Claytor Lake State Park

Our first stop was in western Virginia, just outside of Dublin at Claytor Lake State Park. The trip out from the Annapolis area was just as arduous as I had expected it to be. Pulling a 5th wheel through the Washington DC Beltway was a chore that I hope to avoid ever again, and I was happy to leave it all in the rear-view mirror as we headed out I-66 to the Blue Ridge Mountains. We arrived at Claytor Lake for a 3-night stay in light rain after a 5+ hour drive, and we had completed the set-up of our campsite in time for Happy Hour. This is a great state park, very clean with nice trails and the RV sites are level and nicely spaced apart from each other.

The next morning greeted us with temperatures at freezing, and at some point during the night, the active propane bottle had emptied so the furnace was not running.🥶 After a quick jaunt outside in my pajamas to switch the valve to the 2nd tank, we warmed back-up and planned our day.

CA departed for a morning “cell-phone walk” with a friend from Southern Maryland while I caught up on some readings. We then both headed out for a history tour of the “Howe House” on the lakeshore, and learned about the creation of the lake in the 1930’s.

Following lunch, we headed to the Wilderness Road Museum a few miles away and learned about the early transportation route by foot and wagon during the early days of the colonies. We capped off the day after sunset standing around a campfire, listening to a Ranger and Owl specialist talk about the local Owl population. No Owls came to investigate us though.

Sunday was a relaxing hang-out day at the trailer, with a morning hike, and I did some afternoon trailer maintenance work while CA worked on icons. On to Tennessee for our next stop!