#238 Badin lake campground

I wanted to mention a little something about the Badin lake area. I had never really been there at all prior to our visit but when I was 18 I drove a delivery truck for a company called Drillers service.

We used to always say they were floundering at the time but they must be doing something right because they're still in business today.

They sold all of the parts a well driller would ever need. From 1 dollar PVC fittings all the way up to a $500,000 drilling rig if you're ready to take the pull the trigger.

I worked there as a minimum wage worker delivering well drilling supplies all over North Carolina. One of my weekly routes would be ready to leave out and go down south 220 and I would take the Troy/ Eula exit. My first stop would be the Whitley Well Drilling co real close to Badin Lake. Then I would go towards Albemarle, Concord, Kannapolis back through Salisbury then home to Greensboro. Each time I went to Troy and that area I was all up in near Badin Lake. Forty years later and I'm finally going to spend a little time at Badin Lake, well it's about time

On the way to Baden, we sell that we were riding right through Lexington North Carolina.

I in my mind I thought it was more of a Charlotte area thing. Turns out Lexington is just down from Winston.

If you know anything about the word Lexington you know its barbecue capital of the world.

Of course, that's just my opinion and it’s the opinion of many people in North Carolina.

You need to realize there's two BBQ camps. One sauce is a Ketchup/honey based sauce which is a creamier style red sauce This is the Lexington/ Greensboro version. Then there is the other camp which would be vinegar and specks of spice floating around and that would be the east side of I-95 crowd of eastern North Carolina and they are zero in similarity.

Funny thing is I love both.

I grew up thinking if you wanted to eat the best barbecue in the whole world it would be going to Stamey’s Barbecue on Battleground Avenue. It was just as good as it gets. BBQ, coleslaw, biscuits and tea and then if you can stand it, they had peach cobbler on the side. It was so good to go to Stamey’s and we didn’t eat out much growing up so it was always a treat. We would be more likely to go there as a treat by my Aunt Blanche because she was the coolest.

I pulled over and got us some dinner from the barbecue place and it was so good and we went up to our camp site at Badin Lake.

As we arrived and got settled in, I was very pleased that it was one of those federal sites so we got in for just really cheap like $7 after the discount.

Another little item is when you get off of the main road heading towards the campground called Arrowwood it's not crystal clear what to do. The GPS does the best it can and you see signs pointing to this and pointing to that but instead of going to the left which would have been wise I took a right. It was all way out in the woods on dirt roads. The wrong turn I took went down to a boat ramp type place. I realize this is not the campground but it was best just to do a nice U- ey and head on back to try to find the campground.

The u turn loop I’m referring to is something you would use after you put your boat in. You circle back around to the boat trailer parking lot. When you have a 10ft boat behind it’s not a problem at all. We have a 40-foot trailer behind us and I had got to be pretty careful as I was in the middle of the loop. I got a little bit scared about my rear wheels falling off the edge and sliding down a 12-foot cliff thing.

As I was going around the circular asphalt thing I noticed it if I had kept going or if I had not have looked back half of the RV would’ve fallen into the drainage basin that was formed by the middle of the turnaround. I got pretty dang spooked and began to slowly back up to get a better try at it. This is the new me that looks in my rear mirrors constantly instead of full speed ahead.

It's also worth mentioning that it is near the 1st of December and this part of the country is getting kind of dang cold.

Generally, in the 30s at night and we were happy to have our full hookup so I could enjoy the benefits of my baseboard heat throughout which kept us crazy warm inside.

Just as a reminder RVs can stay warm using propane furnaces. If it's extremely cold it's pretty easy to go through an entire 30 lb. tank which is 20 bucks in 2 days. I would try always to use the campground electricity to stay warm instead.

Some people use an electric space heaters. I prefer permanently mounted baseboard heat that I installed.

We have been trying to sell our house since about last June but still no bites.

It seems like the realtor wasn't as aggressive as would be required. I think a while back all you got to do is be friendly and the house sells itself. Now the rest of the world is really doing a lot of Internet stuff. If you're still doing just bulletins on paper you might be getting left behind a little bit.

We'll never really know I just know the one realtor was unable to sell it in the other realtor was able to sell it.

The realtor asked for one more month to try. At the end of January were going to switch to a new person. There was some discussion to if the buyer or potential buyer wanted to buy the house and the garage which is on a separate deed. I left a lot it has a ton of my stuff in there including my old 55 truck that I've been working on for 30 years.

What if a person offers what would I do with the truck and I was freaking out because if I get an offer,oh my God and what if this is and what if that?

I'm beginning to think about some land in Moore County to India inherited. Each daughter is considered the owner of 1/3 and it was a piece of heaven down there. The land is a bunch of enormously mature tree hardwoods.

I remember eons ago asking if we could build a small cabin there someday just to enjoy the land and they said of course.

I guess I figured I'd take him up on the offer and at Badin Lake I took a picture of what I consider a normal RV site 80 ft long by 20 ft wide.

I went to Lowe's and took a picture of one of those ready-made barns and I sent the pictures to the sisters. I said I would really like to create a driveway to access the land.

I thought if I could take my truck and our furniture, antiques and that stuff in the garage and use the land as storage I could put all this in one of these ready-made barns which were around 3 to $4,000. I could create an RV site on the Moore County Land. Eventually maybe be put in a water water, electricity and septic. I would make a small hundred-amp service and just be like a fat rat in a cheese factory.

The sisters gave a flat no. None of this would be okay. This has caused a resentment from me towards the sisters ever since. Someone says you’re one third owner but you’re not allowed to use it. They have always been in charge of things and India has no vote. Each year we are allowed to pay one third of the tax bill. It’s nice of them to include us in this way at least. You marry the girl, you marry the family. The good outweighs the bad. I had to let that fantasy go. I hoped who ever decided to buy our house would give us the time needed to clear the garage if they decided to buy it all. We would just have to wait and see and hope for the best.

We went into town just to do something and rode around a little bit. I thought it was kind of humorous that we rode by a private pond with a guy who had an elephant sculpture out in the middle. It would spew water from its trunk and I thought that was kind of cool

GPS Info

35.43917, -80.07056

35°26'21"N, 80°4'14"W

UWHARRIE FOREST 789 HWY 24/27

EAST TROY NC 27371

Phone Number:

Information: (910)576-6391