MA - October Mountain State Forest

I gathered up three of my girlfriends and left the boys behind for Memorial Day weekend (don't worry, they were busy with scout stuff, and some "don't tell mom" stuff.)  We had a great time in the Birkshires!  We went up for the Memorial Day Races at Tanglewood.  With a full array of races (5k, 10k, half and full marathon, 15k trail race, and 50 mile trail ride) there was something for everyone!

We stayed at nearby October Mountain State Forest and were in site 6.  This one is a pull-through if you don't have neighbors in site 5.  Not that backing is a big deal, but since we were driving the Winnie to the races each day, I think I'd pick one of the true pull-through sites next time for ultimate convenience.

So, we pull into Tanglewood on Saturday and they have us park right up front - literally steps away from the finish line!  Talk about feeling sweet parking spot!

Some scenes from the Saturday trail run portion of the events:

Despite the ominous looking clouds, it didn't rain on us - perfect running weather, actually!

We took a couple of nice hikes at October Mountain:

And via the all-knowing Google, we learned about these little orange guys: the Eastern Newt in the red eft juvenile stage, pretty cute!

Sunday was the larger portion of the races, along with a music festival afterward.  So, we pulled up and figured we'd need to park somewhere else...nope!  The volunteers greeted us with "are you guys the ones from yesterday?  Perfect, then you know where to park."  SWEET!  So we ate breakfast and watched the marathon and half marathon start right out the window.

Ready to run the 5k and 10k:

Then after the race we showered off, had lunch, and hung out at the Winnie within comfortable earshot of the concert :)

Then we took a nice nice walk around the grounds of both Tabglewood and Kripalu.  Just beautiful!

CT - Charlie Brown Campground

Time again for the annual Dog and Trailer spring rally at Charlie Brown campground...and another great time with friends old and new!  This rally is growing so much that it really is hard to spend enough time with everyone.  A weekend is just not enough, but since school is still in session and many of us have kids, a weekend is all we get...but we sure made the most of it!

We were on site 39.  We had some major rain the days leading up to the weekend, so some sites were shuffled around.

We got out for a nice long and hilly run with friends...well, Mr. McSpeedy pants was way ahead of us, but we girls had a fun run together :)

Theo of course had a great time with his friends, we pretty much only saw them at meal times and bed time.  But hey, where did all of my laundry money go???  I will just say that their camp store and game room are not hurting for business when we're in town. 

We had a craft beer tasting on Friday night :) 

And the pot luck dinner was enormous and delicious!  Of course, complete with our dear "margarator" :)

Repair: Rear Window

We decided to go all Alfred Hitchcock and address the Rear Window (10 points if you get this.)  Anyway, the rear window was leaking and we realized that our band aid re-caulking job from last year was not cutting it anymore...time to do it right.

First we had to take the shade and valance down so we could get to the inside frame to unscrew it.

The on to the window itself.  This bad boy wasn't easy to get out - lots of putty knife work around the old caulk and butyl tape, especially on the sides and bottom.  The top was the problem where very little was left and just let the water right in.  

Tons of elbow grease and alcohol got the old caulk and butyl tape residue off both the fiberglass and the window frame.  This part was not fun.

I masked up the window and made it all nice and new with the help of the good folks at Krylon.

Meanwhile Kevin took care of the section of plywood at the top that had seen too much wetness.  It was delaminated but not rotted, however we decided to take the extra step to be safe and painted on the Rot Fix stuff just to be sure of a good repair job.

After that we used marine epoxy and some clamps to re-laminate the layers.

Fresh butyl tape applied (tip on this stuff - keep it stored in the freezer for easier handling) and back in she went!

Viola!  The bonus is that the window is now the cleanest it has been since we've owned it ;)

NC - State Fairgrounds Campground

We went to Raleigh to visit Kevin's sister and brother in law and to run the Rock and Roll Half Marathon.  We really wanted to stay somewhere closer in town than out along I-95, so I started searching and found that the NC State Fairgrounds in Raleigh has campsites - $25 a night for full hook-ups and close to everything - perfect!

We picked the end row, near a big grassy area which was perfect for throwing a ball around for the puppies.  We also saw a family flying kites there :)

Theo had a fun overnight with Aunt Kathryn, Uncle Pee Wee, and Penny...and loved the recliners in the man cave (ahem, it is a woman cave too!)

Kevin and I had a really good race - not the fastest for either one of us since the rolling hills were relentless, but it was a beautiful course and a great way to see Raleigh.  Lots of great crowd support and fun creative signs along the course!

Alas, we had to tag team the rest of our visit since Theo came down with a bug with a fever, chills, aches, and a sore throat :(  Poor peanut.  This is how he spent the good part of Sunday afternoon and Monday:

At least we were in our own comfy camper and not stuck being sick in an unfamiliar hotel room.  

Kathryn and I took the dogs for a nice walk at the art museum that is close to the fairgrounds - great outdoor trail with large works and it links to the greenway system.  Dogs allowed, yay!  We will definitely put this on our list for next time when we can all go together and spend more time!

Theo did rest enough to rally for a final hurrah dinner:

VA - Mountain Cove Winery

Yes, you read right - an overnight at a winery!  We joined Harvest Hosts and now we can access a whole bunch of wineries, farms, and even a few museums that allow RV'ers to stay overnight.  This was our first stay and it was great!  A little bit of a route modification for us, but so worth it!

We had a great wine tasting and chat with the owner (no tastings for Theo of course, much to his disappointment) and picked up a few bottles as well as some homemade jam :)

The weather was great and we had such a nice relaxing evening walking the dogs and playing some Mad Libs.  Our parking spot was right near a babbling brook - near our bedroom windows, which is just about the only thing we heard all night out there in the country!  Daytime temps of 70 dropped to 50's at night - best sleep in a looooong time!