Thursday August 31st 2023

My body is still on Eastern Time so I was up early according to local time. This is my last day in my safe escape zone forty five miles from Florida’s western state line. Hopefully the time zone issue will allow me to get up early tomorrow to prepare for travel. It was a sunny day with seasonal temperatures around 90, but with lots of humidity and little breeze.

I went out scouting for a place to buy gas tomorrow. My motorhome tank is down to about a quarter on the gauge. There are no fuel stations at this Interstate 10 exit. The next exit east has plenty of stations, but it also has lots of traffic and construction. None of the stations were ideal. The ones with easy access had very little room to maneuver at the actual pumps. The bigger stations had difficult access because of construction or would require a u-turn after filling up. The next exit east has a Loves truck stop that I’ve used before. It is over twenty five miles away. I’ll be doing a lot of gauge watching on my way.

While I was out I stopped at Walmart to top off my food supply. This was an older and slightly smaller Walmart. The grocery aisles were narrow and short. A couple of shopping carts or one employee picking an order into blue buckets completely jammed the aisle. Sometimes it was easier to go down a parallel aisle and enter from the other end. I managed to get a few things I needed and a few things I just wanted. It was another one of those shopping while hungry mistakes.

The inside of my RV home is pretty close to ready for travel. I only need to do a few things. The outside tasks I usually do a day ahead remain to be done in the morning. This is probably bad planning. The weather forecast calls for showers all day tomorrow in this area. I should drive out of them as I move east.

Wednesday August 30th 2023

I am still tired today after yesterday’s travel, traffic and heat. The travel was successful. There is no real indication of Idalia here. It was a sunny day with perhaps a little more wind than normal. The temperature peaked at a reasonable 90 degrees.

My first order of business this morning was checking on the progress of the storm. The Weather Channel and some of the local TV station in the storms path that Directv provided were my source of information. It seems the storm came ashore a little further west than anticipated as a category 3 storm. The area I ran from got more rain and wind than originally forecast, but nothing news worthy. I am glad I put miles between me and the storm. Friday I’ll find out if there was any significant damage when I return.

Other areas in my recent and future travel path got more serious impacts. The Jacksonville area where I spent most of the summer got heavy rain, tropical storm force winds and were under tornado watches and warnings most of the day. Jennings Florida on I-75 at the Georgia boarder where I spent a couple of nights last week got the center of the storm as a category 1 hurricane. Neither of these locations would have been any fun to ride out the storm.

Going forward over the next couple of weeks may require a few changes to plans. The weekend starting on the 8th of September was going to be spent in Perry Florida. It was right on the mainline path of the hurricane only about twelve miles inland. The major news services and the Weather Channel all had reporters stationed there. They reported many trees down and massive power outages. I wouldn’t be surprised to find the campground closed for a couple of weeks and I really don’t want to go into an area trying to recover from the storm. The three weeks after that are scheduled at state parks in the Bradenton and Sarasota area. They were closed yesterday without a planned reopening date. Right now there are reports of some wind damage down there, but I suspect it will be cleaned up over the next week allowing the parks to reopen.

I spent the day relaxing around my RV home. My one walk around the campground didn’t result in any interesting discovery. This place has mostly long term residents and nice amenities. It is a nice clean organized place, but not much in the way of scenery.

Tuesday August 29th 2023

I got up this morning and slowly started to packup to move. It is the safe decision. The Lake Seminole area should only get tropical storm winds and a few inches of rain, but the storm has moved west a little with each new update. As I was getting ready to depart several big fifth wheel trailers arrived in the park. They have apparently chosen to ride out the storm at East Bank campground on Lake Seminole. I’m moving on about 100 miles west.

Shortly after the noon hour I pulled out of the campground and made my way south to Interstate 10 and headed west. Traffic may have been a little heavier than normal, but I really don’t know what normal is. The east bound side was filled with lots of power line maintenance trucks from out of state heading for staging areas near the storms path. I’m not sure where they were from, but it always amazes me how many crews come into the state when a storm is approaching. It reminds me of Ice Storms in the northeast during winter. Whenever my power went out during one it seemed like it was always a Quebec Canada crew that restored my power in southern New Hampshire.

