And I got lucky: a few weeks ago, the work was in the Shenandoah Valley. My original intention was to go out Sunday and camp in the national forest somewhat west of Staunton, but when I got to Staunton and found the store, I realized I was very very close to the Frontier Culture Museum. I decided the forest could wait - it had been easily 10 years since I had been to the museum. They'd built a Native American Village and an African village since I was last there. Apparently, I neglected to get pictures of the latter. Here are some other pictures from the museum, though:
This is one of the blacksmiths at work.
The Indian village.
A path through the woods, planted a while back.
This is a staircase I'm glad I don't have to use on a daily basis.
I never did get to the forest, because I got a call from a merchandising company I hadn't worked for previously and had to stay in town after work to do paperwork kinds of things. I spent a lot of time enjoying Gypsy Hill Park, which was a good place to hang out and make dinner. They have a pool. A nice pool, with a $3 admission fee. I, traveling light, had not brought a bathing suit. I made a note to NEVER travel without one again. Having my computer along would have made things much easier too.
Wednesday's work was at Grottoes VA, so I drove up Tuesday afternoon and found Grand Caverns Park. They have a pool too. Being it was so close to the end of the pool day, the manager took pity upon me and let me swim in shorts. Yay. Did I mention the temps were in the high 90s at least?
Wednesday after work I went back to the park and took the cavern tour. I was sure I'd taken pictures, but apparently not. Mea Culpa. It's a very neat cavern, with more than its share of shield formations, and interesting history. They used to hold balls down there - actually, once a year they still do. The room of the cavern where they did that has a rock formation very convenient for use as a table for refreshments.
Then, Thursday's work was up in Luray. They have some neat parks too, and of course Luray Caverns, but I got there too late to explore the parks. I found a little park/pond near the store, had supper, read emails, and then moved to a good sleeping location. And Thursday, after work, I went back to the motorhome to get ready for the next week.
AdVANturing evaluation - I had too much stuff in my kitchen area, which made meal prep unwieldy. 18th Century gear is much more bulky than the backpacking gear I'd be using if I weren't a buckskinner. And a lot of what is in the van has to be there for the rendezvous camp, but does not need to be used, or even accessible, in the 21st century. Whenever I'm at camp, I go through and try to put things "on the blanket" that don't really have to be there. I need to be more ruthless about that. And I took the second cooler out, which let me rearrange so the remaining cooler is accessible with no problem.
And off I go for another week in the van... WITH a bathing suit.
Sounds like an interesting time. Although my van is my daily driver, I also use it for overflow storage from stuff from the RV. I really need to do some purging soon though.
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