Saturday November 10th 2018

Today was a day to settle in and get out of travel mode. It was a beautiful sunny day with a high temperature right around seventy degrees. I did a few more setup tasks like taking the bicycle off the car and getting the grill out. During the trip south I ran out of a few supplies. Today was the day to replenish the missing items. I made a grocery run to Walmart.

I have other chores that need to get done tomorrow or the next day. It has been a while since I did the laundry. The hamper has overflowed into the laundry bag and is filling up again. Most of the contents are cold weather clothes that need to be cleaned and put away. I’m back in warm weather clothes for the time being. According to the forecast the end of next week may require some of the cooler weather clothes, but I wouldn’t be surprised if many of them don’t make an appearance until I’m at altitude next year.

The Christmas cactus that has been traveling around the country with me for the last three years has started to bloom once again. It wasn’t this regular in the house.

This campground is showing another side of its character. The past few times I’ve stopped at this RV park it hasn’t been a holiday weekend. Most of the people were travelers here for a night or two. This weekend there are many families with little kids as well as the travelers. The campground staff is doing its best to keep the weekenders entertained. There was a hay ride this afternoon for the kids and lawn toys like bean bag toss were all out for use. The weekenders give the place a much more active atmosphere.

Friday November 9th 2018

Tonight I’m parked within a short walk of the Florida state line. My speed run south to get away from the cold has concluded. I’ve actually been in above normal high temperatures since I reached Virginia on Tuesday. It was in the eighties here today, but a cold front complete with thunderstorms is moving through that will usher in below normal temperatures over the next week. Now that I’m in the better weather zone, I’ll be staying at each stop much longer. I’ll be here for a week.

Since I had less than one hundred miles to travel today, I spent some additional time watching the birds in the pond this morning. The swans may be considered an invasive species, but they are a pretty bird that is interesting to watch. One of the pairs that inhabit the pond were doing their grooming along the shore right near my RV home.

A pair of swans completing their morning grooming.

I pulled out of the campground around 10:15. My first stop was the gas station. It was a long and frustrating stop. I pulled into the station and found a lane that I could safely get in and out of. There was a car at the end of the line that didn’t have anyone around. I assumed they were inside paying their bill after pumping, so I pulled in behind them and waited. Two or three minutes later a women got out of the car and started to fill the tank of the Town and Country Minivan from Ohio. She pulled one card out of here wallet and passed it through the pump. It didn’t work so she started over with another card. After two or three more minutes she had the pump running to fill the tank. I really don’t think she had any idea the station was busy. There was already a car behind me waiting. Once she finished pumping she went inside the station building. I’m starting to get a little frustrated, but thought maybe she just needed to get the receipt. With the car in tow, I can’t back up my RV or do much other than wait. Close to ten minutes later she came out of the building with a grocery bag full of what looked like junk food. My hopes were rising, but it wasn’t to be. She got in her car and I watched in her rear view mirror as she fussed around then connected her seat belt. A normal person would have started the car and departed. She picked up her bag of groceries and started to eat. Who knows how long that would have lasted. At that point I lost it. My horn was sounding in her ears and anyone else at the station. She half got the point. She pulled her car forward just far enough that I could reach the pump. By the time I was through pumping my gas she was gone. It was near 11:00 when I left the gas station. I was probably at the station for forty minutes to put in $95 worth of gas.

The trip south on Interstate 95 was a rough one. This stretch of highway has a big problem with the transitions between roadway and bridges. The dips in the road surface before and after the bridges kept the coach bouncing. If it were only a few bridges it wouldn’t be a big deal, but this section of highway paralleling the coast crosses many creeks and marshes. I stopped at a big rest area about halfway to my destination so I wouldn’t arrived too early and completed my travel day around 1:30 at the Jacksonville North St. Marys KOA. It is a nice, easy to access campground that I’ve stayed at before. I’ll be here for a week.

Site E-11 at the Jacksonville North KOA in St, Marys GA.

Thursday November 8th 2018

It rained most of the night, but stopped by the time I started to pack up for today’s travel. It was an overcast day with an occasional light shower. Overall not the worst travel weather.

