Landed Safe and Sound in SC

 

Site A8 at Bass Lake Campground, Dillon, SC – same spot we had four years ago

We got an even earlier start this morning, pulling out of the park in Emporia, VA at about 9:30.  Folks,  that’s early for this crew.  It was raining moderately when we rolled out of the Jellystone park and made our way to I-95 South.  Today was a straight shot down I-95 to Dillon, SC.  It rained lightly off and on the entire trip,  but really wasn’t too bad. 

November 2010 at Bass Lake

We had one fuel stop at a Pilot in North Carolina and it was again a smooth in-and-out.  Even being Monday, it wasn’t really busy.  We were able to park away from the pumps to walk Maggie.  Dave scored a coffee while I was fueling our truck, so he was a fairly happy camper.  Right around the time we crossed into South Carolina, the rain kicked up a notch and started coming down at a pretty good rate. 

There is something comforting about returning to a place you’ve been before.  We know where Bass Lake is, so getting here was easy; it also is a very easy on-and-off from I-95.  We got set up fairly quickly, including water and sewer since we will be here until Wednesday. 

We ducked out to Walmart for a couple of things and then I indulged in a small personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut.  Only ate two of the four pieces; haven’t eaten anywhere near a huge meal (not that we routinely do, anyway) in the last few days, so two pieces just hit the spot.  I have two for tomorrow.  Yay! 

We have walked around this 53-site park a few times in the light rain, just because walking feels good after riding for several hours.  We also enjoyed some catch-up time with Guy (he and his wife Julie are from England and are the owners), trading highlights of the four years that have passed since we were here.

This is not the fanciest park by any means and certainly not a resort, but the facilities are clean and it is peaceful.  There are a few permanent residents, others who return to winter here every year and others who stop on their snowbird flight South.  Guy told us that last year he had to turn people away, as he was completely booked. 

Tomorrow we’ll stock up on provisions and I’ll do what laundry there is in the hamper.   Who knows?  I might even get a nap.  Dave might even sneak in a bike ride.  He has been remembering his rides in the area from our previous time here in 2010. 

All in all, not a bad day.  I am so very proud of our truck for getting us here from NJ with not even a hiccup.  It ran very smoothly and strongly, pulling our RV behind it like the true champion workhorse it is.  Good Truck, I’d tell it every day.  Good Truck!

We have TV reception!  No cable, just off our antenna.  Several channels to choose from, and right now I’m watching one of Michael Palin’s travel documentaries in which he was watching Life of Brian on DVD.  How funny and almost surreal is that?  He is visiting the site where it was filmed.

Maggie again was the ultimate full-time dog, traveling contentedly in the truck, reveling in the smells and sights during her walks and now tuckered out in one of the recliners.  If I want my hoodie, I’ll have to arouse her.  I can do without the hoodie.

Although it’s still early in the evening, I am rather tired and think I’ll bid you good-night.

Thanks for stopping by!

We’re Short . . .

 

One week tomorrow and we should be rolling through the gate headed south.  Well, actually west and then south.   I am both excited and a wee bit apprehensive. 

I keep going over in my mind what else I can cull from what is in our RV.  We have more stuff (there’s that word again . . . “stuff,” which means everything from clothes to houseplants, to small dorm-size refrigerator . . . such a catch-all word, “stuff.)  On the lighter side (pun intended), during our time here we have disposed of things here such as satellite dish and its accoutrements, sleeper sofa (with weight of 250 pounds per its specs; it was one heavy piece of furniture, I tell ya), one bicycle, articles of clothing (added some though, like insulated overalls and heavier jackets due to the harsh winters here), and so on. 

Again, I’m glad we upgraded from E-rated tires to a G-rated set, and I’m going nowhere near a CAT scale on this trip!

When we were actively traveling back in 2010/2011, we weighed in about 500 pounds under our max.  Dave says I’m obsessed with the rig’s weight, but I just want us to make this trip safely.

Funny . . . here I am a girl concerned about weight and it’s not my personal weight but that of my RV and truck combo.  Ha!  I am so my father’s daughter.

Hoping the Appalachian and Shenandoah Mountains will be kind to us.  Hoping my Dad will watch over us from that big campground in the sky . . .

Reviewing our route and its stages today, I realized I miscalculated the mileage of our first day out.  I thought it was right around 200 miles. 

Well . . .

It is actually about 280.  Ruh-roh.  I remembered that I was unable to find a campground close to the interstate at about 200 miles when planning the route, the first being a ways on down the road a bit.  Hence, the 280-odd miles for that stage. 

We also have one toll plaza to go through just as we enter Pennsylvania.  Well, I had to get us through it coming here, so I can get us through going out.  Nice and slow.  I’ll just use the far right-hand lane like the “big dogs” (semis) do.

It’s gonna be a long first day back in the saddle for this gal.  No big deal, I guess.  We’ll just take our time as usual.  I stop about every 1.5 hours to take a break, and we’ll be stopping perhaps more frequently to check the torque on the RV wheels, since we just put new tires on.  If we land safe and sound, I’ll be happy.  I bet I’ll sleep well that night.

June 2013, “exercising” the rig – Yep, I tow that baby

The most mileage we have done in one day was back in 2010, heading into Cherokee, NC, and that ended up being 350+.  It was dark by the time we hit mountains in the area, my first experience in mountains, and tunnels.  Oh yeah.  Tunnels after dark.  Oh boy.  Trippy.

