300 - History of our 2003 Keystone Everest 363K – Part 3

[CWtheMan]

300-1 A Northern trip to NH/ME and southern return to SC.


BRIEFS: From my mother’s side of the family there were 24 1st cousins including me - I’m the oldest - and my brothers. As of this writing 4 have passed, all males. Richard Rankin- drowned in a river – Steve Whitten Killed in car accident – Richard Roberts Heart attack – Mike Rankin Heart attack. Almost all of us were born in ME or NH.

My 1st cousin Jan (Whitten) Hussy and her husband Dan owned – outright – Whit’s End CG at West Ossipee, NH when this trip was made. It’s situated on the Bearcamp River at the foot of Mt. Whittier. The purpose for the trip was a 1st cousin’s reunion and Jan & Dan were the hosts. Nearly half of these 1st cousins are within my oldest son’s age range (reason; my uncle Hermann got married in 1956. My uncle Edward got married in 1957 and I got married in 1958) and he made the trip with us. As you will see in the following installments, the trip was well planned. Traveling US highways, state and rural roads was our goal.

For this trip the Everest had all new tires, new brake shoes and battery. The original Equipment battery had lasted 7 years. We had numerous new furnishings and a temp air bed for our son. On departure day the rig scaled-out under all the limiters. Although we hardly ever used our Honda 2000 generator; I got it completely serviced at our Northern Tool store. It weighs less than 50# when full of fuel and oil. Over the years we had developed a comprehensive traveling check list – much like a PDI – to insure we were ready to go.

Our traveling habits prevent routes and stops to be set in "stone". We are easily sidetracked and hardly ever make reservations. Some on this trip were necessary.

There are lots of up and down grades on US-25 from Taylors, SC to the NC border. However, it's a beautiful springtime drive.

[CWtheMan]

300-2 – Beckley, WV

Our trip began at our home in Taylors, SC. Our destination was somewhere in WV. We traveled up through the northern SC & NC foothills and mountain country; it was very scenic in the early spring.

The trip to the Beckley Coal Mine CG was 295 miles. We used SC highway 290 to US-25; then up the mountains to I-26. At Johnson City, NC we got off I-26 and took the very scenic drive, up US-19 to Bristol, TN where it went right past the NASCAR racetrack. We stayed on US-19 all the way to Beckley, WV.

When approaching Beckley, we saw some signs advertising the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine CG. Linda called to see if they had a site available for a couple of nights and they did. It’s a smallish CG with the parking sites very secluded out behind the Exhibition Coal Mine office/store. The roads to the CG are narrow with some tight turns for our 53’ rig, but once in the CG it’s easy parking for all sizes. It’s run by the city and the Company Store is where you will find the place to check-in and get the key to your site. We stayed three nights, just long enough to take-in the major attractions. The sites were clean, well maintained with FHU service (30 amps max).
Beckley is a friendly town, and we took a couple of van tours from the ticket office at the company store.

[CWtheMan]

300-3: Harmony, PA

From Beckley we used US-19 which parallels I-79. We did use I-79 to pass through Pittsburgh, PA. The trip from CG to CG was 265 miles.

We got to the Indian Brave CG early enough to get some CG pictures. Yes! There were some nice sized catfish in that muddy looking water.

The only good thing I have to say about this Indian Brave CG is everything worked and the reception on the 86 channels of CATV was excellent. Other than that, the interior roads were all rutted. It’s clean but old and worn out and being kept together with elbow grease. It’s very dark at night because the lighting is inadequate. Coming in from the south it’s very hard to get to the CG because of the narrow streets and sharp turns. Because there are so many seasonal sites we felt like intruders when using the facilities. All sites were back-to-back. The residents were just not very friendly. The CG workers were curt.

[CWtheMan]

300-4-A: North Tonawanda, NY – Niagara Falls


In our opinion, a spring trip to the falls wouldn’t be complete without taking a couple of the most popular van tours. These pictures here were taken while on a tour around the upper falls area and then down the winding tunnels to the bottom of the falls.