The majority of my journey was uneventful. Regular afternoon thunderstorms were in the area. Most of them were south of I-10 near the coast. The edge of a few storms forced me to turn on the windshield wipers a couple of times and the wind really picked up at times. The real event of the day happened in the last fifteen miles. Traffic came to a mostly stopped stop and go mess around mile marker 60. My exit was at mile marker 45. It was 2PM. A couple of heavy wreckers capable of moving big rigs passed by in the breakdown lane. Clearly there was a big accident ahead.

About 4 miles and nearly an hour later I reached an exit from the Intestate. Since traffic still wasn’t moving faster than an occasional 2mph jaunt, I decided to detour to US 90 which parallels I-10. Unfortunately, lots of other people had the same idea. Traffic moved a little faster than 2mph but now there were traffic lights in the mix as well. It was six or seven miles before the traffic started to break up. With the help of my GPS I found the back way into the Eagle’s Landing RV Park in Holt Florida. It was 4PM. The last fifteen miles took 2 hours.

By the time I got setup I was soaking wet from the heat and humidity. I was also ready for a nap, but I needed to eat first. Sitting inside with the AC pumping I recovered without a nap. It will be an early night.

Monday August 28th 2023

Today was decision day. I determined when the weather forecasters started talking about the tropical system in the gulf that I would move out of its path if it was a threat. The conditions I established for staying here were a tropical storm with a path east of here or possible a category 1 hurricane a little further to the east. Anything else would mean “run”. I also set today as the decision day. Right now it looks like it may be a category 3 hurricane with a path too close for comfort.

I made a reservation for two nights at an RV park about 100 miles to the west. I’ll leave sometime tomorrow. There is plenty of time because the storm is forecast to reach this far north Wednesday morning. On Thursday I plan to return here. So far I haven’t figured out the book keeping for all of this. I’m not sure if I just keep my current reservation or if it gets canceled and I need to make another one. Finding a staff member to answer that question has proven difficult.

One of my least favorite noises in a campground woke me up this morning. It was lawn moving day. They got started before 8AM eastern time. This campground is located in the eastern time zone, but right across the lake is the central time zone. Cell service comes from the other side of the lake, so my cell phone is on central time. The TV stations are also from the west and therefore on central time. It really gets confusing at times.

The campground emptied out more than I expected this morning. There were only four of us in residence until this evening. Half a dozen or so RVs arrived late in the day. I think they are only here for the night and will move on out of the storm zone tomorrow. The arrival of more RVs along with the commentary of the local TV weather forecasters cause me to second guess my decision to run. That uncertainty is why I established conditions for moving early on in the lead up to the storm. I will be happy when I’m in my alternate location and even happier when I’m back here and the storm is long gone.

Sunday August 27th 2023

At the beginning of the day it was just an area of weather interest near Cancun Mexico. This evening it is called Idalia and is likely to hit the Florida big bend as a category 2 or higher hurricane. That is a little too close for comfort. I’ll be moving west out of its path unless something significant changes by morning.

The open questions are when do I move and where do I go. Forecast wise I should be fine departing on Tuesday, but the park authorities here may have other ideas. I learned from a park host that the rangers will be meeting in the morning to discuss how the park will deal with the storm. They could close the park tomorrow or Tuesday. My second question is where do I go. This morning I identified a commercial park sixty miles west on Interstate 10. This evening that area was included in the storm inpact area. I am now looking at other options further away. Tomorrow is a day of decisions.

While I was waiting for the storm and the forecasters to contribute to my destiny I did some exploring in the area. One element of the exploration was to make sure my car had a full tank of gas. The motorhome has enough to get to safety, but will need a fill up to return here after the storm. My drive while successful with respect to gas, was frustrating. I let a couple of cars into the road in front of me from a church. For the next ten plus miles I was stuck behind a Sunday drive by the little old lady that only drove to church and back or so it seemed. Exceeding the speed limit was not close to possible.

