Back to the Fairgrounds

The North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh has been a very convenient place for Julia to arrive and depart from.  It’s only about twenty minutes from the airport and offers full hookups for $30/night.

Showers and bathroom are a bit of an issue.  Almost everyone here is self-contained.  We are too, but showering takes some effort in the Brew Hut with the small wet bath. Camp-ground showers are always appreciated, especially from Julia’s perceptive.

On my first visit, I talked to the security guard about potential showering opportunities. He told me that there were some off-site showers, but I never did find them.  On my second visit, however, I got clearer directions.  The bathroom and showers are at the H6 gate.  Drive up towards the first horse barn on the right.  There’s a bathroom on the far side of the building.  There’s a door inside the bathroom leading to three shower stalls.

I’m pretty sure these are for the horse people, but there was only one other guy taking a shower there during the entire time that I was there shaving, etc.  One caveat:  don’t do what I did and park to close to the horse barn.  When I came out, the truck was parked in by a long horse trailer.  I managed to get out with the help of some spotters.  But it took a lot of wriggling back and forth.  Julia was worried because she needed to be dropped off at the airport, and I was late.

Visit with Friends

We  combined our second stay with an opportunity to visit with one of Julia’s graduate school classmates who lives in nearby Chapel Hill.  Jane and Julia spent an afternoon sightseeing, and then the husbands joined in at dinner time at Kitchen.

A good time was had by all.  After dinner, we picked up some pie and spent time at the residence, meeting their teenage daughter and the family’s crazy but friendly dogs. Callie would not have been amused.

I stayed at the Fairgrounds two more nights in order to get some errands done.  I’m not sure how long I’ll take on the return trip, but the plan is to make a couple of multiple day stops in Virginia and Kentucky.  The rest of the way will depend on the weather, which has been hot, humid and dry.  That’s going to head the other direction at some point in October.

It’s been so hot that Callie and I get up to take our long walk before and during sunrise when the temps are the coolest.

North Carolina State Fairgrounds

As mentioned in the previous post, the record-setting temperatures in North Carolina have been too hot for this northern man  There were a couple of dry camping opportunities in the Raleigh area for less money, but I laid my money down for a bare bones grassy field  with electrical hookups at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds’ campground.

Besides air conditioning, there was proximity to the airport, a dump station/garbage services, and convenient location to laundry, grocery, etc.  The bonus is that some kind of horse show was going on across the street from the campground.

Callie and I took frequent walks over to the exercise pen where we saw many beautiful horses.  My favorites were the high-steppers and the horses pulling carts.  I’ve ridden lots of times but they’ve either been horses on the farm or trail horses.  These were fancy horses at the show.

There are a few things missing at this campground.  There are no showers or even bathrooms on site.  I did get the chance to test my plumbing repairs undertaken this summer and took a shower in the wet bath.  It felt great after a couple of days of dry camping.  I still used two or three gallons of water.  In the long term, that’s not sustainable for two people to take daily showers without frequent refills of the water tank and stops at the dump station. The baby wipes and sponge baths will have to do on some days.

I will have stayed here for three nights when we leave for the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Hurricane Dorian gave a hard blow to the Outer Banks.  Our campground has reopened, although there are some places we probably won’t get to, including Ocracoke Island.  Julia and I have never been to this part of the country.  I  don’t know if we will be back, so we are going to proceed and see what happens.