Adventurenet.net

The plans have gone off the rails and I’m further East than originally planned. Should I skip to the last adventure location? Should I hang around Knoxville longer? I’ll figure something out.

Friday September 19th, 2025

Morning seven of this camping trip and a night at the hotel has done me well.

Yesterday was not in the plans, but I’m further East than originally planned. I think I can skip a day forward and make it to the third and final adventure item, visiting Colonial Williamsburg.

Let’s get the renal car loaded up again.

Y’know….

I could probably load up that cooler with ice from the ice machine here.

Thinking back, I probably could have loaded this up at any hotel rather than buying bags of ice.

But that would be a lot of work to save maybe three dollars.

But I’m keeping this thought in the back of my mind for future trips.

Also this place advertised free breakfast on their website and on their map listing, but clearly don’t have it.

So I am taking this ice.

And I went to Williamsburg, Virginia.

And I could not find parking.

I have no pictures, but I drove around a little bit… Mostly to look for a parking place which I could not find.

I also could not find a parking area outside of town with something like a bus or a shuttle to bring me into town.

So I parked at a retirement home and I figured out where to spend the night.

I would have to drive back from the direction that I came from to get to the campsite that I had rented in advance.

I could go to my next campsite which is nearby and see if they have a spot, but I am tired again from a long drive and I would like to just find something nearby.

What’s the nearest camping spot?

Maybe they’ll have something open.

I know it’s a Friday night which is popular for camping, but school started again, so maybe I’ll get lucky.

Machicomoco State Park Campground. It’s the closest place.

I’ll roll up to this state park and ask if they have any campsites.

If they don’t, I can work my way north back towards New York and find another campsite or hotel further from the cities where I suspect my odds will be better to find a place to sleep.

This place is tidy.

Success!

They have exactly two tent campsites left!

Well, “one” now that I’ve rented one of them.

This seems like a newer park.

All of the constructions are new.

Have you ever noticed how some new constructions didn’t take everything into account and require later construction to address unforeseen issues?

I’m getting a little bit of that vibe with this flood spot.

No pictures of the tent going up today.

I want to get set up and I want to take a nap.

When I checked in I found out that there is an event being hosted by the park’s interpreters tonight and I love to learn from park interpreters.

And this park has two.

I’ve never been to a state park with two interpreters and so I am excited to see what they have to teach.

While setting up the tent I met my camping neighbor.

He thought my site would be empty and so he set up a lot of bird feed in my spot.

He was super chill about taking it down and explaining why he had set it up.

Birding.

He wanted to see and photograph the birds that came in.

Also, he seems like a party guy and also a YouTuber.

His name is Dan and he is here with his girlfriend Julie.

I finish setting up my tent while Dan goes to take shower.

I had planned to take a nap, but now I’m feeling invigorated.

I’ll take a shower, go on that tour and then sleep for the night.

Julie is awake and out of the tent now and Dan offers me Jello shots.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a Jello shot before.

Now I’ve had two.

What a great camping neighbor.

I need a shower, and to take the historical tour.

I do feel exhausted, though.

We’re a week into this trip.

I mean, look at me.

LOOK AT ME!

That is an exhausted man who has let his beard go without a trim for far too long.

The bathrooms here are amazing.

Large, private, great water temperature and pressure.

This is perfect.

There’s even an extra shelf / bench that folds down from the other wall.

The build quality is a bit cruddy on some parts, though.

Like this shower feels like it was the cheapest one on the market and was installed with a few pieces left over, but it’s still new and still working.

I suspect this place will need repairs in the coming years, though.

There are loads of these shower bathrooms here.

This is just the rooms on the back side of this building.

Here’s a closeup of an acorn capule.

Is that a yurt?

I’m at the meeting point for the tour a bit early, so I’ll look around these walking paths a bit while I wait.

One thing to know about this park is that it is devoted to the history of the native people of this region.

For the life of me I cannot remember what type of building the structure above is meant to represent, but it comes from this representation of native peoples.

Also, do you see those white rocks on the ground?

They’re not rocks.

They’re clam shells.

There are so many clam shells that were disposed here over the course of generations that they’re used to pave the paths.

What’s going on with this log that’s been burned into a bowl?

Oh! Little mushrooms!

Is this wood burned into as well?

Oh, these are labeled on the back.

Well, not labeled, but marked with words.

Here’s another one of these logs that’s had the center burned out.

I wonder what’s going on with these?

It’s almost time for the tour.

I need to walk back to the parking lot.

In case I have a shitty, loud, drunk neighbor who’s keeping me awake until three in the morning, I’ll just snap a picture of this so that I have it handy.

Oh, and they have a ‘Recognize a Ranger’ system as well.

The ranger who checked me in was very knowledgeable.

I’ll keep this photo as well and try to submit a nice report for her later.

The tour begins and I won’t spoil it here for you, but it is absolutely worth it.

If you’re ever near this part of Virginia and you have time, please visit this state park.

One thing that I love about traveling around the U.S. is that the country is so large that I get to see new kinds of plants and animals that I don’t recognize.

This berry plant is a new one to me.

Whoa.

I just caught a glimpse of something happening under the grass.

My mind immediately goes to a tarantula because whatever is under there is big, but this part of the country doesn’t have taranutlas.

IT’S A CRAB!

A fiddler crab!

I’ve never seen a crab outside of a tank in my life!

This is amazing!

Oh, I bet this little guy could pinch me so hard.

This place is amazing!

What an amazing find.

!!!

THEY HAVE BARNACLES, TOO!

I’ve never seen one in person!

And snails!

So many new creatures to see here!

Again, I don’t want to spoil the tour so I won’t talk about it, but I will share that the burned out logs are boats that are being made.

By selectively burning out the inside of the log, boats can be made.

But it is getting late.

It’s time to wind down.

I have not used much of the firewood that brought with me as I have been treating this as more of a sightseeing trip than a camping trip, but I made so many fire starters. I need to use some.

At the first campsite I started a fire very easily with my homemade fire starter.

I placed a few logs, drenched them in coal fluid, and used one of these bad boys to get them lit.

It went extremely well, though, and I was thinking that I could start a fire without the coal fluid and without tender.

Tonight’s goal is to test this theory.

I want to start a fire with almost nothing.

Two dry logs and a fire starter.

Nothing else.

Let’s see if it works.

These fire starters are strike anywhere matches wrapped in toilet paper and dipped into melted paraffin wax and allowed to dry.

I’m not even going to use a match to light it.

I’ll scrape the wax off of the match heads and then strike them on this box.

I think it will work.

It takes a few strikes to get going thanks to the wax that’s still partially coating the match heads, but the lighting of the fire starter works.

I place it under a log and I’m just going to let it do its thing from here.

It will succeed or fail with no intervention from me.

If it fails, I have more fire starters and plenty of coal fluid do drench the firewood with again.

I also have a stack of free advertisement papers from a grocery store to use as kindling if necessary.

Once the paraffin wax catches on fire, I think it will be enough to light the logs.

And it is.

We have a success!

I love these little things.

I’m very happy with these and I made way more than I need.

I’ll leave them in a camping kit to use later.

It was fun to make these and they’re far more effective than I thought they would be.

I’ll make this a standard accessory to future camping trips.

But this fire is for warmth and for fun, tonight.

I’m going to use the little gas cooker to make a quick meal.

So cheezy.

A great meal.

I need to brush my teeth and go to bed now.

Thank you for joining me on another adventure.

The park interpreters have another event happening in the morning tomorrow with kayaking which I have signed up for.

I love this place.

Good night.