Glamping Days

I'd planned to spend today here at the rally visiting around and taking in the southwestern VA fall, then spend tomorrow in Roanoke visiting my old stomping grounds there, before going home on Tuesday. It's a bit more of a story than I want to put here, but I'll be heading toward home today.  The group photo on yesterday's blog post was taken by Jon Vemilye, & I failed to give him credit. He also took this photo of his friends Anne & Don. I'm guessing that Anne took the next pic of Jon & Don. I've enjoyed getting to know all of them at the Niagara Falls & Hungry Mother Rallies, & one winter seeing Jon in Arizona as well. 

Saturday is the main day of the rally. It kicked off with coffee & assorted sweets hosted by one of our members.                 After the pot luck dinner this evening, most of us posed for a group photo.  The evening was capped off with a campfire surrounded by the sounds of the forest at night.

I'm not sure what I did all day today, but I surely didn't spend time taking photos. The one below was taken about 9:00 a.m. at the coffee hour, which actually stretched to about 2 hours. One of our group used to come in a trailer, but he now comes and stays in the yurt in the background. As can be seen in the pic, the sun rises behind a big hill & doesn't reach the campground until late in the morning. It's been mostly sunny, but pretty chilly here this year. The rest of the day was spent visiting around, taking a nap, walking a bit, & more visiting around. 

The founder of the rally is undergoing cancer treatments & is unable to attend this year, but we all came anyway. We couldn't decide if today was the day before the official start or the first day of the rally. Either way, folks braved chilly weather to mosey around the campground & meet other attendees. Most have been here before, but a few are new this year. I was here 4 years ago & 2 years ago, & know some of the people from other rallies too. 

The drive today from Pittsburgh to southwestern Virginia took about 7 hours with one stop & lots of end-of-season construction. Many stretches featured lovely fall color, like this overlook in West Virginia. The rally doesn't really start until Friday, but many are already here.