Drawing to a close

Our time at Lake Anna is drawing to a close so I figured I better put a few words down so folks know what we have been up to. We have found that there are some folks that actually read this blog and give us grief when I don't keep it up, so I will ramble on ....

We had a couple of visits with our Arctic Fox friends from the afnash.com group. Durafox, Steve and Karen from Stafford, stopped by one Sunday afternoon and we had a nice but to short visit. Another day Sandman, Joe and Jeanie from Fairfax, dropped in for an all to short visit. We also had a couple that were interested in an Arctic Fox 30U, Calvin and Judy, stop by one afternoon. They checked out the camper and what we liked and didn't like, short list there, about the camper. Nice folks all.

Our neighbors from Quail Ridge came to camp one weekend. It was good to see Carl, Suzie and the kids. We had a nice weekend with them. We'll miss them and the kids but we can keep in touch with e-mail and phone. The kids had a good time riding their bikes, razor, and hiking the trails.


The campground has been busy on the weekends and very slow during the week so we did take some time to see local attractions. We took a trip to James Madison's home which has been restored to the way it was when James lived there. It was quite a change from when we last visited which was during the renovation.

James Madison's home

Blue Ridge from James Madison's home.

We also visited the Civil War Museum at the Exchange Hotel and in Gordansville, Spotsylvania Court House and the battlefield. I still can't get my head around an engagement where tens of thousands are are lost in a single battle.

The park has acquired some new property and we were able to see that new section. We don't expect it will be open for a few years given the budget cuts in Virginia. This new section is known as the Ware property.

Viewing the lake from the Ware property.

One Friday we went to the office and found them in a panic. Phones and Internet were not working. I worked with Dave checking surge suppressors on the phones all to no avail. I rebooted one of the routers but that did not help the phone or Internet issue. After more checking we reset the hughes.net modem and associated router. Still no apparent help. A while later the park manager, Doug, arrived and when he checked his office computer he found that it was working. So rebooting the hughes.net stuff had some effect. While Suzette was helping Joanne with compiling information for a report I went to our camper and got my laptop and an Ethernet cable. I had figured that the router in the front office might be the issue with the 2 front office computers. I plugged in and NO connection. The wall Ethernet outlet is a duplex outlet. So I plugged into the other outlet. WALLA Internet. Double Walla the phones worked. Humm. Who was the tech that wired an Ethernet, RJ45, outlet to the phone system? It just doesn't seem right that someone would wire phones into an RJ45 Ethernet outlet when the phones in the office use an RJ11 outlet.

The weather has been all over the place. Cold and rain, we saw 33 one morning, as well as clear and warm, yesterday was in the 70's. We have had foggy mornings which made for some pretty pictures of the foliage

Fog in the morning.

On our way shopping one day we received a call from Ann and Wally saying they were leaving for their trip to Florida the next morning and would stop in the Fredricksburg area at a Holiday Inn Express. We figured we would meet for dinner and thought we would check out the area for a restaurant. But first we thought we should find the hotel. We found where a new Holiday Inn Express was being built so figured there must be another one. NOT. Exchanging several calls with Wally he decided to stay an exit earlier, about 6 miles, in Massoponix. Since it was lunch time we decided to hit a Five Guys then to finish our shopping.

That afternoon Ann called again to let us know they would not be coming down I95 but I81. So there is not chance of us meeting on their way down. We will see them next year in Florida.

Halloween. There are a few campers here so we have to do something. Oh we will be the Camp Ghost's. Suzette had brought a sheet to make a costume from so with that done and fitted she stuffed a latex glove and put it in a bowl with some candy. Before Joanne and Roberta left the office we took the golf cart to the office and attempted to sneak up on them. We did a lousy job but it was a good laugh.

After dinner we dressed in our ghost costume and set off about the campground to do reverse tricks and treats. Meaning that we would give out candy. We had quite a time and everyone seemed to like it.

We had changed our plans so that we stayed over here at Lake Anna a few extra days because there is a deer hunt at Smith Mountain Lake and the park is closed so there would be no campers. Also the camp host that was arriving to take our place did not have known hosting experience. So we figured we could help here until the 5th.