Eastbound and down
After making a couple of small trips with the RV and having only minor issues, which we learned from and corrected, we decided we wanted to take a longer trip before it got super cold in much of the country. We planned a 5 week trip to the east that would take us through Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee before we made our way back north to Indiana. We were anxious to try out our Harvest Hosts membership, which allows 1 night stays at farms, breweries, wineries, and other points of interest. We also had a Thousand Trails membership that gives you free stays at certain campgrounds that the dealership gave us. We’ll share more about memberships and tools we have used to plan our trips in a future post.
Day 1 - Friday, November 11, 2022
We left home in the early afternoon and made our way towards Indianapolis, then Cincinnati. We then veered right on to I-75 south headed towards Lexington. Before you get to Lexington was our first Harvest Hosts experience, Country Boy Brewing in Georgetown, KY. Their patio had excellent service and a great family friendly atmosphere. They even had large heaters in the ceiling to take the chill off. We sampled many of their brews, all of which we liked. We posted the ratings for a couple of them here. If you want to be “beerst friends” with us, head on over to our Untappd profile. We also tried and enjoyed a couple of appetizers and burgers. Everything we had was cooked extremely well and tasted great! After getting our fill of delicious beer and food, we retired to the RV for the evening. There were several other campers parked around us. Even more showed up later. The close proximity to the interstate must prove to be convenient for a lot of people. Parking was very easy along an industrial street. I parked on the right side of the street so we did not put out the left side slide out, as we feared it might impede traffic or worse.
We slept well despite a little traffic. It got chilly that night, but we all stayed comfy.
Day 2 - Saturday, November 12, 2022
After getting things put away and getting it warmed up a little inside, we said good-bye to Country Boy and headed off. We traveled a bit further south on 75 before taking I-64 east towards West Virginia. Shortly after getting around Lexington, we stopped for coffee at a truck stop since we left without making our own. It was raining and cold outside so we were fighting a little bit of fog on the windows, but were were snug and warm inside. We traveled east through West Virginia and some of the prettiest mountains and hills I’ve seen. These were also some of the largest hills and mountains I had driven up and down in our short time with the RV. It went about how I expected. The RV was a slow climber, but did very nicely on the downhill portions. The transmission does a lot of work to keep your speed under control which allows you to use the brakes sparingly to maintain your speed, thus ensuring they’re not overheating. This was a long travel day. Almost 400 miles. I know, it doesn’t sound like that much, and in a normal vehicle, it’s not. The RV takes a little more “driving” to make it behave in the hills and wind and near big trucks. It’s also clearly not breaking any speed records so that 400 miles takes longer than you think it should. Our destination for this evening was Barren Ridge Vineyards near Fishersville, VA. We’re not normally into wine, but this is another Harvest Hosts location so we decided to try it out.
We sampled several of their wines and went through the snack cooler for meats and cheeses. They also had some live music that evening. We listened for a short time, but it had been a long day. There was a beautiful sunset that evening and we all slept well.
The next morning I fired up the generator and got the coffee on. Harper and I walked up over the hill to the east of the camper to view the sunrise. It was beautiful and the perfect way to begin the last of the long driving days for the week.
Sunrise in the early morning of November 13, 2022. Taken from Barren Ridge Winery in Fishersville, VA.
This day’s drive was much less than the 400 miles we had endured the day before. We were headed to Gloucester, VA, and a Thousand Trails campground. That is where we’d spend the week of November 14.
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