Florida Bound - Cold, Cold, Cold

We are off to Florida, a day later than expected, but off.  It was supposed to rain the anticipated day of leaving, so we decided that driving in good weather for the days following was more important than driving on Saturday of Presidents' Day Weekend.  Little did we know...

The first day was uneventful, although slow.  Going out and around Baltimore was more time consuming than going through tunnels and not going through D.C. as we usually do in a car had the same result.  It was worth the extra time in light of driving through a narrow Baltimore tunnel that is frequently 2-way traffic with stoppages.  I've been stopped on the bottom of the old Harbor Tunnel with a drip, drip, drip on the windshield - waiting for the Chesapeake Bay to collapse in on me - no fun!  D. C. has one murderous stretch of hectic, narrow driving lanes that makes me a little nervous even in a car, so no rv there.

The campground in Roanoke Rapids, NC, was nice the first night, but cold enough to (you fill in the blank).  Plus, the beds were cold and had a lack of latent heat.  I slept in sweat pants, two layers on top, and a hooded sweat shirt with the hood up and was still cold part of the night.  Heat loss in an rv is incredible.  I wondered whether we would run out of lp gas for heating or not.

The second day was equally uneventful driving wise.  The campground was in a stand of pines in good ole boy South Carolina - yehaw!  People were nice there as they usually are in the South - at least, in my experiences.  Cold?  You bet, even though the outside temperature was in the fifties and forties.  Same pajamas as before, but no hood over my head.  By the way, Gin was cold the first night, which had happened only in a different timeline in another universe for her.  The second night, she was hot - back to normal.

Back to the little and knowing...  From the very first mile on I95 the next day, I knew that the dreaded wind was going to be a problem.  No, it was more than a problem.  As stated before, butterflies have been know to rock the rv when sitting still.  The wind was ferocious, meaner than an alligator when the pond goes dry, and more persistent than a broke bill collector.  Driving the rv was like a ride in an arcade with the side to side gusts coming from all directions, or so it seemed.  At times, with my hands at say six o'clock, the wheel would have to be rapidly (Roger has been known to be quick at the dessert table - frequent too) adjusted to the eight or four o'clock position and then back.  It was nasty and really hard work for over four hours.  The smartest thing we did was take a break every hour to my nerves and gear up for the next round.

We arrived at the rv park in Jacksonville somewhat frazzled, but intact with only a few incidents that would have saved me some previous dental costs by grinding teeth down to the crown level in nanoseconds.  Flamingo Lake rv Park was huge but relatively spread out around the lake.  It was nice, but still cold - sweat pants, etc.  Our poor dog, who had had a major haircut before leaving, shook at times and required a sweater too.  I spoke with some people the next day there and those not hibernating were friendly.  We did see some rv igloos heading south.  Those dogs, those amazing dogs, were faster than my rv at times.

Our rv radio has lousy reception and rarely can get only one station and most of the time none.  Spoke with a guy in Camping World our first day in Jacksonville and he astutely pointed out that it was a reception problem.  I had figured that out as the prime suspect, but was narrowly thinking about the problem as being behind the radio and was focusing on how to take the face off and getting it out of the dash.  In my conversation with the Camping World guy, he made me think about the antenna on the roof - duh.  Got back to rv and looked for the antenna, it was broken off.  I hadn't noticed that before.  This was a conversation starter for people in the park and of course, we discussed all other kinds of things too. More about the antenna later.

So, into Jacksonville on Saturday, errands and general survey of Jacksonville on Sunday, and off to St. Augustine the next day.  I can't wait for the Fountain of Youth....

A New Year - 2013

A new year - a cold January - a cold beginning to February that even a Super Bowl win will not warm up - a need for warmth, warmth - a desire to go where no man has gone before... Well, at least to Florida, with apologies to Trekkies out there (among the legions of those who do not read my blog too).

We have had very tentative plans to go south this winter and the time has come to fish or cut bait.  For a number of reasons, we have put off making the decision until now - and it looks like a go.  Got things to do with taking care of business - taxes, paper stoppage, cable, etc. - before heading out.  Oh, and to get the rv ready, a small and important detail.

The rv should have the oil changed and the air conditioning fluids checked.  Have to find a place to do that.  Our rv resource works on the rv parts of the unit only.  The motor and chassis stuff needs to be done elsewhere.

The rv needs to be dewinterized also.  I'll have to read up on that on the internet.  As usual, there will be a lot of articles, blogs, and tips on how to do that.  Even though most are good, there is always that nagging doubt about whether it can be done right or not.  The pesky heater bypass valve is already calling my name and saying, "I'm one of the seventeen valves near the hot water heater and you have forgotten which one I am."  Never mind that turning the wrong one will unleash nuclear tipped missiles from North Korea or reveal the true cause of "global warming" - no pressure here.

In going to the rv to assess what we need to do for the trip, Gin alertly noticed parts of a yellow light cover in front of the rv.  Turns out that the main tactic for holding the parts of the rv together, spit and bubble gum, failed and caused a lens cover to pop off in some high wind and break when hitting the ground.  Of course, finding a one-of-a-kind lens cover specific only to this manufacturer in stock anywhere is nearly impossible, so a call to the manufacturer of the rv, to a recommended dealer, and the dealer back to the manufacturer was in order.  With expedited shipping, it may delay our trip by a day.  Weather may do the same thing, so ..... oh, well.

Then there was the $125 oil change.... but they don't work on air conditioning.

Gin is already planning the stops and has put every rv campground into a itinerary on the AAA website, the best we have found in planning for mice and men.  Three days of driving look to be in store, with a full six hours of playing chicken with the speedsters from New York and Quebec on I95 each day.  We hope to avoid any freezing weather because we will have dewinterized.  I just hope that the rv knows that it has been done.  Water damage to an rv is like a tusami to an earthquake or some such analogy that is unlikely to ever appear on the SAT.

We are watching the weather.  We will try to avoid the rain down the east coast, but it is a balancing act between delay by the rain and traveling on the first day of the long weekend.  Patience patience, weather reports that are conflicting - changing by the minute, more patience, nature is a mother...

A major obstacle or variable in the planning is the Daytona race week.  Apparently, nearly a million race fans descend upon and around the environs of the Daytona Raceway that they affectionately call Race Week, which last eight days.  They must use the metric system or something.  Car race fans, bikers, and the such are in abundance and apparently rvers love it too.  Not my cup of tea. After all, we are mice and men according to the above.

On a sad note, one of our dogs is gone.  Age caught up with her, as it will with all of us eventually.  Although we have only one dog now, the title will remain the same as she will always be with us in our hearts and adventures.