After our experiment with naked RVing in West Virginia, we had a couple more adventures up our sleeve before we planned to cross the border into Canada.
For this segment, we focused on areas new to us to explore – which is amazing to think that after 16 years of full timing across the country, there are plenty of places left to explore!
Stop 1: Shenandoah Junction, WV
We were invited to join our dear friends Amanda & Jesse at their RV home base in eastern WV as we made preps for our next shared adventure.
We had so much fun living in community with these two. Converged meals, hanging out, art projects and seeing a slice of their previous lives in the area as they toured us around.
These are the moments we cherish.
While there, our dear friends Dave & Stacey of Adventures of Stinkpot (who we recently wintered with in Sanford, and enjoyed some ‘Stink-Not’ cruising adventures with) had also arrived in the Baltimore area aboard their boat. With access to their car, we arranged for a land rendezvous.
They were able to come meet up with us for a day of touring nearby Harpers Ferry – including the ruins of a lock along the C&O canal.
A fun day catching up on land, albeit way too short. We look forward to our intentions to reconvene Stink-Not later this winter when we all return to Sanford.
Stop 2: Transformus
Those who have been following along a really long time know that Burning Man is a huge part of our story. Chris has been going since 1999, we had our commitment ceremony in 2007, we hosted ‘Camp Nomadia’ for many years bringing together nomads from across the globe and we have gone to many regionals.
2011 was our last time on the playa. And 2012 was our last burn related event of any sort.
Why? Who knows. Life? Work? Busy living?
So when we met Amanda and Jesse in late 2021 in AZ and discovered they are part of a camp for the WV based ‘Frostburn’ in the winter, we were excited to find fellow burners! And they were planning to attend the more sane summer based Transformus for the first time at the same location. They invited us to join up with them and their camp.
We were all in, and this summer’s van trip had the event as a major pin to route towards.
And oh my – were we overdue for a good marinade in creative art open minded community gift economy spirit.
We had no clue what we were getting into with our little camp – but when the trailer pulled in and we helped assemble a full on Norwegian (that’s the Flag of Norway) themed pub with dart boards, kitchen and bar – we knew this was going to be special. Camp even included a Crazy Norwegian who seemed to enjoy cooking for 80 every single night.
We did not go hungry. Or thirsty.
Burn events are a wide mix of events. These are the publicly shareable ones. The rest shall stay as stories to share with open minded close friends around the campfire. .
But it was oh so good to get back in touch with parts of ourselves that had been dormant for too long.
Stop 3: Cooper Rock State Forrest
After Transforumus, we found nearby McCollum Campground (our review) inside the Cooper Rock State Forest in WV to decompress for a couple days.
It was perfect to get cleaned up, refresh the tanks and catch up. WV really is quite spectacular.
Too many trees here for Starlink to work at all. Both ours and our neighbors just gave up trying. Thankful for just enough cellular to get online and get caught up with work and life.
Stop 4: Harvest Host & Fallingwater
After a bit of decompression it was time to continue northwards.
We decided to route via Fallingwater – an amazing architectural home by Frank Lloyd Wright. It’s built around the landscape, including a waterfalll! It was beautiful to wander around the grounds (interior tours are available too – but require advanced reservation).
Afterwards we settled into another Harvest Hosts stay outside of Pittsburg at Belle Terra. Lovely wines and ciders, and on-site food. Even fun yard games (Chris won).
Fun day for sure – we love mixing in making miles with experiences.
Stop 5: Crooked Creek Lake Recreation Area
Continuing north towards the Allegahny Forest in PA. But first we needed a location with good Internet odds to attend to some work commitments. So we selected Crooked Creek Lake (our review) – an Army Corp of Engineer park. With very few reviews to go by, we had to trust that the signal looked promising on our Coverage? app.
It worked out great for our Zoom calls and events we needed to host.
No hook-ups and this was a pretty basic campground – really nothing special or the normal awesome of a ACOE campground we’re used to. But at $15/night, it was fine. And we were thankful to snag a site with lots of shade, because it was getting toasty out.
A dip in the nearby lake swim beach (about a mile from the campground) did help to cool off in the afternoons.
Stop 6: Kane, PA
Next, we picked High Pines RV Park (our review) in Kane, PA right on the edge of the Allegheny National Forest.
Why did we pick a commercial campground? Bike trails!!
The Knox & Kane trail was just recently extended to just about where the park is. Which leads to the amazing Kinzua Bridge.