The whole Buffalo, NY area; including the falls area have beautiful floral arrangements, everywhere. The upper falls area where the Falls Restaurant is located is an example of some of the beautiful flowers.


When entering the Cave of The Winds you’ll get an eerie feeling as you’re descending down the winding corroders to the bottom and then exposed to the windy mists of the lower falls area.

If you’re not bothered by motion sickness or heights, the gondola ride to Canada and return is spectacular.

All of the waters, after falling into rivers are nearly the same color; everywhere. The most popular bird is probably the Black Cormorant.

[CWtheMan]

300-4- B: North Tonawanda, NY – Maid of the Mist

Did you ever go to Niagara Falls and miss-out on a ride on one of the Maid of the Mist boats?

On another all-day van tour of the attractions at Niagara Falls, we went to the waters below the falls for a popular boat ride up to the falls. The ride is quite exciting and entertaining.

[CWtheMan]

300-5 – Massena, NY

Our next destination was at the Massena, NY international Kampground.

This is a well-situated campground if you want full amenities and a central location for side trips. Our site was a level grassy site with FHU (50 amps) and CATV. Our section had large sites that were back-to-back parking. Other sections had more traditional side-by-side parking. It’s about 65 miles from Alexandria Bay along the very scenic St. Lawrence River and part of the 1000 Islands. Our reservation there was for 10 days. The river and other waters on or near the CG provided hours of relaxing fishing time when we were not off playing the slots or touring.



The International Seaway Bridge is just a few miles east of the CG. Using the bridge, it’s about 75 miles to Montréal. We recommend a drive up there. Find a nice restaurant and have some wine and a great dinner. A treat like that did not hurt our monthly budget.



Another close by attraction is the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Resort. They have free dry camping sites in their paved parking lot. They are well lit and just a short walk to the casino. For those that smoke cigarettes; the Indians have a smallish factory and very inexpensive cartons of regular and long length cigarettes. At that time Allan was still a smoker and he liked the long ones.

The major attraction in this area was the 1000 island sections of the St. Lawrence River. We did two complete day tours. We took one on a USA tour-boat and another on a CDN tour-boat.

On the drive to Massena, we used all rural roads bordering Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. It took us all day to make the 300-mile trip. It was hampered by a lost tire while transiting Rochester, NY. They were doing city road paving and adding larger manhole covers. I clipped one with the right-side lead tire and it immediately went flat. We pulled into a large mall parking lot and changed the tire. Luckily the mall had a tire store that had RV trailer tires and we waited for them to mount a new one. A mall security truck assisted us by taking Allan and the destroyed tire to the tire store. We put the main slide out, hooked-up the Honda 2000 and watched TV.

[CWtheMan]

300-5 – Massena, NY – 1000 Islands

We spent a lot of time ashore and afloat exploring the 1000 islands. The tour boat rides were not very expensive, and all tour boats had canteen areas with hot dogs, soft drinks, candy, ice cream and popcorn at very reasonable prices.

When riding any of the tour boats you can get off at Boldt Castle; rest a little, do some rubbernecking and catch the next boat in either direction at no additional costs.

[CWtheMan]

300-6: West Ossipee, NH - Whit’s End CG

It was a long day’s travel to Whit’s End. We took US-11 out of NY into VT then connected-up with I-89S. At exit six we took NH-25 all the way into West Ossipee. NH-25 is a good road but narrow, taking the average MPH down to around 40 MPH. If fact, I remember being in tow-haul mode all the way. But we did get there with plenty of daylight time left for parking and leveling the trailer. Dan had put us in a nice large site with 50 AMPS and gray water. No CATV and no chance of getting a dish signal. The bat antenna got good local channel receptions.

