4/27/26

Location: Camp Creek State Park Campground, Camp Creek, WV

Cool morning temperatures, around 50 degrees, greeted me as I bundled up in my sweatshirt and took the wagon loaded with the dirty clothes hamper to the nearby laundry room. It had 2 washers, at a cost of $1.50 per load, and 3 dryers, at a cost of $1.00 per load. The machines were clean, relatively new and they worked well.

When the laundry was finished and Skip had taken care of the daily chores outside, we had a nice breakfast of French toast, frozen leftovers from a couple days ago and frozen bacon that was prepared before we left home. Sure glad ChILL has a microwave!

Skip and I spent most of the afternoon working on the Island Time Travels blog. Because he hasn’t used the blog for 5 years, Skip had to retrain himself while teaching me at the same time. Added challenges came because of changes due to updates made by WordPress over the years. Major learning curve for both of us along with the frustration of doing something new mostly on the fly made what should have been a relatively simple task take a long time. Still have a lot to learn but we did manage to produce some posts.

Dinner was frozen bratwurst prepared at home, baked potatoes and a salad. Life is good!

Did my strength training exercises and made our lunch for travel day tomorrow.

Skip has already done the main clean out of the black tank so that he can take less time getting the tanks ready for our 8 AM departure. Looking forward to The Ark Encounter located close to our next campground in Dry Ridge, KY.

4/26/26
Location: Camp Creek State Park, Camp Creek, WV

Very relaxed start to our day with Skip taking advantage of the chance to sleep in. 

We watched Joel Osteen at 10:30 and heard another meaningful message, God uses all things for our good even the things that we don’t understand or challenge us. Nothing is wasted.

After our breakfast of sausage egg cheese grits bowls and kitchen cleanup, I did my exercises at the picnic table in the 65 degree sunny weather. Together we took a walk to the Mash Fork Falls about a half mile from our campsite. The dirt road was between water splashing in the creek on one side and forested mountain on the other side as we made our way to the falls. A lady stopped us along the way to let us know she had just seen two copperhead snakes crossing from one ditch to the other. We did not encounter them at all. For us it was a nice walk in the moderate temperatures with cool drinks handy when we returned to ChILL.

Skip put out the awning and I setup our strongback chairs and we just relaxed in comfort surrounded by the sights and sounds of nature. Yellow butterflies too numerous to count were playing in the gentle breeze. Birds were chirping, bees were buzzing and in this peaceful setting even the yellow dandelions added to the charm.

A snack and NASCAR on TV for Skip and a good book for me highlighted our afternoon. I made barbecued chicken on the stove along with couscous and a salad for dinner.

As the Eagles’ song says, “I got a peaceful easy feelin’ and I know you won’t let me down cause I’m already standin’ on the ground.” What a great place to be peacefully standing on the ground.

4/24/26
Location: Anvil Campground, Williamsburg, VA
Francesco’s Ristorante Italiano
Walmart
ChILL

Stayed at the campsite and enjoyed the beautiful weather and our last full day in Williamsburg. We dropped off some outgoing mail at the campground office and took a walk around the campground. They have only 77 spaces but they have done a great job of providing a family friendly atmosphere with a heated pool, arcade, laundry area, playground, small dog park with swings and a grill nearby and a small general store. As we were there during the week they did not have any of the children’s activities that they offer on the weekends and throughout the summer such as a kids train ride pulled behind a golf cart. I can imagine lots of good childhood memories created here.

For dinner we tried Francesco’s Ristorante Italiano. Skip chose chicken parmesan with spaghetti and I had baked ziti. Both of us liked our meals but found that the sauce was not to our liking, too bland overall. 

At the Walmart Super Center we stocked up on items we will need for the next few days as we plan to mostly relax at the next campground in Camp Creek, WV without looking for local places to eat. We have enough ingredients to prepare all of our meals in ChILL including some frozen leftovers we brought from home.

Thank You Lord for our lives and Your provision one S’mile at a time.