This used to be a train bridge for crossing the valley – but it was mostly destroyed in a tornado back in 2003 (they’ve left the remnants, which are quite the site!). So now it is a walkable sky bridge. Amazing to experience if you don’t mind heights.
The park was great too and super friendly owners. Mostly empty for a lovely weekend – so they put us in a quiet little corner spot on our own.
After we left, we also biked the Kinzua Valley Trail. All and all, we put about 70 miles on the bikes over the weekend. Whew.
Stop 7: Hamburg, NY
Our final stop in the US was just south of Buffalo, NY – our intended entry point into Canada. We found an ice cream shop on Harvest Hosts that was the perfect place. We enjoyed a peaceful rest after enjoying an evening desert.
We made a final shop on the US side of the border to stock up on allowable grocery items before crossing.
The adventures of our first time RVing in Canada are up next!
Real Time Update
We’re back in the USA after 3 wonderful weeks exploring Ontario. We look forward to sharing those stories with you in a bit.
We however picked up a little stow-away north of the border – COVID. We have officially lost our super-dodger status, it was a good long run while it lasted! This current strain is true to its word of being highly transmittable – because we pretty much stick to the outdoors and non-crowded places, and can only recount one or two instances we were indoors in the days prior for short bits with masks.
We’re both very fortunate to have extremely mild (almost asymptomatic) cases. We hope the trend continues as we finish out our isolation.
We’ll be heading south through Michigan soon, with aims to get to the St. Louis area after Labor Day for a visit with family. And then it will be continuing out to Arizona to see Zephyr in October before we intend to head back to Florida by the holidays aboard Y-Not.
PS. So sorry to hear you caught Covid. You have both been so careful. Stay well and be safe.
So happy to hear from you guys. Have a wonderful time in Canada. So very exciting. Will Kiki need papers to get across the border? Great that you can catch up with friends as you make the “run for the border”. Be well.
Look forward to your next post.
Oh, we just love your adventures !!!
Marvin and Collette
Hamburg, NY ???
So sorry to hear you both succumbed to Covid. I hope it stays mild and you are moving again soon.
Not sure what your plans are in Michigan. I can recommend Aloha State Park if you move down the East side of the state. It may be full still on weekends, but mid week stays are lovely. And it is right on a bike path. A stay near Mackinac City would put you near bike paths too. Mackinac Mill Creek Campground is huge and usually quite busy on the weekends; but sites in the very back are less crowded and very quiet.
Will you spend any time in the UP?
Thanks for the recommendations, Marie – we’re actually ‘below the bridge’ now serving out our isolation this week (great trails here, and a beach for lots of vitamin D). We opted to skip the UP, as we’ve done it twice before and think we’ve done most of the destinations by now. From here, we’ll continue south and westward to visit some friends after we’re back to testing negative.
I love these quick short recaps with a photo or two of each place. Thanks for sharing! Hopefully you guys will get past COVID and be done with it!
Thanks.. I’ve found it’s been a lot easier to post daily on Facebook, and then bring them all together here for a better history. Makes it a lot less daunting of a task to pull these posts together.
Sorry you got Covid.
We also joined that “club”.
After 2 1/2 years of extreme caution, hubby and I both got it in July from our 4 year old grandson when he came for a visit and they didn’t know he had it. It’s difficult to isolate from a 4 year old!
We had very mild symptoms. If he hadn’t been positive we probably wouldn’t have tested or even known we had it. More like a very mild head cold or allergies. At 70 years old, we feel fortunate that due to vaccines and boosters our cases were so mild.
It’s almost a relief to have had it –
“been there, done that”.
Enjoying reading about your travels.
Enjoy the rest of your time in your van and your travels back to AZ.
Thankful your case was mild too.. and indeed, hooray for vaccines! I almost didn’t test, but when a slight throat tickled lingered, decided to anyway. It is a bit of a relief for sure, and we’re looking forward to increased immunity for at least a month or two ahead.
Sorry to hear that you caught COVID. You are so right that the current strain is highly transmissible. You had me chuckling at “Humburg”. Being from the region, I know it’s a typo, but I need to ask friends who live there if it’s ever called that. Congrats on finally RVing in Canada. You picked a great part of Ontario to visit (based on what I saw on Facebook). Safe travels.
Hah.. and I even got it right in the map! Guess my brain just didn’t think ‘Hamburg’ was correct. Can I blame COVID brain? 😀
Yup, blame COVID brain. That works for me! 🙂 Get better soon.