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Published: June 29th 2013
Travels with Snowbirds Summer 2013. Road Trip to Park City UT to be Mother of the Bride!
Saturday June 29, 2013, Wilmington NC to Aiken SC
Welcome back old friends/dear readers, and welcome to my new readers. It’s nice to be back on the road again, and back to be writing my travel blog.
I have always had a desire to drive across the country. It has been a bucket list item for quite a long time. It’s that gypsy thing coming out again. It was in the back of my head when I bought my new RV in January, and when daughter, Kristine, started to make wedding plans for July, the idea just fell into place. My general plan is 2 weeks on the road, 2 weeks in Park City to do all those fun mother of the bride things and offer general support, and of course, be involved in those last minute running around things, then I will take 2 weeks to come home. While I won’t get to stick my toes in the Pacific Ocean, I will get 2/3 of the way across the country and see lots of new things.
My general plans are to take a southern route as I travel west, I20 for a ways, then travel north a little to I40 to Albuquerque, then head north to UT on country roads thru the Indian Reservations. I am doing this trip with mostly no campground reservations and expect to travel about 300 miles per day on travel days. I have a few places I want to stay an extra day. Total mileage one way is about 2200 miles, 7 travel days, 7 days for other things. My goal is to be in Park City no later than July 15.
Enough with the boring stuff. On to today’s adventures.
Let me start by saying by the time I landed at my first nights campground my deodorant had failed. Both as a deodorant and as an antiperspirant. I smell. My hair is plastered to my head. I am dirty and tired. I was hungry, but I fixed that.
Kristine and Maggie were in Wilmington from July 19 to 25. They left last Tuesday night, land had a miserable and long trip back to UT due to the fierce thunderstorms that regularly start at dusk and last until midnight. They were long delayed in Wilmington, started out with a 2 hour layover in Charlotte which extended to four hours, but they made the connection with just 10 minutes to spare, and their luggage made it as well, and overall landed in Salt Lake only 1 hour late. Go figure. The second I got home from dropping them off at the airport I started to clean the entire house. By Wednesday night I had that task completed, along with some gardening, running around chores, and general goofing off playing computer games. Thursday I went grocery shopping and pulled clothes and general equipment out and lined them up near the garage door for easier access to the RV when I picked it up. Friday morning 2
nd thing Tim took me to pick Moya up, I went for a glorious pedicure, and then he helped me carry the armloads and laundry basketfuls of clothes, food, electronics, wine and Vodka, and dog stuff from the garage to the RV. There was a small issue filling the fresh water tank, but Tim figured it out and the tank got topped off. It was over 90 degrees with full humidity and I was soaked. I doused my head under the kitchen sink a few times to cool off.
I invited my new girlfriends to come over and take a look at Moya, which lots did. It was cool to show her off. Now when they (hopefully) read my blog they will be able to visualize what I am talking about.
Friday night was my regularly scheduled 4
th Friday of every month dinner with Denise, which has now expanded to include some of my new lady friends. Port City Chop House had a 2 for $60 special which was fabulous. Salad, choice of a few entrees, glass of wine, desert to share. Denise and I opted for rare Rib Eye and Caesar Salad with loaded baked potato. One had salmon with asparagus, I think, and one had the largest portion of Chicken Marsala I have ever seen served anywhere with broccoli. Desert was a wonderful piece of cheesecake. The lemon drop martini was extra. (The glass was rimmed with gold sugar…!!) We had a lot of laughs, and it’s always good to catch up with Denise. Martha we missed you.
By the time I got home at 9:30 I was so tired; I put my nightgown on, brushed my teeth and turned down my bed. I sat down to watch the end of DVRd General Hospital (boy does Carly annoy the hell out of me and has for years) and proceeded to fall asleep sitting bolt upright in my chair. But, it was an easy tumble to the bed when I woke up at midnight. I woke up in the same position I fell asleep in at 6:00, showered, finished transferring things from the refrigerator and was on the road by 7:15. That is to say, I sat in the cul de sac at the end of my driveway for 20 minutes trying to figure out why the cigarette lighter/port thingy was not charging my Garmin. Neither was the other one in front of the passenger seat. I couldn’t figure out if it was Garmina or the RV. I tried to plug my phone in, but the Verizon Apple attachment that came with the phone does not work with my new Lifeproof iPhone case. Put my thinking cap on and started pacing, when I noticed the refrigerator had not switched from electric to propane and it hit me. There is a house battery cut off switch that somehow got turned off. I don’t remember touching it, but I must have. I flipped the switch, cursed myself for my stupidity, and left the street with a thrill in my heart. And sweating. The dashboard A/C is awesome I just turned it on, positioned the many vents to flow on me and Winston’s passenger seat and we cooled down immediately. I stopped before I left my development and checked, the refrig was now working just fine.
