The crystal clear, sky blue water gently laps against the shore, there is a whisper of fluffy white clouds in the sky, the temperature is around 80 degrees, the birds chirp gleefully to each other, the faint whine of a motor boat can be heard in the distance, and it is another perfect day at North Bend Park on the John H. Kerr Reservoir in southern Virginia! Today is our 12th and final day here and we have grown very fond of this park. It has a real comfortable feeling, yet it is neat, well kept, and does not have one bad campsite in the whole park.
We became quite concerned about our stay here when we woke up last Tuesday morning and read that our Federal Government was partially shut down, and all Federal Parks were closing. Since this park is operated by US Army Core of Engineers, our fear was it would be affected. We immediately asked one of the park rangers if North Bend was going to shut down along with the other Federal Parks that were already shutting down. The ranger wasn't sure what was going to happen here, but, they would give us a 48 hour notice if the park had to close. The rest of Tuesday went by without any notice of this park closing. We breathed a sigh of relief, and hoped it would stay open at least until our departure Sunday morning.
Wednesday, we were eating lunch at our campsite while enjoying the view, when the ranger drove up to our site. Dang! We knew exactly why he was here and what he was about to tell us. The ranger came up to the camper and introduced himself. "I am sorry to inform you that we are closing the park Friday, and you are hereby given 48 hours notice. All campers must be out of the park by noon Friday, and the gates will be locked until further notice." Our hearts sank into our sandals!
We thought this might happen, and it finally did. Now we need to make other plans and find another place to stay. So, Thursday Kitty, Kallie and I got in the car to head a few miles south into North Carolina and look at some state run campgrounds on the same reservoir.
OOPS! The car wouldn't start! The darn battery was dead. We jump started the car from our truck and immediately headed to South Hill to get a new battery. Since we were only two years into the five year battery warranty, we were able to get the battery replaced for just a few bucks, and we were on our way, again, to the state park in North Carolina.
If we found a spot we liked, we were prepared to reserve it for two nights before heading farther south toward our winter spot in Florida. We drove through the state park a couple of times and found one site that might work for us. But, this place didn't compare at all to North Bend Park, and we decided not to make a reservation here and head back to North Bend Park to come up with plan "C".
As it turns out, that was the right decision. Upon our return to North Bend, we were informed the park would stay open one more week, then close for the season. Wow! We get to stay here a few more days! Jumping with joy, Kitty does a couple quick cartwheels while I jumped into the air clicking my heels and Kallie gives some high fives and a chest bump with the park ranger! I heard the ranger say he'd never seen anything like that in his whole life! Right! You believe that don't you? Ha!
So, tonight the sun is setting on our stay here and will head to Jacksonville, North Carolina in the morning. Speaking of the sun setting, here's a few shots we took this week of the sun setting at North Bend Park.
We'll see you again from North Carolina!
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