The weather was good to us during our stay. We had a wonderful turn-out. All aunts and uncles came and about 2/3rds of all 1st and 2nd cousins and their spouses and children. Jan and Dan are true workaholics and kept something going all the time. Each family brought a picture collage of family pictures, and they were posted at a central location we all called the "Whitten Wall".

One of our 1st cousins is an O’Doul’s Beer distributor. Each night at the fire ring on the bank of the river we had a refrigerated truck full of all sorts of O’Doul’s refreshment drinks.

Dan has a flatbed dually truck rigged to carry a dozen kayaks. Each day there was a trip up the road about 12 miles to launch the kayaks in the clear Bearecamp River for a ride back to the CG.

We mostly hung out at the CG. Others went to North Conway, NH to shop at an L.L. bean outlet or take a mountain train ride.

Because there was no black water dumping it limited our stay to five nights. Dan has a “honey” wagon for pumping black water from the trailers, but I’ve always refused that service. We never had storage tank or valve problems and I just never trusted any sort of pumping action.

We did coffee and doughnuts at our trailer every morning and it often attracted a nice size group of doughnut lovers. Our site was about 100’ from the riverbank. The only fish I caught from those clear waters was carp suckers. But they were large and fun to catch.

As you can see in the trailer picture my most popular internet posting name is Fast Eagle. USN Fighter Squadron 41 was my first assignment with jet aircraft in 1964. They had new F-4 Phantom II aircraft. I was there from 1964 – 1966. In early 1977 I was once again assigned to VF-41. That time they had just transitioned to the F-14 Tom Cat aircraft. Their call sigh was Fast Eagle. As a flight deck maintenance coordinator for VF-41 I was called Fast Eagle on all radio communication equipment. I was with them from 1977 – 1980 and was still called Fast Eagle when I departed, it stuck.

[CWtheMan]

3007: Berwick, ME

I was born at South Berwick, ME but that was the only day I ever lived there. My mother did not want to deliver her children at home. South Berwick had a maternity shelter.

I have forever called North Berwick, ME my hometown. I was raised on a rural farm there. It was owned by a great aunt and managed by my father.

This trip to Berwick, ME was the last stop in our northern adventures. It’s just a 50-mile trip down NH-16 from West Ossipee, NH. We stayed 5 days at Berwick, ME at the Beaver Dam CG in a FHU site and visited family and friends in the local area.


North Berwick does not have any public CGs. Beaver Dam CG is a stone’s throw from the NB town line. The spring fed pond on the CG property had no residents living on its banks when I was a kid and was our communities’ source of year-round block ice.






The little brick building was once the only schoolhouse in North Berwick (It now houses all town offices). My father completed grades 1 – 12 and graduated there. I completed grades 1 – 6 there before the family moved on. In 1954 our family moved to Fayetteville, NC. My father, mother and middle brother all died there. My youngest brother still lives there. My father and I had the same 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Brown.



The older home is the oldest home in North Berwick. It was on a large tract of land where Pratt & Whitney built an aircraft engine repair facility. The North Berwick Historical Society wanted to preserve it, so P & W moved it onto a new location. That home was my grandmother Roberts family (Sherburne) home. My 2nd cousin (Harland Roberts) was the chairperson on the town council when the building was moved.



North Berwick has never had any sort of hotel/motel. A few years ago, this older majestic home was refurbished into a bed & bath.




During our RV traveling years the Beaver Dam CG has always been one of our primary stops when in Maine. It is family owned and operated and has evolved into a rather comfortable place for us to park. They have built some sites large enough for big rigs with many being FHU 50 AMPs.

I always visit the North Berwick graveyard where all of my grandparents are buried.

https://beaverdamcampground.com/

[jasin1]

Would really like to see 1000 Islands…where did you stay? Any pics of the campground?…nevemind lol it’s in the post before

[CWtheMan]

Originally Posted by jasin1

Would really like to see 1000 Islands…where did you stay? Any pics of the campground?…nevemind lol it’s in the post before

On this trip the 1000 islands had not been planned. We were traveling on the northern NY river coast highway (NY-37). While stopped at a river pull-off area we saw this placard. We decided to put it on our things to do list while parked at the Massena, NY CG.

