Looking For Spring

Looking For Spring
part 1

Let’s start with the good stuff:

We arrived Thursday afternoon and Anna and Dave moved vehicles and made room for us to park. We fit in the back of the parking lot even with Bob’s car attached.
We played lots with our granddaughter and had a very enjoyable afternoon and evening. Friday morning we made coffee in the RV and waved to the drivers going to work. Dave, Anna and Lucy brought breakfast out and Kim (Dave’s cousin) came in for some coffee. Later we joined more of the family for breakfast at ‘the diner’. Then everyone got out of our way and we took off.

We followed NYS 90 to the western edge of NY state (I’d never been there- Lake Erie looked very frozen). But I was surprised at all the vineyards. Soon after we took 79 South through PA and had our shortest trip ever through Pennsylvania. About Pittsburg we finally ran out of snow. We got about half way through W.V. before stopping for the night.

The real story- I planned very carefully and found three campgrounds that were (supposed to be) opened year round- two in PA and one in Morgantown, WV. The first we weren’t ready for and it really didn’t look open. The campground in Mt Morris PA was the one planned on (and had directions for). Both AAA and the GPS agreed on which way to go- it was not a road designed for a camper towing a car. The stop sign at the bottom of the hill and sharp left turn that had something major scraping the road was extremely frustrating and it got worse-when we got to the address for the campground- it wasn’t a campground. No choice but to continue on- eventually we did get to what looked like the campground (it was labeled a trailer park with a small sign for camping)– but it didn’t look open (did I say I called to be sure they had room for us and got a machine?). So now we’re at my last option- I called and same story another machine. So at this point we’re frantically looking through the camping books and while they were lots of campgrounds in northern WV, none of them open until mid April at the earliest. So we got back on 79 headed for choice number 3- but there was a welcome center-we figured we’d get lots of information- It was closed- we could get a map but none of the pamphlets that listed all the campgrounds etc. The Trailer Life (big) book had a campground that was near the highway, open all year- sounded great, it was after my planned 1st tourist stop but …, and they even answered the phone and were open. So we’re at Flatwoods, Sutton, WV. (Did I mention the rain and fog?- that added to the drive). As we got to the campground we hit one more bump and sharp turn and the cupboard opened and the jars of sauce fell out and smashed. So Bob cleaned while I went into the hotel to register for the campground. But the fun wasn’t done yet- the sites not level so we can’t open the slides. Apparently all the bumps dislodged something and we only had power on one side of the camper. So Bob went back out in the rain and eventually (several trips in and out and double checking the manual) he got things working right again.
I can’t wait to see what’s next. I think tomorrow will be a short drive.