Our plans are to stay in the Walmart parking lot in Front Royal, Virginia, tonight. They told us we had to park in the far back lot but that was filled with commercial 18-wheelers so we went to the Cracker Barrel Restaurant lot and parked there. They are known to be RV friendly. We unhooked the Jeep, left the RV at Cracker Barrel and went to Shenandoah National Park where we drove on Skyline Drive, a scenic road atop the northern end of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Shenandoah National Park
The road reminded us of the Natchez Trace Parkway that we drove recently except steeper and more curves. There are many pull-outs, and instead of historic points of interest these are scenic overlooks. The visitor center was still closed for the season and the several campgrounds in the park do not open until late in May.
Shenandoah National Park
Shenandoah National Park
Although it was a nice warm sunny day there was still some snow and ice remnants on the north sides. The roads were clean and dry.
Shenandoah National Park
When we returned to the RV we discovered that while we were gone all the commercial trucks had left the Walmart back lot but a caravan of RV’s had taken over. They are French-speaking Canadian snowbirds on their way back to Quebec, Canada, and traveling together. A few more RV’s showed up later, there are seventeen of us all together in these two lots.
Walmart Boondockers
- Gasoline Expense: $135 @ $3.25
- Lodging Expense: none
- Entrance Fee to Shenandoah National Park: Free with Bernie’s National Senior Pass
The Nomadic Life 
Marsha, I know you guys are head towards Washington, DC to see the Cherry Blossoms. My wife and I live in nearby Wheaton, MD. There are three campgrounds in easy driving distance to DC.
Cherry Hill Park is the closest and provides transportation into the city – http://cherryhillpark.com/
Duncan’s Family Campground is 15 miles SE of DC – http://www.duncansfamilycampground.com/
Ramblin’ Pines Campground is a 45 minute drive to DC – http://ramblinpinescampground.com/
We have stayed at Ramblin’ Pines a couple of times and we generally spend Labor Day Weekend at Duncan’s. Both are decent enough campgrounds but Ramblin’ Pines is further from the city. We have not stayed at Cherry Hill because it’s so close to our house, but I have been there several times to purchase things from their store which is well stocked with camping/RV supplies and the campground looks wonderful.
I hope this information is helpful!
Craig and Linda Dresser
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Thank you for the tips on the campgrounds, very much appreciated. We have stayed at Cherry Hill before. I will keep the others you mentioned in mind for future reference. We took a chance that Greenbelt Park would accommodate us and got lucky there. Marsha
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Great! I didn’t know about Greenbelt Park!
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