We Are Guests of Raymond R. “Andy”

Friday, 11 May

We’re camping at a new-to-us state park with a really long name — Raymond R. “Andy” Guest Jr. Shenandoah River State Park; we’ll just refer to it as SRSP.  This is the park to which we made a ‘toad-run’ in March to see if our Wilson trucker’s antenna set-up worked (post here) — without an internet connection, a pre-retirement camping trip to this park would not have been doable.

My workday is done, and the company laptop is packed away until Monday.  Now to get caught up on a two-day post as I enjoy the company of bunnies scampering in the grass across the road; a vole scratching in the gravel near our fire ring; a pair of bluebirds flitting about (but never landing long enough for me to train my camera on them).

We actually came in yesterday.  Making the 54-mile (86 km) drive was a cinch even under the gusty conditions we encountered along the way.

It’s a pretty straight shot for us to get to SRSP; a drive of about 1½ hours.

We arrived around 3:00p, just in time for us to finish setting up before my office email dinged to notify me that the file I’d been expecting was ready for my attention.  Having already worked on the file Wednesday, I had to merely check to make sure the format had not been compromised and make some minor tweaks.  Slow though the internet speed is here —  fluctuating between 2-3 bars — it was sufficient to connect to the corporate network to upload/download files and exchange emails to get my work done.  Considering there’s no signal — nada, zip, nothing — without the antenna, I can’t complain.

But enough about work.  Let me tell you a bit about SRSP.

You can’t pick a specific site when you make your reservation (through Reserve America, by the way).  We knew from our March recon trip that we could fit into just about any site, so we weren’t concerned.  Arriving on a Thursday meant we had our pick of sites and we chose site 1 on the upper loop — 50 Amp electric/water (no FHUs here), extra-long, spacious, paved, and level.  The rate: $32+tax/night.

Site 1 and the upper loop from the Campground Trail.
in addition to the lower loop (off to the right and not visible in this picture),
there are several campsites beyond the cabins in the distance.

There’s a very nice gravel patio with a fire ring and a picnic table.  The patio accommodates our screen shelter with room to spare.  There are no campsites on the passenger side; so no neighbors there.  The road to exit the pull-through sites in our row wraps around in front of us and beyond it is forested land; no neighbors there either.  And so far, no neighbors in the site on the driver’s side.  The sites are terraced to take advantage of the natural grade of the land, and that too adds to the privacy factor.

View of the patio from the low retaining wall that surrounds it on three sides;
the fire ring is in the bottom left corner (not in view in this picture).

This is a relatively new park; there’s little in the way of shade trees around the sites in the center of the upper loop.  The lower loop has more trees and some shade, but having noticed a sign for a “pop-up trailer rally” down that-a-way, we decided we could live without shade this time.  Don’t get me wrong — we have nothing against pop-ups; we just didn’t want to be in the midst of what promises to be party-central this weekend.

Our site and a morning guest!
We can park the toad behind or in front of the coach, and still have room to spare.

Though our day started on the chilly side — a mere 42F (5.5C) at 6:00a — the temps warmed up nicely under the brilliant blue, sunny sky.  By noon we were up to 69F (20.5C); plenty comfortable for an al fresco lunch under our screen shelter.  Speaking of the shelter, we’re so glad we have it; gnat-like bugs hover in a cloud about our heads whenever we step outside.  They don’t bite, but they are irritating; especially when the breeze dies down.

Daisies (left) and multiflora roses are everywhere around the campground.

With my workday and Mui’s chores at an end, we decided to take a stroll before dinner.  SRSP has a bunch of multi-use trails; all clearly marked with colored blazes that indicate the name of the trail as well.  After studying the map, we settled on a short walk on part of the Campground Trail, which starts out near our site.

Trail map courtesy of the SRSP website; I marked up the walks we kludged together
from existing trails and roads.  Today’s walk is the purple dotted line;
you get a sneak peak at the walk we have planned for Sunday (orange/blue line).

The heavily forested trail is rated moderate, with some steepish parts, but nothing that a relatively fit person can’t handle.  We walked only as far as Culler’s Overlook, a very popular spot in the park.  It is named for Everette and Nettie Cullers, who once owned and worked a chunk of the land in the valley, and protected the river along the boundary.  (In 1999, the Commonwealth of Virginia purchased some of that land from Merle, their son, adding two miles of scenic river frontage to SRSP.)

Left: A look at the Campground Trail as we get started on our walk.
right: the view from Culler’s overlook includes a glimpse of the Shenandoah River and valley.

Rather than take the buggy trail back to the campground, we opted to walk along the main road where a light breeze kept the swarms of bugs at bay.  Back at the site, what better way to round out the day than with an al fresco meal :-)

Well, the post is written, but I’m not going to even attempt to post it now; the slow internet would just make it an exercise in frustration.  In fact, I’m going to pull the plug on connectivity this weekend and catch up on my reading; there’s a stack of magazines begging to be whittled down.

P.S.  For those who are curious, the park is named for a 27-year member of the Virginia House of Delegates who died of cancer in 2001.