MFI and I were headed back to Texas because son Jon had asked for our help. For the past five months, he and Katherine had been working from home and caring for Logan, their two year old (almost). This meant neither could work full time while Logan was up and active. Help was needed in the forms of watching him and hopefully assisting with some new home projects.

We did not wear masks or social distance while we stayed with Beth and Barry in Island Heights, NJ. We all followed COVID-19 precautionary protocols when we were out, but not when we were in the house. And like most everyone these days, we were in the house a lot.

We spent about half a day repacking and reorganizing our tools in Sid and our belongings in Arthur. MFI pulled out our preparation checklist for towing and did everything she could short of final hookup. As a result, we comfortably departed Island Heights around 1000 hours stress-free.

In order to ensure we wouldn’t expose the Bunner-Hearty family to the virus, we planned on quarantining for two weeks and each getting a COVID-19 test to assure we weren’t asymtomatic carriers. Therefore, we were in no rush to get back to Texas. As we drove south headed to the gorgeous Shenandoah Valley, I consulted The Wizard and picked the RV Park at Endless Caverns in New Market, VA as our first stop. Unfortunately, the weather also turned south when we were about an hour from the park.

The intensity of the storm lessened, but the rain was non-stop well into the evening. We had a nice pull-through site with full hookup; however, dropping Arthur and setting up in the rain is never the preferred option. Fortunately, we carried rain coats in Sid and have become fairly efficient in performing these mandatory tasks.

The stay at Endless Caverns wasn’t particularly memorable. Maybe it was all the gloomy rain, or maybe it was the fact that everything at the park (except for some cavern tours) was closed. I didn’t take any pictures worth sharing, but I did google the history. The caverns were discovered in October 1879 on the property of Ruben Zirkle by two boys chasing a rabbit hidden amongst some limestone rocks. When they pulled loose stones away to flush it out, they uncovered a deep hole in the ground. They entered the cave that day using ropes and candles and found many chambers and rooms, typical of limestone solution caves that dot the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains. Their discovery prompted the Zirkles to start doing candle lit tours soon after. A Colonel Brown bought the cave in 1919 and had it electrified for the public grand opening in August 1920. I was disappointed to learn the cavern is NOT endless but only extends 5.5 miles and drops to 160 feet at its deepest. That ranks only 176th longest in the States. A tour lasts 75 minutes and costs $15 per adults staying in the RV park. We departed early the next morning without doing a tour.

Consulting The Wizard, I selected Ripplin’ Waters Campground and Cabin Rentals just south of I-40 and north of Sevierville, TN (population 14,807). The campground was immediately west of busy HWY 441 nestled beside the Little Pigeon River. The owner explained that ground and utility repairs on all of their sites were just being completed after they were destroyed by two spring floods. Our site was essentially brand new.

We stayed for three days and used the time to do laundry, a little shopping, and a lot of relaxing. We’ve concluded that unless we have a firm destination and arrival deadline, our stops definitely need to be longer from now on.

MFI had discovered and joined a new RV membership club called Harvest Hosts just before we left Sevierville. Annual membership was $67, and this allows us to stay one night for free at over 1,600 member vineyards, distilleries, breweries, farms, attractions, and golf courses nationwide. Stays are limited to one night because the sites generally have limited RV parking and provide no utility hookups; so effectively you’re boondocking. The only other requirement of membership is to purchase something from your host. I downloaded their app and quickly identified Century Farm Winery just west of Jackson, TN (68,205) as a potential stop. I immediately called Bart Horton, our host, and was able to confirm our reservation for the night.

We arrived at 1630, and as Bart had clearly instructed, pulled onto the gravel drive parallel to the white fence next to the winery gift store and tasting center. Bart described where on the vineyard we could park SidArthur, told us to take our time getting settled, and invited us to an evening tasting whenever we were ready. We parked within feet of the vineyard and enjoyed a cool, solitary, country evening.

We set up our campsite, hooked up the grill, and defrosted a steak. Then we did our tasting with the goals of finding a complimentary red for dinner and satisfying our membership requirement. The three-wines tasting was free, and Bart kindly threw in his award winning Chardonel as well.

Chardonel is a 50-50 cross between the American Seyval grape (a hybrid white wine grape ) and the classic vitas vinifera Chardonnay. This crisp white was a result of research conducted by the New York Agricultural Experiment Station in 1953. We tasted it first, bought a bottle despite not being huge fans of whites, and were not at all disappointed. We also tasted these three Century Farm Winery award-winning reds: Norton, Chambourcin, and Poverty Point (a blend of Norton, Chambourcin, and Corot Noir grapes).

The Norton had the oaky nose I love and tasted pretty good. We purchased two bottles and shared one later with our steak dinner. Bart said Norton has been called the cabernet of the Ozarks, although I couldn’t corroborate that on line. The other two reds were definitely drinkable but not tasty enough to buy.

During the tasting, Bart explained that the farm had been family owned for 150 years. Only 100 years of ownership are needed to qualify as a Tennessee Century Farm. The farm hosts weekly concerts in the field just south of where we were parked. He also shared they had architectural drawings for their proposed new tasting building with wine store, public meeting area, and amphitheater. MFI told him she was a retired architect and would be happy to review the drawings and offer any opinions. The three of us reviewed the blueprints, asked a bunch of probing questions, and discussed a number of alternate design options for consideration.

We felt the Century Farm Winery experience was well worth the cost of Harvet Hosts membership and expect to use it in the future. For us the location was idyllic, and I took a bunch of photos to capture the beautiful setting.

Our next stop was a return to Hot Springs, AR (population 37,930) only this time with SidArthur in tow. We agreed to only staying one night, and The Wizard led us to J&J RV Park and Storage on the northeast side of town. We had an unremarkable evening in an unremarkable facility at an unremarkable price. In other words we got what we paid for and had no complaints.

The longest stretch of our return trip was the leg from Hot Springs to Dallas. I had been checking for long-term RV parks in the Dallas area for some time but without much luck. The ones within a reasonable commute to Jon and Katherine’s either had extremely poor reviews or were priced well over our budget. I decided to take one more look once we were back on the road, and the Hidden Valley RV and Tiny Homes Park in Wylie, TX (population 59,394) popped up on The Wizard. The facility was less than a year old, had great reviews, and charged significantly less than others in the area. I gave them a call and confirmed we’d be arriving before closing time.

The park was neither hidden nor sat in a valley, but the name was catchy. It was about 70% occupied, and we were assigned a spot just about in the middle. The paved pads were roomy and each came with a nice plot of greenish grass. Since it was August, the daily temperatures were above 100 degrees, so we bought and hung a long piece of woven shade material along the west side of Arthur. This made a significant difference on indoor temps, although it created a trailer-trash look.

Well, we’re here from the next seven months. Baby watch for Max, projects for Arthur, projects for Jon and Kat, and who knows who else.