Three hours – three miles

Grenada, Mississippi – June 3, 2011

We were up bright and early this morning eager to get on the road. At 8:30 AM we left the K&K Campground just outside of Montgomery, AL. Well, first we had to stop at McDonalds for coffee, breakfast, and Wifi. Then a stop at Walmart to pick a few things we needed and some things we didn’t know we needed. As we’re ready to leave the Walmart parking lot we checked our watches and realized we’ve gone a whole three miles in three hours.

Last night when we pulled into the K&K Campground, it looked real familiar. This morning EJ checked the log books and discovered we had last been here in May of 2006 in Roadie. And to top it off, the daily rate had not changed. It was still $20.75.

Both Microsoft Streets and Trips and our GPS let us down in the town of Prattville. They routed us onto a road that was closed. We tried to work our way around it and ended up going about 10 miles down an old country that eventually got us back onto US 82. Every turn that we thought would get us back onto the highway was blocked with Road Closed signs.

The cats are doing fine. Mocha bugs us all day long asking for attention. She’s been riding in EJ’s lap. Taz normally hides behind the sofa until we stop. Here’s a picture of both of them relaxing as we go down the road.

US 82 took us through Tuscaloosa, Al where we saw the ravages of the tornado that hit several weeks ago. This shows the remains of a shopping center. Notice the squished silver car in the middle.

The less traveled freeway. US 82 is a great road to travel. It’s generally 4 lanes and the traffic is minimal.

We arrived at Frog Hollow at 6:15 PM. The back end of “Big Guy” and the Element were covered in dust. The owner of the campground wanted to know where we picked all that dust. “Your driveway” I told him. He allowed as how it hadn’t rained in a while so things were a little dry.

Talk about a posed picture. Dueling laptops. Frog Hollow has wifi.

Today's route.

Miles Today	266	Total Miles	636
Total Food $	5.14	Total Fuel $	201.46
Total Fun $	0	Total Camping $	73.57

Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire

Tifton, Georgia 6-1-2011

Crazy or not, we left Orange Park at 5:05 PM.  I wanted to get away from the house because of OTLTA (one thing leads to another).  You know how it goes.  I wanted to water the plants one last time, but I should probably trim them also, but that means digging out the electric hedge trimmer, which means I probably ought to tidy up the shelves because Ron will see them….. Whoa! EJ also had things left undone. Finish cleaning the house/floors so it will be nice for our return, finish the pillows for the RV, etc, etc. Let’s nip that in the bud right now.  Time to go!

We drove US82 along the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp and saw the devastation caused by recent fires.  In fact you could still see smoke rising from hotspots here and there. All the underbrush is gone but some of the taller trees still have green leaves/needles at their very tops.

We wanted to make it to Cordele, Georgia, but we started running out of daylight.  As it was, we rolled into The Pines Campground in Tifton at 8:25 PM just as the sun was disappearing over the horizon. The high was 102 in Tifton and only 90 in Orange Park, Fl. Hmmm.  Temperature-wise the Frying Pan wasn’t so bad.

Departure – Imminent!

Any day now we’ll be leaving.  Big Guy is ready. The remodel is done. Tire pressure is good.  Oil levels are OK.  Plenty of coolant.  Fuel tanks full. Now all we have to do is load the RV and close up the house. 

Here are some  pictures before the remodel.

And here are some pictures after the remodel.

   

The new layout has much more room even with the slide retracted.  We can entertain 6, have four for dinner, but it only sleeps two, just the way we like it.

Here is the anticipated route.  This is just an outline and will be modified on a random basis.  We’re easily side tracked.

Now you see it, then you don’t!

In our last post we mentioned getting rid of the old crt TV set was the reason for Big Guys’ remodel.  It bugged me that the TV was mounted above the dashboard.  The only chair that faced that way was the recliner which then begged the question “who gets the recliner?”.  The couch was pointed at a 90 degree angle to the TV which meant severe neck cramps if you wanted to watch TV.  The other thing that bugged me about the old TV was that it hung down from the ceiling making a convenient target for my head

So, being an engineer, I wanted a more elegant solution.  Now you see it…Going, going.. 

Now you don’t….

That was fun!

We got started on the doors and drawer fronts today.  A couple more days and they should be ready to install.  Then we can get serious about loading our stuff and hitting the trail.

Schedule…schmedule.

We haven’t even left on our summer trip yet and we’ve already blown the schedule.  “Big Guy” (so named because in comparison to our previous motorhome, “Roadie”, it is a lot bigger) has been having a major refit to its interior.  It’s hard to say what precipitated the redo, but I think it started with replacing to the old crt TV with a LED flat screen and morphed into a new reclining loveseat, new flooring, and new cabinetry.  That coupled with my inability to predict how long any particular phase will take has made a  mockery of our initial departure date.  For our friends and neighbors that carve departure and arrival dates in stone, this is driving them nuts.  “You said you were leaving on the 15th.  Why are you still here?”

The counter top should be installed tomorrow.  I still have to figure out how to attach the floating counter piece to the hidden TV.  Then it’ll be on to building drawer fronts and cabinet doors.

Along with all this, we’re trying to get wills and Durable Power of Attorneys written in case things go awry this summer.  We’ve put his off for years now, but it’s time to put it to rest.  It’s easy to say “Hey we’ll be dead, it won’t be our problem!” but that’s not fair to the friends and family members that will survive us.  This, too, should be wrapped up in the next few days.

As for the schedule, who knows?  Maybe next week sometime we’ll actually be on the road again.

Texas Bound Shocks August 3, 2010

The journey to San Angelo has not been without moments of exictment surrounded by hours of uneventful driving.

The first was near Robertsdale, Alabama when we pulled in to buy diesel and had to pay $3.04 a gallon. Quite a shock when we had been paying $2.70 to $2.84 a gallon.

The second was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Frank was getting tired, "Big Guy" needed a fuel stop and we needed to get up and stretch some to get the kinks out. So while we were in that really relaxed state looking for a filling station there was a big "WHAM". We had just been clobbered by a Fed EX truck. Actually he ran into the drivers side mirror. EJ and I were sitting at a traffic light minding our own business when the incident occurred. Because of the shock of having our peaceful reverie interrupted, the crash sounded much worse than it really was. Turns out there was no damage, but the Fed Ex guy never apologized. He swore that he never left his lane. Funny how a 24,00 pound motorhome can be at a standstill, jump in front of a Fed Ex truck, get hit, then jump back into it's own lane and nobody notices. Needless to say, with all that adrenalin pumping,Frank was no longer tired.

The further west we drove that hotter it got. We were seeing temps well into the 100's. Looks like that repaired generator is going to get a workout on this trip.

We arrived at Bill's(Frank's Dad) place about 5:45pm and Terry (Frank's brother), Joy, and Bill came out to see the RV. It was the first time they had seen it in person.

A Sad Texas Journey August 1, 2010

It's a sad trip we begin. Frank's mother passed away on July 19, 2010 and we are on our way to be with his Dad and prepare for the memorial service. Her health had been failing for the last several months partially brought on by a series of mini-strokes. She passed away in her sleep that night. The service is to be held August 5th so that gives 3 days to get to San Angelo and 1 day to prepare for the service. We have pictures to prepare, scrapbooks to assemble, and speeches to write. Even though we had been mentally preparing for this since May, you're still not prepared when it actually happens.