Florida… The Sunshine State

Finally,after crossing into the “Sunshine State”, the temperature climbed to 78' degrees! Rain showers were predicted for late afternoon, but it only drizzled for 10 minutes in the evening 

Waxing at Walmart!!

South Carolina was relatively a short State to cross from north to south. The gas prices here were higher, in the high three-seventies. We took our time driving down, stopping at the different Information Centers, picking up state maps and talking to people. We reached Waldo, Florida in late afternoon and spotted a Wal-Mart  for groceries. Oh, I forgot to mention our stop at an RV dealer. I was looking  for parts for the camper (nothing serious) and they said I could fill up with drinking water and use the dump station, if needed. So far, on this journey, the truck camper was still winterized and now was the time to fill up. Back at Wal-Mart, we decided to stay the night. We asked and they said it was ok as long as we didn’t block the trucker’s entrance. I had time to finish cleaning the truck, I even gave it a coat of wax. It felt good to be outside in a tee shirt. (notice the goatee is back)
That is what we did and saw

The Carolinas’… North & South

The price of gas in southern Virginia was in the $3.55 range. I was thinking that North Carolina was a little more rural and less expensive…wrong! The average price around $3.79! I should have filled up in Virginia. Now, South Carolina was different story. I paid $3.45 a gal. Live and learn.
We drove from Rocky Mount, NC to Colombia, SC to visit with Helen’s aunt Simone, cousins Chris and his wife Sandy. The trip was pretty uneventful. The day started out cold at  18’ degrees, but  by early afternoon it was 52’ degrees…nice! We stopped along the route to find a Geocache to claim a souvenir for the state of South Carolina. We don’t have many states left to gather for a completed North America!


A Happy Family Gathering!!

It was mid afternoon when we arrived at Chris & Sandy’s home. They live at the end of a cul-de-sac with 600 acres of University owned property just bordering there residence. Chris, who is into kite flying has a plenty of fields to do his thing. Oh, the kites are not your 5 and 10 cent store variety. Some cost a $100! The technology is there! We visited all afternoon. Chris was gracious enough to let me wash the salt off of the truck and camper. Sandy gave us some good tips on what to visit along the coast later when we return in warmer weather. Aunt Simone is always interested in hearing about our travels. She is 86 years young and she also has done her share of travel with 26 countries under her belt.
We said our goodbyes and drove about forty miles to Orangeburg, SC. We set camp at a Cracker Barrel Restaurant parking lot for the night. Cracker Barrel has a country wide policy to allow overnight parking.
That is what we did and saw

Washington, DC ….The Maze!

Sunday morning we got up early and had a quick breakfast at the Quality Inn. I was sort of in a hurry to checkout my truck. It looked like a rough neighborhood the night before. Racial profiling you know! Ah, everything was in order on the rig. We located a Catholic Church 3 miles away and made it just in time for 8 o’clock mass.
The fun begins after church service… driving down to Alexandria. If you’ve ever driven down the beltways in DC, you know how many exits and ramps you get to choose from. Wow! I had only a short time last night to study the road course. Amazingly, I made it all the way to the last exit on the interstate. Only three miles left to Cousin Bob’s house. Oh, no!…. an overpass low clearance sign! It was one of those tapered stone overhead bridges from the old days. One corner said 10’-2” to the center of 13”-6”. I was panicking until I saw a sign that said all buses must use the center lanes. Our truck camper is 11’-6”. A good thing I had physically put a label on the windshield. We passed in the center with inches to spare.
We found Bob’s house with no problem after that. The sad news then was that Bob was dying. The family expected him to pass within hours. We did not even go into the house. The family talked to us and invited us in, but this  I felt a private family time and we left with prayers on our minds. Bob passed that day around 5:30pm
We continued driving to Rocky Mount, NC our night stay for today.
That is what we did and saw

South to Washington ~ No more Snow!!

Enfield, CT this early morning had a covering of snow. It was only a inch and very wet. This was a far cry from yesterday”s warm nearly fifty degrees weather that we so much enjoyed. Oh well, we would be traveling west and to the south, actually away from the predicted snow coming later afternoon and evening.

