July 8th - Nashville to Claytor Lake, VA

Facing an 11-hour drive to Harrisburg, PA, (Hank's hometown) we decided to stop back in Radford, VA to explore a camping spot we been unable to reserve our first time through town during Hank's Family Reunion. We could only get a primitive campsite, but we were very interested in checking out the state park that we had heard so much about. The centerpiece is a 21-mile long reservoir.

We made a mid-morning stop at a brand new Buc-ee's in Crossville, TN. A couple of people had raved about this travel stop chain and they did not exaggerate. It was huge, friendly, well stocked and cheap! We paid $3.99 a gallon for gas, had amazing brisket and stocked up on some drinks and snacks. Fuel pumps were arranged in a large matrix that had about 80 pumps. They hard a large dog play area, too, but we didn't have time to enjoy that. If you ever get a chance - don't miss a visit to Buc-ee's. They started in Texas, where they have the most locations with sites in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennesee. They plan to expand to Missouri, Colorado and Mississippi.

A drizzle started just as we arrived at our campsite, which was adjacent to a a couple of sites where two families with a pack of kids were having a loud game of cricket. We didn't appreciate them walking through our campsite, especially while we were backing our trailer into our campsite. 

We didn't expect anything more than a light rain, so we took a three-mile hike to the lake shore. About half-way through the hike, we were hit by a pretty steady rain that lasted about 15 minutes - enough to soak us and the dirt track. Angie slipped in the mud and fell onto her injured wrist. Her brace helped absorb some of the impact, but it still smarted.

We were almost dry by the time we arrived back at the campsite. We fired up the grill and turned on some country music to drown out the loud cricket game of our neighbors. The rain started again, so we ate inside the trailer. We had a delicious meal of leftover pulled pork, which Angie had vacuum sealed and frozen at the start of our trip, along with roasted brussels sprouts and salad with strawberry vinagrette. My girl knows her way around the kitchen!