I was on the road heading south at 9:40. The first part of the trip around Fayetteville and through Lumberton North Carolina was through territory that was underwater during Hurricane Florence. There were only a few indicators of the damage visible including some downed trees. For the most part traffic moved along at a steady pace. Most of the Interstate through South Carolina is two lanes in each direction with trees separating the directions. Since I’m traveling under the speed limit, I get to see many cars pass by close in the other lane. From the number of northern license plates on cars packed high with stuff, it is apparent that the snowbird migration is in full force.

Site 23 at the Savannah South Koa in Richmond Hill GA.

My travel day ended shortly after two at the Savannah South KOA in Richmond Hill GA. At two hundred and eighty miles it is in the distance sweet spot for a days travel. Ideally, I want to travel between two and three hundred miles a day. Of course tomorrow is going to break the rule. I’ve only got about ninety miles to travel. I had a little difficulty finding a site for the Veternas Day Holiday weekend. I’ll be in the St. Marys Georgia area for the next week.

Some of the collection of birds using the resources of the pond.

A couple of swans join the other birds.

This campground doesn’t have the biggest sites, but it is located on the side of a pond. The pond is a refuge for many kinds of birds. In a few minutes this afternoon I saw everything from ducks to swans including egrets and blue herons. I spent a few minutes before dark sitting on a bench watching the birds in the pond. Today was the first day since the time change that I noticed how early it is getting dark.

Close up of one of the swans.

Wednesday November 7th 2018

Today was a day without travel. After three straight days of travel it is nice to take a day off. It was also a very nice day. The sun shined full most of the day and the temperature reached the low seventies. That’s a very big change from the cool wet weather I left behind in New England.

It was a nice bright day. The clouds moved in as the day continued.

I spent a very leisurely day dominated by watching television, walking around the RV park and reading. The most ambitious thing I did all day was prepare dinner. I had a pound of ground beef that needed to be used. I wasn’t in the mood for any of the usual ways I prepare it, so I made a meatloaf instead. This was the first time I used the Convection Oven for that purpose. It came out fine. I had a good dinner and have plenty of leftovers for sandwiches in the days to come.

A flower bed starting to show the signs of the cold weather.

This campground has plenty of long term residents. Most of them seem to be associated with the military at Fort Brag. Last night the transient sites were almost full. Tonight there were only three overnight reservations based on the list on the Welcome Board at the office. Understanding the flow of snowbirds to the south seems to be a real challenge. Why is today a slow day?

Tomorrow I’m back in travel mode and mother nature is back in rain mode. My timing is terrible. It is supposed to start raining tonight with showers tomorrow morning. It sounds like I should drive out of the bad weather as I head south. I have about 280 miles to travel, but it is straight down Interstate 95. It is mostly long straight roads with very few congested areas.

Blossom of the day.

Tuesday November 6th 2018

I woke up to unexpected rain this morning. The last forecast I heard called for rain between 11AM and 4PM along the leading edge of a cold front moving in from the west. The morning forecast called the rain in the Richmond area a welcome forerunner to the afternoon storms. The theory being that it would prevent the air from heating up enough to produce severe weather in the afternoon. Either way the rain got in the way of may travel preparations.

The rain was letting up as I started my travel day shortly after 9AM. Even with the unexpected rain to contend with, it was my earliest departure on this repositioning trip. As I moved south out of the rain it got very warm. The temperature moved through the seventies to around eighty. With the heat came the wind. It was a very gusty day that had the motorhome moving around a bit more than I like.

Site 48 at the Fayetteville RV Resort in Wade NC.

I ended my travel day around 1:30 in Wade NC at the Fayetteville RV Resort. I was happy to be off the road before the predicted severe weather arrived. Around 3:30 the wind died down and the high humidity took hold. After several weeks in the cool north, it was very uncomfortable. The storm front arrived about an hour later with a resumption of the wind and some rain. Overall it was a very mild front as it passed through.