The good news is our first day will be the longest in mileage, and there are only two more travel days until we get a nice layover in South Carolina prior to arriving at the facility and going on duty.  I have built some flexibility to our travel schedule in case we want to stay an extra night between here and South Carolina to rest or in case of nasty weather.

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There was activity here today with company folks on-site, so I didn’t get a whole lot done.  Did manage to stow a few more things in the rig, so I am making progress. 

Our last weekend here is coming up, and we plan on having as many campfires as we can squeeze in.  With that in mind, Dave got busy this morning and split some wood.

Does my Scotsman rock or what?

I’d like to fire up the grill at least one day over the weekend, too.  We’ll see how that goes in between working on preparing us for departure.  Of course, my meal planning is thrown back a day; today’s cooking plans where dust in the wind due to the activity here. 

My goal is to complete all my preparation tasks (excluding the absolute last-minute things) no later than Monday, so I have a couple of days to chill out and rest a bit.  I’m getting there. 

We’ll hitch up on Wednesday and Dave will disconnect our sewer and water connections, leaving us connected to shore power only.  This will leave less to do the next day before rolling out of here.

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Guess I’d better wrap this up and think about heading to bed soon.  Catch ya later!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Touch of Autumn . . .

 

There is definitely a feel of Autumn in the air this morning.  Right now it’s 63F and sunny out with a light breeze that feels like someone left the refrigerator door open.  Our overnight low dipped into the low 50s.  I awoke around 3 AM, dozed off and on, finally rolling out of bed with Maggie a bit after 5 AM.  I put on a sweatshirt with my jeans and we came over to the office.  After about 30 minutes, I smelled this “heater” smell and heard some clicks.  Felt the baseboard heater vent and, sure enough, the heat in my office had come on!  The thermostat was set around 50 from last Winter and it was chilly enough this morning to trigger it.  It’s late July, folks.  Wow.  We’ll be digging out the thermals and sweaters before long.

There has been virtually no activity here lately.  Accomplished one little yearly task – putting another stain coat on the welcome sign for our rig. It sure needs it after enduring the elements outside year-round. 

Before

 

After

 

Back in place – nicely positioned to be seen when door is open

 

We purchased our sign at a wee shop near Cherokee, NC, in August 2010, a couple of months after hitting the road. 

We like the reference to a clan, seeing as Dave is from Scotland.  Additionally, one has been known to see a majestic stag in The Highlands of that bonnie land.  This sign, although we did not have it custom made, just seemed to be waiting for us!

We spent two weeks in that area, staying at Happy Holiday Campground.  The park had changed ownership shortly before our stay, coming back under the caretaking and ownership of one of the tribal families.  Although well-kept at the time, there were many improvements planned and, from the looks of their web site, they have been accomplishing many of those.  We enjoyed our stay with them immensely.  It was still a slower pace place at that time, and I was honored with special talks with an elder gentleman of the family.  Positioned within a mile or two of an entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, it was a beautiful area.  At the time we were there, it was a wee piece of Heaven.

At Happy Holiday – August 2010

That was an epic arrival at Happy Holiday, possibly our longest day of travel with the rig (I think around 400 miles) and my first towing in mountains.  Just so happened that initial event happened at night.  I remember going through tunnels and making sure we took the correct turn in town for the campground, having been cautioned to do so to avoid steep downhill grades via the other route.  (Yikes!  Don’t want to go there, for sure!)  We arrived around 10 PM, well after dark. The hosts were very nice, escorted us to our site and made sure we got settled okay.  They even returned the following morning to trim some low-hanging branches.  I remember telling Dave that I wanted to retrace the mountainous last few miles of our route in daylight so I could either say, “Oh, that wasn’t really so bad after all; it just felt like it in the dark,” or “OMG, we could’ve died!”  Hahaha!  In reality, it was an uneventful journey which in daylight was indeed impressive but in comparison to some of our adventures since that time, no big deal.  It was, however, one of my first true tests and lessons in towing our rig.  I remember feeling “warm and fuzzy,” knowing my Dad would have been proud that I landed us safe and sound.  He probably would have been grinning a bit, too.   Yep, definitely grinning.

One of my parent’s rigs, color-coordinated even, in 1988.  Note the low Holiday Rambler membership number of 1252.  Cool, eh?  This is where I get the RV bug, having grown up with similar rigs since I was a babe in arms

 

Okay, not sure how I ended up strolling down memory lane this morning.  Probably started with putting a new coat of stain on the sign.  You know how one memory leads to another.  Wish I could give Dad a tour of our 5th wheel.  He’d be like a kid in a candy store with all the new innovations to be had in RVs these days.  Two televisions?!?! Heck, he was considered a crazy pioneer for having one with us at one of the HR national rallies.  Didn’t seem so crazy after all when folks wanted to watch the first moon landing along with us.  Yep, he would definitely be grinning.

Dave’s on a bike ride this morning while it’s pleasant out.  Looks like I will need to make a Lowe’s run when he returns to get a couple more flashlights and perhaps an additional hard hat or two for visitors scheduled later this week.  There’s a quiche in my plans, too, for later today.  Hope you’re making your own memories today!

Thanks for stopping by!