It's About the (RV) Journey....: Roanoke and beyond................

Roanoke...our last stop before beating a path to the west. We had an appointment to get the maintenance service done (we like to keep the RV in tip-top shape!) and some warranty issues resolved. Since the work would take a couple of days, we stayed in a nearby hotel.

Lucky for us, our son lives in Roanoke! We were able to ~~bother him~~ visit with him each evening. Nice! We really enjoyed that. Since we weren't sure how long the work would take, we took advantage the first day and went on a nice little hike right off the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was just 10 minutes from Roanoke and we had cell service. Very important when waiting to hear from the mechanics.

Though it is past peak fall foliage, there was still some color around on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had a very peaceful drive, and actually much longer than we planned on, since we went the wrong way looking for the Chestnut Ridge Trail. Hahah!

Blue Ridge Parkway-Roanoke, Va

very scenic drive

quaint

most of the leaves are down, but some color pops out here and there

helloooooo

views were colorful in some places

The Chestnut Ridge Overlook Trail is actually on Mill Mountain and was a great leg-stretcher. Most of the leaves are down and covering the trail, so we paid real close attention to the trail blazes. We also watched our step, since there were lots of roots and rocks under those leaves. (I didn't even want to think about snakes-ahhahaha).

finally found the trailhead...and yes, we were here before

paying attention to the red blazes

ready?

hey....I see white blazes...

this way

What an enjoyable trail! So peaceful....except for a few other hikers. As I was looking down watching out for ~~snakes~~ rocks, I spotted some really nice leaves and couldn't resist taking some pics of the remnants of this beautiful fall we had here in Virginia.

some beauty on the ground

we're good....still on the trail

natural barrier

looking up was nice too

enjoying the peace in the woods

pretty

do I need to hold your hand on this "ledge"??

nice

color everywhere

The trail wound around the mountain, with gentle slopes and well-graded ups and downs. A joy walking through the leaves and admiring our surroundings. It was a little bit chilly when we started the hike, but it warmed up pretty quickly. When Tom takes his hat off, you know its warm!

sometimes hard to spot the red blazes in the fall

are you getting hot?

love the color

still heading up

nice

hhmmm....Tom has his hat off...you know what that means, don't ya? Its hot

really enjoying the trail-especially nice in the fall

lots of ravines too

cooling off

more barriers on the trail

There were so many interesting things to look at as we made our way along the trail. Sometimes I think I am a photographer going on a hike, instead of a hiker taking some pics. Hahah.

just so cool

close up

more "coolness"....hahaha

nature's art

love this trail

pretty

almost at the end of the trail

scenic Blue Ridge Parkway

Before we knew it, our camper was ready and so were we! We took off after a couple of days in Roanoke. Our first leg of the journey was about a 5 hour drive to Sevierville, TN. We don't like to travel much more than 5 hours in the RV, especially when we have DAYS of driving ahead of us. It was early afternoon when we reached the campground, and what a beauty!It helped that the weather was perfect too.

The river is right in front of us, and we enjoyed the views as we sat outside and waited for our laundry to finish. The laundry room at this campground looked brand new-and I was able to do 4 loads of laundry at once. Painless. Though this campground is on the small side, the facilities are top-notch.