Aug 1 – Is it really August already? Hard to believe we’ve spent the whole month of July on the road! We’ve been really lucky on our trip because we haven’t had much rain, but it seems to have caught up with us now that we’re back on the east coast. We awoke to more rain at our Claytor Lake campground (we felt sympathy for the people who had booked the week there planning to boat and swim…) but made a quick stop to the visitor’s center housed in the historic – and coincidentally named – Howe House, and got a photo on the porch.

Back on the road again, we headed north up I-81 and then into the middle of Shendandoah National Park. Just as we reached Skyline Drive the skies really opened up and we drove for about 15 miles with scenic vistas of nothing but fog banks on both sides. So much for the promised overlooks!

We stopped at the visitor center by Big Meadows to see the movie about what the park actually looks like and to enjoy the (highly recommended) exhibit about the creation of the park. Much to our surprise and delight, when we came back outside, the fog had lifted and the sun had come out! On our next 15 miles of Skyline Drive we could see what we had been missing previously, and we took lots of photos of the expansive views from the ridgetop.

We left Shenandoah National Park for the town of Luray VA to get a taste of natural beauty underground. Luray Caverns are reputed to be the best in the east and our tour did not disappoint. A unique feature of the cave is the “stalagpipe organ”, which is actually an amplified percussive instrument activated by tapping specific stalactites chosen for their resonant pitches. Pretty amazing to hear a hymn played on rock formations!

Thanks to Yelp, we dined on tasty food and local beer at a grill in downtown Luray, before settling in at our final RV park for the trip. Ben marked the occasion by losing another tooth – his third of the trip!

Day 34: Claytor Lake State Park VA to Luray VA via Shenandoah National Park – about 210 miles.