Day 3 - Ashland Virginia to South of the Border, Pedro’s CG, Dillon, SC

We woke to 28 degrees this morning, BRRRRR! Ron had hooked up the water supply but due to the drop in temp the hose froze so no water for us. I decided to take a shower in the CG facilities but that didn’t work out too well. Despite letting the water run  for a long period of time it did not get warm at all. Cold showers are not much fun !!!

We took advantage of the free waffle breakfast. This is the fourth or maybe fifth time we have camped here and their waffles are delicious.  We sat with a very nice older (80’s) couple from Connecticut in route to Florida for a three month stay. They had left Connecticut at 4 am yesterday morning and arrived in Ashland at 4 pm. WOW – we don’t even like to drive/ride for 12 hours . This 80 year old couple made us feel like wimps! LOL

The traffic wasn’t bad and we were able to maintain a consistent 65-70 mph. Much better  then the last two days managing  274 miles  in 4.5 hours.  We decided that we would stop early and get a camp site at South of the Border in South Carolina.

We were given site 177 but I was told that if someone was in that site to take site number 176. Yes indeed, 177 was occupied so despite the tag in our window saying site 177 we were now in 176. Then someone else came along looking to pull  into 176 and had to go to another site. Hmmm, me thinks someone in the front office is a little confused. LOL

 

                                         

Once settled in we took Jewel for a walk around to check out the park.

 

                                    

Jewel enjoyed walking around and “sniffing” the new environment. She settled in nicely and we left her while we went to dinner at the Sombrero Room. The food was excellent and  the  margaritas very strong.

 

There was a fireworks display that we could see from the front window of our MH. They were pretty good but Jewel was scared to death of the noise. She was shaking like  crazy and tried to did a hole under the table. Once the fireworks ended we had to coax her out from under  the table. She was so shaken up she came to bed with us.

 

We planned on staying up to watch the ball drop but since we are lightweights when it comes to drinking alcohol – that one drink did us in and we gave up at 10:30 pm and went to bed. So much for celebrating and bringing in  the New Year !

Day 2–Travel from NJ to Ashland Virginia, Americamps RV resort

It was a fairly  quite night at the rest area once Ron moved to the “No Idle” area.  He slept really well but I kept waking up every hour on the hour. Not sure why because despite it being 34 degrees outside we were  warm and our bed really comfortable.

We were on the road by 8 am – a record for us ! The traffic wasn’t too bad and we got through Baltimore then DC without any issues. Then we crossed into Virginia and once again  we were in stop and go traffic. It was so bad,  it took us 2 hours to travel under 60  miles. The traffic would jam, the stop then clear up. Except for one accident there was nothing to indicate why this was happening.

After another day of miserable traffic we decided to take a respite and stop at the Americamps RV resort just off the highway. We were on the road for eight hours but only managed to travel 307 miles.

Thank You Kelly and Patrick for the Beautiful Sign!

 

It was great to stop and get a campsite and  settle in for the night. After a nice dinner (homemade turkey pot pie- previously frozen) we watched some TV and were in bed by  9:30 pm.

 

 

Day–1 California or Bust! Leaving Home

After nine months  and one knee replacement we are finally back on the road again. The last three days have been hectic preparing to leave but I think we have everything we need to travel.

We had our usual going away breakfast at I-hop, had to drag Jewel from under the bed and finally left our yard at 11:30 am. We tend to get a late start but since we are not in a hurry it really isn’t an issue.

It felt good to be back on the road until we got to Connecticut! The traffic was unbelievable and it was stop and go for miles and miles. Then just before Exit 4 we heard this  awful sound like – THE ENGINE BLEW UP!!!!!!  It sounded like a thousand plastic bags were rubbing together in the wind and scared the both of us. Luckily there was an emergency pull-over so Ron quickly got off I-95 to investigate. He is a great mechanical diagnostician but was a little baffled at first. He had me rev up the engine and the noise would resume but everything was looked and worked fine. We pulled off of exit 4 in search of a better and safer place to investigate and then the sound resolved on its own. After some careful examination and thought Ron felt that we may have had a collapsed lifter that resolved on its own.

Back on the road , the MH ran just fine , no more noises and nerves calmed. For a few moments we thought we would have to return home before we really got away. WHEW!

 

Travel over the GW Bridge was uneventful. By the time we arrived at the Molly Picher rest area we were tired from the long and tedious drive. The traffic was so backed up  it took us six hours to drive 245 miles.

 

We settled in for the night and were in bed by 7:30 pm.  

Ready to Roll!

Ready to Roll!

Spent the last three days loading the MH.  It has been nine months since our last trip so forgot how much it takes to get ready for a long trip. Ron is well over his cold and my left knee is great but in the past two days my right knee is causing some problems. Ouch! Hopefully not another knee replacement  in the future.

Getting Ready

I am fighting a bad cold and debs knee is now coming around.