Catching up with family
Arriving back at my mom’s house always feels good! This time was slightly more special than our other visits. Not that there was any single special occasion to celebrate, but we had a lot more flexibility in our return than we have had in the past. Our previous style of traveling before working remotely, usually involved one or both of us taking vacation which wasn’t always as long as we would like. Unlike then, we can now work from nearly anywhere, which gives us a lot more flexibility in where and how long we can be there. The plan was to camp in the driveway, and work from either the truck or the house, greatly extending our visiting time!
After wrapping up that previous week of work we spent Sunday roaming around Shenandoah National Park, driving along Skyline Drive with lots of breaks at the various viewpoints to take in the views and look for wildlife along the way.
Later that day we jumped in the car with my younger brother, Scott, and my mom to take a look at his property where he has been building his home and cottage.
This has been a really fun project to watch his progress on, getting to see it in person was really impressive. All of the stone and brickwork he has done himself, with reclaimed material from his masonry company that he started several years ago, Hannibal Masonry.
The work week started up again for us on Monday, along with it I took advantage of our stationary position to do some maintenance on Dolores. freshly greased several points on the truck, and also replaced our swap bar end links since the previous set started to make some unpleasant noise.
A rather uneventful week of work interspersed with family visits passed by quickly. When the next weekend arrived we had made plans with my extended to family to spend some time with them in Shenandoah. We enjoyed a wonderful day on Skyline Drive again with a few short walks in to take in the views. That following night we made a fire, enjoyed some smores, and watched as lightning bugs lit up in the treetops around us.
After family left we took advantage of the long Memorial Day weekend and set off for a night camping in the Rapidan Wildlife Management Area, which is adjacent to Shenandoah National Park. This is an area where I spent a lot of time my time as I grew up. I would spend countless hours hiking, riding my bike, or just escaping the summer heat of the valleys in the cool mountain streams and small rivers. I always look forward to spending time in this area, and especially enjoy sharing this place with Christina.
Our brief stay in this area definitely wasn’t without some excitement. Around 9:30 pm we started to see some lightening down in the valley from the canyon we were in. I went to the cab and grabbed one of our radios and turned it on to listen to the NOAA weather forecast. The first words from the broadcast sounded out “…seek shelter now, radar indicated storm rotation…”.
Unknown to us, until that moment, a severe weather warning had been issued and we were shockingly once again under a tornado warning! We immediately went into action, We pulled down the tent and climbed into the cab of the truck. Well out of cell phone signal, and under a thick canopy of trees preventing us from using Starlink we felt a little blind in the small valley that we were camped in. We turned on the large radio in the cab of the truck and listened to the NOAA bulletin that listed off communities very close to our current camp where we were being warned to seek shelter immediately. Figuring that our tight canyon was better than the wide valleys below we stayed put, but we did move the truck into a powerline clearing, thinking that there would be fewer trees to fall on us potentially. We waited out the storm for about 40 minutes before it started to fade, thankfully it seemed the heart of it had missed us. We moved the truck back to our camp spot and settled in for the night, neither of us slept well that night.
The following morning Christina was up and out of bed much earlier than me. She had walked a bit away from the truck, stopping when she heard some branches snapping in the forest. Thinking that it might be a bear she paused listening just before deciding to walk back. Within a moment the snapping sound quickened. Suddenly she watched as two dead trees dominoed into each other, taking down two young trees along the way, all of which landed where she had just been standing. A bit shaken up she returned to the truck, where I had just witnessed all of this while still in bed. Needless to say, we were very relieved that she was ok. once out of bed I set off to spend a few minutes clearing the road of the deadfall.
After shaking off our nerves we made some breakfast and prepared for a short walk for the day. We had made plans to hike from camp into Rapidan Camp, also called Camp Hoover, which used to be a part-time summer residence and retreat for former President Hoover between 1929 and 1933.
Originally not part of our plan, when we arrived we were offered a tour of the ‘Brown House’ which served as Hoovers’ White House while at this camp. We quickly hitched Greta to a post outside and took turns being shown around the building, especially interesting was learning about First Lady Lou Henry Hoover who lived an extremely fascinating life, and who was directly responsible for the design of Rapidan Camp.
Inside the Prime Minister’s Cabin
After wandering around Rapidan Camps for bit we made another small walk up to a waterfall that I had never been to in the past, Big Rock Falls. We stopped here for a bit and enjoyed some snacks, and shade under a dense forest canopy.
After our short overnight we returned back to my moms house where we would spend another few days working. During that work week, a couple of friends of ours, Mark & Jenny stopped by. They had just picked up their new camper in Colorado and were making their way back to Maine where they are based. Even though they were only at my mom’s place for a single night we were still able to fit in a lot of time together with them, an added bonus was to introduce my mom to a set of friends that we had made while traveling before they took off again.
We spent the last few days of the work week getting wrapped up and ready for another travel weekend. During downtime, I would frequently pull out the camera and capture some images of the critters around my mom’s property including some nesting Red Shoulder Hawks that are practically in her backyard.
Tufted Titmouse hoping around the forest undercover
Cope’s Gray Tree Frog, preched on a post of my moms porch
Three juvenile Red Shouldered Hawks, nested near the house
Eastern Phoebe
When we finished work on Friday we closed our computers and our tent and said our goodbyes to the family. Saying goodbyes is never easy, but it was made easier by knowing that we got to spend so much wonderful and enjoyable time with everyone! Eventually, we made our way back into the truck and set off once again, This time pointing the truck north to make out way up to Maine where we would spend some time, but not before seeing some friends along the way.
Love and miss you all already!