Helen taking a picture of the Hudson River

Mileage is what I needed to do today to punch through the dreaded New England winter weather. I hoped that I could make it to somewhere close to Winchester, VA. (estimated 430 miles) The weather was cold all day and cloudy. Nearly the entire travel day gave us a view of just a sprinkle of fresh snow on the trees. The highways were dry. Our route was to take us away from the New York City metropolitan areas, closer to the Poconos mountains. We soon were on I-81 South heading for our Winchester destination. Helen spent to day exercising her injured thumb on her new phone. (we never had a unlimited texting plan before). We had a good deal at the RV Camping show for a MyFi from  Verizon with a new phone. (For those of you who do not know what a MyFi is, it is a device that enables you to access the internet any place you have cell reception).  That makes it very convenient to connect two laptops, Kindle Fire, Kindle, I Touch and finally one I Pod.
On the outskirts of Harrisburg, PA, Helen started to talk about her cousin who was recently diagnosed with cancer. He lives in Arlington, VA. Cousin Bob was very good to us when we took a “Heart of Europe Tour” He was on business at the Paris Air Show and took time to give us a special tour of Paris, France. It became apparent  that we should divert and head to the Washington area for a visit. South on I-83 we headed. Traffic, traffic and countless Interstates and Byways… so much fun! We are in a place Laurel, Maryland at a Quality Inn. The game plan was to stay in a motel the first few days of our trip. No time to find a secure place to stay in the camper over night. I think when I check the mileage in the truck we drove around 430 miles as planned.

That is what we did and saw  

Boomers On The Move…Are Moving!

This is the day I’ve been waiting for nearly all winter. At 7:30am, the big Ford with its baby boomer cargo headed south. In Jefferson, NH, we went through a heavy snow shower and were bummed out. It actually was a turning point and in a few minutes, the sun shinned for the rest of the day. The temperature went from 34 degrees all the way up to 47 deg.

Me, Gordon & Angela White (Truck Camper Online
Magazine at the Big "E")

We arrived in West Springfield, MA around 1:30pm, filled the truck with gas and headed for our Red Roof Inn check-in a few miles down the road in Enfield, CT. I had pre-booked the room because I wasn’t sure how cold it would be here and I didn’t have a place to park the camper for the night.
The reason for being at the “Big E” (Eastern States Exposition)is for the largest Camping and RV Show on the East Coast. Gordon and Angela White (Publishers and Editor of Truck Camper Online Magazine) were there and I wanted to touch bases with them for possibly getting one of my articles published on their fine magazine.
I am please with this first day of travel to Florida!
That is what we did and saw

Frustration ~ Northeaster ~ Hopefully Next Week!

I never realized how much lack of sun affected people especially as it has to this “Baby Boomer” . This Friday afternoon, I sit here waiting for the predicted Northeaster to get into full force. It has been snowing lightly all morning and afternoon. The storm is not even expected until later tonight. The weatherman says “6 to 10 inches for the North Country and as much as 30 inches for the southern part of the state”. We are slowly gathering all of our gear for the repacking of the truck camper. We are planning on a Feb 15th departure. (Weather permitting). I was planning for a mid-week departure, but I want to make it to the Eastern Exposition Center for the Camping & RV show in West Springfield, MA. I want to meet Gordon and Angela White… The publishers of Truck Camper Magazine. I am hoping to get an article published in their online magazine. From there, we will head south the next day and punch out of the snow belt to warmer days and nights.

Day #1 Camping & RV Expo

At least that is what I am hoping for. We will stay at a Red Roof Inn on the first night on the road.

The Eastern States Expo is a marvelous place to visit at least when the agricultural fair is going on. The RV Expo will be a first for us, but I am sure we will have a good time looking at everything. Hopefully, we don’t get tempted and buy something that we don’t need like a new truck camper.(Ha, Ha… Helen, that’s a joke!)

The Plotting ~ Direction to the South by Southeast

I am again planning and thinking of all the things that have to be done before leaving for plan “C” ~ Key West, Florida. With Arizona aborted, because of family emergencies, mine and my mother-in-laws’, things are falling into place. It has been extremely cold here in northern New Hampshire with one exception of a couple of days of above normal…rainy weather. The snow took a beating and now it is back to being very cold weather. All of this makes it difficult to plan a take off date. If it snows  heavily before leaving, I’ll have to remove the front hitch mountain bike mount in order to attach the snow plow. I have to watch the weather all the way down the east coast to make sure that we are not heading into a blizzard. When we headed for Arizona a couple weeks ago, that is exactly what happened [not so much of a snow storm, but extremely windy and cold weather blowing in from somewhere most likely the North Pole]!
My little emoticons at the beginning of each paragraph on this blog are for good luck on the weather side. Truck Camper Magazine recently had a couple of articles on truck camping in cold weather. It may work as stated on the articles, but when the temperature never goes above 8 F. and the wind blows a steady 30mph it is not  the best of conditions. [The Lake Effect weather] 


This picture was taken last summer on shores of Lake Superior
I am just trying to think positive on the weather!

On the positive side, everything is nearly loaded, cleaned and ready to go. We are planning on visiting friends and family on the way down to Florida. Fortunately they are all located in the southern tier of the States. I have downloaded a bunch of military RV campgrounds for us to checkout. We might take advantage of these and the military facilities close by. 

That is what we are planning!