We were up early and after a quick bowl of cereal we were on the road again. It was a short drive to Gilbert but the recommended route via secondary highways was a bit nerve-racking! It was very narrow with no shoulder and twisty in places. But we managed it and arrived in Gilbert and the home of the 2010 Hatfield-McCoy TrailFest. We are really looking forward to the next few days!
After getting registered ($110 each covers the trail pass to all of the trails and admission to all of the events plus 3 breakfasts and 2 dinners) and paying for our campsites...we needed 2 because we are so big...we were escorted by John to the camping area. It is a big grassy area on the grounds of the community centre where all the festivities are taking place. We were so glad that we arrived early (the TrailFest doesn`t actually start until Friday)...it allowed us plenty of space to manoeuvre into our sites. There was one motorhome already there and we pulled in beside it. It was the same motorhome from Ontario pulling a trailer with 3 ATV`s that had passed us on I-79 a day or 2 before. We figured they were heading to the TrailFest as well.
Andrew and Sherry are from Richmond, a small town outside of Ottawa. They were the first in their group to arrive...2 more couples would be here tomorrow. We deemed our camping area to be the Canadian section...too bad none of us had a Canadian flag!
It didn`t take too long to get set up because there were no hook-ups other than electricity...and that was a bit of a joke—a mess of heavy electrical cords with power boxes on the end and half of them didn`t work. We had a hellava time getting our trailer to connect...I think it had something to do with the low voltage but we eventually got some power but it would go on and off periodically.
Steve spent a couple of hours working on his quad...he had bolted my cargo box onto my quad but he hadn’t done his yet. The straps holding it on were starting to fray so he wanted to get it bolted on before we tackled the Hatfield-McCoy Trails.
After that was all done, we sat and visited with our new neighbours. They had been here last year so it was really nice hearing about their experiences here. They invited us to tag along with them on the trails...perfect! It would be so much nicer being with others who had been here before.
We were sitting chatting when we realized that we hadn’t gone back to the registration office—we hadn’t actually paid yet because they could not get the connection for the credit card machine to work. So they had suggested we go get all set up and come back later...that would give them a chance to get their wiring problems corrected.
So we grabbed our helmets and hopped on the quads and drove up to the office. I waited with the quads while Steve went in to pay. A few minutes later, Andrew and Sherry pulled up on their quads and asked if we’d like to go on a short ride so we could see where the trail starts. We really didn’t have our riding clothes on but we weren’t going too far...hey...we’re game!
This is a really cool area because you can ride your quads on the roads through town. You must wear a helmet at all times and the speed limit is 25 mph. We rode to the trailhead and then continued on up the trail for a little way. It is actually quite steep at the start as you head up onto the mountain.
On the way back, we stopped at The Happy Days Diner...Sherry remembered having a fabulous Elvis burger there last year and wanted a repeat. We ordered our dinner from a young waitress with a big West Virgina drawl when she spoke...the folks down here really have a drawl which really surprised me—I didn’t expect it until we were further south. We had to pay for our food before we got it...now that is something we’ve never had to do before.
Once back at the campground, Sherry phoned a fellow who was selling firewood...he was by in no time with a pickup load. We soon had it all stacked and a fire built in a portable firepit that Sherry had gotten at Walmart.
We sat by the fire enjoying a few drinks before heading to bed. We were looking forward to riding the trails tomorrow!
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