Summer 2021 Friends & Lakes RV Tour

Bentonville, AR 

Blowing Springs RV Park, Bella Vista, Arkansas - July 14 – 28

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We finally made it to the Bentonville, Arkansas area. Stayed in a very nice RV park north of Bentonville in Bella Vista, which is completely surrounded by hundreds of miles of mountain bike trails and a greenway trail that extends from Bentonville south to Fayetteville, 36 miles. 

Bentonville is known as the original home of Walmart. The Walton family foundation has invested funds to entice people to move into the area; including cultural venues of museums, art and theatre.  Also includes mountain biking which has attracted younger people to the area. Thus there are also many beer breweries. Jobs are plenty here and it’s also a great retirement area. Downtown Bentonville is wonderful, so much to do, restaurants, breweries, cultural museums, and of course mountain biking trails riding right out of the downtown area. We toured the Walmart museum, which is on the city square and was originally the Walton 5&10 store. 

We also spent one day at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. It was fabulous and we were able to see such diverse types of art. Including paintings, textile art, sculpture, glass art and so many outdoor displays. There were even art displays along so much of the mountain bike trails! The building itself is a work of art, designed to cross  buildings as bridges. It was worth the time spent there, even Kurt enjoyed it, he had never been to an art museum.  The weather was disappointing for a few days, either raining or extreme heat advisories. During the last few days we were able to get out to hike and mountain bike. We truly enjoyed so much about this region, it’s very beautiful with lush mountains and valleys. If we ever come this way again, we will definitely spend some more time here.

Summer 2021 Friends & Lakes Tour - Florida & Alabama

 New Smyrna Beach RV Resort FL   July 2 – 4

Our summer trip started off with a visit to my sister’s home in New Smyrna Beach. We spent the July 4th weekend with Suzi and Stephen, and enjoyed eating out at a local brew house with awesome food. On the 4th, we went to their house with all the fixings for a cookout and great meal. It was so wonderful seeing them for the first time in over 2 years.

On our way we stopped at two one night flops in RV parks to get out of Florida away from Hurricane Elsa and to get us to Arkansas faster.

Oak Mountain State Park   July 7 – 13

Birmingham, Alabama

Summer 2021 - Oak Mountain State Park, Alabama - Google Photos

This is the 4^th time we have stayed at this State Park, which we really love. So many mountain biking and hiking trails for us to enjoy. The campground is very spacious and many sites have full hook up. There are also three lakes in the park for kayaking and paddle boards.

While there we experienced another unexpected event. Professional wake board competition was held at this state park, the venue was perfect and the competition was great. The Supra Boats Pro Wake Tour is the most dominant, highest credible professional wakeboard circuit in the world. Top athletes from countries all around the world including Australia, Canada, Europe, and the US compete for cash prizes! Food trucks were available. We really enjoyed sitting by the lake and watching these young men and their amazing wake board stunts.  

Summer 2019 - Suwannee River State Park, Live Oak, FL

Photo link:
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Monday October 21^st – Saturday October 26^th

Suwannee River State Park, Live Oak, Florida

Our last stop on the way home was this park, where we stayed in 2013 on our way out west. Since our last stay, the campground sites have been improved. They reworked the site boundaries and paved the interior roads. Also, added sewer hookups and upgraded the electric and water connections, which was very much needed. The weather was still warmer than usual and a couple of days with rain, but we made the best of it. The dogs got to go on some hikes and enjoy running off leash. Kurt did get to paddle on the river a couple of times and rode his bike around some of the trails in the park. Overall, it was relaxing, but we were getting anxious to get home. We had planned a stop near Ocala at Santos Trailhead Campground. After looking at the weather forecast, which showed heat and rain most every day, we decided to just head home. We drove the 310 miles back home on Sunday. It felt so great to be back. I was happy that we would be home for Halloween! After 3 days of unloading and cleaning, we were able to push the RV back to the side of the house. 

There’s no place like home…

Summer 2019 - Kerr Scott Lake, Wilkesboro, N. Carolina

Photo link:
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Wednesday October 2^nd – Thursday October 10th

Bandits Roost Campground, Wilkesboro, N. Carolina

After a short drive south, we arrived at Bandits Roost Campground at Kerr Scott Lake, an Army Corps property. We were lucky to find a great site that was spacious and with a view of the lake. The weather was very good, so we were able to ride the mountain biking trails that exist right around the lake on several days. Many of the trails we could ride to from the campsite. Riding the trails was the main activity that we enjoyed at this park. Kurt also took the dogs on some hikes where they could run off leash.

We also attended the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival in the town of Wilkesboro. It was a one day festival of typical arts & crafts, mountain music, food vendors and of course apples. We enjoyed walking around the downtown streets to view all the vendors and listen to some country music.

This campground will definitely be on our “go back” list for any future travels through N. Carolina. We truly enjoyed the excellent trails there and the nice campground. Our southern trek toward home continues into Florida.

Summer 2019 - Stone Mountain S.P., Elkin N.Carolina

Photo link:

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Saturday September 28^th – Tuesday October 1^st 

Stone Mountain State Park, Elkin, N. Carolina

Upon arriving at this state park, we quickly located our campsite. The campground is well designed and spacious. Our site was perfect for our camper and vehicles. This park is in north central N. Carolina, near the town of Elkin. We came to this park for the exceptional hiking. Rock climbing is also a favorite activity in this park. The main trail heads up to the mountain summit, with other connecting trails to more open summit rock (bald). Kurt wanted to hike to the summit of Stone Mountain, which he did and took some nice pictures of the views. He hiked the complete loop, which took him back down to the View side of the trail. Here you could look up and see the rock face of the mountain and walk through the historic homestead in that valley. He also hiked past the Stone Mountain Falls on the way back.

