Day 8 – Looks like a beautiful day today, 32 degrees, sunny, no wind at 7:30 a.m. Rob is instigating havoc as he tosses the kittie’s toys around the RV & they leap wildly to retrieve them. All except Java & me – too much activity for us.
Moonrise, Assateague National Seashore, Berlin, MD
We’re looking at upcoming weather, trying to decide when to leave here. There may be a storm with high winds on the 28th. Found a campground south & west of here on the Chesapeake Bay that’s open. We may leave tomorrow to go there. Meanwhile, we’re baking a loaf of bread for sandwiches. Once that’s done & we have lunch, we’ll probably go out. We need to get some propane for heat; it’s supposed to be in the upper 20’s tonight.
After lunch, we went out & were lucky enough to find a propane filling station less than ten miles from the campground. On the way out & back, horses were eating grass by the side of the road. The high today was 46 degrees, brightly sunny. We did decide to leave tomorrow morning & head for Virginia. It should only take us a couple of hours to get to the campground and hopefully we can get a site with a view of the Bay.
Assateague Island National Seashore Bayside Campground: Assateague Island National Seashore, Bayside Dr, Berlin MD 21811, (410) 631-3030, http://www.assateagueisland.com/assateague_camping.htm#parkcamping. Open all year under normal circumstances, but because of the government shutdown, all facilities were closed including the ranger’s station & the visitor center. The campgrounds were open, however, except for the Group Camping & Horse Camping areas. The State Park area of the Island was closed – off-season. On the “National” side, camping fees from mid-October to mid-April were $20 per night, and 50% off that price with the Golden Age Senior Pass. You make money when you get older, LOL. Since there were no campground facilities open, there was no place to pay (or even ask a question), so once the government quits arguing we will call & see how to pay. For now, we stayed here for free. There are two campgrounds at the National Seashore, Bayside & Oceanside. Bayside has 3 small loops. There are views out over the lovely Bay from most campsites. Loops A & C allow generators during the day; Loop B does not. We camped in site #14, Loop A. There are no hook-ups at any of the campsites; there is a dump station & potable water available at the campground. Only one other RV & no tents were camping at Bayside. Oceanside has Horse Camping & Group Camping Loops; there is also a Walk-in Loop where tent campers park & hike onto beach sites near the Ocean (all three loops were closed). There are also two Drive-in Loops with camping for RV’s between the sand dunes & the campground road. No view of the Ocean, but it’s just the other side of the dunes. A few campers were parked in these loops. These campgrounds require reservations in season & would obviously fill up in-season. The Assateague ponies roam the Park & people drive through often to see them. The weather off-season is quite nice. There are great paved bike paths throughout & kayaking is allowed. We would definitely come here again, off-season.