This first story isn't about camping – but it is blog worthy on the eve of our last planned camping trip.! The Van Wert Freedom Cruisers brought back old-time cruising to downtown Van Wert as a safe alternative for monotony relief during Covid! We missed every cruise this summer, but attended this last one that combined a mass parking of the old cars downtown for trunk-or-treat with the kids – followed by a night cruise! I well remember 30 years ago when weekend cruising was considered the blight of Van Wert! We outfitted the 1974 MG (Tom’s first car, bought new out of college) with a few chums that made it Halloween ready. The downtown was bursting with trunk-or-treaties and trunk-or-treaters, and we joined in and passed out candy until all $20-worth was gone – about 30 minutes! We cruised the town for another hour and then came home to warm up! We were the only convertible that we saw with the top down at 43 degrees! I think we quit before the party really got going! The next morning I read on the Cruiser Facebook Page that the event was a great success – for the kids who got an extra Trick-Or-Treat, for the old car owners (owners of old cars!) who took their rods out for a trip down memory lane, and for the many people that simply enjoyed watching those classic cars creating a continuous downtown traffic jam. Saturday, October 31, 2020 This trip began at East Fork State Park (as do so many) with an evening planned to celebrate Micah’s birthday with dinner at the campground. Tom was lucky to score the last campsite (out of over 450!) and thus we were able to add this extra night onto our camping trip. We arrived at 1:30 – clear blue sky, bright sun, and 54 degrees. First thing I did was recline in my swinging chair for a sun nap; my dark jeans and sweatshirt absorbed the heat of the sun! It was wonderful – kinda like being in a hot tub without being wet! Micah arrived at 4:30, we ate at 5:30, Micah left at 6:30, and the Ohio State game started at 7:30. Wonderful evening! Happy 40th Birthday, Micah! Sunday, Nov 1 There were a couple of interruptions at the end of the game last night that makes Tom think he had a food poisoning episode – due to our Chipotle lunch . . . or my Hawaiian Chicken birthday dinner! It seemed to be resolved by morning, and that is all you need to know! With the time change working in our favor, we didn’t get underway until 9:00, anticipating a 7-hour drive to our destination. Several times in the last 40 years we have visited Fairy Stone State Park in Virginia, and we are anxious to go back! Fairy Stones are Staurolite crystals and are found in only a few places around the world! Fairy Stone State Park has the most of all locations! Fairy stones are staurolite, a composition of iron aluminum silicate that forms only under extreme heat and pressure. The crystals were formed about seven miles underground, and as the Blue Ridge mountains began to rise up the fairy stones rose to the surface. The crystals form into little tiny “bricks” that, under pressure, twist in 60-degree or 90-degree angles, forming crosses. Once above ground the action of wind and rain dissolve the softer surrounding to reveal the cross-shaped minerals within. There are three different types of crosses: The Roman Cross, the St. Andrew’s cross, and the Maltese cross The most rare and coveted fairy stone is the Maltese shape. Here are a few pictures from the internet of fairy stones as they sometimes come out of the ground. When my parents brought me here as a kid, we would pick them up looking just like this -- we had several lunch-bag size sacks! Tom remembers seeing them at my parent's old house, but we have no idea what happened to them when my parents moved to their new house in 1980. The fairy stones are most frequently found in gullies, where rain has washed them down the mountain and left them scattered on the surface. Digging tools are not allowed, but you are allowed to sort and sift the surface dirt and dig with your fingers and gather all that you can find. On a very positive note, the remnants of a hurricane ploughed through the area earlier this week, and we’re hoping for a fresh flood of the fairy stones in our favorite gully. Fairy Stone State Park is quite a way off the beaten path, and once we left the Interstate we drove on roads that were narrow, dipping and twisting for about an hour. We arrived at the campground at 4:00 to find a very nice back-in site with electric and water hook-ups. The campground is deeply wooded, very hilly, and only about 30% full on a Sunday evening. Later we learned that it had been 100% full of party animals on Friday/Saturday night! Having seen another Airstream as we pulled in, we went for a walk, and stopped to talk. It turns out they were on their first outing in their new 28’, 2020 unit – mom, dad, son and daughter. They have tent camped, but never RV camped; once they were hooked up to water they thought they had unlimited limits for water use – forgetting about the holding tank! After a day of hiking, followed by showers for all – they discovered their grey water tank was full! This led to a lesson on hooking up to go dump! Oh how full of discovery their life will be this week! Back at our campsite, we were not hungry and opted for a few snacks rather than a full meal. Tom started a fire and, thanks to the time change by 5:30 . . . it was dark! It was lovely sitting outside and we lasted until 7:30! Monday, Nov 2 It dipped down to freezing last night – no problem for us inside the Airstream. it was a brilliant sunlit morning when we woke up at 7:30! We cooked hash and eggs inside and read all the booklets and guides on Fairy Stone. When I was here as a child (1963ish) we would always stop at the little Haines 57 gas station on highway 57 and scramble in the gully behind the station, picking up fairy stones left and right. Years later Tom and I returned several times – always to the Haines 57 gas station location. Inside the old-style gas station, there was usually a group of old men in overhauls sitting around cleaning the fairy stones they had gathered and offering detailed advice about gathering and cleaning the stones. Today that gas station is called the “Fairystone Pit Stop” and it still offers free parking and a walk through the gully to hunt for stones. They even have a small room with a coke machine and . . . . a Fairy Stone VENDING machine! No kidding! We walked the gully behind the gas station and think that we walked far enough back to avoid the “picked over” areas at the start of the gully. We saw lots of single staurolite crystals, and a few appeared to be an X-shape with a lot of matrix rock surrounding it. The matrix needs to be washed and then chipped away and filed to more fully reveal the cross shape. Our gatherings were not very impressive as far as crosses went, but did show lots of the single faceted crystals. As far as finding prime fairy stones . . . it was a wash-out! On the way back to the campground we stopped at the gift shop and a ranger explained to us that the nicely shaped crosses for sale were a result of generous filing. The ranger confirmed for us that you can no longer just walk along and find a perfect Fairy Stone; our collection of stones covered in lots of matrix was very typical. Thus ended my hope of gathering gallons of perfectly shaped crosses! Tuesday, election day, we headed for home, making it home by 6:00 and ready to settle down to watch election results. I'll leave you with a picture of our little Charlie Button -- what a good little traveler and camper she is!
0 Comments
|
Archives
October 2021
We don’t go camping any more . . . we go ‘streamin’ ! The “SIlvermine and His” is our 2018 25' Airstream Serenity with Salsa interior and front twin beds., and ‘streamin’ is the name we use to describe our adventures. Stream along as we document everything from weekend trips to longer summer excursions and full-blown vacations. You know what they say: if you’re not in an Airstream – you’re just camping!
Tom & Ella Brown |