Walking around the campground this afternoon was a lonely activity. Occupancy was down to seven campers. A few others arrived this evening. My second walk of the day was cut short by the sound of thunder and some threatening clouds. It only rained lightly for a brief period of time, but somewhere nearby there was a good storm. The sound of thunder was in the air for close to an hour. On the positive side, the temperature went from the high nineties to the mid eighties.

Saturday August 26th 2023

The actual temperature today was shown at 100 degrees today. The humidity wasn’t bad and there was a little breeze so the feels like temperature was “only” 111 degrees. Walking outside wasn’t uncomfortable, but doing the few outside setup tasks I had remaining was very sweat inducing. By the peak of the temperature I was hibernating in the AC.

This campground isn’t very full. There were about fifteen campers here last night and about twelve tonight. I was here about two weeks later last year and it had more visitors. There don’t seem to be any out of state travelers here right now. When I checked in yesterday, it was a self service activity. I found my packet of material and signed a register before occupying my site. The gate was not staffed even though they seem to have there full contingent of work campers.

Walking around the park today, I saw lots of changes. They have done lots of little maintenance tasks like repairs to steps and railings. The vegetation along the side of Lake Seminole has been trimmed way back. It is possible to reach the water in a lot more areas. There were also a lot of nice wildflowers in bloom and a few birds making noise for attention.

I’m not sure what the next few days are going to bring. I may need to move somewhere on Monday. A tropical system is anticipated to form in the Gulf of Mexico. Right now it is still an area of investigation, but once it forms it will move quickly north in the gulf. It seems to still be a guessing game on the path and intensity. Right now I’m on the far west side of the bubble of uncertainty. That would be fine for a tropical storm or maybe even a cat 1 hurricane. Any track further west toward me or more intense hurricane means I need to move. Monday morning seems to be the decision point, unless park management has other ideas.

Friday August 25th 2023

I set the TV to come on at 7AM to wake me up to prepare for travel. After rolling over a couple of times I was up at 7:30 to start packing and preparing to travel. One thing that took more time than usual was dumping the tanks. Since I will not have any sewer hookup for the next two weeks, I flushed the black tank thoroughly. It adds about a half an hour to the overall process. It was just before the 11AM checkout when I departed my site.

Based on yesterday’s scouting I headed north opposite my intended direction to the first exit off of Interstate 75 in Georgia. Gas was even cheaper today than yesterday. I filled the tank at $3.35 a gallon. The price of gas on my intended path was $3.69 and $3.89 a gallon. The short detour to Georgia was well worth the effort. Each county in Florida has its own tax rate on gas, but they are all higher than in Georgia.

I continue to be very cautious towing the new car. Everything seemed to go fine today, but I’m not sure the charge line from the motorhome is working. I will get my multi meter out and chance that down while I am here. I am still very paranoid during my travel day. Every little bang, squeak or jerk gets my attention quickly. The motorhome may also have a few new performance issues that I need to deal with.

After one stop for an hour or so to delay my arrival time to account for the 3PM checkout time, I arrived at the Army Corp of Engineers Eastbank campground. It is part of the Lake Seminole recreation area. The campground is located just north of the state line in Georgia, but the nearest town is Chattahoochee Florida. I have stayed here for a couple of weeks each year since 2020. This is the third time I’ve been on this particular site. It is not a huge campground with 63 sites, but it is very relaxing with a lot of scenery along the side of the lake.

Thursday August 24th 2023

After the activity and tension of yesterday’s travel I really slept last night. I don’t think I moved from the time I fell asleep to when I woke up just before 9AM this morning. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to sleep that late tomorrow morning. I am moving on again on Friday and checkout is at 11AM.

I spent the morning with a second cup of breakfast coffee and my tablet reading the news headlines and watching a couple of YouTube videos. In the afternoon I did a little re-familiarization touring of the area. My mission was to scout out a gas station to fill the motorhome tank tomorrow. The station with the best access had the highest price at $3.89 a gallon. Another station with poorer access had gas at $3.69. I’ve bought gas there in the past, but it was a challenge. The cheapest option is in the opposite direction from my route. Gas is $3.49 a gallon at the station just over the state line in GA. It is about a ten mile detour which is about a gallon and a half of gas. Since I’ll be putting in about fifty gallons it is worth the detour.

