Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau

Putting Distance Between Us and Isaac

Saturday August 25, 2012
Jolly Acres RV Park,  St. George, South Carolina

 

 

Remember my giant “worm” from Thursday??

Well it was really a caterpillar of course and thanks to Paula, who has a very interesting blog called Our Year Outdoors about visiting all of Florida’s State Parks,  I now know it is going to grow up to be an Imperial Moth.  The caterpillar is 3-4” and the moth 4-6”.  BIG!

Thanks so much Paula.  It was good to hear from you and know someone out there can help me in my natural history attempts.   Thanks again.

 

Packing up 014A

Packing up 007

 

 

ImperialMoth-Simons

 

 

 

Has the RNC Come to Quail Run?

 

republicans at Quail 009A About a week before we left Quail Run I was walking at dusk and noticed that an RV had pulled into a prominent corner site in the “new” section. I guess they are waiting for the convention to start before moving to a prominent location in downtown Tampa. They say you can step right in and register to vote but I never saw anyone in the bus and the toad was gone nearly every day.  I wonder if you have to be a Republican to register or will they register anyone?  In subsequent days, it didn’t seem they were doing any business at Quail Run.  Sorry the reds aren’t quite as BRIGHT RED as they were during the day time.  The dusk light takes away from the effect.

 

republicans at Quail 005A

I notice too that they want to do some adopting.   The bus is from Alabama which is not a state they want to adopt.  But Florida is and so is my home state of Virginia.  

How does one go about adopting a state??

 

 

 

 

 

 

While heading north both today and yesterday , we see some very interesting things headed south.

On Friday, heading out of Tampa on I-75,  we see more charter buses going south than I’ve seen anywhere in a long time.  Multiple groups of 3 or 4.  They look like they are caravanning.   

They must be groups headed for the sure to be rain soaked convention. Good luck guys.

Does it seem a bit risky to you to plan a big convention for Tampa during August given that it’s hurricane season?

 

Then today we pull out of Walkabout and re-enter I-95.  We see upwards of 70 utility trucks flying down south both in Georgia and in South Carolina. They just keep coming and coming.  That’s a LOT of utility trucks. 

Maybe they are going to make sure the RNC has power no matter what.

There are actually convoys of them. One group is 14 trucks in a row. They are hard to get pictures of since we are going North at about 55 mph and they are going south at 65 or 75 depending on the speed limit. It actually becomes a game to see if I can snap them. But with our speed difference nearly all of them come out blurred.  Some camera person I.  HA!  We get some good laughs out of these pictures hope you do too.  Amazing the things that amuse me on the road.  I finally get one decent one.

 

I-95 going North 004

I-95 going North 005

I-95 going North 006

I-95 going North 007

I-95 going North 008

I-95 going North 009

 

 

I just love traveling with my house.

I-95 going North 010A

 

As you know, I don’t much like to ride or drive but traveling in a motor home is, in my opinion, the top of the line way to travel. One great thing is that we never have to find a restaurant for lunch and go in and wait and decide  what we want to eat from the usually fried and over cooked foods. We don’t even have to tip the waitress or spend $20 for lunch.

We cross into South Carolina and stop at the Welcome Station.  I need a new map.  The one I have is from 2009.  While we’re here, we decide to have lunch so we turn on the generator to use the AC and fix whatever we want which we can eat at our own little table and take our sweet time because no one is in line behind us.  The things I love about RVing…….

 

We cover 189 miles today between Woodbine Georgia and St. George South Carolina.

I don’t think I’m in any danger of catching ‘Paul Dahl Disorder’ since that’s about half the miles he drives on an light day. But it is just about right for me especially with the pretty terrible pavement of I-95 in South Carolina.  The interstate was very nice in both Florida and Georgia but here what a mess.  

Although I’d really like to enjoy the coast around Savannah at Skidaway Island or Charleston at Edisto, with the storm uncertainty, the heat and Labor Day week-end coming up, we decide to go on toward the foot hills. 

 

By 4:00 we are all set up in a nice site at Jolly Acres RV Campground. 

It’s another Passport America member.  Water and Electric for $17.12 with tax.  Another stop over I can recommend.  Unlike Walkabout it’s not within earshot of I-95 although it’s only an easy 5 miles away.  But that makes it quiet. It’s nicely wooded with a little fishing lake which for some reason has a fountain. 

 

Jolly Acres St. George S.C. 001

Just the ticket for an overnight.

