Rain Rain ...

Today was laundry, shopping and check out the sites at Jordan lake. We drove to Wake Forest to a laundromat we found in the trusty internet. There was also a Wal Mart near by so that made it a good deal. While we were waiting for our clothes to be washed we went across the plaza to the local dough nut shop. Good stuff.

After we got our supplies stowed we headed of for Jordan Lake. We went to Crosswinds campground area and looked at sites in loops B and C. Loop A is not water electric. We talked to the volunteer at the entrance station and she said reservations were recommended in season for long stays. We saw a number of sites that had reserved signs on them. All reservations were for a week or more. We found a number of good sites for the week of 5/4-10th. Looks like about a 30 to 40 minute commute. Of course the official gate opening time is 0800 there is reason to believe that the gate may be open as early as 0700. That will work good.

After supper we secured things for the expected T-storms. So far, 2220, all we have had is rain. Heavy at times. The weather radio we purchased last year has been going off quite a bit. Nothing for the county we are in or the ones to our west and south. Hail and 58+mph in Wake county which is East of us. The weather map on weather.com shows a lot of rain west of us so I think we are in for a long night.

I just checked the awning and all is well and the water is draining off well. I'm sure the slide topper is sagging nicely. We will deal with that tomorrow.

A view from the main slide looking toward the wardrobe

Rain off the awning

The USB broadband modem, antenna and router are working well with download speed above a meg and 200k to nearly 400k upload speed.

Oh the excitement

As last night progressed a few more campers arrived, several tent campers.

We had a large breakfast and since the tanks were both reading 2/3 we figured we had better make a trip. It took about an hour to break camp, take care of the duties and setup again. We didn't think that was to bad. More backing practice. Almost hit the same spot. Well the tires were on the boards that we used to level the trailer but the tongue angle was about a foot off.

Then it was off to the Duke Homestead. We made our donation and toured the museum waiting for the guided tour. Jason did a very good job, very interesting. Heading back to the park we stopped for lunch, a tour of the local Dollar Store and Food Lion.

We decided to take a ride to the Information Center. Well what do you know. Closed Saturday and Sunday. I guess you don't need information on Falls Lake State Park on the weekends. While we stood on the porch of the closed building, flash-bang! That was close. We don't know where it hit but we figured we shouldn't be at a closed facility and we left.

Back at our campsite we watched as a few more campers arrived. LOUD music. But after a while one of the rangers came by and it quieted down. Watched the NASCAR race then supper.

We had planned to do a little paddling but with the flaky weather we just sat out and enjoyed the evening.

Where in the world are Larry and Suzette

Well Larry is out of retirement for a few weeks doing some "consulting" in North Carolina. I did the first week and stayed in a hotel and took time to check out a couple of campgrounds in the area. One, Birchwood RV and Mobile Home Park, didn't look to inviting but Rolling View Campground at Falls Lake State Park has nice sites. Only loop B is currently open.

The next week, the current one actually, we dragged the Fox down US 15 in VA and found our way to the SP. For our safety NC locks us in at night. In April the gate opens at 0800 and closes at 2000. However the camphost is willing to open the gates if needed. Next month, May, they only protect us between 2100 and 0800.

I was able to adjust my hours but found that the CG supervisor usually opens between 0730 and 0745 so that works out pretty well. I did ask if I could extend to a 3rd week and NO. Oh well we will check out the campsite at Jordan Lake.

Site B29 at Rolling View campground

I'm not sure what is happening but blogger will not let me use the icon to add pictures so I had to use some html. Could the problem FireFox or is Norton Internet Security doing this to me?

Travel Day

We had stayed another day at Santee SP and there were severe storm warnings but we all we had was rain. We had prepared for the worst so we were ready to get going this morning. As we were hooking up we could hear thunder in the distance. Sure enough as we were ready to pull out it opened up. We sat for a while until it abated, about 10 minutes, and headed for the dump station. Of course as I put the hose away it completely quit.

We had planned to travel to Jordan Lake rec area south west of Raleigh. But as we drove in the rain on I95 we decided to just head up 95. Man what a drive. Lots of rain with both heavy and light traffic. Of course some folks figured that 70 or more was the way to drive. They would quickly slowdown only to speed up again then lane diving to beat the slowdowns. One guy that hadn't taken his patience pill slammed on his brakes only to find the guard rail on the left lane. That was the only close one.

