Through July 8th

We spent July 5th & 6th at the Rural Retreat, Virginia, municipal campground. Rural Retreat is in a very, very rural, very Southern part of far western VA. The campground primarily serves the local folks. Ours was one of the very few out-of-state tags. The County Fair was in progress not far from the campground. One of the featured events was a Hillbilly Olympics. Can't guess what that might be. Spittin' chewing tobacco? Smashing beer cans against your forehead? Who knows. Fishing and beer drinking were the primary recreational activities of the campers. Very friendly people. Whenever we were walking around the campground they would stop and chat. We found a path that Carol was able to use to get to the edge of the lake. Took Gopher off her leash so she could cool off. It's still hot. In the 90's most days.
We enjoyed our stay here. If we were ever in the neighborhood again, we would come back.

On Saturday morning we went to the Corp of Engineers facility at Sutton Lake near Sutton, WV. We had a site right on the river leading to the lake. The campers reminded us very much of the campers at Rural Retreat. Local families enjoying the 4th of July weekend. Beer drinking, loud country music & fishing. A bunch of people just having a fun time. We saw the very same group of people in a rural part of Kansas a few years ago and again at campgrounds in rural Montana. This is the core of America I think. Decent people doing their job, raising a family and enjoying themselves.

All through NC, VA & WV we were surprised at how many people smoked. A lot more than we typically see at home. We had breakfast in NC and people were smoking in the restaurant. Haven't seen that in years. Saw lots of really overweight kids as well. I guess the health craze hasn't hit these very rural areas yet. An ad we saw for a local fireman's fundraiser breakfast featured biscuits & gravy. Of well. Not surprised I suppose.

On Sunday morning we left for the Colonel Crawford Public Park near Saegertown, PA. This is where this update is coming from. We're very impressed with this municipal RV park. It's late. I'll write about the Colonel in a few days.
Having a nice time. Found a Panera Bread on the way here. Good sticky buns. Can't criticize the overweight kids to much. :-)