First stop for the night, Aiken SC, about 275 miles away in a southwest direction. 20 miles from home it started to rain and poured for 5 minutes, then I was thru it. I made it to I95 south in SC and stopped at the first Flying J I saw and was thrilled, the price was $.20 less/gallon than anywhere in NC. I have an 80 gallon tank. They only let me pump to $150, and while I was close to the top, it wasn’t. Got another cup of coffee and back to RV. I was traveling on roads I had never been on before, I20 being the first. Bumpy in spots, like potholes, and other stretches were newly paved. At about Columbia the landscape changed. Gone were the coastal flat plains and sandy soil. Now I was travelling thru rolling hills with more dirt showing than sand, and more trees with leaves rather than pine trees.
I couldn’t get in to Moya. I had turned the generator and A/C on for Winston, locked the door and was inside about 5 minutes. The locks were unlocked, but the door wouldn’t open. What to do, what to do. There is only one door, just behind the passenger seat. Certainly Winston was incapable of opening from the inside. God was watching over me, I had left the driver’s window sliding glass and screen closed, but not latch locked. I walked around, found 2 teenagers, asked where their parents were and asked if I could borrow them to crawl thru aforementioned window. All were laughing, but happily helped. The dad hoisted one son up on his shoulders (the heftier one…..why???) and he was inside in a flash. He was able to determine that the lock(s) were both unlocked, but the door wouldn’t budge. The other son crawled in to see if he could help, with no luck. I told them to put their weight into the door and it opened with a jolt. I was on a hill and just wondered if it settled crookedly and wouldn’t open. It has been acting funny since I got it trapped in the awning mechanism, but never got stuck like this. I need to find another adult, me on the outside, them on the inside, and just figure out if it happens all the time, or do I not need to lock it, or how to jiggle it so it will open. I tried to give the kids some money, but the parents were appalled, and told me this was a wonderful learning experience for the kids to learn how to help others. I told them I would certainly pay it forward and all smiled at me and wished me a Blessed Day. For all subsequent stops I carefully pushed the door closed part of the way, didn’t really latch it, had my phone, my keys, my handbag and Winston with me, but it opened easily. The mom smoked, and boy did I crave a cigarette. Denise had given me 2 last night, I had already smoked one, and smoked part of the second just then. Something about a cigarette just calms me down. Wish I could stick to one a day, but I know I can’t. I will not buy a pack.
I wanted to find a Wal-Mart before I hit my targeted campground, but the nearest one is 10 miles beyond the campground, so I pulled into Pine Acres CG and said, ‘fugetaboutit.’. As I pulled in I saw the office and stopped. A 60 something man walking a black dog asked if he could help and I asked if he had a site for me for the night, and he directed me to chose from 3. I chose the unpaved one that was pull thru. It offered electricity, water, and free cable and wifi. It participates in the camping discount association I joined, Passport America, ($39 for 15 months) which offers 50%!o(MISSING)r more discounts to participants. Some limitations apply, like no holidays, etc. But for 50%!o(MISSING)f $30, or $15, I couldn’t pass it up. I have already recouped 1/3 of the fee! Water, Electric, free wifi, free cable? NFW. Campground manager, Dave, and unfriendly black watch dog, sat and chat for a while. Unfriendly black watch dog is just that, a watch dog. When she is on her leash she is friendly towards people and other dogs. She has been intruder trained and Dave said she has been a deterrent. Hmmmmmmm. As I look around the campground, there are some long term rigs here, and a few like me, just passing thru. It’s that type of place, easy access to the interstate and cheap. There are a few people walking around that I would describe as trailer park trash, but all are friendly, wave and say hi. Saturday must be laundry day, as many are doing it.
First I plugged in the electricity and turned on the A/C. I nuked a single serving pizza, inhaled it with an entire Snapple. I took Winston for a walk as the clouds were threatening, and just generally relaxed. I still have a few piles of equipment and clothes to stow, and general organization, but it will be a long night with plenty of hours to watch my 60 cable channels to do that, so I decided to write, and here I am. Too bad it’s Saturday night – there is nothing good on Network or Cable!!! Laugh. The A/C works divinely! I am cool; I still smell, but I am cool.
My general plan for tomorrow is to find that Wal-Mart and drive to Talladega, AL. I want to look for a phone charger that takes the iPhone’s USB port in it, and then I won’t have to struggle every day to remove the very snug Lifeproof case. I want to visit the International Motor Sports Museum/Hall of Fame and take a tour of the track. I don’t know why, it’s just one of the things I want to do. I know there are many many campgrounds near there, so I will hunt a cheap one down.
Nice talking with you, talk more later.
Kat Out
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Diana
non-member comment
Adventuring
Knew you would have adventures, but didn't think they would start before you left the driveway. Hopefully, that's it for the entire trip. have a blast. Miss you already.