Anyway we decided to stop at a KOA north of Rocky Mont. We didn't even disconnect. Just parked the rig and cooked supper. We will be home tomorrow.

Santee Cont.

Lazy getup today. Cold so we put the furnace on for a while. Since we didn't want to cook outside in the cold we had a lite breakfast and started gathering things together so we could move to site 12 as soon as it was empty. Well the folks were using all their alloted time so we biked to the boat ramp for entertainment. We were not let down. Two guys were trying to get their boat secured so they could pull it out. One guy was in the water up to his arm pits trying to hold the line they had gotten on the bow fitting. The other guy was rushing to back the trailer in. The boat was rather low in the water at the stern and listing some. Hummmmmm a missing plug perhaps? We watched as they finally got the boat mostly on the trailer and pulled it enough out of the water that we could see water pouring out of the stern. Yep plug. A boat ramp is a good spot on an otherwise dull morning.

When we headed back to the campground loop we saw that the folks were at the dump station. We stopped and talked for a while and then went to move our camper to site 12. I was in the road and had it tied up and there were 2 or 3 new arrivals so I went around the loop to allow them to get to their sites.

We got ourselves in where we wanted and once setup cooked Cheese Burgers for lunch.

We took a bike ride to the visitor/interpretive center and looked at the displays. It was disheartening to see the pictures of the area before the dam was built and realize that a lot of folks lost their homes. Was it for the better? You be the judge.

Since it was late in the afternoon we decided to take a ride on the Mountain Bike Trail. This is a 6.5 mile loop. We rode a little less than half and returned to the trail junction that led back to the campground. The section of the trail that we were on was easy with only gentle grades and not a lot of roots or other obstructions. A nice ride.

We took care of a few more things around camp because the forecast is for T'storms and tornado's in the evening and night. Then it was back to Lone Star BBQ for dinner. BBQ Ribs were the main attraction and there was the usual southern food items. We had a good dinner and had peach cobbler for desert.

Back at camp we finished putting away as much as we could and make things secure for the expected weather. We then just sat outside and relaxed and watched the world go by.

A good evening.

Once we were inside and had the TV on we were looking at the network weather channels, the digital -n channels, and could see where the storms were forming and their direction. Most are west of us moving NE. However there is a line SW of us moving NE and we may get some of that.

Oh I hear the wind picking up now. Should be an interesting night. Glad I took out a full value policy on the camper.

Santee State Park, SC

We arrived yesterday after an easy 112 or so mile trip from Hunting Island. After we had made the reservations for here we thought perhaps we should have stayed at Hunting Island if we could have moved to another site. Maybe next time.

We had picked site 39 in Cypress View campground because that was all that showed available for our size. What a good choice. Most sites in this figure 8 campground are very nice however a few are to small for the 30U or are not very level. Since we had to add a day or two to our trip we decided to add an extra day here. However we have to move to another site. Site 12 is a back in with a nice lake view. It should be real nice with the big windows in the rear of the 30U. The only bad thing is the possibility of thunderstorms. Rats.

This morning it was 46 an rainy when we go up. So we decided to hit the local Country Bucket, aka Cracker Barrel, for breakfast. We then did some shopping but were disappointed that many of the stores in the Santee Outlet Mall were EMPTY. However we were able to find some new sneakers to buy and help the local economy.

We watched a DVD, "Good Night and Good Luck", in the afternoon. Wow what an exciting day. It never got above about 56 and was just plain cold and nasty out.

For supper we decided to eat at "Lone Star Barbecue and Mercantile", where we had eaten 3 years ago. Cool place, Good Southern Eats. If you are in the area give them the business.

More storms are in the forecast so we may not be able to enjoy much of the park. There is a 6 or 7 mile mountain bike trail I would like to try as well as do a little paddling on the lake or nearby feeder streams. Since we didn't bring much of a video library we may only have "Bullet" and "The Worlds Fastest Indain" to choose from. Both are good.

We do plan to have dinner at Lone Star. Tomorrow is BBQ Ribs night.

Next stop will be one of the campgrounds on Jordan Lake near Raleigh NC.

Hunting Island State Park SC

What a beautiful day, sunny and warm. After breakfast we head out on a bike ride to the lighthouse by the hard road. We make the turn and decide that we will return to the campground area. We take the trail back which is a challenging mountain bike and hiking trail. Roots, sand traps, up/down hill. Just like the old day's in Essex Vermont. As we remember it was easier back in the early 1990's. Must be the bikes?

