EDITOR’S NOTE: This guest blog series is being provided courtesy of members of the Wally Byam Caravan Club International (wbcci.org) who are currently participating in the 2019 Taste of the Blue Ridge Caravan between late May and mid June. Their 500-mile journey began in Cherokee, N.C. and will end outside the historic towns of Charlottesville and Staunton, VA. We hope you’ll enjoy following along!
The TV weather reporters in Asheville were talking about how unseasonably warm the temperatures were. That was disheartening to our 2019 Taste of the Blue Ridge Caravan because our next campground was one without any utilities. That translates to no electricity, no water and no sewer connections.
This normally isn’t a problem because our Airstream trailers are self-contained when it comes to storing fresh water and holding dirty water. They also have batteries that help power essential lights and equipment, but air conditioning is not an option.
That was when caravan leaders Ray and Carol Combs gave us the good news that Linville National Campground was 10-15 degrees cooler than Asheville. That was well received by the group because we were camping there during June.
Finding the campground was a little tricky. The National Park Service would not allow our group to place a temporary WBCCI Caravan sign along the road for the afternoon alerting everyone where to turn in.
After setting up our trailers, we were treated to a dinner of Carolina barbecue pulled pork and chicken. A National Park Ranger talked to us about some of the local legends and, yes, Daniel Boone was part of his talk.
We were excited to see that our nighttime critter visitors to the campground included lightning bugs. After our Blue Ghost experience in Asheville, we welcomed our little visitors and enjoyed their show.
Some of the sights enjoyed at this stop included Linville Caverns, Linville Falls, Grandfather Mountain and the Linn Viaducts Visitors Center.
As promised, the temperatures were cooler in Linville. After three nights of boondocking – the term RV’ers use for camping without utilities – it was time to return to the Blue Ridge Parkway and travel north to our next stop.
