Our Retirement RV Experience: Skyline Drive

We arrived at the Big Meadows Campground yesterday afternoon. This campground is quite large with over 200 campsites and is operated by the National Park Service. There are no hookups, and generator use is limited to a few hours in the morning and evening. Skyline Drive runs through the Shenandoah National Park from Waynesboro, VA to the north end of the Shenandoah National Park just outside of Front Royal, VA.

Skyline drive is only 105+ miles long, 2 lanes wide, with a speed limit of 35 mph the entire length. Unlike the Blue Ridge Parkway, signs for each overlook are on the roadway before the entrance, thus I was unable to capture the overlook with a descriptive sign. There were far too many pull-offs/overlooks we passed that were nothing more than small parking areas with nothing more to see than the forest around them. The first stop we did make was called Ravens Roost Overlook and the view was so expansive I had to take a panoramic photo.

All photos can be viewed full screen just by clicking on them. In order to truly enjoy them, when you are on the full screen photo display, Right click on a photo and open it in a new tab, this will still only open up at screen size but your mouse will now be a magnifying glass and a left click will show you the full 4k+ image to explore.

You will take note of the parking area visible on the left, I must confess, I had no idea when I pulled into this overlook that it didn't have another exit and I was forced to wait for all the other tourists to leave before driving up onto the sidewalk in order to make a U-turn at the end. Thankfully, that provided just enough space to complete the u-turn without having to disconnect the car and dolly.

Unfortunately, I just don't recall which overlook this one was, but like most of the shots we've taken for the past week, we pull up to an overlook, exclaiming "Oh my God", then hope a photo will capture some semblance of the experience and move on to the next.

We arrived at the Big Meadows Campground shortly before 6pm last night. found out we only had an hour left to make dinner and shut off the generator by 7pm. At first this seemed a bit inconvenient, But in retrospect it was a nice experience. We don't often camp at sites without at least water and electric, but the generator allows us to broaden our options and we really wanted to spend time in the campgrounds within the parks as much as possible instead of getting off and driving 20 miles away.

We shut the generator down at 7 pm and opened up all the windows and ceiling vents, then moved outside to our lounge chairs and the peace and tranquility sank in. Later when we went to bed, it was the most quiet evening of the entire trip, and we'll have another like it tonight. No air conditioner, no tv, no anything. And as we sat enjoying the evening, A doe calmly walked past our campsite not more than 20 feet away grazing on the grasses and forest floor plants. I wanted to get a picture but I had left my phone in the rv and wasn't going to disrupt the moment. Today, She came back and gave me another chance.