After our calorie burner we take the truck and head to the boat launch at the end of the island. We talk with a couple from Maryland for a while. They decide that they don't want to go out since it is windy and very choppy in the bay. We decide to head out and take a estuary that is just off the ramp. We paddle for about 2 hours exploring all the channels that are cut by the tide and storms.

Since we are low on diesel we head off the island to the first station we find that has a sign for diesel. Citgo, damn, $3.859.

Now it is off to the lighthouse and climb the 90 or 100 steps. A new definition of triathlon.

We received a call from our Realtor that our house would be included in a group open house on Saturday so we need to add a couple of days to our trip. We made reservations at Santee SP in South Carloina. We would have like to stayed another day here but the site was not available.

Suwannee River SP FL to Hunting Island SP SC

We got hooked up and pulled forward about 3 feet to attempt to use the sites sewer. Not a good plan since there was almost no slope and the sewer hose was an ugly snake full of ... The camper in the next site came over with his home made sewer hose holder a section of 3" PVC cut in half lengthwise. It worked well and I will make one we get back to VA.

On the road. We had decided to take mostly US highways and only a few miles or interstate 95. It seemed to take forever but it was only about an hour longer than the slab. Either way it was boring. The traffic was lite and the drive was better than the slab. I would do it again.

The longest section was the seemed to be from I95 to Hunting Island.

We are in site 159 which is an eyebrow pull through. There are 200 RV sites plus about 10 tent only sites. Most of the sites are quite close but not any worse than other large campgrounds. There are several sites that are very close to the ocean.

We did get down to the beach and talked with a couple from Upstate New York.

Suwannee River State Park FL

Saturday March 29

It was about 50 when we got up. After breakfast we walked the trail to the Columbus Cemetery. There was a town near here in the 1800's or so.

We put the kayaks in and paddled up the Lime Sink Run a good way. I went up past a narrow part where the flow was very fast. Man what a work out. When I returned it was like I was shot out a pipe. When we got pack to the Suwannee we turned up river and paddled for a fair ways. It was hard to judge how far since the river was running at about 5 or 6 mph. Lots of work for a short distance.

Free ride back past the ramp and we turned up the Withlacoochee. We did not go very far since we were getting tired and figured we had better return to the launch ramp.

Temp got into the 80's and we relaxed and biked and walked around the park and caught up on laundry.

Sunday March 30

In the 60's this morning but dark and cloudy. We decided to go to Wal-Mart in Live Oak to fuel up and get some needed groceries. We picked up a ThermaCell bug repeller that the camp host recommended. The park is having it's worst time with mosquitoes because of the high water they had here a few weeks ago.

We just chilled, watch the NASCAR race, walked, biked and took it easy. It never did get very warm and it was overcast most of the day.

Tomorrow we head for Hunting Island SP in South Carolina where we will be for at least 2 nights. We will be traveling on non Interstate roads most of the way.

Diesel at Murphy USA is now $3.95, it was $3.89 a week or so ago. On this last tank we got 12.6mpg. A lot of slowdown/speedup on I75 when we traveled from Oscar Scherer.

Another week in paradise

Another catch-up post.

Sunday March 23 (Myakka River SP)

Cloudy and damp for Easter Sunday. We cooked a big breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs to see us thru the day until Easter Dinner. After we had things cleaned up we decided to catch up on the laundry. Off to Old Prairie campground where the laundry is. The sun started to make a showing so after getting things started Suzette did some knitting while I went across the road to look at where they had staked out the new campground. The information from a campground host is that the new campground will have 50A service as well as sewer hookup's and water. He also said that sites would be removed from Big Flats. When that is completed Myakka will be very nice with the new outpost building.

After the laundry was done and put away we headed for our dinner date in Sarasota. We had a very nice time with our friends Wally, Ann, Judy, Matti, Jean and a great dinner.

Monday March 24 (Myakka to Oscar Scherer)

After breakfast we rode our bikes to the new outpost to take a few pictures and have a look at the lake. It was very windy and the lake was more than we wanted to kayak on. They couldn't take the tour air boats out. Since this was a travel day we decided to just chill for a while before we hooked up and headed for Oscar Scherer.

We arrived about 12:30 and got checked in and headed for our site, 11. Another pick via Google Earth and ReserveAmerica. When we approached the site we saw another camper backing their 5er in. Their truck was half on the road when they unhitched. What did we get into? So I got out and walked to our site. Narrow entry, hummm. But it opened up in the back and was quite roomy and deeper that site 10. It was an easy back-in. The sites are somewhat close but there is sufficient vegetation to provide a nice separation between the sites.

