrote last time, we stayed here for a month last year (April-2009) and then for 2 weeks last July.  It isn't an RV park in any sense. They have around 25 RV sites available that can no longer have mobile homes placed there permanently.  A year ago we paid $295.00 for the month's rent.  My cousin warned me that the rent had been increased recently.  Now a month's rent for an RV space with the 50 amp is $435.00.  That is quite an increase.  The daily rate has gone from $10.00 a night to $25.00 a night.  We stay here just because it is in my cousin's neighborhood.  There are NO ammenities here to make this an RV park except a coin laundry.  There is no restroom, pool, clubhouse or anything.  The price is quite high with no exchange in guest ammenities, but we're happy to be here for these 4 days. 

This is the entry into Salem Village.  This time of year the trees are beautiful and very green.  From the park you can see the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains.  They get the name 'blue ridge' because there is usually that bluish haze you can see in this photo that partially obscures them.  Lots of humidity here in Virginia!!!  Same thing goes for why the Smoky Mountains are named "smoky"....it is the haze that hovers around them making it look like smoke in the air.
(click on photo for larger view)

This is our site here in Salem Village.  You do get ample room to park any sized RV, including a nice parking space for your car.  Full hook-ups with 50 amp electric.  The photo on the right shows Gail and Rick's home here in the village (my cousin).

Last night we went to another cousin's house for dinner (Gail's daughter, Lisa).  We all used to live in southern California together way back in the day before we all defected to better locations.  This is Lisa and her husband Randy's home.  It is a beautiful brick home in a Southern Traditional style.

This is Lisa putting the finishing touches on our chicken dinner.    After dinner I took a photo (yes, a poor one) of Randy, Rick and Gail talking over coffee.

My 2 youngest cousins are Lisa and Randy's children.  Natalie, who is 3, wanted to show me her playhouse outdoors.  Nicholas is 5 1/2 and he just loves to ham it up for the camera.  Both of these children were so happy to see Bruce and I.  That was so nice, because we hadn't seen them since last July.  Kids that young can sometimes forget about relatives they don't see often.

We enjoyed our dinner and then said good-night when it was time for the kids to settle down for bedtime.  We plan to meet for lunch at Famous Anthony's restaurant Sunday after church.

We're keeping an eagle eye on the weather here in southwestern Virginia.  Thunderstorms and tornadoes could be coming our way from Tennessee.  Hopefully, it will go northeast of us here.  Keeping our fingers crossed!

Until next time.....so long for now!  

Visiting With Family Before Moving On

We got to Salem, Virginia before noon today.  It was a short drive of just under 150 miles.  We are here for a 4-night stay to visit family.  My cousin, Gail, and her family live here and since we were on our way north up I-81, we thought we would annoy them for 4 days.  :)

Spoonbill chicks at WDW's Animal Kingdom

 

Gail and her husband, Rick, live in a mobile home park here in Salem which also has about 25 RV spaces.  I'll take a few photos and post more on this tomorrow.  Today we got ourselves settled in and then did some laundry and visiting with Gail and Rick.  Tonight we went to Lisa and Randy's house for dinner (Gail's daughter and s-i-l).  We had a great time catching up with them since last July's visit.

Mrs. Duck and the kids taking a stroll through Epcot at WDW.

We have no major plans here during this visit.  We did a bunch of sightseeing last spring and summer when we were here.  Last July we had a nice day trip up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Mabry Mill.  From our RV space here in Salem we can see the Blue Ridge Mountains.  We love the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Parkway.  One of our all time favorite places in the country.

Squirrel eating his dinner while we wait for the Off Kilter show in Epcot.

I'm trying *not* to catch a cold again, but I don't know if I am beating it yet or not.  I have a giant headache and I think I'll call it a night and get to bed early.  I'll see about getting out around the downtown area of Salem and post a few pics on that.  This is a real nice town in Southwestern Virginia. 

A beautiful macaw we saw at WDW's Animal Kingdom.  He knew he was having his picture taken and actually posed.

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the weekend. 
Until next time.....so long for now!

RV PARK REVIEW: Van Hoy Farms Family Campground, Union Grove, NC

Friday was a long day driving from Unadilla, Georgia to Union Grove, North Carolina.  That means today we will have less than 150 miles until we get to Salem, Virginia where we will stay for 4 nights.  Friday we wanted to get north of Charlotte, NC before stopping.  Actually, there aren't a lot of campgrounds along I-85 and I-77 to choose from.  We wanted an overnight stop only, and did not want to drive over hill and dale far from the interstate to find something.  We found what we needed in Union Grove, NC at the Van Hoy Farms Family Campground.  We found this campground listed in the Trailer Life Directory.

