Today is December 23, we are at our first "destination," which is Williamsburg, VA. We will be here for at least seven days, but we may extend our stay until after New Year's Day to allow us to experience some of the Christmas and New Year events that take place at Colonial Williamsburg. We are staying very close to Colonial Williamsburg, at the Anvil Campground--which puts us between a railroad track and a roadway.. We'll see how that works out. 

Since the last blog entry, this is our seventh night on the road. We winterized and closed the cabin last Tuesday, Dec. 17, and spent that night at the RiverBrook campground in Rumney, NH. That  was another snow and cold gift from Mother Nature to take with us, in memory, as we travel south. The campground was in winter mode--meaning no running water, but their toilet and shower facility was very clean and heated. We recommend this campground.

The next day, we drove to Rhode Island to see Stevan and our granddaughters, Melissa and Julia, and to see, with them, the TransSiberianOrchestra performing that night in Providence. This was Stevan's Christmas gift to us. It was a great show. with excellent seats--center, in the third row from the stage. The performance was similar to last year's, but I thought the stage graphics and set was better than the one used last year. Stevan gave us the same gift last year--he'll have to come up with something different for next year because the word is that this is the final Christmas tour for TSO. We didn't camp on this night; we stayed in a hotel.

Thursday morning, Dec. 19, we headed out along US 6 through rural Rhode Island and Connecticut; something we have not done for years--very scenic. In Hartford, we moved to I-84 and travelled into New York. Around 3:00 PM, we stopped at a rest area to locate a nearby campground. We found one that was located in the town of Florida, NY. We called. When I asked if the were open, the woman's reply was, "What do you mean by open?" She then said they had full hookups--water, electricity, sewer, cable, and WiFi--but that their bath and shower facilities were closed. I said we would take a site. We reached the campground at 3:30. At the "managers" office, I found the woman I talk to on the phone to be elderly and with a spinal condition that kept her bent over, and had to walk with a cane. In the "office" there was also a bed-ridden man on oxygen. I paid  $54.00 for the night's stay and headed to the assigned site. After backing in and connecting the electrical cord, I looked for the water and sewer connections, but couldn't find any indication of either one. there was about six inches of snow on the ground. I walked back to the "office," told them my problem, then the two "managers" discussed how they could solve the problem. She made some phone calls to people that worked for the campground, but who had already left for the day; all she got was voice mail. She told me to move across the roadway to either of two other sites that she was sure had water and sewer. I did. They didn't, more or less; I found the water connection at one of the sites only because someone had left a bucket over the faucet. I couldn't find the sewer connection on ether of these two sites. It was getting dark and so was my mood. Again, another walk. This time the "managers" said there was a site at the far end of the campground, at the top of the hill, that had "just been vacated" so they were sure that there were water and sewer connections. Now, after B had secured everything that she had already taken out in the camper, we drove a long climbing road to the top to the hill. I couldn't read the site numbers, and all the empty sites were snow covered. Naturally, I passed the one we were looking for. I backtracked, found the site, walked into it, saw a faucet, turned it on--no water came out. Drove back down to the office--happy as a raving maniac. 
The "managers" solution this time was to refund my money to me and to let me stay at any of the first three sites I wanted--no charge--for the night. I had paid with Visa, so the woman was going to refund using the card. She took it, went to the machine, pushed some buttons, then said, "Oh no, I charged you again. I don't think I can do refunds." Now it was very dark outside and inside me. She finally figured out how to get a refund processed and refunded my $108.00. In the earlier blog I had said that we were not going to the state of Florida; I should have included cities, towns, and villages.

The following day, we left this memorable place. We headed south on US 209, which passed through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, a scenic and comfortable 35-mile drive. After leaving the Recreation Area, we stopped for lunch at a small local diner, Cherry's, in the town of Kresgeville, where we had two excellent meals: broiled scallops for B, and a half-rack of ribs for me. We each ordered a slice from two of their many homemade pies to go. We planned to have them for supper after we settle into tonight's campground. Again, around 3:00, we stopped and did a search from nearby campgrounds. We found that there was one just a five miles from where we were. We called. They were open and had full hookups. After last night's experience, we knew that could mean anything.
When we arrived at the campground, Twin Pines, in Pine Grove, PA,  we found a KOA campground located in beautiful site, with great views--and sunset. Their hookup connections were all visible. To top it off, they had a log cabin with several large rooms, each well heated, with a toilet and shower. This cost us $28.00 for the night. We were all setup by 4:30 and enjoying wine and TV.

 December 21, the first day of winter; we are waking up in Pine Grove, PA, not quite in the South--but close. The Weather Channel online tells us this morning, that our log cabin is expecting to see some heavy ice today and tomorrow--well, so far, that makes this trip worthwhile. B and I like snow, but hate ice. For the sake of everyone back home, we hope that the ice is not as bad as it was a few years ago. 
We left the campground at 10:45, and an hour and a half later, we were at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center. This is our fourth or fifth visit to Gettysburg, but our first visit to this new visitor center. The outstanding thing to see here is the Cyclorama painting of Pickett's Charge. This circular painting is 377 feet long and 42 feet high. Painted in 1883, and restored in 1990's, it is very realistic. The museum exhibits are also outstanding. Then there is the bookstore--so many books, and so little time to read them.
We left the visitors center at 3:45, did a search for an nearby campground, only to learn that many of the ones in the area were closing down for the holidays. We found one on about the sixth call. They were very close, but the office was closing at 4:00. We reached the campground with about five minutes to spare. This campground was called Round Top, in the shadow of the battlefield Round Top. We had a good night here and find that we are getting comfortable with our "winter home."

Sunday, we travelled south on US15 from Gettysburg to Fredrick, MD. Here, we visited National Museum of Civil War Medicine. We found the exhibit to be very interesting and informative. It took about two hours to go through the three floors of the small museum. From Frederick, we continued south on US 15 to just outside of Charlottesville, VA., where we located a campground in the town of Louisa. This campground, Small Country Campground, was out in a wooded area. The narrow two-lane road that led to the camp took a bit of effort in driving. The road had many curves and many times the road sloped down to the outside of the curve which caused the truck and camper to lean a bit. This also caused the truck to try steering towards outside of the curve. When we arrived at the campground office, it was closed, but a girl came over from one of the trailers, opened the office and signed us in. The first site given to us was not very level so I asked for another site. The second site was a little better, but still had a small slope in two directions where we had to park to hook up to the services. It also started to rain while I was connecting the hoses and power line to the camper. It rained all night. The temperature, however, was in the mid-seventies.
The good thing today was that the Patriots beat the Baltimore Ravens. We thought that we were going to see the game on TV, but there was no cable at the sites we could use here, and it turns out that the game time had been moved up to 1:00 PM.