Off to Wal-Mart and Tervis Tumblers and then back to camp. We left for Steins and then Ed Smith stadium to watch the Reds and Blue Jay's play. Reds won.

Tuesday March 25 (Oscar Scherer)

Cold 44 this morning, well it is Florida. Furnace on! The Nature Center is open for coffee from 8-10 so after our breakfast we head over for more coffee and to see what is going on. Later we biked to the ranger station and looked at the picnic area and canoe/kayak launch and marveled at how low the stream is. Duh tidal. Back at the site we picked up the green trail and did about an hours ride.

Steins arrived about 1pm and we headed out for a ride. Took part of the yellow trail over to the new bike path, Legacy Trail, which was still being worked on. I guess we weren't susposed to be on it yet. The grand opening is Friday. Oh well there were lots of folks on the trail. We rode about 3 miles from the park to Laurel Road and back. We were pretty tired so we just chilled for a while then off to Capt. Eddie's for dinner followed by a trip to North Jetty at Venice Inlet to watch the dolphin's. Well we saw one and a lot of birds. We watched the pelicans dive into the water for fish. Cool.

Back to the park and visit for a while.

Donna called to let us know that Matt and Tyra had a new daughter, 9#7oz, 20&1/2. All are doing well.

Wednesday March 26 (Oscar Scherer)

Rich and Linda arrived about 9:30 and we had a nice long visit before lunch. After lunch we headed out for a bike ride on the Green trail. While on the trail we saw a gopher tortise. It watched us for a while before heading off into the brush.

More visiting before supper. Linda had brought a Key Lime pie and several gifts, we were kind of "flocked" since everything had Flamingo's on it. Really cool.

After they left we went to the Nature Center for ice cream, 2 scoops for a $1.

Thursday March 27 (Oscar Scherer)

Today is beach day. We went to the Nature Center for pancake breakfast and of course we took our own Maple Syrup. I'm sure not using Maple syrup on pancakes is against some Vermont law. Great breakfast for $4 each.

After taking care of Logans needs we headed for Casperson Beach in Venice. Steins catch up with us along the way. They had rented a 2 person kayak so all of us were able to paddle. We headed thru the mangroves to the intercostal. I'm not sure how far we traveled but we were out for about 2 hours. When we returned we had lunch and then the girls headed for the beach while Wally and I went out for another paddle. We were gone for about an hour before meeting the girls at the beach.

We soaked the sun and walked along the beach getting our feet wet in the Gulf. We left about 3:30 so we had time to clean up and meet for dinner at the Schrine. After dinner we returned to Steins and played a few games of Rummikub, Suzette won 3 games and I won 1.

On our return we stopped at a Shell for fuel, $4.039 but I get -5%/gal for using my Shell CC.

Friday March 28 (Oscar Scherer to Suwanee River)

Traffic was a bitch on I75. On and off the brakes a lot. No accidents but a lot of rubber necking for any stopped vehicle. We arrived at Suwanee River about 3:30 PM and backed into site 25. This is a nice little state park in the middle of no where. For $15/night we get WSE as well as a listening to a train on occasion. The sites could use a little grading but otherwise all looks very new. Very nice. Shower house is very nice and clean. We biked around a little and checked out the boat launch area. We will do the river tomorrow.

The Weather is here .....

Thursday March 20

We had sprinkles about 0500 and a soaking about an hour later. They were over by 0700 but we had a late get-up and breakfast. We cleaned the "house", AKA boat, and just relaxed. Suzette made potato salad for dinner and we just chilled out. We did talk to our friends Rich and Linda about getting together but they are tied up until after we make the move to Oscar Scherer.

Ray and Ann arrived mid afternoon for a visit. After a tour of the boat we went for about a 2 hour walk along the river to the suspension bridge. Ann took lots of pictures. Back at the camper we cooked cheese burgers and had strawberry shortcake for desert.

After Ray and Ann left we took Logan for a walk and stopped to talk with some campers from New Hampshire. They said the campground at South Of The Border was a good deal but that SOTB is a tourist trap, you see the signs for at least 100 miles in each direction. They also told us that the best kept secret was the breakfast at the parks Outpost.

I walked the campground and took note of the sites that would be good for a next visit.

