There’s No Place Like Home - #83

 

No truer words have ever been spoken. We are SO glad to be home! 

We actually arrived home a day early - Wednesday 4/19.  Our brakes were still functioning, tires all intact- why tempt fate? Charlie and I were so stressed from the driving; every time we had to stop in traffic- I wondered if the brakes would give out. It was no wonder we were exhausted! Our muscles were so tense, we both still have back and muscle aches. But we are home!! 

Home - after being away for over 6 months feels quite surreal.  It does take a bit of adjusting. Towards the end of our travels, we weren’t as careful packing the trailer and truck and being as organized as I usually am; we just didn’t care and couldn’t focus on anything besides getting to Massachusetts. I spent the last two days getting most of the stuff out of the trailer - in increments, so I could put away as I brought things in. I did three loads of laundry, made our bed, hung up and folded all the clothes from our trailer and the laundry and put the small amount of food we had leftover, away. We had to reset the TVs, phones and computers as the kids got new providers during our absence and we are enjoying good Wi-Fi and TV! Our apartment was once again in the pristine condition we had left it which made things a lot easier but I still have so much more to go through in the trailer plus cleaning out the storage compartments and the bed of the truck. 

Today, after a good night’s sleep - I went food shopping, to the bank, stopped by the senior center to pick up a schedule and picked up photos I ordered to replace in our frames on the wall. 

                                        

My mind has a long list of things to do, people to see, places to go. Yup - good to be home!

                                               

It’s Not About The Destination… #82

 

Just 350 miles more before we reach home!

Tires still inflated -✅

Brakes still working -✅

We had a wonderful time visiting our family in Maryland! They were so supportive of all we had gone through in our travels. They definitely made our time in the Chesapeake state easier; it was good to focus on things other than our vehicle troubles - and we had fun! We celebrated our Mom’s 98 birthday ( a little early), went on a walk by the C&O Canal, watched Top Gun Maverick and had delicious dinners! 

Yesterday we arrived at Boulder Woods Campground in Green Lane, PA. The traffic ( even on a Sunday) leaving Maryland on Route 95N was horrendous. Not to mention a tie up from a bus engulfed in flames shortly after we left. ( we were glad it wasn’t us!!!) We could feel the intense heat from the fire as we passed by! But we finally made it! 

Boulder Woods is definitely a “campground”.  The sites are spread over 75 acres of rocky woods.  The campsites are spacious and our section “Hickory” was virtually empty. This was a pleasant contrast to the crowds and inconsiderate campers we encountered at Cherry Hill Park.  As I said to Charlie  - “I must be getting grouchy in my old age”! This was a relaxing stopover. 

Today, Tuesday 4/18 - we are on our way to New York. 

That is our final stop before home! We can’t wait!

Onward…And The Fun Continues - NOT! - #81

4/11 - Tuesday

In the past two days, we have traveled about 500 miles. So far, so good. Right now, we are stopped at a KOA in Richmond, VA. Tomorrow is our shortest leg, just over 100 miles to College Park, MD.  We will be there four days.  

The weather has been so unpredictable. One day it’s damp and cold, we need the heat; then 75-85, sunny and have our ceiling fan on. As we’ve been driving up north, the trees are all budding with new life. We hope Massachusetts will be gentle with us - temperature-wise - when we arrive home next week. 

Today I feel exhausted and headachey - and I haven’t even done very much. We’ve both been feeling stressed about getting home safely. 

I’ve been doing some thinking; Charlie and I have been briefly discussing our future RVing. Ultimately, we’d like to keep our truck; hopefully it can be fixed to be reliable again. A new truck would be very expensive; I just want to do RVing travel for one more year - our big trip across the country. I am mulling over some ideas about what we can do after. If we have to adjust our plans, we will. We’ll see what happens after we get home. 

—————————————————

We arrived the day before yesterday- Wednesday 4/12 in Maryland. Cherry Hill Park is a great RV park - just outside of DC. It is very large, offers so many amenities; it is truly a camping resort. We always love coming here! It’s also convenient to my Mom’s and sister’s homes which make it even more perfect. 

Shortly after we arrived and set up our trailer- I had a moment of deja vu. I said to Charlie “ I think that trailer tire looks low”.  Yup! Same tire. We had another flat. 

