Point Lookout State Park (Maryland) October 26, 2013

The Place

There is a lot to do at Point Lookout State Park with beaches along both the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay, Lake Conoy, boating, fishing, crabbing, and history all jammed together.  It is located on the point of land where the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay meet and was the site of Civil War forts, a military hospital, and prisoner of war camp. 

The park is long and skinny.  The campground is in the northern part of the park. There is a small, sweet history museum and nature center in the campground.  You have to cross a narrow causeway to get to the southern part of the park where the beaches, boat rental, fishing pier, lighthouse, and restored Civil War fort are located.  There are 2 pet areas; one adjoins a Bay-side beach where Tiki fetched and frolicked.

The Adventures

There must have been a storm prior to our arrival at the campground, because the internal part of our “loop” of campsites was flooded when we got there.  The driveways and the tent pad areas are elevated 3 feet above the surrounding land, and rose nice and dry a foot or so above the water.  Imagine each campsite as an island connected by a driveway to the road.  Yikes!  We pulled over.  We got out.  We walked the driveway.  We looked at the water on each side.  Hmmm, there’s no room for deviation.  Russ drove, Dana directed from the driveway and we backed that sucker into place.  The next day we talked to neighbors who said, “We thought you guys were experienced RVers.  You got out, scratched your chins, and then drove that thing right in.  We were glad that you weren’t here when we were trying to back our trailer in…”  In any event, we had a waterfront (and side and back) campsite at no extra charge.

Even though it is apparent that the park is laid out for cars, we decided to explore on foot.  We walked along Hwy 5 to the causeway, the Pier and Fort Lincoln, a partially restored Union Civil War fort.  A costumed guide at the fort taught us about military history and the construction of the forts on the peninsula.  It is well worth the visit, though a little hard to find.  We didn’t make it by foot to the Potomac River beaches or to the lighthouse (we drove there later) but our entire trek was still 6 miles long.  On the way back we found a cut-through path from the campgrounds to the causeway that cut about a mile off of our return trip.  Note to self – look closely at the map they give you when you sign in.

The Motor Home

We prefer to eat “in”, enjoying the taste and healthiness of home cooking. However, preparing meals in the motor home requires planning.  To begin with, the motor home kitchen is tiny.  Well, actually for the RV world ours is quite spacious, but it doesn’t have nearly the space we need to store ingredients and create a home cooked meal.  We don’t want to spend a lot of time cooking, because we want to be out exploring and enjoying where we are.  We also don’t want to create a load of dirty dishes, because everything has to be washed up by hand.  We’ve given this puzzle some thought, and on this trip we tested our “solution” and it worked!

When we cook at home we often have left overs.  Instead of saving them for another night, we froze them to be reheated later in the motor home.  So, while we were at Point Lookout, we heated up yummy spaghetti sauce loaded with eggplant, zucchini and Italian sausage.  We cooked fresh noodles to go under the sauce and sprinkled parmesan on top.  To be extra fancy, we chopped up some garlic, heated it with butter in a coffee cup in the microwave, and then spread it on sliced bread.  A feast!  Preparation time:  15 minutes.  Dirty dishes: 2 pans, 2 bowls, 2 forks, 2 spoons, 2 glasses, and 1 buttery coffee cup.

Maiden Voyage of the ShoreXplorer (October 12-14, 2013)

After several weekends of camping in our driveway and learning how to use our new (to us) 6 year old motor home, the ShoreXplorers first road trip was to family property on the Rappahannock River near Topping VA.  Yes, the first adventure was to a familiar place along familiar roads.   

The Place

Locust Lodge (aka The Rivah) is located on the shores of the Rappahannock River a few miles from where the River meets the Chesapeake Bay.  It is quiet and beautiful with sandy beaches edged by woods of tulip tree, locust and holly. 

The Adventure

We arrived at the end of a Nor’Easter and the beach was impassable, so we, our friends, and accompanying dogs explored the woods instead.  Along the path the dogs ran past this rather brave turtle who never withdrew into his shell.  I guess he didn’t smell as interesting to the dogs as the scent they were following.  We also saw this Indian Pipe plant just emerging from the leaves.  That was a special treat! 

The next day we went to the Deltaville Maritime Museum.  Located on the banks of Mill Creek, the museum has restored boats you can board, a lovely sculpture garden, a children’s garden, sheds where boat restoration is taking place, a trailer with an historical exhibit and a butterfly bush alive with monarch butterflies (we were in luck).  The museum suffered a tragic fire a few years ago and is in the process of rebuilding its exhibit hall and meeting area.

The Motor Home

As new RV’ers, every new trip is a learning opportunity.  This trip we learned just how big the ShoreXplorer is.  It is wide and long and tall.  During the drive to the Rivah we passed through a town where a 2-lane road had been re-purposed to 4 lanes without actually widening the road.  Not only were the lanes themselves very narrow, the telephone poles were right at the curb and leaned toward the road.  Even if we could have fit into the tiny right lane (which I doubt) we would have surely clipped a pole.  After a harrowing ride in the right lane on the way there, we drove in the left lane on the way back, straddling into the right lane to move ourselves a few inches away from oncoming traffic on the left.  This must not be an uncommon occurrence as the other drivers were very courteous, hanging back and letting us pig up essentially both lanes until we were through the worst of it.  Then (of course) they sped around us as soon as the road opened up and we got over into the right lane again.  Rookie RV Drivers!

The road into The Rivah is a one-lane gravel road laid out to gently curve around every sizable tree.  Negotiating a 29.5 foot long vehicle through the frequent curves around large trees was painstaking – the rear end had not yet passed the first tree, before you had to move the front end out of the way of the next one.  The branches along the road are regularly trimmed so that cars and pick-up trucks can drive through without scratching sides or roofs.  Not so for 12.5 foot tall motor homes!  Our friend walked in front and cut the branches that could be reached from ground level.  Some of the branches were at the height of the precious equipment that is attached to the roof of the motor home.  Russ rode on the roof holding on to the satellite dish and trimming branches as Dana inched the vehicle down the road.