We did some pre departure packing and retired for the night.

Friday March 21

Spring has sprung

About 4:30 I awoke and it was 43 outside and about 50 inside. So I closed a few windows and plugged in the electric heater. We awoke later to a nice warm camper without listening to the furnace blower. Later we biked to the outpost to cook our own pancakes on their griddle, one on each table. It was pretty good and we didn't have to clean up. Of course we took our own Maple Syrup.

Hooked up and headed for the dump station. There was a line. We waited. About 12:35 we were on our way to Myakka River SP. When we arrived we were told we could not check in for about an hour because they were having computer problems. After a few minutes and visiting with another camper waiting to check in I went to the station so see if we could go to the site since we had reservations and the paperwork from Reserve America. We gave the ranger the information and headed to the Big Flats camping area and site 28.

Of course I didn't make the best pick as far as backing in. I jigged and jogged and we got in fine. Far enough from the cement post and trees that we could open the slide but not quite enough room to open the awning, oh well.

After we got set up we went to the outpost to see what was going on and found that they are constructing a new outpost building. Up on pilings so it won't flood as it has in years past. We decided to drive back to the ranger station to pick up a couple of items that were not available at the outpost.

Talked to our friends and made plans for Saturday and Sunday. Had supper and took a ride to the bird walk where we visited with some of the folks that were there.


Saturday March 22

Sprinkles when we got up. I took Logan for his morning walk and saw 2 deer and about 3 turkey's. Breakfast was steak, eggs and hashbrowns. Umm good.

We relaxed, read and Suzette knitted. The Steins called and suggested we bring dinner to their house because the forcast was for more rain and they didn't want to ride in the rain here at Myakka. So we took about a 4 mile ride before leaving for Sarasota. Stopped and did a little shopping along the way.

Hillsborough River SP FL

I will try an catch up the last few days.
Sunday the 16th we spent time riding around Stephen Foster and into the town of White Springs. It is a quite interesting town. The town library is in an old gas station. The style that had a portico.

On Monday the 17th we left Stephen Foster to travel to Hillsborough River State Park. We arrived a little after 1 PM and were checked in. There were about 5 other campers waiting to checkin after us.

We drove to our assigned site, 57, and as we stopped to assess how best to get backed in the lady in the car following us demanded that we move over on the one way narrow road so they could pass us. I just couldn't find the thruster switch that would allow us to move the truck and camper sideways just for them. They were not happy. To bad for them. Take a pill.

After we got mostly backed in we found that we could not position the camper so we could use it. If we were far enough away from the services that we could open the slide the steps were over the fire pit. That wouldn't work. So we pulled out and went back to the ranger station to see if we could get another site. That only took about an hour because they had to verify the vacant site with Reserve America, the computer locked up, and they are on a dial up connection. What fun.

Now we are pointed out of the park with no place to turn around. So we head South on US301 and follow the trusty GPS to lead us on an around the block trip. Well arn't GPS's great? It sent us down a paved road for 1.5 miles then right on an ever narrowing dirt/sand/gravel road for about another 1.5 miles. Then right on another dirt/sand/gravel road for another 1.5 or so miles. I could just see us getting to the end and not having a clear path to US301. But we made it ok. I figure that was just to get us in the mood for a western trip and blm lands. Sure glad we have the fox with 16" wheels and under slung axles.

Back at the ranger station the ranger said "... you sure took the long way..." anyway we got to our new site, 71, which is paved, wide and deep. Nice site.

We called our friends in Zypherhills and were invited for dinner. That was really welcome after taking over 2 hours to just get parked and set up. On our way to our friends house we stopped at Wal-Mart Murphy for some of their $3.85 diesel.

We had a good dinner of corned beef and cabbage and a very nice visit.

Tuesday we did some biking and paddled on the Hillsborough river. Very nice and the weather was fantastic. We spent some time talking with some Vermonters, Ray and Patty, from Bolton. They are also good friends of some folks that were neighbors of ours when we lived in Vermont. We had a nice visit with them.

We returned to Zypherhills to do a little shopping and have dinner with our friends again. Another good meal. We had a good visit and helped them determine added memory needs so they could move one of their computers to Vista. They also wanted to get away from AOL so I helped get them set up with Thunderbird and Firefox and their Verizon DSL.

Home late.

Wednesday 19'th.
We had a lite breakfast today and went back to town to get meat and a couple of items we forgot on the trip yesterday. We also took some pictures of the park which I will post later, most likely on Picasa web.

