Day 6

If every place is going to be as hard to leave at Centreville, we will never make it to Alaska. We somewhat unwillingly left Centreville Tuesday afternoon. Jessie and Phil were so accommodating, we can't begin to thank them enough. We were offered all the foods, showers, laundry and Emily even went to the gym with Jess! On Tuesday, Jessie's dad Bill took us on a hike to Great Falls and her mom Becky cooked us a wonderful Mexican-style dinner! What a great family. Thank you all!  As an added bonus, we enjoyed a lunch with a dear friend from my college days, Kristen Barry, before hitting the road.

We hit Virginia at just the right time. Everything was green and blooming. It was quite lovely. The flat walking trails were welcomed since we rarely get flat in NH. Most of the trails seemed to wind along rivers and streams with a nice refreshing breeze.

Trails near Great Falls on the Potomac River.

Great Falls National Park. (so many rules)

When we left of comfort of street side camping we drove for about 3 hours south. We ended up at a free campsite near Braley Pond. It was quiet and beautiful. We were only accompanied by one other group. We went over to introduce ourselves. They were a nice couple from San Diego CA, Joe and Nicole. Nicole's dad had just arrived from Indiana to celebrate his recent retirement and birthday. Congratulations Rick! Joe and Nicole are a month and a half into their 4 and a half month adventure. They are driving around doing events for their outdoor fitness business, Gut Check Fitness. We enjoyed their company around the campfire with some of our favorite wines and cigars. We hope to meet up with them again in Seattle, WA in June.

Braley Pond Campsite (FREE)

We had thought of spending another day in Braley Pond Forest but it was raining and we were excited to keep going south. We did a quick hike and loaded up.

A sweet free campsite peaked our interest in Bland, VA- haha! The reviews of this campsite said we would have a drive up a dirt road for 3 miles and didn't recommend it for big rigs with no clearance. Well for sure, we did it anyway. The ride up was full of anxiety watching the camper sway back and forth in the ditches. The original review said it would take about 20 minutes to drive up. 20 minutes turned into about 1 hour with an 18ft trailer. About 1 mile into the drive up, one of our bicycles somehow ended up in the middle of the "road". We jump out to find our camper bumper had bent over and we were dragging our spare tire and bicycles. We had no idea how long we dragged them for. Emily found out the next day as she ran down the road, we dragged everything for a least a mile.  In hindsight, a photo to document this mishap would have made for some memories... stress level was red-lining.  Good times! We both managed to keep our shit somewhat together and move on. At least the camper was ok. If there was a spot we were able to turn around, we may have but there wasn't.

We made it to the top and boy was the view amazing. The sign, however, read "Closed from Sunset to Sunrise." Screw it. We aren't going anywhere. We did a quick meal and googled where to go to next. Cell phone service was excellent since we were surrounded by cell towers, yikes!

"Free Campsite" albeit, not legal campsite. And damned hard to get to.

We picked up early the next morning to head to our next destination in the Pisgah National Forest. GPS said about a four hour drive, we planned on 5 with stopping. We managed to find the free campsite to be greeted by a locked gate. Bummer dude. It looked like such a cool spot!

Since we were in the Blue Ridge Mountains, we jumped on the Blue Ridge Parkway to enjoy the view as we search for another free campsite. Mount Mitchell is located here, it is the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi! As beautiful as the Parkway was we wanted to get off it now! It was four hours later and we had yet to find a home for the night. Wrong turn after wrong turn, both of us near tears with frustration. Aborting free camping for the night, we pulled into Lake Powhatan Campground, just outside of Asheville, North Carolina.

Blue Ridge Parkway. Absolutely incredible.

A very nice older couple checked us in and comforted us after we told them of our last few hours. After an unexpected nine hours of driving, we were relieved to be done for the day. Emily asked if there was coin operated showers- the woman informed us that they were included in the campsite and were nice and warm. Emily almost hugged the woman and cried with happiness. It was a long day.

Today is Friday, we have decided to stay another day at the campground. Neither of us could bear to pack up the camper again today and drive aimlessly to our next free site (if we can find one). We decided we need good beer and a relaxing day. Ashville, NC seems like the place to do it.

There may seem to be a decent amount of negativity in this post... don't fear! Nobody said this would be easy, and right now, we're soaking up some modern comforts with smiles on our faces.

Not mentioned: Falling Spring, VA. This water flows from a hot spring.

This tower has a name that I cannot recall, so I'll coin it:
"Blow Your Tits Apart Tower"
We didn't go up into it - it was closed when we arrived, and closed in the AM when we left.

Tomorrow... on to Nashville!