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....
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