A snack lunch an off for a 1.5 or so mile paddle down stream. We saw about 5 alligators and quite a number of turtles. We reached the park boundary and made our turn to head back to our launching point. We had a good paddle.
Now off to the pool for a little swim and relax in the sun. The pool is large but only 2-5' deep so you can't really swim much. After relaxing in the sun we headed back to camp to just chill out for a while.

Dinner and then a 2.5 or so mile bike ride around the park. Then set out and relax some more.

Azalea Festival

Saturday March 15th

Warm, windy and overcast most of the day. It got up to about 85 by mid afternoon.

After breakfast we went to White Springs to the Azalea festival and visitors center. The festival in quite small but folks seemed to be having a good time looking at the crafts and visiting. There were at least 3 food vendors offering BBQ of one description or another. Suzette and I shared a BBQ Rib sandwich, 3 ribs and 2 slices of white bread. We were not sure how to make a sandwich out of that so we just ate the ribs and then took a couple of bites of the bread. I guess that is kind of an open face sandwich.

There was a crafter making wooden spoons and bowls and I spent some time talking to him and he had me use one of his bowl adz's that he got from Africa. Neat tool. We talked about making spoons and he gave me some tips and advice on tools.

Suzette saw a couple of things she liked in one of the stalls where there was some crochet items which she bought for gifts.

After our lunch we visited with a local outfitter and discussed the current river conditions, 8' above normal and out of it's banks. He said folks were paddling but to stay in the main channel so you don't get clipped by an overhanging branch.

We took a ride to Lake City to get a few items for dinner and desert. On our way back we went by a Wal-Mart with a Murphy station and diesel there was $3.89 so we topped off. Earlier we had seen Shell at $4.05 so we figure Murphy was a deal.

After we returned to the camper we decided that we didn't want to make our first paddle on a swollen river so we will hit more of the bike trails.

A cold front is making it's way through overnight so we will have some lower temps and dryer air. I think the weather folks said it would get down to about 60 overnight.

Sunshine state?

It was an easy drive to Stephen Foster Cultural Center State Park. This is a well laid out campground with good site separation and decent space between the sites.

We cruised around the grounds to see some of the sites.

We only wonder where the sun is? Maybe tomorrow or the next day or ...

Larry

Spring Break 2008

Since we haven't been able to have internet access each day I will combine days when we do get access.

Sunday March 9 was our first day out. We had an uneventful drive to Staunton River State Park in Virginia. This is a nice park and we were here last year. It makes a nice first day and short trip. We attempted to pull into one of the 3 sites that are said to be for larger rigs but didn't initiate the turn correctly so we decided to go to site 13 where we were last year. Nice site, easy in and out.
The temperature dropped to 24 overnight but we were quite warm in our camper. We had our furnace set to 60 or so and used a small electric heater to maintain about 64 overnight.

Monday March 10 Staunton River to Little Pee Dee State Park South Carolina.
Again an easy trip combining both back roads and interstates. We arrived at Pee Dee about 2 PM. But this was not my best day towing/parking. First I noticed in a shadow of the camper as we were leaving Staunton River that I had left the TV antenna up. I pulled over at a wide spot before we left the park and lowered the antenna. No damage. Whew!

Later I realized that I wasn't sure I had picked up the 6x6 blocks I used under the tongue jack. I didn't.

When we arrived at Pee Dee there was no one at the Ranger/Check-in station so we went to the campground. The site numbering is a little strange and we had a hard time finding site 15 which was a pull-thru. Once we found it looked like I had to go thru site 14. NOT. But I found myself in the site heading the wrong direction. I had thought I could make a loop through 14-15 and be heading in the correct direction but couldn't make that swing. So I figure I will pull out and drive the one way loop backwards and get to where I can reenter the campground in the correct direction. That's where things went from bad to worse. To make a much to long story a little shorter I kissed a tree with the trailer breaking the lower awning bracket and enduring much discussion from Suzette. Well with several attempts we were able to get out of the site and turn around and back in. Now what?

Oh that little episode only took about 2 hours.

On Tuesday we headed to Myrtle Beach to see if we could get parts. There is a Camping World there but they don't carry our brand of awning. But they did give a business card for "The Awning Man" and he is the MAN. I contacted him and was told to meet him at his shop. Not finding his shop I called him again and he drove by to have me follow him. He had the parts so I bought 2 lower brackets and needed screws. All for $20, not bad. Now to find Margaritaville Cafe for lunch. We found it and had a great lunch.

