2008 Northstar MC600

Last evening as we were getting ready to pull the camper off the truck after putting things away from our weekend trip, we decided for an impromptu overnight "trip" up to our field. In what may have turned out to be the last cool night until November :) (low 50's) we had a perfect night of enjoying the quiet of our woods and then some game playing once inside the camper. We enjoyed salad from Ann's garden and a little reading, then hit the rack early. Joe was as happy as I have seen him when we got up this morning and got rolling to get him to school. Best of times.
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Another trip in the books. A bit late posting, since as usual I lost my camera. On this trip we went to Jackrabbit Campground in Nantahala Ntl forest outside Hayesville, NC. Right on the GA border. Campground was a campground, but on a beautiful lake. It was clean and well kept and the quiet time was nice. Although the parking area in the site was paved, the area around the campsite was actually quite nice with a view of the lake, etc..
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Reason we chose this area was two fold. First there are excellent MTB trails... and Joe clocked his longest single ride of his MTB career, 7.2 miles. Beautiful flowy singletrack, every small climb rewarded with lots of curves and berms. Such a great experience to have him smiling for the entire time. On our last day we headed over to Cherokee, NC, went to the "Museum of the Cherokee" and then that evening went to "Unto these hills" outdoor drama. Both were worth the time and admission, especially the museum. Cherokee is a bit like Myrtle Beach in the mountains, but you can avoid the commercialization if you try.
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A bit late posting this, and no pictures, but here it goes. As some of you know I bailed out from ARV after just a few hours on site. I was leaving in the morning for the Marine Corps Marathon in Arlington, VA. It fits in this thread because I used the truck and the camper to avoid the $250+ per night hotel options... and stayed here for 1/10th the cost. https://www.novaparks.com/parks/pohick-bay-regional-park

It was a campground with all the amenities and then some, but I had a nice site. It was located about 15 miles south of National Harbor, MD where the marathon packet pick up and expo were. I drove up there early on Saturday morning and was there for when the expo opened. After picking up my race packet I went back out to the parking lot and with it finally not raining, popped up the camper to relax and dry out the soft sides. Nice place to sit, eat lunch and people watch. The race has about 30,000 runners and they all at one time or another have to go through packet pick up so the traffic in and out was quite a scene. This highlighted one of the great things about the camper for me. On my little tundra it is easy to drive, park and get around in and to pop up and relax.

Went back to the campground that afternoon for some more rest and a quiet night. I was up early on Sunday morning for the race. I left the campground at about 0400 and headed back to National Harbor to catch the shuttle. This seemed like the easiest way to go. The race is super crowded, parking non existent and as much as I dislike relying on public transportation and other systems, this worked.

Race went great. Met up with a long time buddy a retired Marine about 15 years my junior. This is his 7th MCM and my 2nd. WE ran together for about 18 miles and had a great time. I finished just 6 minutes after him with my PR for the marathon distance. I am still slow as hell, but felt great about the race.

He and his wife and I went to their hotel, had a few beers and they drove me back to National Harbor. We went out and ate and said our goodbyes. I spent that night numbing the pain in my feet and reflecting on the race. On Monday it was pack up and roll out for home.

Lodging cost? $75 vs the $1000 I would have come close to spending at a hotel. One of the many benefits of having the camper.

Who's in for next year?
 
Well... been quite a while but thought I would throw this up here instead of in the Corona downtime thread... even though the down time is why I finally got to this...
I used a spare 2" hitch without the ball and welded some scrap diamond plate steel onto it to make a step for the camper. This allows us to leave the expanding steps that came with our camper at home and just leave this in the hitch. True, we would need to remove if we were doing any serious 4 wheeling. Makes it in and out of our road, no problem and that is likely as rough as we are gonna get with the camper in. Stupid easy project, but I think we'll appreciate it over time.
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