Yes - we are very fortunate none of our problems have occurred during travel, but come on now! We just need a break. 

Since we already had plans for Thursday with the family and are camped here until Sunday- we decided to wait until Friday ( today) to address the tire problem.  Kindly, our brother-in-law Jerry offered to make it easy on us and picked us up for the get together on Thursday; that helped relieve a little stress and it was good to get away from the truck and trailer.  We had such a fun day! It was great to see everyone- especially my mom.  Even though her birthday isn’t until 5/31 - we celebrated her 98th birthday! She isn’t as good getting around; her short term memory is shot, but her thinking, reasoning and intelligence is all intact.  We played a game of Rummy-O and she was absolutely amazing and won too!

Today, Friday the 14th- dealing with the tire problem. 

Charlie jacked up the trailer and we got the tire off. We decided to put our spare on ( which is a regular tire, just different rim) and use it for the duration of the trip. We took the flat  tire down to a small tire place just over a mile down the road, and they plugged it right away. We were back to the trailer in 15 minutes! 

For the rest of today, we are taking a mental health day. 

Doing nothing and not thinking about anything!  It feels good! I went for a walk, Charlie is playing with his radio. The weather is comfortable and for the moment- we are at peace! Ahhhhhhh

Stuck In The Middle - #80

Thursday 4/6 - Day 1

Shortly after leaving our stopover in Brunswick, GA heading north on 95 for our next overnight stop in Walterboro, SC - our truck’s brake indicator light turned on. Shit!  We pulled over; brakes seemed to still be working normally so we decided to proceed to our destination and make arrangements to bring our truck in for evaluation at that point. We had 130 miles to travel - all straight driving. 

En route, I contacted the campground - New Green Acres - told them of our situation. To accommodate the extra time we might need to stay, they moved us to a more primitive site available ( no sewage, no tv) and recommended a service station to take our truck.

We arrived shortly before 1 p.m. - ( still had brakes) set up the trailer and proceeded over to Mavis Tire and Brake.  After two hours, they assessed we needed new brake lines which they could not handle at their facility and sent us to Advantage Auto down the road. ( brakes were now gone) As this other mechanic shop is squeezing us in to their already fully booked schedule, they would try to repair asap ( Saturday) but would not make any promises; if not - we could be stuck in Walterboro well into next week; their shop is closed Sundays and Mondays plus they might have to wait for parts.  

Walterboro is apparently a small down with no taxi service or Uber available. Tom, the tow truck driver, actually gave us a lift in his own car back to the campground; he was a really nice guy and offered to give us a lift back to the shop too. There are always kind people everywhere who try to help. 

So here we are, sort of stranded in the middle of South Carolina.  Rain is predicted for the entire weekend, I’ve been listening to Charlie’s negativity all day, and I’ve had to cancel our plans for Myrtle Beach.  Even if our truck is ready this weekend, I think we might just head straight home; we still have 1000 miles to go. This day has been stressful and exhausting.  We might need to rethink our future RVing plans.  

Friday, 4/7 - Day 2

Today is a beautiful day. It is sunny and warm; it is 5 p.m. as I write this now; we spent all of today outside. Charlie has been practicing his keyboard, I have gone for walks, took a shower, did laundry and set up the trailer to be comfortable when we get that rain supposedly starting this evening. It’s so lovely out, it’s hard to believe it will rain. ( maybe it will pass us!) Minnie also has been happy lounging in her tube. It’s a better day for all of us  

We haven’t heard anything about our truck yet; we will call tomorrow for an update. I will probably have to change or cancel other reservations but until we know the status of the truck, I’m holding off. 

So about this campground- New Green Acres. It is indeed very green. Here, are the most spacious and largest campsites I have ever seen! This photo shows the trailer in the next site over from us. ( far away!)

There are towering pine trees throughout their level grounds; this place actually looks like a city park. I’ve never seen so many pine cones! The sites are all grass; it’s like sitting in your own backyard. This is the nice part. 

Down the road is the bathhouse.