Back at Pee Dee I replaced the bracket and adjusted the upper bracket. I choose not to roll out the awning fearing that there might be other damage that I couldn't see in the upper bracket. We will make that test when we will be one place for 4 or more days.

Wednesday March 13 Little Pee Dee to Crooked River State Park in Georgia.
When we left Pee Dee we decided the dump station wasn't worth the effort since the twists and turns and trees were not to our liking. We drove back road to I95 and stopped at the Petro at x169 to dump and top off. The drive to Crooked River was just following the slab to GA exit 3 and then about 10 miles to the park.

Crooked River is a very nice park. All sites will take 50' units, water, electric and cable TV. We took a nice eyebrow pullthru site. Lots of folks camped here and there seemed to be a Casita TT convention with about 8 of the little trailers here.

Ed did a little shopping, site seeing and fueled up. Back at the campground we rode several of the trails and considered taking the kayaks out but decided to just chill out since we head for Stephen Foster SP in FL tomorrow.


Larry

Some readers may be interested in what we are paying for fuel and what we get for mileage pulling this heavy trailer so here goes;

We are averaging about 11.8 mpg and we have paid between $3.599 and $3.819 per gallon. Outside of Viurginia, where we paid $3.59 the day before we left, South Carolina at $3.659 was the best price we found. Today we tanked up at Murphy USA (Wal Mart) at $3.799.

T minus 1 (T-1)

Tomorrow, Sunday, we leave for Florida. We are taking an easy trip down with 2 nights at most campgrounds. However Sunday will be a short trip to Staunton River SP and we will only stay there 1 night.

Our itinerary.

I de-winterized the camper today and all systems are go. We loaded stores and clothing and stowed everything for the trip. There will be a couple of items added just before we leave.

Checked the tire pressure on the truck and will check the campers tires in the morning.

Since we connect to the internet using our cell phone I may not be able to make daily updates so check back often.

Sign's up

The For Sale sign went up Feb 7th. Look here for the listing. We have only had 1 looker so far.

We are still working on packing and eliminating stuff. We rented a storage unit and it is about 2/3rds full.

Auction Day

Today was auction day. We decided to attend and watch. It was very entertaining and our stuff sold well. You just never know what folks will want. The auctioneer seemed to do a good job of grouping items into lots where he felt it would bring more money.

Not everything we took to the auction house was on sale this auction. He will be having another in a couple of weeks and the remainder of our stuff will be in that auction.

We didn't feel any sellers remorse.

Moving forward.

Sign's UP

Today we met with our Realtor and signed the papers, measured the rooms, took pictures and put up the For Sale sign.

We had taken 5 pickup truck and 2 car loads of things to the auction house in January. We also rented a 10x15 storage unit, as a special we get first 2 month free, and since I am over the age I get a 5% discount on the monthly storage fee starting with our first payment in April.

We have taken a lot of stuff that we plan to keep to the unit, valuables and firearms have been taken to a friend who has a big safe with extra room. All of our items in the safe are identified with us as the owner along with our contact information.

Still cleaning out the workshop and I plan to keep the power tools. Some of the fixtures I had made will be given away to our friends here. I will make new ones when I need them.

We will be continuing to organize things and make decisions on which items we have left that will go in the next auction. More decisions.

Cleaning out the VA storage unit

We have been busy cleaning out our Virginia Storage unit. Tomorrow we take stuff to the local auction house.

Here are some pictures of what stuff looks like before we take it to Bill Payne.

2/5ths of the motor cycles are gone. We are keeping the other 3/5ths, GL1800, GL1100, CL350. I am not sure what to do with the Handy platform lift. I have a couple of folks that are interested but ...?

Then there are the tools. I will make up a kit to take with us and the rest will get packed for storage. I will put camphor blocks with them and that should eliminate any rust. Suzette will keep her sewing machine and a lot of her craft supplies. I think we will take the sewing machine with us as we travel. We might be able to pick up a few bucks doing some sewing or embroidery.

Lots of decisions.

We still haven't found a lot in Vermont on which to build our new storage unit so we will rent something either here in Virginia or perhaps in Vermont.

The question of domicile also has to be answered. Although South Dakota would seem to be the "smart" choice I think we will become VT residents. More decisions.

We have taken care of the banking by using NEFCU where we have been members for over 30 years.