Another day we took the dogs and hiked the lower trails around the mountain. We hiked the Wolf Rock and Cedar Rock trails, which wound around the side of the mountain. Along Wolf Rock we exited the forest and went out onto the bald area. The views were awesome and we all had a nice break there. The dogs loved running around the rock surface. From that trail we were able to see another view of the Stone Mountain rock face. On Cedar Rock trail we saw remnants of settler’s stone fences and some other old buildings along the way. Continuing on the trail, it took us back to the valley location of the historic homestead buildings. It was very educational to learn about the history of the early settlers there. It always amazes me what these early settlers had to go through to survive and make a home in these frontiers. 

One day my sister, Cindy, came over to visit for the day. She lives about 45 minute drive from this park, where she has hiked many times. It was wonderful to spend the day with her and we did drive to a couple of waterfall areas to take some pictures. It is a beautiful park. 

We had originally reserved 6 nights, but decided to cut it short by 2 nights. We had not been able to find a campsite to reserve after leaving Stone Mountain. After looking around I found a place where we had stayed before, Kerr Scott Lake near Wilkesboro N.C. This lake is an Army Corps Project and has two campgrounds where we were able to secure a first come first serve site. But we had to move to that campground that day. We paid for 9 nights. This recreation area has some great mountain biking trails, so we were excited to get a site there.

The trek southward continues! Looking forward to being back home.

Summer 2019 - Roanoke, Virginia

  Photo Link:

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Friday September 20^th – Friday September 27^th

Explore Park, Roanoke, Virginia

Next we headed northeast along the Appalachian Mountain range to Roanoke, Virginia. We chose this location as we had read articles regarding the great mountain biking trails in the area. Explore Park campground was very new and nice. The shower house was the best we’ve ever seen! Very clean and modern, top quality shower/toilet rooms. Explore Park had advertised as having several miles of mountain biking and hiking trails within the park. After arriving, Kurt rode one of the trails and found them to be unusable! Apparently, this park was closed for a couple of years, then reopened as this new Explore Park. The trails were overgrown and not yet maintained. There was also a historic tavern on the property. The website advertised that the restaurant and tap room were in the building. Soon we discovered that the Tavern would not be open until October… The park has an “Adventure Plan” for future development. How disappointing! Nevertheless, there were two other mountain biking trail systems in the area. Mill Mountain Trails were just okay, very rough, rooty and rocky. There is an iconic lighted star at the top of the mountain. We did ride there, but decided to next go to Carvin’s Cove Recreation area, 23 miles from the campground. Here’s where the awesome trails were. We did ride there a couple of days and really enjoyed the well designed and maintained trails.

Our friends from Virginia, Chris and Bruce, visited us and stayed in a cabin at the campground. We had a great time hanging out, cooking out and driving the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was nice to see them again.

We did enjoy the camping here for eight days, but was disappointed that the Park was not fully developed. Unfortunately, this is not on our “go back” list.  Next, heading back south to N. Carolina to stay at Stone Mountain S.P. in north-central area.

Summer 2019 - Damascus, Virginia

Photo link:

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Friday September 6^th – Thursday September 19^th 

Laurel Creek RV Park, Damascus, Virginia

We headed north into Virginia to visit Damascus, where we have vacationed several times. The main activity here is bike riding the Virginia Creeper Trail. This is a 32 mile rail trail that has a slight downhill grade. Damascus is about 17 miles into the trail, with the north end in the town of Whitetop and the south end in Abingdon. We rode the trail twice from Whitetop to Damascus. A shuttle service takes riders to the top and then we rode right back to the campground. Kurt did his usual ride uphill and met me at the top and we rode down together. We also rode the trail on our last day in town. It’s such a beautiful ride through the forest and valleys of the area. Part of the trail follows Laurel Creek. There are so many beautiful views from the trail. I rode south on the trail one day, just an 8 mile out and back. This part was not as pretty as the northern end.

Kurt did find a mountain bike trail that he rode a few times. Iron Mountain Trail began as a hiking trail and locals began biking the trail also. Kurt met a local guy that he was able to ride with and the two guys became instant friends. Kurt hopes that he comes to Florida sometime. They would both have a great time.

We hiked a few forest trails with the dogs. First, we drove south into Tennessee 4 miles and hiked from the Backbone Rock trailhead. It’s a huge rock outcropping, almost like a wall, where the trail leads up to the top and over a tunnel created decades ago. It was challenging and fun. That day there were some Army reserve soldiers that were climbing and repelling the rock wall. This is a recreation area along Beaverdam Creek with a nice picnic area. Another day we also hiked the Laurel Creek Trail from the trailhead south into Tennessee. This trail followed the creek for several miles, where we turned around and headed back. It was very pretty and the dogs loved running off leash. The last trail we hiked was in the Jefferson National Forest on the Beartree Gap Trail which heads uphill for 2.5 miles where it connects with other trails. The dogs also enjoyed this hike and it was fun exercise for us all.

The first weekend there, we attended the Washington County Fair in Abingdon. This was a fun local fair with the typical farm animals, carnival rides and various vendors. We went primarily to see the country rock bank, Confederate Railroad. They were awesome with great music. It was worth the evening we spent there.

We did a day trip eastward to Grayson Highlands State Park. The dogs went with us and hiked also. This beautiful park is packed with trails, some easy and some challenging. The Appalachian Trail also passes through the park. Within the park, there are wild ponies that were introduced there years ago.

We really enjoyed our two weeks in Damascus. We will probably to back there one day. This area of Virginia is very beautiful and full of very nice people.