Shelburne Campground, Shelburne, Vermont

 We got an early start leaving the Rusty Nickel Brewery stopping for breakfast along the way to Shelburne Campground. The campground is five miles from Shelburne Shipyard and we set up camp in our wooded pull through site. The campground is rustic but well maintained with gorgeous landscaping. We unhooked Cutie and headed over to Shelburne Shipyard to check on Dot's Way. The boat looks great and we set out to Walmart and West Marine to pick up garden hoses and cleaning supplies before heading over to Fiddlehead Brewery for pizza and cold brews.

As we head over the bridge into Vermont, a glance at Champlain lighthouse

On Thursday, we got up early to beat the forecast rain and headed over to the Shipyard to scrub the decks and the canvas. Glenn got the hull sanded in preparation for painting.

On Friday, we stopped into Dunkin Donuts down the road from the campground and discovered it was National Donut Day so we were surprised to get a free donut with our coffee and creme cheese and bagels for breakfast. We spent the day doing boat work discovering a water leak under the sink in the galley. We made a run to Home Depot for a Ryobi wet/dry vacuum cleaner and Glenn said it was the best purchase ever to pump out water from the lockers.

Celebrating National Donut Day

On Saturday, we discovered that the Dutch Mill Diner near the entrance of the campground opened at 7:30 am for breakfast so we were in line when it opened. We had delicious blueberry pancakes and the Shelburne omelet with Vermont cheddar cheese, green apples and ham. We got the hull waxed and the rest of the canvas scrubbed and sprayed with water proofing protecterant.

The beautiful peonies in  bloom near the bathhouse

The comfortable chairs overlooking the docks

On Sunday, we enjoyed breakfast at the diner and then headed to the Shipyard to start bottom painting. This was the only day there was no rain in the forecast. We got one coat on and then went shopping to the autoparts store and to Lowes, also stopping at Hannefords Grocery to start our pantry provisioning.

Beautiful irises near the bathhouse at the campground

Celebrating getting two coats of bottom paint on Dot's Way

On Monday, we put up the two canvas bimini tops and put new rops on our new bumpers in preparation for being launched on Tuesday. Late in the day, we finally got our inflatable dinghy and dinghy engines delivered from storage. 

On Tuesday, we got up early to be at the Shipyard by 6 am to scrub the bottom of the dinghy and rinse the canvas cover before hoisting it on the back of the boat. We got everything loaded on the boat and in the car in the rain. The female lift operator drove the lift with remote controls and we were launched and pulled around to the service dock. We took off to drive to CVS Pharmacy to pick up prescriptions down the street from Trader Joes where we stocked up with wine and other goodies. We spent our first night on the boat at the dock.

Here she goes towards the water

Splash!

Enjoying the strawberry moon from the flybridge

On Wednesday we headed over to the campground to meet the Air conditioner repair guy to take a look at the Airstream air conditioner that was howling when you turned it on. He thought it was the fan motor bearings and not something wedged near the fan motor so we will make a reservation for service at the Blue Compass airstream dealer in Mont Pelier when we put the boat up for the winter. We ate an early lunch at the Dutch Mill Diner before heading to Lowe's for another faucet that had better connections for the galley sink. We picked up the rental car in the early afternoon and left the Highlander at the campground as we spent the second night on the boat. Glenn got the faucet installed and we had another peaceful night on the boat.

On Thursday we took off with me driving the rental car and Glenn in the Highlander towing Cutie to Georgia, Vermont where we had made reservations to store the rig for the summer at Rocky Ridge Vehicle Storage. We drove back by Trader Joes for more grocery shopping as we had already offloaded everything out of Cutie and the HIghlander and roof top carrier that we would take with us on the boat. We had another pleasant evening on the boat with trying to get everything shipshape for departing on Friday.

Rusty Nickel Brewing Company, Seneca, New York

We made coffee on Tuesday morning and took a walk past the barn behind the Twisted Vine wine tasting room seeing rabbits dart into the woods and listened for more birds including wild turkeys. We then packed up and headed off for Tudor's Biscuit World in nearby Gallipolis. The biscuits were delicious and we set off for our next Harvest Host at Rusty Nickel Brewery in New York. We skipped lunch only stopping at a visitor center and for gas and arrived to the brewery right as they opened at 3 pm. We got the prime space in front of the outdoor covered terrace. We got our cold brews and pulled pork nachos and enjoyed them on a shady raised porch overlooking the fire pit. There are comfy seatings among the plants by the pond with fountain and grassy area that extends along the the side of the building to the front Harvest Host parking spaces, The morning started off in the 50s and got up into the 70s so it has been a pleasant trip so far. We head out early tomorrow stopping for breakfast at Peppermint's to make it to Shelburne RV Campground near the boat in Shelburne Shipyard in Shelburne, Vermont near Burlington.

Straight to the bar lined with Buffalo nickels

Our shady seats overlooking the covered patio

Hungry for nachoes

Beautiful landscaping and pond around patio

Comfy shady seating all around

Our camping spot for the night

Twisted Vine Family Winery, Patriot, Ohio

 We got away in the dark and finally down the road found a Waffle House for breakfast along the interstate. It was a long drive and the last bit along the Ohio River on winding narrow country roads to arrive at Twisted Vine Family Winery near Patriot, Ohio. The RV parking was alongside the meadow of wildflowers and the pollinator trail. The cicadas were chirping in the apple trees next to where we set up camp. We met the owner and since the tasting room was not open, we tasted their only dry red Cabernet wine and bought two bottles to enjoy back by Cutie. We cooked dinner and enjoyed watching and listening to the birds counting some new species for our life list. We climbed up the hill behind the vineyard to the trail across the ridge and scattered a few deer in the meadow as we waited for the sunset.  We made it an early night with our plans to get up in the early am to look for the Northern Lights which were predicted as far south as Alabama but no luck. We made coffee and took a walk past the barn seeing rabbits dart into the woods and listened for more birds including wild turkeys. We headed off for Tudor's Biscuit World in nearby Gallipolis.

We had the entire parking space to ourselves as the winery was closed

Tasting room overlooked pond

This way to the wine tasting room next to owner's house

Start of the pollinator trail

Bee hives on the edge of pollinator garden

Trail wound down to the RV parking area

Cicadas on the apple tree

Bird on the wire

The tasting room gift shop

The winemaker's house and tasting room

Back deck of tasting room

Cloudland Canyon State Park, Rising Fawn, Georgia

We spent the night in Cutie in the driveway so we could make a quick escape at dawn on Sunday morning. We had homemade apple pecan  oat bran muffins  and coffee to go and started north. We detoured off the interstate for the last miles to stop at Cafe 136 for a very late lunch of chicken fried steak and a retro cheeseburger. We pulled into our campsite and immediately went looking for the connector trailhead to the West Rim trail. We set out on the trail with many tree roots and took the side trips to the overlooks and saw the waterfalls down below. We had spectacular views of the canyon before heading back to the campsite for happy hour. We munched our way to nightfall with plans to get up at 5 am again. However dawn did not arrive until 6:30 am so we went down the mountain on the switchbacks in the dark.

Our huge campsite at Cloudland Canyon

Trailhead to the West Rim Trail

Amazing vistas for Georgia

Waterfalls down below the trail