Advertisement
Published: August 8th 2013
Edit Blog Post
The one about a white knuckle day
I slept like a log, despite the diesel pickup truck activity that seemed to go on all night. I just rolled over. Winston got a nice long walk and relieved himself appropriately this morning. I was on the road by 8:30, and I confirmed that it really is 15 miles back to the interstate all narrow twisty one lane each way things. I pulled over a few times just to let the backup of cars I had created pass on.
I 64 in WV is a toll road. EZ pass friendly. Thanks, Tim, for bringing my EZ pass to me on your trip to UT, it did come in handy. My first toll I went thru yesterday the EZ pass only, and it failed to recognize. The second one I went thru I went thru yesterday the pay or EZ pass lane and it worked. The third toll I went thru,today, pay or EZ pass, I hit. All this way with nary a scratch and I run into the blasted toll plaza 300 miles from home. I pulled over to check it out, and it’s really not that bad and all but
one scrape will compound out. It’s the principle of the thing. I am woman, hear me whine.
I had to stop and regroup, opted for comfort food breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and the darn RV section was full of cars. GROWL. I was just in a foul mood.
Back on the road and the digital type road alert signs were warning of upcoming fog. That was not fog, it was a cloud!! 10 miles of white knuckle watching the white lines and the flashers of the truck in front of me. It was hairy!!! It took me a few minutes to locate my flashers. I figured the white back of my RV would look like the cloud I was in and wanted to stand out a little more. The flashers are located on top of the steering wheel, FYI. I found them. I only travelled 160 miles today and it seemed like a breeze. I calculate 300 miles to home, and that was just too far for me to consider, after my white knuckle morning. I found Passport America discountable Mayberry CG in Mt. Airy, NC. Being a North Carolinan now, I know that Mt. Airy is where
Andy Griffith was born, and they have an annual Mayberry RFD festival here. Yup, I am parked on Opie Taylor Way and Barney Fife Blvd is right up the road. Mt. Airy is also the adult home of conjoined twins, Chang and Eng Bunker, (1811 to 1874) and there is a museum in their honor in their home. There seems to be a museum for everything, right?
What a lovely campground run by lovely people. Nice wide open sites with some thought given to each site having an unobstructed view of the Blue Ridge mountains, of course which are all fogged in now. They told me to pick my own site, which I did and I set to cleaning and organizing Moya so my unload tomorrow is easy. The grandkids will come over to help me cart gear into the house, thank heavens, otherwise it’s way more trips up and down the stairs of the RV than I want to do.
Great free wifi and cable, and I caught up on GH and The Bachelorette and saw Big Brother, truly a good TV day. I washed the inside of all the windows. I Clorox wiped all the edges of the floors so I don’t have to make sure the Swiffer gets into them. I wiped every exposed wood surface with an all surface wipe. I still have the kitchen sink and bathroom to do, I will do them after I shower tonight. I feel good about doing all that work today, because once I get home I will get back into the swing of things and the cleaning will not get done. So, my day in Mt. Airy, while not sitting outside contemplating the Blue Ridge Mountains, was productive.
As I was eating my desert (popcorn) there was a knock on my door which scared both me and Winston. A couple were standing outside who wanted to know if I came over the Blue Ridge Mountains on I77 today. Yes, that was me, in the cloud. They were in their car. They went over the mountains early in the morning to get to VA to buy cheap gas, and the cloud set in on their way back. They were behind me and followed my hazard lights the whole way, and just wanted to let me know that I led them safely thru. Kind of gave me the chills. They have been on the road since 4/1, left their home in Tucson and have been in Mayberry for a month. They leave Tuesday. One of the places they will stop on the way home (they don’t stop anywhere twice except special places) is Cactus RV that I stayed in on Route 66 in Tucumcari NM. They loved it as much as I did. I thought the owner was a Native American, but they told me the couple is Native Alaskan American and bought the RV park sight unseen on the internet and moved from Alaska to make a go of it. Wow.
Tomorrow I will take a slow ride home thru some back roads, visit NC’s Wine trail and see some part of my new home state that I have never seen before. Not visit Chang and Eng’s home, though. I will leave that for another day, laugh.
This one is for you, Felicia. PICTURE. You gave me this clip when I bought my last Class C RV, and I have it with me now and see it and read it every day and think of you. That medallion means a lot to me.
Time to really sign over and out for this trip, my dear friends and readers. It’s been a fun long trip, and I have enjoyed sharing it with you. See you on facebook, or talk to you soon! Yes, I know I owe you Moab/Arches and Wedding blog, I just might do a photo essay for them both, sometime soon, I promise.
Xxxox
Kat Out. Don’t forget to read below.
Facts about trip. Any other questions you might have, email me and I will be happy to share.
Four birds hit my front grill, fate unknown. I prefer to think they went home at night to their nest than any alternative.
My average lodging was $19, not bad at all!!! That did not include the free 2 weeks I spent in Kristine’s driveway.
I went about 5200 miles, used about 600 gallons of gas at an average cost of $3.34/gallon. Cheapest was today in Virginia, $3.179, previous to that was in SC on my first day out so long ago. Most expensive was in Park City at $3.799, ouch. I saw it as expensive as $4.199
Favorite things included THE WEDDING Cadillac Ranch, Four Corners, Arches NP, and the actual drive. I like to drive. Plain and simple. I like being up high and seeing over everyone else. I find people fascinating and love to talk to all my new friends and hear their stories.
My best story of the trip is the Harley Davidson couple who fell under their motorcycle when it tipped over in front of me at Four Corners, and he told me it was my fault.
Unfavorite things were the drive thru New Mexico. If I never see another Sagebrush or tumbleweed it will be soon enough. And the frightful conditions the native Americans live in that desert. I will dwell on those images for a long time. Oh yes, and Mesa Verde - The RV unfriendly place. AND, hitting my bumper on the EZ pass toll lane, and the 10 mile drive through the cloud.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.065s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 11; qc: 35; dbt: 0.0289s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb