Eastern frontier farming

     Last night was the coldest we have experienced while camping in quite a while.  We can run our heater a little, but the fan takes power and we can only run the generator to recharge the batteries for a few hours each day.  If we run the generator too much we use up all the gas.  So we are very frugal with power.  One light on, water pump off unless being used, heat on just long enough to take the chill off.  So I ran the heat for a little while when we went to bed just to help get the bed warm and then the piles of blankets kept us cozy the rest of the night.  I jumped out of bed for a minute this morning to turn the heat back on for a little bit as we got up.  Still, we are very spoiled compared to tent campers who had to get their fires going to warm against the chill.

     The cold weather seems to have speeded up the process of the turning of the leaves and everywhere we look there are spots of bright red and yellow.  The park is getting busier as the weekend approaches.  The Appalachian Trail runs along the Skyline Parkway.  Many hikers use the park campgrounds, camp stores, laundry and showers.  We ran into one very seasoned hiker in the camp store.  How could I tell?  by the smell.  Wow, he had to have been on the trail for a while.  The whole trail is over 2000 miles long.  Hikers still in Virginia in September who are headed north are not going to make it the full length.   It takes quite a determined hiker to make it the whole way in one season – so many steep ups and downs.  I admire their fortitude.

     Today we drove the last 20 miles of the Parkway and then went to Staunton, Virginia.  Birthplace of Herbert Hoover.  We could have gone to his home, but since the weather was just beautiful we went to the Frontier Culture Museum.  This is a living history outdoor museum which has a series of farm sites with original buildings from 18^th century England, Ireland, and Germany to show the culture of the farmers who settled this area.  There was also a set of frontier America farmsteads from the 1790’s, 1820 and 1850 in America.  An African village and a Native American village were under construction.  The staff who were at each site gave us great information about the origin of the buildings and what life was like during the time they were used.   The place was mostly empty midweek in September and the weather was perfect for walking between each area.  We learned why the Irish (Rick’s ancestors) left Ireland before the potato famine to come to the U.S. and why the Germans left Germany (my ancestors).   In both cases it was mainly because the growing conditions and financial opportunities in Europe were poor so adventurous people emigrated to America.  

     Tomorrow we leave Shenandoah and get back to commercial campgrounds. Less scenic, but with the capacity to run off an electric connection. Everything is a tradeoff.