Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia - October 24th, 2021

After spending a week in Shenandoah National Park, it was time to relax again with friends. This time it was with our friends Joe and Joy who live on Smith Mountain Lake.

Saturday was a long travel day. Well, it was a longer drive than we had done in a while. From Loft Mountain, we headed south on Skyline Drive which then turned into the Blue Ridge Parkway. Shenandoah National Park borders Blue Ridge Parkway National Park. Our destination for the day was our friends house on Smith Mountain Lake, just east of Roanoke, Virginia.

On our way to our Joe and Joy’s house, we ran some errands in Roanoke. We needed a few items to finish converting our fridge to run on DC power along with a few maintenance items like windshield washer fluid and new wiper blades.

After arriving at our friends’ house, we sat on their dock, catching up on each other’s lives while watching the sun set over the lake. The rest of the evening was spent watching the OSU vs. Indiana football game. It was the first Buckeye game we had seen all season.

Sunday was a relaxing day at the lake. In the morning, Left Buddy (LB) worked on our Red Tail Lodge. He added the washer fluid, installed the wiper blades, and finished converting the fridge to DC power. All he needed to do for the fridge was splice on the additional 10 gauge wire so it would reach the fridge, splice the other end onto the lead wires leading from the fridge, and replace the wire connector at the fuse block end of the wire, attach it to the fuse block, and install a 15 amp fuse. It only took him about an hour and a half to complete everything, including the fluid and blades.

After a leisurely brunch, our friends took us on a boat ride around the lake. We anchored at a peaceful spot to talk and snack on chips. The cows from a farm were taking a dip in the lake. The afternoon was spent checking out the other lake houses from the water and trying to identify the birds that we saw. The list of birds included a bald eagle, a hawk, and a kingfisher.

In the evening, we went out on the lake again, this time so our friend Joe could go water skiing. It was a little chilly for anyone else to want to ski, but we enjoyed watching Joe entertain us.

After dark, we sat out on Joe and Joy’s deck, huddled around the table top fire pit while continuing to share stories and wonderful conversations.

Thank you Joe and Joy for opening up your home to us and being good company. Feeling renewed, we were ready to continue our journey. Blue Ridge Parkway, here we come.

Check out our related video: Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia

(RB)