Appomattox VA

We are at Holiday Lake State Park outside Appomattox VA for a couple nights.   Will go see the history tomorrow.  No internet at camp so this is being posted from a few miles away where we came for milk.

ADDED:

As we walked around camp we ran into a group of turkey hunters.  They came from all around Virginia and one guy from Ohio.  Very friendly bunch, we talked a good bit before resuming our walk around the campground.  They have a white board that they use as the Turkey Scoreboard.  You can see it below.  The turkey always score ahead of the hunters.  That's why they call it "hunting".

Poplar Point, day 4

Dave and Gale cooked a great breakfast.  They called it Eggs of Hell or something like that.  Eggs with onion & garlic with tomato sauce.  Along with English muffin and maple sausage.  Yum.

Then a hike along the lake down by the dam.  It was not flowing like it was a couple days ago.  And since the lake had risen that is still a puzzle.  Nice hike of a couple miles.

Then back to camp because they had to pack up and go back home.  After they left we went looking for an eagle lookout platform.  We found Eagle Point in about the area indicated on the map.  No observation place anywhere.  Seems that the map and reality don't match too often.

Then Gale phoned to let us know that the lake had risen last night and flooded a few campsites here.  We walked around and found several that had water on them, a few that were completely underwater and two roads that were flooded.  Yup, the lake is higher.  Which brings us back to the question of why they were not letting any more water out from the dam.

Kind of odd to see this heron on the concrete wall over the turbulent water

Cal found a souvenir on the trail

The stairs lead down to the trailer parking area 

That's a picnic table

The electric boxes are still above water, but are 40' out from shore

Poplar Point, day 3

Dave and Gale had to go to do some volunteer work at a race this morning, a previous commitment.  So Carlene and I went for a small hike here in the campground.  It had stopped raining just long enough to make me think it was a good idea.  Yeah.  It didn't rain hard or often.  Just enough to get a bit damp.  Or was that the humidity?
The water level is pretty high in Jordan Lake, as I mentioned yesterday.  At one place on the trail today the bridge over a stream was under water.  Another was under at one end.  While we were out there Gale told us they were on their way back, so we just made a detour through the woods to the paved road and made a quick trip back.  We were tired of the wet anyway.

Once we got together we went to the Carolina Brewing Co. for lunch.  A Carolina Cuban sandwich and a copper ale made it feel pretty good again.  Carlene had a quesadilla and beer.  Everybody happy.

Rode around a bit, checked a local store and then the "Educational Forest".  That turns out to be a training center, not a public place to learn about the local forest.  Oh well.

Pictures are now added on yesterday's post too.

Camp, with Dave & Gale's camper in the background

Poplar Point, day 2

A leisurely morning in camp.
We had seen these yellow signs all over the area, a pork BBQ at the local church for today.  Turned out to be 11 AM until they ran out, eat in or take out.  Since it was a couple hundred yards from the entrance to camp we stopped in to get some lunch.  They are well organized, when you go in the "take out" parking lot a guy meets you at your car, takes your order ("how many") and brings it to you from a stocked cooler in one minute or less.  And it was really good.  BBQ Pork with the regional vinegar based sauce in a separate cup, baby potatoes, cole slaw, roll and piece of sponge cake.  For $10.  Neither of us ate it all.
We took our lunch down to the dam at the south end of the lake, checked out the visitor center there and had lunch in the truck.  It was raining and all the picnic tables were wet..  The we walked out on the dam and down to the outlet.
Dave and Gale arrived around 3 PM.  Dave was going to cook a chicken in the dutch oven but that was changed to an electric cooker because of the rain.  Dang rain.
After dinner we played a few rounds of Farkle, a dice game.


Finally got the pictures loaded.

Our BBQ lunch.  Cal is waiting for his too.

This beaver was on display at the visitor center.  They are always called great engineers.  I was very impressed at this one because he apparently has learned how to use a saw!

To Jordan Lake

Jordan Lake State Recreation area, Poplar Point Campground, Apex NC
Got in early afternoon and set up camp.  Dave and Gale will join us tomorrow night for a couple nights.  Got a prescription filled, checked a local dealer for a camper part, bought some food.  It was  a fine sunny warm day for all sorts of running around.  Going to rain for the next three days.  Hope the weather people are wrong again.
This is a pleasant campground with the usual state park type of layout, good spacing between sites, well laid out sites with big areas for a tent and picnic table in addition to the trailer space.

And I just had a call for Animal Control back in Richmond.  A ferret showed up at a food place and they wanted help getting it back to an owner.  I called the one owner that Carlene knew, wasn't theirs.  Then the owner showed up to claim the critter just as I was calling back to say we don't deal with ferrets. 

We think the purple flowered trees are Wisteria.
Many trees are just opening leaves.  Spring is a bit behind compared to places we have been recently

They each have their own doors tonight

To The Farm Campground, McBee SC

Pretty nice day for a drive along the interstate.  Too bad it was all trees and no view.  So I guess SC is all trees and nothing else happening?  It was really nice getting off I-95 and seeing things along US 17. 

Cool campground.  Not badly spaced, plenty of trees (to maneuver around!).  They are doing some forest clearing near us for some new construction.  Carlene went for a walk and talked with a guy.

Much of the land around us is McLeod Farm, a fruit and vegetable operation.  We stopped at their retail place and got some fresh Strawberries!  Yup, grown right here and ready now.  Pick-your-own starts in a couple days.  Mighty fine!    And the Ice Cream was pretty good too!

A Mass guy thinks this is "truck" parking.  There were only 2 big rig spots left.

Nearby logging for a construction site

"Fresh Strawberries"!

Coming in to McBee SC