Shucks, everybody should know that Toad Suck is on the opposite side of town from Pickles Gap .

That’s where I found Nancy – Conway Arkansas, not Toad Suck.  Both Toad Suck and Pickles Gap surround Conway.

When I hear the name Toad Suck, it conjures up visions of people sucking toads, which brings a big smile to my face.  Actually, the name is supposedly derived from a local tavern where boatmen “sucked up whiskey like toads.”

We now live in Mechanicsville Virginia.  Even that name strikes many as odd.  I am often asked if it is a good place to have your car or RV worked on.

Actually, we do have our fair share of quality repair shops, but the name is said to have come from a blacksmith shop that was here back in the 1800’s.  Farmers stopped with their wagons full of produce on the way to Richmond markets  for repairs to their wagons.

Living where we do often takes us into neighboring states with our RV.  Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, West Virginia, and North Carolina all border Virginia.  When time allows, we venture a little further out where we can discover yet another “odd” community name.

Highway Sign pointing to "The Road to Hell"

Owning an RV allows us to discover many of these places first hand.  Others I am not so sure I want to visit.  For example, is anyone up for a visit to Hell, Michigan?  Yep, that is a real name for a real place.  I remember my staunch Baptist grandmother telling me, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

I couldn’t find it on the map, but I have been told that just outside of Hell is a small community called Good Intentions.  It so happens they have a rock quarry that most likely provided stone for the road to Hell.  I guess my Grandmother was right!  🙂

With Valentines Day just around the corner, you might want to know that there is a Love, Virginia.  We have camped near Love, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Their local post office is busy this time of year as are the ones in Valentines Virginia, Valentine Nebraska and Valentine Texas.

Our northwestern neighbor, West Virginia, has some neat community names.  Nitro, Looneyville, Hurricane, Odd and Romance are all located in that fair state.  It is always fun to try and guess how a location got its name.  I’m not sure I would want an address of Looneyville – even if I probably do belong there.

Some years back I was teaching at a small school in Bodycamp Virginia.  People would always ask me, “What is Bodycamp?”  I enjoyed replying, “Oh, it’s the local nudist colony”.  Of course, it was no such thing.  The name supposedly came from a farm know as Bodie’s Camp years ago and served as a place for “A body” to stop and camp for the night on the long road to Roanoke.

Some other community names that fascinate me that I would like to visit are: Worms Nebraska, No Name Colorado, Two Egg Florida, Sweet Lips Tennessee, and Accident Maryland.  Well, maybe we should stay away from Accident – but I definitely want to find Sweet Lips.

A few years back we decided to visit Tick Bite, North Carolina, on our way to the beach.  Sadly, the community is gone.  It was literally washed away by the floods from Hurricane Floyd in 1999.  It is sad to see a community destroyed in that manner, but maybe the flood waters washed all of the ticks down stream?  Now, that part may be a good thing for local residents!

Having an RV equates to FREEDOM. Often, we don’t know where we are going until we get there.  Our RV stays packed with clothing and food.  We can lock the door on the house and be on the road in just a matter of minutes if the urge suddenly arises to “get away.”  Like a turtle, we carry our second home with us as we roam.  We both love being able to do that.  I just look forward to the day when we can venture out further and visit places our west and laugh with the strange community names.

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HAPPY CAMPING TRAILS TO ALL!

P.S.

Phil saw his shadow yesterday (Groundhog Day).  According to local ledged, that means an early Spring.  I know the folks North and North West of us find that hard to believe after this week’s storm and deep snows.  We had some freakish weather yesterday as the low pressure sucked warm air up into Virginia from the Gulf.  I had a chance to bask in 70-degree sunshine for a few hours.  It just made my thoughts of Spring even more intense.

Anyway, it was nice while it lasted.  Today it is back in the 30’s.