On the Road to Warmer Climes

Saturday October 24 to Monday October 26, 2015                           Most Recent Post:
Walkabout RV Park                                                                           Last Days in Charlottesville
Woodbine, Georgia

 

Hold on to your hats, I’m zooming up to the present.  We don’t normally drive on week-ends but we have to be in Florida by Tuesday so David does not miss a Wednesday Cancer Treatment.  You do what you’ve got to do, even a 300 mile day.  Since nothing much but driving happens on travel days, I group the three together to get caught up.  Not that I’ll stay caught up of course. LOL!!

 

SATURDAY October 24

 

We leave in the early afternoon in order to stealth camp about 155 miles away near Roanoke Rapids.  We don’t want to arrive until nearly nightfall.

We head east on I 64 and take it to I-95 south out of Virginia and into North Carolina. On the way we enjoy the color along a not too busy I-64. 

 

Good bye to fall or at least its colors.

 

 

Timed perfectly, we’re almost there as the sun sets.

 

The next morning it is just coming up when we are up to start on our way further south.

 

 

 

SUNDAY October 25

We’re out early since we have nothing to do but bring in the slides and raise the jacks.  We drive a couple of hours and then stop in a rest area and fix breakfast.  We’re reading Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander aloud as David has never read it. You’ll remember Gabaldon from my trip to the Maryland Renaissance Faire.  If not, see this post.  The book is nearly 900 pages so who knows when or if we’ll finish it reading over breakfast and dishes.

Not much sun today as we drive through North Carolina and into South Carolina where I must say, the pavement of I-95 is much worse than in either Virginia or North Carolina.  We stop a second time to gas Winnona up at a Pilot near Florence for $1.809 a gallon.  That’s nearly as good a price as as the $1.739 in Charlottesville which always seems to have the least expensive gas prices of anywhere.

At  the end of our 300 mile day, as close to PDD as we’ll get, we pull into Jolly Acres RV Park in St. George South Carolina.  I check in and they use their darling little electric car to direct us to our site.  This is the 3rd electric car they’ve had since we’ve been stopping here over the years.  first white, then red, now yellow.  It fits just fine right under the eaves of the check-in building and you can it plugged in on the side with the blue plug and cord for charging it up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our site is 50 amps, full hook ups, Passport America $20.   Sounds great until we have continuing problems with low voltage which we have never had here before.   Do those of you with progressive industries protection find that you often have it cutting off your power claiming low voltage?  Or have any ideas why we might? 

 

 

The gang likes the view out the front.  The duckies get especially excited as they are sure some of their relatives are out there.  Actually we can all hear them.

 

 

 

 

 

There are two ponds out our front window on either side of the archway so I go out to take a look.  Sure enough, there are four ducks.  Unfortunately they are so much larger than Moby and Handy that I don’t think it’s safe for them to go out and swim with the big boys.

 

 

 

 

The four swim right over but when they find out I have nothing for them, they lose interest.

 

 

 

I know most people think the drake of the mallard pair is the more attractive of the two but I’ve always been partial to the subtle beauty and intricate patterns of the female.

 

 

I don’t remember from our previous stays the train here which blows its whistle LONG and LOUD every two hours starting at 10pm and finishing at 6am.  Nor do I remember the rooster who starts predicting the sun is going to rise at 4am when it doesn’t actually rise until 7:30.  Maybe both of these are new additions since our last stop here.  In any case it was not a very good night’s sleep to say the least. Sure wish I wasn’t such a sound sleeper.  I even had ear plugs in.  I may have to scout around for another place to stop in South Carolina coming south on 95.  If you have any suggestions of nice easy stop over on the way from Virginia to Florida please let me know.

 

 

MONDAY October 26

Not a big hurry to leave today as we’ll travel around 185 miles to near the Georgia/Florida line, we pull out around 10am.  Traffic seems more congested than on Sunday or perhaps it’s just that we are further south.

Just as we are about to leave South Carolina I spot a clump of its state tree in the median of I-95 and shortly we pass the Welcome to Georgia sign.  David says these are not the first palm trees we’ve passed but they are the first I’ve seen and always signal “THE SOUTH” to me.

 

 

 

 

We’ve stopped at Walkabout coming to and from Florida any time we are moving up and down the east coast having discovered it shortly after Troy and Suz bought the park some years ago.  Their business has really grown and this time we’ve had to make a reservation to make sure they have a spot for us.  A far cry from the first time we were here when we just drove in and had our pick of spots.  Still a Passport America park so our full hook up site is $17.60.

The sites are all grass and no frills and very close together.  But for over night it suits us fine and the price is right.  Our site is so level we don’t even put our jacks down for the one night. We’re counting on no big winds.

Since I mentioned in a previous post putting together a list of places that permit you to wash your RV, this is one of them.   I find that surprising since the sites are all just grass and it would seem that enough water for washing and rinsing would make a muddy mess. But Troy and Suz are the friendliest and nicest of people. 

There appear to be folks from “up north” as in New York and Michigan, who winter here.  Perhaps the long timers is the reason they have a pot luck “Thanksgiving dinner” that week-end and bingo every Wednesday.  Boy I’m sorry to miss that.  I do love bingo even though I never win.  

The view out the front window isn’t as interesting to the gang as yesterday’s ponds.  Today they overlook the entrance road and a nice field lined by short bushes turning their fall colors even though the high today is 79.

 

 

Once we get set up I make some kale and sauerkraut sandwiches for lunch.  They are delicious.  So much so that I forget to take a picture of them so I grab this one off the web.  Ours were actually much more attractive than this.  Next time I fix them, I’ll try to remember to post one before we’ve eaten them down to the last crumb.  They are made up of hummus, horseradish mustard, sauerkraut, kale and cherry or sliced tomato.

 

Tomorrow’s drive is much more to my liking at 113 miles.  We’ll spend four days at Gamble Rogers State Recreation Area in Flagler Beach before heading further south to the Keys.