Following Fall Through PA & VA

Pennsylvania

We were very excited about our plans to stay at Moon Lake Recreation Area in Pennsylvania’s Pinchot State Forest. Moon Lake is free (permit required) and has miles and miles of mountain bike trails. There are 10 numbered campsites and a rig our size will only fit in numbers 1 and 7.

Unfortunately, we had a few “dips” in full-time RV living this week. There was a lot of rain, in the forms of a nor’easter and a bomb cyclone, whatever the heck that is. A lot of rain is not fun when you are towing your 10,000lb house up and down dirt roads and it caused us to depart a day earlier than planned.

The bigger problem – metal screeching coming from our trailer wheels – was discovered as I was helping Michael maneuver into our site. We repacked the bearings (not fun) to see if that would fix the noise. Of course, after all the hours we spent with our wheels, we noticed two things. First, the source of the noise was a broken spring on one of the brakes. And second, one of our tires was wearing unevenly.

When I couldn’t find new brakes at any of the usual places we look for trailer parts, Michael suggested Amazon. Well, of course, there is no problem Jeffrey Bezos can’t fix. The one seller that had the brakes in stock happened to be a shop in southern PA along our planned route that could also install them!

On our way, we spent one night at Lakewood Campground near Pottsville, PA which unfortunately I did not get a picture of. It was very nice, except that it was $60/night instead of $0 like Moon Lake. We had never heard of Pottsville, PA but found out it’s the home of Yuengling, and a brewery tour cheered us up.

We learned that Yuengling is the oldest brewery in the country. The original building was built into the side of a mountain so caves could keep the beer cold.

Next, we continued south to the town of Chambersburg and settled into Twin Bridge Campground, 2 miles from the repair shop.

• 

• 

Staying here did give us a chance to visit Gettysburg National Military Park while in the area. There are so many battlefields and monuments and a minimum of 3 hours is suggested for a self-guided tour. We went on a ranger-led tour to Cemetery Ridge where days 2 and 3 of 3 days of fighting took place.

We also went to the Soldiers’ National Cemetary where Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg address a few months after the battle.

• 

• 

Virginia

With our brand new brakes plus one new axle, we headed to Charlottesville, VA to visit our friends Tiffany and David. Although we have visited them several times, hiked a lot of trails together, and sampled most of the local wineries/breweries, it had been 2 years since we’d seen them. We love the area around C’ville. Although pictures from this trip do not depict this, I can best describe the area as a mix of Kentucky horse pastures and Napa Valley vineyards surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. So, basically perfect.

We stayed at Misty Mountain RV Park in nearby Crozet. This is a great location not far from C’ville and very close to the southern entrance of Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.

Our first weekend day was spent catching up while hiking the Turk Mountain Trail in Shenandoah NP, followed by dinner at Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton.

One afternoon we walked around the Charlottesville Reservoir. Another night, we had dinner at the Dairy Market Food Hall.

• 

• 

The following Saturday we headed west to the George Washington National Forest where we hiked a cold and windy portion of the Appalachian Trail to Cole Mountain. We stopped at Devil’s Backbone Brewery on the way back. The first time we went to Devil’s Backbone in 2014 (?) it had one small building. Now it has an awesome outdoor patio, a restaurant, and even its own RV park.

• 

• 

We’ll be in NC through the holidays. And then, we’ll probably head west!