I’ll be here for a couple of nights. Last Saturday when I made reservations for the stops on the trip south I assumed I’d be ready for an extra rest day. I really just found my travel groove, so I could easily have continued. Making reservations was also unnecessary for these mid week stops. There are a lot of Snowbirds heading south, but there have been empty spaces at all of my stops. This weekend is a holiday weekend, so I’m glad I have reservations for that period.

Monday November 5th 2018

It was raining when I got up this morning. That’s not what I wanted to see on a travel day. Getting ready to travel was not fun. Working out side disconnecting the hookups I had to step around and occasionally in puddles. I’m not sure how my feet stayed dry. My pants below my rain coat were soaking wet by the time I was finished getting the outside ready for travel.

I departed at 9:30 on a challenging. During the first part of the trip it rained continuously.
As fate would have it, the rain fell hardest in the most congested areas along the interstate. Navigation was often by the red tail lights of the vehicle in front. About an hour and a half into the journey the rain let up some, but visibility didn’t improve. It was foggy with intermittent rain for the next couple of hours. By the time I arrived at my destination north of Richmond VA at 2:30 it was just cloudy and raw.

Site E-17 at the Americamps RV Resort in Ashland Virginia.

I spent much of the way playing with the heater controls in the RV. When I had enough air blowing at the windows to keep them from fogging up, I didn’t have enough heat blowing on me to keep warm. Between my wet cloths and the lack of heat, I was cold. I got a little more wet when I stopped for gas. The RV pumps were not under a cover. I stopped at the Virginia Welcome center long enough to change into dry clothes.

If I hadn’t made reservations for all my stops along the way to Florida, I would have been delaying my travels to stay out of the bad weather. Tomorrow has a potential to have severe weather in my travel path. I’m only here for one night. My next stop is for two nights.

Sunday November 4th 2018

The time change back to Standard Time helped to get me up early this morning. I was aiming for a 9AM departure. A minor issue hooking up the towed car delayed my departure until 9:30. I was ushered out of the campground by a roving rafter of turkeys. The birds were practically running through the campground.

My travel day ended six hours later in Jonestown Pennsylvania. I stopped once for gas and once for a brief restroom break. The gas stop in Connecticut was expensive. I should have filled up before leaving Massachusetts on Friday. I put in nearly $200 worth of gas in the RV. It took two hours to get out of Connecticut, an hour to cross New York followed by three hours in Pennsylvania to get to my destination.

Site 62 at the Jonestown/Hershey KOA.

In New York and Pennsylvania I kept distracted by counting dead deer along the side of the road. I lost count around twelve. These are small full grown dark colored deer native to the area. They probably get hit at night. I didn’t see any living deer in the fields.

Today’s weather was sunny in the mid fifties with very little wind. I could have done with a little less sun. I had to wear my sun glasses against the glare outside the motorhome. Unfortunately they make it difficult to see the rear view monitor and the GPS inside the RV. Going through some of the congested areas the rear view monitor, which also shows the sides when using the directional, is very helpful in knowing what’s in the blind spots. I got surprised at least once today.

This was my longest driving day on this segment of Rob’s Rambling Road trip. Today was about three hundred and thirty miles. Tomorrow will be a little less at about two hundred and seventy five miles and each successive day is a little less. North of Virginia it’s all about what’s open.

Saturday November 3rd 2018

It rained hard overnight. There were big leaf covered puddles all around this morning. During breakfast the rain came to an end. The remainder of the morning was dry and calm. Around noon the sun came out and the forecast strong wind arrived. The wind howled and the leaves blew all around for the remainder of the daylight hours. This evening there is only a light wind blowing.

The view across the campground was pretty, but a clear harbinger of the winter to come.

The first thing on today’s agenda was to fix the problems I had yesterday with towing the car. I didn’t have lights on the towed car or a functional supplemental brake on the drive yesterday. The problem with the lights turned out to be dirt in one of the sockets that the power cable plugs into. Once I cleaned that out the plug made a good connection and the towed vehicle brake, directional and tail lights worked again.

