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)
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.
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'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!
6 comments:
I sure hope you all are able to avoid the stormy weather. It has been rough in many areas. stay safe.
Your RV site looks like a very nice one. Quite an increase in price from last year but it seems well maintained and clean with plenty of room. And it is close to your family. :)
Enjoy yourselves and keep an eye on that weather front. Stay safe!
Mike & Gerri (happytrails)
http://freedom2roll.blogspot.com
Cute cousins you have there, Margie! I've been following those tornadoes back east - they sure are scary! I'll take our earthquakes any day. Hope they don't come your way. Stay safe!
Weather is always a concern, especially for RVers.
I hope you were able to nip your cold in the bud.
Glad you are able to spend some time with your cousins again this year.
Cute kiddies! Wow, what a price increase, but it's worth it to be with family.
We're beginning to wonder if the east coast is worth all the hassle and worry about weather. We do want to get to Nova Scotia someday, but we can make a diagobal across the continent, or go north from here and east across the highline.
Oh gosh.. did they give any reason for such a huge price increase from one year to the next?
Karen: No they didn't give us an explanation at all. In fact, we never even saw the manager. It is the strangest place. The office is almost always empty and the manager seems to show up only when rents are due from the fulltime residents (mobile homes and RVs). So, I put my check for $100.00 in the office mailbox and that was it. My cousin, who lives there, got the details from the manager and relayed them to us. It seems the owners just decided to raise all the RV rents. A few of the full time folks pulled up stakes and moved to South Carolina. :) We ONLY stayed there because it is the only park in all of Salem we could find. Dixie Caverns is an RV park a bit out of town and away from our family.
Thanks for your comments.
Post a Comment