25 comments:

  1. You had me laughing with you trying to "catch" the utility trucks. Pretty good job though.

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  2. So nice to here you back to the little funnies of life on the road. A whole lot better than worrying about the daily 'numbers' and hospital grind. I'll bet you both agree!!
    Safe travels!

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  3. You sound so much happier now you are on the move!! Yes, something to look forward to.. Glad u are getting out of the way of the rain and bad weather!!

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  4. My kind of driving day, no more than 200 miles. And going the right direction, away from possibly a couple kind of storms. Some drive-by shootings are more than difficult than others. ;)

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  5. We're with you...traveling in a motorhome is the best!!!

    Safe Travels and Happy Trails........

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  6. No worries about the RNC having power. Tampa Electic had to install new generators to make sure they would have power no matter what. The utility trucks always come in during a hurricane. It has nothing to do with the RNC. Good thing we were gone before code red came in- I would have been tempted to let the air out of the tires. There was an Obama bus at Lazydays with the same general strategy. The nice thing about being back in Texas is no political ads since it is not a swing state.

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  7. I agree, traveling with our home behind us is totally awesome. Glad you're making tracks out of Isaac's way.

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  8. I hate political ads. Since most of the television we watch now is recorded (DVR-Tivo), we always fast forward thru the commercials. That's sooo nice. Safe travels.
    Syl

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  9. Won't they be sorry sending all those utility trucks down and there won't be a drop of rain :) At least they're prepared!

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  10. Ah the catepillar - we had a similar though not so pretty one on our screen last fall -have to send you the picture since I don't appear to be able to post it. My guess would be that the utility trucks are gearing up for Isaac which is likely to take out a lot of electricity. Safe trip

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  11. Glad you're avoiding Paul Dahl Disorder! :)

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  12. I'm with you. 189 miles is a full day of driving for us too. To drive like Paul does would make us both crabby :) Besides, what is there to be in a hurry about??? With the exception of a hurricane, of course :)

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  13. Oh, seeing those utility trucks brought back memories of past hurricanes. It's always a bad sign when they are coming your way!

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  14. 189 miles in one day, good for you! You're doing well in obtaining your official PDD badge of honor. ;c)

    I know you really were not afraid of a hurricane, you just didn't want Winnona and Ruby to get dirty after their spa day!

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  15. I think Florida declared a state of emergency so trucks from other states start their treck down to help - that sounds like an outrageous number - I think they'll be prepared - so glad you aren't there though and are homeward bound ;) I suppose 'home' is anywhere for you - thanks to Winona!

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  16. Too funny your game of snapping the utility trucks. It's good to have some kind of amusement to perk up the drive.

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  17. Political ads? Did you say "political ads"? I live in Iowa and as "first in the nation" we get to see a hundred to everyone the rest of the nation gets. I've seen more campaign ads, for people that you've never heard of, than I care to think about. Who is "last in the nation"? I want to move there!
    Sorry, (he says with a twitch in his cheek) must have hit a sore spot.
    GRIN
    I'm glad you are out running the storm. I'm a little worried about my daughter and family in the Miami area, so I keep watching the Weather Bug reports from there.
    Be safe and keep writing.

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  18. We landed in Jolly Acres tonight. Thanks for the recommendation. It's a real nice park.

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  19. Thank you for the shout out! As for the utility trucks, many of them are using the Daytona International Speedway as a staging area, awaiting assignments and the like. My husband works there and said they've been averaging about 1800 trucks a day passing through! My hat is off to them for sure.

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  20. Great fun read! I won't get political .. no no

    Hahaaa I don't know though if I saw Akin I might. ... no no no I won't

    Glad you're on the move and happy in your home ;)

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  21. Happy to hear you are well North and safe. I was sad to hear someone of knowledge, busted my Nuclear Power Plant Theory about the caterpillar. I hope he or she has a good Moth/ Butterfly life. Relax and enjoy your stay unless the political ads get you too worked up.

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  22. We followed you again. I believe we're in the exact same site you stayed last night.

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  23. We stayed at Jolly Acres on the way down to FL in January. I agree - nice overnight stop and you can't beat the rate! We saw tonnnnnnssss of electric trucks when we were headed east on I-10 near Tallahassee. They were going east too. Hmmmm???

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  24. Good time to get out of Florida! Glad you guys are on the road again. Stay safe and dry and keep the blog coming!

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  25. Have a safe trip! Glad to see all that help heading our way:)

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