We had traveled until 5:30 pm and the office closed at 5:00.  They had a register yourself bulletin board with a few directions for guests.  There was an envelope for your payment and information on where the 50 amp sites were located.  The Good Sam rate was $35.00 per night.  We paid our money and drove off to find one of the "big rig sites" they advertise. 

The office looked like a converted outbuilding from the farm days.  There was a perennial flower garden begining to show some signs of blooms.

The grounds are quite spacious and very grassy.  They advertise 100 tent sites in addition to 52 RV sites. 

There are a few seasonal trailers parked in the left of this photo. 

This is our site in the center row of 3 for RV's.  It wasn't the most level site we've ever had, but we did manage to get the MH leveled without wheels coming up off the ground.  Our car fit behind the MH without having to unhook it from the towbar. 

There is a swimming pool here but it wasn't filled with water yet for the season.  I checked out the ladies restroom and laundry room and they were OK.  2 washers and 2 dryers in the main laundry room and then they had 1 washer and 1 dryer in the restroom.  We used our AT&T wireless here and it worked fine.  Their ad says WiFi is available. 

This is a beautiful campground with 100 acres of property.  It has easy access to Interstate 77 but far enough from it that you can barely hear the buzz of traffic.  We would certainly stay here again if we are in the area, it is a lovely place to be.

Until next time.....so long for now!

RV PARK REVIEW: Southern Trails, Unadilla, Georgia

After a 1-hour walk through the Fort Wilderness campground at 6:00 am, we got ourselves and the motorhome ready for travel.  We left at 8:30 am Thursday and found our way to the Florida Turnpike where we connected with I-75 North.  Destination was Unadilla, Georgia.

A couple of months ago we made reservations at a Coast to Coast park here in Unadilla.  Strange as it seems, we spent last April 28 and 29 at this same park.  We checked in this time on April 29.  Last year we were heading south to Florida....this year we are heading north and away from Florida. 

We arrived mid-afternoon and were met by a nice woman in the office of the Southern Trails RV Resort.  She had our reservation form in hand and with a magic click on her mouse, she pulled up all of our information.  We didn't have to fill out a thing.   Since we were here last year, they have also added an affiliation with ROD.  That is new and we did not have this park listed in our ROD directory.  It could have saved us $10.00 if we had known that.  $10.00 for our Coast to Coast rate is still very cheap.  We did opt to pay the extra $2.00 for a 50 amp site as it is very warm and we want to use the A/C and do some laundry (watch TV, use the microwave, electric waterheater).

We selected our own site after driving through the 50 amp section.  They have 133 full hook-up sites and 58 with W/E only.  The rows in the 50 amp section are mainly gravel and narrow, but big enough to get into the pull-through sites easily. 

I think that the 30 amp. sites are actually nicer and have a lot of grass area, plus nice pecan trees to shade you.  Because it is so warm here, we skipped these nice grassy sites in favor of the 50 amp service.  These are some of the 30 amp sites.

This is the area of partial hook-up sites looking toward the Bath House.  This is the only true bath house in the park.  Up near the 50 amp sites, connected to the office, is a restroom with toilet and sink only.  I guess if the folks in the upper sites want to use the park restrooms, they have to walk quite a distance to get there.  Not great.  Here is also a photo of the ladies portion of the Bath House.  Neat and clean, but nothing to shout about.  We never use the park restrooms, but I try to include information on them in case a reader wants to know about that.

They have a small chapel and have worship service on Sunday mornings.  There is a small mini-golf course behind the chapel.  There is a nice pool that looked clean and well maintained.  The laundry room is attached to the park office and was clean, if nothing too fancy.

There is also a small clubhouse and we were told that "free" pancakes would be served tomorrow morning.  Ahh, we'll have to skip that as we are on a mission to get rid of a few pounds we somehow picked up at Disney World.   Southern Trails RV Resort is fairly close to Andersonville Civil War Prison and Plains, the home of Jimmy Carter, and we did both of those last year when we were here. 

This park is nothing fancy, but it is adequate.  It is right next to I-75 and you can hear a little bit of freeway noise, but nothing disturbing.  I don't think I'd want to spend more than a day or two here, but for an overnight it is just fine and dandy.

Until next time....so long for now!