IA to NC / August 2025
Family Time in Iowa | Driving from IA to NC | Hiking Horsepen Mountain, WV | Pinnacle State Park WV | August 2025
When our time in Ireland had come to an end, we took one last bus ride to the Dublin airport, then (after an hour delay) flew 8 hours to Charlotte, NC. We wished that we could have retraced our route coming to Ireland since those flights were shorter, but with our last minute planning we just stuck with the cheapest flights. The food on this flight was actually pretty good, and we both enjoyed the movies we watched (I saw Barbie and Inside Out 2 for the first time, then watched Pride and Prejudice for something comforting and familiar). We had a 6 hour layover there, and by some miracle our fourth and final flight of this trip actually departed on time — which was especially nice because my parents had graciously agreed to pick us up from the airport at 11pm. And just like that, our first European vacation had come to an end. We managed to adjust back to Central time zone easily with no jet lag at all, thanks to staying up all day and going to bed super late.
Once we were back in Iowa, we had just one week before we needed to start making our way South to start Curtis’ fall travel schedule. We jumped right back into life with family in Iowa by hanging out with our niece and nephew all day, everyday. Our new van battery charger had also finally arrived, so Curtis spent some time getting everything fixed up and put back together. Then Taylor announced her new album was coming soon, so I had all sorts of distractions to get me through each day.
As the day approached for when we needed to leave, we started to make plans for our drive down to North Carolina. Curtis’ fall schedule was shaping up to be pretty full for the next 2+ months, with lots of travel between the East Coast and Midwest with very few days in between. We started to consider just renting a car to go about the entire fall schedule, since we’d hardly need the van, and that way we could avoid putting all these unnecessary miles on the van. While it made sense, the thought of leaving the van behind just made me sad. This summer hadn’t gone at all the way we thought it would, and we had really only spent about two weeks in the van since June. And just thinking about returning to North Carolina, where we had just been with Charlotte less than 2 months prior was also making me sad. Even looking at maps and trying to plan a route when all my mind could think about was all the different routes we had taken before, memories we had made with her, and how we don’t get to make any more with her… All that to say, all these things that used to bring me so much joy were now just making me sad. And I realized that if I could just make one change to make me a little less sad, I should probably try. And so we decided to go ahead and drive the van anyway, at least for part of the season.
Our last day in Iowa was a Thursday. We spent the whole day playing with our niece and nephew, then after they left we had one last early dinner with my parents before saying our goodbyes. We decided to get a head start by just going a couple of hours into Illinois to camp in a county park that we had stayed at before. Leaving was hard, and making the drive without Charlotte on my lap was heartbreaking, but I always knew it would be. I hope that we can get back to a point where we can really enjoy the things we used to, because we worked so hard and waited so long to create this adventurous life that we live.
We arrived at the park around 10pm, and quickly set up the bed and went to sleep. The next day, we had a long drive across Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio — we had originally planned to drive further South and go across Tennessee, but there was a lot of flooding going on there around this time that it didn’t feel like a safe option. Instead, we mostly just drove all day and got some new counties. We ended up camping in Wayne National Forest in Ohio that night, in a free spot in Hanging Rock Recreation Area. When we were planning on renting a car for this whole drive, we had originally thought we’d do the drive over 3 days and rent an SUV and try car camping without all the amenities we enjoy in the van, but now we were so thankful we had the van because it was so hot and humid — the fans, blackout shades, and extra insulation were definitely necessary to sleep through the night!
The next day, we planned to drive from Ohio to our go-to campground in Uwharrie National Forest in NC to set ourselves up for an easy last day of the drive. We were surprised when we realized it was only about 5 1/2 hours away — that sounded too short, so instead we chose a 7+ hour route across West Virginia that got us a lot more counties. We also broke up the drive a bit better by making a few stops. The first was to hike up Horsepen Mountain, a short and easy hike that met Curtis’ prominence goal. To reach the peak, we walked about a mile up a rough forest road. Besides being a little steep and warm, it wasn’t too challenging, though halfway up we met a guy in a truck who told us that he’d lived in this area his whole life and would never ever consider hiking up this peak. He didn’t say why, just told us to be safe…the irony in that being that I was pretty sure guys in trucks are the only threats to my safety. We made it to the top only to find another guy in a truck, so we snapped a quick picture and then returned quickly down the way we came – it was uncomfortably warm anyway.
Our second stop came at Pinnacle State Park, which was right off the highway near the WV/VA border and had a short hike up some series of steps to reach a lookout. We enjoyed the view and Curtis found a letterbox before we got back on the road for our final stretch of the drive. That night, we camped in West Morris Campground, and had another hot and humid evening, which we mostly spent enjoying the coolness in the van.
On our final day of the drive, we had just 3 hours to go to reach Wilmington. Halfway through the drive, we stopped in Laurinburg to have brunch at Biscuitville. Finally, we finished the drive to Wilmington, and arrived just after noon.
Charlotte at West Morris Campground — September 2023
