I received a couple of comments from my last post that the header picture looked like Dakota was dead and Akela had killed him. I’m pleased to report that Dakota is doing great and actually just got a bath today. So now he actually smells good for a change too. But I guess it’s time for a new post anyways so here’s what’s been happening the last couple weeks.

We took 2 days off at work, so we had 4 days to get some camping done. I already talked about camping at the blue band camping area, but I haven’t talked about the places we went while we were there. Whenever I go camping anywhere I usually Google attractions within 40 miles of the campsite. This time I got a couple of surprises about what was in the area. The Greenbrier Resort hotel and the government nuclear bunker underneath it were a little different from the normal fare you see is a tourist attraction. It was quite an interesting bit of construction underneath the hotel. Unfortunately because the bunker is now being leased for secure record storage by a private company (most likely iron Mountain) is restricted from any cameras. They even steal your cell phone before you go into the bunker. The 45 minute tour of the bunker costs $25. And they really only take you to the Senate chambers which is a replica of the capital building chambers, and the Defense Department operations center, which is 1960s vintage electronics. I did run the drone over the resort grounds and it’s just a little obvious that something’s under the hill by the numerous air-conditioning units in the middle of nowhere. I wonder if when they built the place originally if it had air-conditioning units or if those were an addition when they started giving tours. A national park ranger at a national park we visited in West Virginia (video scheduled) and a native West Virginian told me when he was in elementary school there were bunkers built between the elementary, the middle, and the high school in the 60s. Sen. Robert Byrd pulled a lot of strings to get a lot of money into West Virginia. It’s too bad he didn’t do anything to actually improve the economy beyond coal. But touring the inside of the Greenbrier and the bunker were pretty interesting. The luxury and ambience of an old hotel like that is really pretty cool. The video can’t really do it justice, but I can try.

The good and the bad about this trip was that it rained most of the time. That meant we were glad to have indoor activities to keep out of the rain. Not the best thing for the boys, but they got to go out in the rain and play while I stayed dry indoors somewhere. But there’s nothing is wonderful as a wet smelly muddy dog and a very very small trailer. So it was nice when we went to tour the Lost World Cave that there was a big green field that they could plan for a short period before I went into the cave. I think I must tend to pay my dollars to tour a cave about once every 20 years. I remember going in a cave when I was around 12 with my mother in front Royal Virginia. And then we went in a cave after I was married probably when I was around 35. And now here I am again going in a cave. And you know what, they haven’t changed much. Once you been in the cave the only difference to the next cave is how much light they add to it. And I was really glad that I took a really strong flashlight so I could see the things that had no light on them but I was kind of interested in. I always recommend if you go in a cave always take a couple flashlights. You’ll be glad you did.

Coming home from that camping trip, drying out and repacking for another one, we then went up I 77 to Beckley, West Virginia. We camped in the state campground called Camp Creek State Park and had a really good time there. We got there about noon and went exploring and it seemed the weather was perfect temperature and not to sunny but pretty nice. We toured around the campsite and took a little hike up the road where Akela learned about water. We took a hike along a pretty nice little stream, and one part there was a wider section with a little beach like area with a few sitting stones along the edge. Akil at first just kinda like touched it and waited in a little bit. He wasn’t sure what it was it seemed. And then suddenly he just ran into it and jumped around and it splashed all over and got crazy wound up. But it was pretty funny watching him discover water. The stream went up about a quarter mile to a little waterfalls in a couple of little pools where there were signs that said seniors and children only for fishing. It looked like it was probably a pretty productive little trout stream. What I noticed even more so were these 2 teenage girls in these string/thong bikinis waiting around on the edge of the pools. Thank goodness for puppies being babe magnets.

And lastly while we were there, we went up to Beckley to check out all these big blue signs along the highway expounding on the “Best of West Virginia” center. Also known as “Tamarack”. It was a very fancy building with a lot of very expensive handmade stuff. Wooden bowls, cooking utensils, handblown glassware and Christmas ornaments, very beautiful statues and artwork, and a huge variety of country jams, jellies, sauces, barbecue and all sorts of things like that. But from what I saw the prices were about 3 times what you pay for anywhere else. But it was a pretty neat collection of West Virginia small producer products. And right next to the Tamarack was this travel Plaza which was I guess a government truck stop. It was very similar to what you see on the toll roads in the Northeast, except it was huge and they had these beautiful showers to rent by the hour. That was quite the place. It amazed me that going through Virginia and stopping at the rest areas with comfort stations they usually had 4 or 5 urinals and 3 to 4 stalls in the men’s room. Many of them were packed with waiting lines on Saturday. But this beautiful place in West Virginia had something like 20 stalls and 24 urinals. Really pretty nice and clean and everything functional. Which really makes me want to rant and rave about people who seem to think they have to stand up and pee in a stall. For one because they pee all over the seat, and all over the floor, and they occupy a stall when somebody else might need to sit. If you’re too shy to stand inside a somebody of the same gender and pee, keep a bottle in your car and don’t bother the rest of us. Sorry about that, sometimes I get carried away.

Well I guess I better finish there before I get all wound up again. Working on some more videos that should be pretty good, more time spent in West Virginia. I really like the state and some of the recreational opportunities they have there. I don’t know how I feel about going back up there during hunting season though. Will need to think that one through with a silly younger dog which isn’t quite trained yet.

We’ll catch you later folks, thanks for stopping by,
Rick, Dakota,Akela