This is particularly important for us because we have no sewage hookup.  Generally, this is not a concern as we can store waste in our black( toilet) and gray( shower, sinks) tanks and empty at the dump station; but because we don’t know how long we will be here and have no way to move the trailer to empty ( they do make portable black tanks but we don’t have one) we have to really limit usage. So we try to use the bathrooms during the day, the showers and I’ve even been taking my dishes down to wash in their sink.  Well- what else do I have to do! I would describe the bathhouse as a “campground” bathhouse; musty smelling despite a fan continually running, drippy faucets, wet floor - but fairly clean.  Could really use some TLC.  The laundry is cheap as far as campgrounds go; $1.00 for wash; $1.50 for dryer however a couple of machines were out of order. Neither did a great job - I had to finish drying several items on my drying rack in the sun. But, it gave me something productive to do and all our clothes are now clean.( and dry)

I’ve also tried to limit my cooking to using the toaster oven and microwave so I don’t accumulate pots and pans. It’s funny how you have to think and plan but I make it work! Tonight I made delicious salmon, rice and salad.

We are in pretty good shape as far as food goes but I was able to locate a convenience store within easy walking distance from our campground; we also have a Cracker Barrel less than 3/4 mile ( though across a busy street) we will definitely venture out if we are here next week.  Things are looking up.  

It’s now after 9 pm.  The temperature has dropped about 20 degrees, comfortably cooler and rain has started.  I am hoping it will just be tomorrow; looks like it will be clear on Sunday now. Fingers crossed.  

Saturday 4/8 - Day 3

It has been raining off and on all night; it will continue throughout the day but it is light to moderate; no heavy downpours or thunderstorms. I have my rain poncho and boots ready. 

The temperature is a little cooler today; it was mid-80’s yesterday; today mid 50’s. It’s a good day to bake some brownies! 

At noon Charlie spoke with the mechanic; the truck may be ready today.  They are taking it out for test drive. We are waiting to hear back. 

2:30 p.m. Our truck is ready for pick up. We are waiting for our ride over to the mechanic. Unfortunately- it is just a temporary repair ( it would take weeks to get the parts) and this should get us home. This repair shop is highly respected so we’re going to keep our fingers crossed. If we break down again - it won’t be fun, but we’ll get through it. We plan on continuing with our original plan minus our time in Myrtle Beach - which we wound up spending here - and we will head directly to our next reservation in Greensboro NC. Our only big stop at this point is in MD; we have family to see there and we are planning to spend several days. Then continuing home from that point.  I am breathing deeply, trying to feel less anxious. 1000 miles to go, ETA 4/20.

Tallahassee And Beyond - #79

We arrived in Tallahassee, Florida midday on Monday; shortly after setting up and settling down to relax, those gray threatening clouds that followed us down Route 10 from Pensacola, finally opened up - releasing a very angry thunderstorm.  We were so glad we weren’t driving through it! 

We stayed two nights at Tallahassee RV Park. This is a smaller park nestled among very tall pines and lovely landscaping. Though the sites were very close together (we were lucky to be at an end) that would have to be the only fault I found with the immaculately kept facility. Even the cozy clubhouse was pristine. This is a great place to stop and it’s no surprise the “ no vacancy” sign was up every night. You could actually walk to a Publix supermarket just a couple of blocks down the street. 

On our full day in Tallahassee, we visited the Tallahassee Auto Museum. This is a must see if you are ever in the area and is also part of Harvest Hosts for RV overnighting. Not only are there almost 200 antique and one of a kind automobiles, but an amazing variety of collections- golf clubs, Steinway pianos, telephones, knives, fans, toys, model cars, motorcycles… all arranged in beautiful vignettes. It was a great walk down memory lane!

 

 

 

 

We decided to take a break from my cooking and found a great farm-to-table restaurant literally across from the museum.  It was a lot like our favorite restaurant back home  “The Farmer’s Daughter” - in both decor and unique menu.  It was delicious! 

This Wednesday morning, we were on the road by 10:15 a.m. Minnie assumed her position.

This leg, 177 miles to Brunswick, GA, were traveled on secondary roads -  more direct, however slower. But the scenery was beautiful, zero traffic and even though longer in the truck, felt more relaxing. 

We are overnighting it Southern Retreat RV Park.  A good place to stop but too big a park for my liking. ( too many people) However- one unique feature- it has a restaurant open all day.

Tomorrow we have a shorter jaunt (130+ miles) to our stopover in Walterboro, SC and then will finally reach Myrtle Beach - one of our bigger stops - on Friday.  We will be there three days until Monday - but unfortunately, the weather looks like rain the whole time we’re there! Hoping we’ll get a break!