Fixing the supplemental brake was a little more complicated. Working on the assumption that it wasn’t getting power, I opened the brake box and went to work with my multimeter. The twelve volt cable from the car’s power socket was not the problem. Digging deeper into the power connections to the circuit board, I found the switch to be the culprit. Either the connections to the switch or the switch itself are bad. I’ve popped the switch out of the case and can short the connectors to get the supplemental brake to work. The long term solution will be to replace the switch unless I decided to replace the entire brake unit. This unit is seven years old. There are better alternatives available today, but it is a significant expense that requires some research. A replacement system will cost more than one thousand dollars.

My third accomplishment of the day was making reservations for the remainder of the month. I now have seven different reservations to get me through the rest of November. The first four are for one or two nights to get to warmer weather. In southern Georgia I slow down staying from at least five nights at each of the remaining stops. With the reservations I already have in December, January and March, I only have to lock down the first eighteen days of February. A weekday phone call with help turn plans into reservations and close the gap.

Friday November 2nd 2018

I made the right choice to delay my exit from New England until Sunday. Today’s weather wasn’t conducive to travel. It was very windy with just enough rain to keep everything wet and visibility low. The expected downpours didn’t happen in the areas I traveled through, but areas to the north and west got more rain. The current forecast has heavy rain coming into the area overnight. If I’d chosen to head out of New England for Pennsylvania I’d have driven right into the heart of the storm.

The ninety mile drive today was not fun. Wind was strong and gusty all the way. The RV was pushed around a lot and I had a couple of issues towing the car. I didn’t have any lights on the toad even with a brand new cable to connect the RV to the vehicle under tow. I tried a few simple fixes before I had to check out this morning, but they weren’t successful. I’ll work on it in more detail tomorrow. The second issue is a little more serious. My supplemental brake in the tow isn’t working. The RV had all the braking responsibility on today’s journey. The supplemental brake only comes into play on hard stops, but I won’t be continuing until that is fixed. I think it is as simple as a break in the 12V power cord to the device. I’m going to take it apart and check it out.

Site 107 at the Niantic I-95 KOA.

I arrived at the Niantic I95 KOA after about two hours on the road. This campground is open until next weekend, but it is fairly empty tonight. The campground is covered in leaves that fell from the trees. One of the staff members said most of the leaves had fallen in today’s wind. I believe it. Leaves were blowing around all over the place. I’m all setup for the weekend.

Many of the trees lost lots of leaves last night into today.

Thursday November 1st 2018

The wet colder than normal October is over in the northeast. November has arrived and it is time for me to head south. The only problem is the weather. Another major storm front is moving through the area from west to east Friday and Saturday.

Today’s fall blossoms.

The idea of driving three hundred and sixty miles in the rain and wind is not appealing. I started to look for alternatives. The big problem is the small number of campgrounds still open combined with the number of campers that are still camping on the weekends. My original plan was to travel to the Harrisburg PA area. The route goes through some of the high country of central Pennsylvania which can be unpredictable. I couldn’t find any open campgrounds along that route short of my original destination. A couple of Walmart parking lots are possible solutions, but not ones that I want to settle on. Instead I’ve decided to go off route by fifty miles or so and stay on the Connecticut coast for the weekend. I’ll head to the Harrisburg area on Sunday.

While I was in the campground search and reservation mode I looked out a few stops to next weekend. I had planned to stay for a few days in the Savanna Georgia area, but my planned stop is fully booked over the weekend. I continue to under estimate the popularity of places and to remember to take holidays into account. Veterans Day is a long weekend this year, so I’m now in scramble mode for next weekend too. The Thanksgiving Week will also be a problem. My first reservation in Florida starts on Sunday the 25th of November. The need to plan way ahead continues to be my biggest annoyance in this life style.

With my travel distance reduced to less than one hundred miles tomorrow, I don’t have to get an early start. I worked on getting ready for the overall journey south today, but I didn’t do as much packing as I had planned. Now, I’ll have time in the morning.

This campground has started to fill up for the weekend today. Staying here another two days was my first thought, but I would have had to move to a much less desirable, but more expensive site. Getting started south, even if it’s only a little ways, is good for me.