Cody’s blog

Chippokes State Park
695 Chippokes Park Rd.
Surry, VA 23883

757-294-3728

November 5 – 11, 2024

After Powhatan State Park, we moved on to Chippokes State Park, after a short two-hour drive. My site was once again sloped and off level, both front-to-back and side-to-side. But it also had its advantages: it was at the top of the loop, and it was a wheelchair-accessible site, so there was a concrete pad beside it and a paved path to the bathhouse directly behind it. It also had a nice level tent pad, which however was of no use to me. (I brought my tent but never set it up — it was mostly too cold to stay outside in an unheated tent, and besides, I didn’t think Davey would fare well in a tent or being left alone in the van.)

The loop I stayed in was the A loop, which is most likely the older loop, with tent sites and uneven pads. The B loop had larger, more level paved sites, but there were no sites available in loop B when I reserved my spot. My brother and SIL originally had a site in B loop, but moved to loop A to be closer to me, and they also ended up in a very sloped site. The sites on the inside of the loop seemed to be the sloped ones, while the outside sites looked more level. I’ll remember that If I ever stay at Chippokes again!

(more…)

Powhatan State Park
4616 Powhatan State Park Rd
Powhatan, VA 23139

804-598-7148

October 31 – November 5, 2024

We arrived at Powhatan State Park, the third stop of our fall trip, at around 2:30 in the afternoon. I’d tried to get my propane tank checked and filled at the Tractor Supply near the previous campground, but they said they didn’t fill tanks that were attached to motor homes, and sent me to the RV place next door, who said they didn’t have any service appointments open that day. So I just went on my way. Stopped for gas but otherwise drove straight through to Powhatan, where I finally got to dump my tanks and settle into a nice level site. My site was next to my brother and sister-in-law’s trailer, but on the next section of the loop with a trees and a trail in between. So we were close but not in sight of each other.

(more…)

Cunningham Falls State Park
6709 Cunningham Falls Park Rd
Thurmont, MD 21788

301-271-7574

October 27 – 31, 2024

Cunningham Falls State Park in Maryland was a bit of a challenge. The park has two campgrounds located several miles apart: the William Houck Area and the Manor Area, each with its own address, so campers are instructed to make sure to use the right address for their campground when finding directions. We were staying at the Manor Area, which was the only one staying open through the end of October. However, the William Houck Area is the only one with a dump station, which was closed when we were there. We were told by the park ranger that the dump station might still be usable after the campground closed (it wasn’t) or that we could use the dump station at the Gambrill State Park 20 minutes away. We were hoping to dump our tanks on arrival, since our previous campground had also not had a dump station, but we’d only been there one night so we decided to just wait till the next campground.

Also, while the park had water available, the signs indicating the water stations were pretty hard to spot. But I managed to locate one and fill my water tank.

Then I finally got to my site, which was the most sloped site I’d ever had the misfortune to camp in. After much messing with my leveling blocks, I finally got the front tires under three blocks each, but the van was still so unlevel I could hardly get the sliding door open, and I felt like I was going to fall over every time I stood up in the van.

My brother and SIL had their own issues — their site was more level, but the roads in the campground were narrow and the sites at sharp angles, and there were trees and boulders on the side of the road, making maneuvering a large trailer into the site quite a feat. I was again very glad I’d traded my truck and trailer for a camper van.

Despite our issues getting in and set up, it was a pretty park with lots of trees and nice sites with good privacy. The bathhouse was in the middle of the loop, with a path to it from behind J&J’s site, so I could just go across the road and through their site to get to it.

(more…)