It Looks Like It's Time to Buy Pool Noodles for the Slide-outs

Have you seen RVs with those silly-looking swimming pool floatation noodles stuck on the edges of the slide outs? We were pretty sure we would never be adding those onto our coach . . . until today. (Incidentally, this is one of those blogs that is not picturesque. But we have way too many fall foliage pictures, so we're going to sprinkle in some of those just to distract you from the narrative.)

After a week at the North Fork Resort in Front Royal, Virginia, it is time to head down the road. North Fork is called a resort because of its two swimming pools, game room, and daily activities. But all of that closes after Labor Day. So we were left with resort prices they can still charge because of the leaf peepers making their way across the Blue Ridge Mountains. We were glad to get five nights of half-price Passport America Rates, but the full price weekends were way over our usual budget. But it was worth it to have a good place to land while we had company. 

The next morning after Blake left, we were doing the usual chores to get back on the road. Denisa was securing things inside, while Mark was outside disconnecting the utilities. That's when Mark came to the door with blood dripping from his head, and asked for some paper towels. What!?!?!

All the utilities are in basement compartments with slide-outs over head. Mark has made head-to-slide-out contact before. One time he was blinded by the sun and hit it straight on so hard he almost knocked himself out. It's hard to be focused on the task at hand, and still remember those silly slide-outs stick out so far. 

This time Mark managed to make a firm connection with the top of his head and the sharp corner of one of the slides. We would include a picture of the gash on the top of his head, but we wouldn't want to make anyone squeamish. Denisa certainly got squeamish when she saw it. The good news is his skull kept it from going too deep. The bad news is he now has fewer hair follicles on the top of his head. He points out that he didn't have any extra to lose.

After the trauma of a head injury, it took longer than usual to get on the road because it continued to bleed for around three hours. We made the 2.5-hour trip to our next campground. We got set up at Yogi Bear's Jellystone Campground, and Mark took it easy the rest of the day. Again, we are at a family-oriented resort with a closed pool, water park, and rec hall. We like the half-price week-day rate with Passport America, but we'll be leaving before the $74 (plus tax) week-end rates take effect.

Just down the road from there is Cave Mountain Lake, part of the national park that surrounds us. We drove down the road to see if it would be an option for a campground after our two half-price nights are over. The road to the lake was a little narrow for a motor home, but it certainly had nice fall color.

The lake was also surrounded by trees that were changing colors now. But every reserveable site in the campground was already spoken for the week-end. There were several walk-up sites, but it was questionable if we could fit into these tiny sites we often see in old national forest campgrounds. There is no water, sewer, or electricity at this campground, and we also found there was no phone signal. We think we'll pass this time on paying $15 for a camp site this remote with no services.

So this is just a two-night stop at Jellystone campground before we'll be undoing those utilities again. Since we won't be going any place to buy those pool noodles before then, perhaps Mark will be wearing his bicycle helmet while he unhooks the utilities this time!