Fall is here!, Hear the yell…….

…..Back to school, Ring the bell

Fall is really showing itself up here in Blowing Rock.

Actually dug out the down comforter for last night as temperatures dropped to the high forties. We weren’t in any real rush to jump out of bed into the cold this morning. I ran the furnace for a little while just to get things warmed up a little. We relaxed inside drinking coffee and tea while deciding on our course of action for the day. After a bit of meditation, we took the dogs out for walk around the campground.

Our original intention was to just take the dogs on a quick swing around the loop we are camped on, then put them inside and hike down to the lake. The pups seemed to be having too much fun being out and about so we just kept on hiking. Once we arrived at Price Lake, we took a few pictures of the fantastic view from the bridge. After that, we struck out to hike the trail that circles all the way around the lake. Lots of stunning vistas and cool little nooks along the path. Koda enjoyed a couple of dips in the cold water as we passed little sandy beaches. We spent three hours hiking and it was already past check out time, so we stopped by the kiosk and booked ourselves in for another night.

The gal in the ranger shack told me that they have Internet, but you have to come up close to the office to get a signal. We returned to the RV, fed the finicky hounds, and made a couple of pbj’s for ourselves. Once our little area was cleaned and organized, I took a beach chair down to the little lawn area in front of the check in building and posted our blog update from yesterday. It is a beautiful, sunny day and it was a comfortable spot to surf the Internet and watch the tourists drive by looking for fall colors.

Back at Lexi, we made friends with the neighbors by running the generator for forty five minutes or so in order to get the batteries charged up. We are in the shade and the solar panels are pulling less than 6 amps. While we are it, we are charging up the phone, camera batteries, and the specialty flashlight batteries for our super bright little flashlights. A loud and stinky process and one that we try to avoid if at all possible. This is the first time in over 80 days of travel that we have needed to fire it up. They say I should run it at least monthly, so this is it.

PJ foraged through the forest around us and collected a bunch of deadfall branches for tonight’s fire. We relaxed in our chairs and read while enjoying the unseasonably warm weather for this area. Koda made a nest in the leaves and took a long nap after her tiring outing. Cali has a bit more nervous energy and is poking around in the underbrush looking for varmints or strong odors that she can focus her powerful snout muscles on. PJ’s learning about the local mountains in a small paper she grabbed at the ranger station and I’m typing away on my little keypad. Leaves gently drift down to land around us like red, brown and orange snowflakes as a light breeze passes through the treetops.

Time for some dinner and a little relaxation around the campfire.