Time To Go

We are leaving tomorrow.  It's time to return to civilization and the comforts of home.  This has not been our normal, wonderful, fun-filled trip and I can't quite place what went wrong.  We left home traumatized after the septic line backed up and overflowed in our basement the day before we left.  And the cats have been a constant  source of worry for me.  I have been so scared of losing them!  And there was the week of rain along with the week of having no refrigeration.

Last night we met the couple that lost the cat on Sunday.  They live just off the mountain and came up after their work day with hopes of luring Peanut from the woods with food.  Really nice people.  After sharing lost cat stories, we both started crying.  Lost cats, especially lost cats in the woods, really upset me.

And we heard another lost pet story from a Casita owner who was camping down the loop.  She said that a young girl lost her collie a few weeks ago when the dog spooked and ran into the woods.  Her fault according to our Casita friend as she did not have him on a leash.  The rangers did not give either party much hope due to the many coyotes in the area.

We have had a good day.  Ate breakfast at the Pisgah Inn Restaurant and hiked to the upper falls at Graveyard Fields.  Now we are mostly packed and sitting around the first campfire of the trip and I have marshmellows for when the fire dies down!

The next morning.

Ready to leave but will surely miss these wonderful temperatures.  It was 63 in the trailer this morning and 83 degrees yesterday afternoon.  Today promises to be one of those rare clear blue sky days.  I wonder how I will be able to handle the heat of home?

The pictures are of the upper falls, site B23, and the babies.

Sheba and Princess

Life is Good!

After days of storms and rain we have finally had a perfect sunny day!  We are still at Davidson River and currently plugged into one the electric sites.  We got on a waiting list Friday when things looked bleak and I was considering just packing up and going home.  I knew it would give us another option, move back to Mt Pisgah, go home or try an electric site.  Early Saturday afternoon we were informed that a site had become available and did we want it?

With all of my electronic batteries running down, we opted to move and pay for another night.
There is just so much to do here!  Yesterday was spent riding our bikes, moving from one site to another and going out for a late lunch at the Pisgah Fish
Camp and then taking another bike ride.   We discovered a wonderful trail that goes along the Davidson River that takes us all the way into town.

Sunday we attended church services at a tiny stone chapel that is on the edge of the campground.  It is called the English Chapel and I thought, with that name, that it might be an Anglican church or something British.  No, it was named after the first circuit rider preacher whose last name was England. We enjoyed the quaintness and being reminded of our southern roots.

I went to the swimming hole that afternoon and played in the water.  If I had a partner that was willing, I would have rented a tube and gone down the river with all the other tubers.  After the swim we jumped on our bikes and rode to a yogurt store that was almost in Brevard.

We have fished several days.  Even if I don't catch anything, I enjoy standing in the mountain streams and watching the water.  We tried to hike up Looking Glass Rock but it was too many miles cause we did not get started early enough.

We have gone out for dinner, shopped, bought groceries and washed clothes.  Making the most of our forest/city camping before returning to the isolation of the mountain.
 
But as the rain showers have diminished, the heat has increased.  In the low 80's today, time to return to Mt Pisgah!

Davidson River and dry camping

I am sitting outside the ladies bathroom at Davidson River Campground taking shelter from the rain as I type on my tablet.  Yes, this is a strange place to write but I am desperate to get my phone and laptop charged and they are plugged inside at the sink.

This is our eighth day without electric hookups.  We were able to set the solar up and run it three days at Mt Pisgah after the four days of heavy rain but this campground has deep shade almost everywhere.
 
We left Mt Pisgah for several reasons.  There are rules about not camping for more than 14 days at a time and we needed to hitch up to be able to dump. And I was getting restless.   This campground is about 20 miles from Mt Pisgah and about 5 miles from Brevard.  You go east on 276 and it is at the bottom of the mountain.  One of the things that I am enjoying here is having a cell connection at the campsite.  It is only two bars but I was able to activate my mobile hotspot last night and send some emails.
 
We have been able to keep the lights (LEDS) and the water pump going with the battery.  It is all of my electronics that need feeding so frequently.  We have a 200 watt inverter that will charge the laptop but the solar panel output was not strong enough to keep the inverter going.  My laptop battery is half drained after downloading pictures and doing some editing.  My phone stays turned off all the time except when it is being used and the mobile hotspot eats the battery.  Every time we get in the car, plugging in the phone is before putting on the seatbelts!

There are a few electric sites here available on a first come basis but I don't think we will be here long enough to go through the bother.  I thought it would be too hot here but it has been pleasant....staying cool due to the daily thunderstorms.  And the price is $10, only $2 more than Mt Pisgah (with the geezer pass).

We are heading out for dinner tonight.  Not sure where we will go but it is so nice to be close enough to have many choices.  We enjoyed a meal at El Ranchero Mexican restaurant a few nights ago. And Walmart and Bilow are a little over a mile from here.

We had a delicious BBQ dinner and David did not have to cook in the rain.

Here's some pictures from our day.

Mt Pisgah

When we got home from the big trip last March, I thought that would be the end of this blog.  Now, four months later, I find myself missing the blogging.  So, sitting at 5000 ft, at 9 PM, curled up in the corner of the bed in the Casita with my Siamese at my feet, I am starting again.
I am using an app on my tablet hoping I can get internet access tomorrow.  And since the Casita is no longer in the desert, there needs to be some fine tuning to the title when possible.  But I can't wait for perfection, life is happening now!

We have been planning this escape from the heat for a few months.  Last year we were up here at the Mt Pisgah campground on the Blue Ridge PKWY for almost 4 weeks in July due to a camphosting job.  We thought that we would have more fun not working this year.  So last Tuesday we loaded the Casita (recently christened the Chatta-Egg), the bikes, the hiking gear, the fishing poles, and the cats!

Meet the girls!  Sheba is a 10 year old mostly mellow Siamese and Princess is an 8 year old black and white rescue.  They are on this trip as I am giving this cat camping thing one more try.  It was suggested to me that a weekend was not long enough for them to adjust so they got thrown in along with all the other toys.

Our area has been experiencing record breaking heat.  Rain has been needed desperately so I hesitate to complain.  But 4 days of rain combined with closed windows, a husband, two cats and a kitty litter box in a 16' Casita has just about pushed me to the end of my limits.  I forgot to mention that our refrigerator is also not working!

Fast forward to Monday afternoon...what a difference a few hours can make!  I called a RV refrigerator guy off the mtn this AM that that been recommended by locals.  This, of course, involves going to the closest overlook to make the call.  He told me that our Dometic RM 2193 would cost $660 to replace, not including labor.  I told him all the things we had done to fix it, suggestions from other campers that we had tried including tapping on the gas lines. He said that tapping would not work but beating the h.... out them might!

With a prayer in my heart I took my husband's crescent wrench and followed his instructions.  It worked!  Look up RB's RVs if you have a problem in this part of the mtns. He's in Hendersonville.

Sheba

A 24

Mt Pisgah

Bamboo Festival

Arboretum

Just heard the first rumble of thunder for the day.  It has been almost 24 hours since the last shower! The sun has done a lot to raise my spirits.  We rode our bikes around the campground and it is almost empty.  Very quiet.  I have spent the last hour cleaning on the awning while David napped.  We may get cleaned up and go into Brevard for the evening.  I want to get this posted, excited to be blogging again!  My pictures may be under another post. Not too sure how this app works.