2025 Big Truck across the Southeast, day 11

Day 11 was fairly uneventful - mostly a travel day. We had a goal of wheels up by 9am from the Poinsett State Park campground. We were mostly successful, with the Jeep hookup and dump station pushing us just beyond 9:30am. The winding road out of the park set the tone for the day.

Being the sunday of the Open Championship, I was not about to miss a golf major, even though Scottie Scheffler was doing his best to remove all drama and excitement from the final day. (I believe this setup is legal in any and all southern states)

We had roughly a 6 hour drive, with plenty of mountains and a few tunnels to keep me on my toes.

Fast forward to our destination, the New River Gorge - last time we were here, roughly 25 years ago, Kimberly and I rafted the Upper Gauley river. This was before we were married, and things didn't quite go according to plan. This photo shows the moment before Kimberly got tossed out of the raft at Pillow Rock, and I somehow stayed in and watched my future wife bounce through a class V rapid, nearly hitting Volkswagon rock. The red arrows point us out - I'm the white helmet.

Needless to say, we chose a bit of a different trip this time for Jordan. First we stopped at the visitors center, which is new for us as this was just designated a National Park in 2021.

We decided to take the scenic drive and link up with the audio tour. It was interesting to learn the coal mining history of the area, and drive over the OG bridge at the bottom of the gorge.

From there, it was on to set up camp at Rifrafters. We were outracing a storm system, so we just got things in place before the rain hit.

We retired a bit early, as our rafting trip started at 7:30am the next day. Fun day ahead. Cheers!