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by CWtheMan

On this trip the 1000 islands had not been planned. We were traveling on the northern NY river coast highway (NY-37). While stopped at a river pull-off area we saw this placard. We decided to put it on our things to do list while parked at the Massena, NY CG.

Attachment 38092 Attachment 38093

I appreciate the info and the thread series…it’s preserved here for all time I guess but you could easily have your own online blog that mirrors this for anyone searching the web in general.

It’s informative and gives some insight into the geography and attractions....thanks and keep up the good work…it doesn’t go unnoticed

[CWtheMan]

3008: Foxwoods, CT

With our northern trip finished we headed south. We only had one extended stop along the way back to SC. It was the Deer Haven Campground - Lisbon, CT. We had a five-day reservation and were going to spend most of them at the Foxwoods hotel and casino resort in CT. We would eat there, shop there, and play some of their slots and card games. It’s a huge, majestic place where one can get lost just walking around.

Our CG was not very convenient - about 15 miles one way to the casino area - and down a winding dirt road to boot. It’s quiet there at night and there are deer and other animals everywhere after midnight. We were actually pretty lucky to even find parking this close to the casino area as it was a holiday weekend. When we left on a Tuesday morning the place was empty. Our parking site was out behind the CG store/offices and very close to the well-stocked pond. I got some nice fish from the pond every time I wet a line.

This is another CT CG with gray water hook-ups. The black tank dump station is easy to use on the way out of the park. We had CATV but seldom used it. I wonder why?







From Lisbon we would make two overnight stops. Both had FHUs and CATV. One was at Western Village RV Park at Carlisle, PA.



The other one was at Fort Criswell RV Park at Wytheville, VA. We had previously spent some time at both of those locations.



I'd like to say thanks to those that have followed this to the end. As with most other postings I do about RVing, I just let it flow. I doubt that I'll attempt another without first doing more researching. I probably could have combined more stories in this one to keep it shorter. However, this may be one of my last postings. I just turned 83 and don't travel much anymore. My information is getting antiquated. We just splurged and got us a new ride. We like to go to the coast - outer banks - and stay in motels close enough to walk to the surf for some fishing. Topsail Beach, NC is my favorite.

https://beaverdamcampground.com/

[jasin1]

I say your postings are timeless rather then antiquated…keep posting about places you go to..people do find it interesting…

Also I hear that 80 is the new 60

carry on sir…


Thanks for your service and look forward to future posts

[CWtheMan]

Originally Posted by jasin1

I say your postings are timeless rather then antiquated…keep posting about places you go to..people do find it interesting…

Also I hear that 80 is the new 60

carry on sir…


Thanks for your service and look forward to future posts

We know your part of the country well. I was stationed at NAS Oceana 1963 - 1966 with VF-41. We moved back there again from 1977 - 1980 and again with VF-41. From 1980 - 1983 I was on the staff of CINCLANTFLT at their Norfolk compound.

I had a deep "V" while there and would put-in at Dam Neck. My favorite fishing hole was mile marker 14 at the bridge/tunnel. When the flounder were biting, I liked to drift fish across ouster beds.

Thanks for the comments and kind words..... Cal

[jasin1]

I should clarify I’m in the upper Bay Area ..if your ever up towards Baltimore send me a pm and I can give some info on fishing in the area..my son has a large charter boat but doesn’t fish as much as he used to because of work..a couple local guys I know are good and many places to launch a small boat for finding your own little place.

Son was planning a trip last year to Cape Charles with the boat but work got in the way

[Roper46]

Thank you CW for all the posts of your travels! They have been an enjoyment to read and share.

From one veteran to another I "salute" you sir and thank you for your service!