This campground is used as an overnight stop by travelers. Last night there were a dozen other RVs around me. By checkout time this morning, I was one of only three RVs remaining. By 2PM the park was filling up with the next set of overnighters. While the park was near empty the birds were having a good time in the retention pond. I took the opportunity to take a few pictures while I walked around the park. The young birds particularly liked the shade provided by the gazebo.

Tomorrow I’m moving another hundred and twenty miles to the west. I’ll be at on the side of Lake Seminole for a two week stay. It is another campground I’ve been to before and is a nice relaxing place to stay.

Wednesday August 23rd 2023

My long stay at Pecan Park RV Resort on the north side of Jacksonville ended this morning. It was a busy morning getting ready to travel. I took my time hooking up my new car for towing. I checked all the connections twice and followed the towing prep instructions in the owner manual line by line. Checking the lights was a bit of a challenge as a solo traveler. Once I get some confidence in the connection I’ll revert back to my usual process of just using the four way flashers as a continuity tests. Installing the auxiliary towed vehicle brake was a also a little different than my previous care.

I pulled out of my site at 11:30 about a half an hour after the documented checkout time. On the way out of my site the car brakes locked up for a few seconds. I stopped the motorhome in the site across the road and checked everything out. Most likely some of the cars fancy safety features though the car was going to hit the motorhome and applied the brakes. I continued on carefully. The brakes may have tried to lock up again before I was out of the park, but not to the point that I needed to stop. It took a few miles before I became comfortable that things seemed to be towing successfully. I wanted to stop at the rest area on Interstate 10 to check everything out again, but it was closed for paving. I continued on toward my destination. At the exit for the campground I heard unexpected noises and stopped on the side of the road to check things out once again. Once again I could find nothing wrong and continued on to the campground.

Looking back at the experience I think the early brake lockup can be addressed with an adjustment to some settings. The second issue I don’t know what to think. Looking back at it I think it was unrelated to the towing issue. It may have been a noise from inside the RV that took me by surprise and caused a minor panic. I’ll look for other issues tomorrow and test things out again on Friday.

I am at the Jennings KOA Holiday in Jennings Florida on the side of Interstate 75 just south of the GA state line. I’ll be here for two nights before moving on again on Friday. This is a campground I’ve been at before and enjoyed. It is a little hotter here without the mitigating influence of the Atlantic Ocean. It was in the nineties and very humid when I arrived at 1:30PM.

Tuesday August 22nd 2023

This was my last full day in the Jacksonville area at Pecan Park RV Resort. I’ve been here since the end of June. It was a long hot stay, but it was reasonably productive. My primary task of buying a new car and getting it setup to be towed behind my motorhome was accomplished. That was the reason for the long stay. I was also able to get a few other things accomplished that are hard to do when you move every week or two. It was nice being able to get Amazon deliveries right to my site. There are still several motorhome maintenance tasks that I need to accomplish. I’ll try to fit those in as I continue my travels.

It was a warm day with the high temperature in the low nineties. Most of the day was overcast, humid and without a lot of wind. The sun came out often enough to make being in the sun very uncomfortable. I had several outside travel preparation tasks to accomplish that I tried to do early before it got hot and late after the sun was lower in the sky. It was a partial success. There are a couple of more tasks that I need to do in the morning before I travel. Checkout is at 11AM.

During the middle of the day I made my final grocery run in Jacksonville. I have enough supplies for a couple of weeks if I need to go that long. Significant supplies are more than twenty miles away from each of my next two stops. The Walmart wasn’t as busy this afternoon. My refrigerator, freezer and cabinets are now full.

I have about 115 miles of mostly Interstate driving to travel tomorrow. This will be my first time towing my new car, so the hookup procedure will be a little different. Hopefully the Chevy Equinox will tow as well as my Honda CR-V did. I am nervous about the experience and will probably stop more than a few times to check things out. The distance was also calculated to breakup a longer travel day. After a couple of night stay and any necessary regrouping, I’ll move on another 120 miles for a two week stay.