Hi all, we are back at our favorite park, the Rainbow Plantation in Baldwin county Alabama. I was slow getting the blog out because the internet was down for almost a week and we are right back in the swing of things, busy busy. I did try to keep a log of the trip down and that is going to fill out the rest of this post. No pics yet though.
Friday November 18, 2011
We're off! Up early, packed the truck, shut off the water and turned down the heat. There was a light dusting of snow to remind us why we were doing this. Said our goodbys to our good neighbours, Sandy and Horace(who are looking after a few things for us). A few of our local dog walkers (Nicky, Lois and Jim with Buddy, Molly and Bear) went by as we were packing and wished us well. Dorreen (another good neighbour down the street) called just as we were going out the door to ask what time we were leaving. When I told her she had just caught us at the door she said she would meet us on the road to say goodby.
We drove the 15 minutes to Greg McCracken's Repair Shop where we are fortunate to keep our trailer, and after a half hour hooking things up we were really on our way. South through Warkworth to the 401 and after 1 1/2 hours (maybe 2) we arrived at the Ivy Lea bridge and had a very smooth border crossing. When the Border Guard asked if we had any alcohol or tobacco products, I told him about our 2 bottles of Old Tom's Egg Nog. He chuckled and said “egg nog with the rum already in it. That's good, have a nice trip.” We joined Interstate 81 and drove through some ice pellets in upper New York, but that was it for bad weather.
We went on till after dark, stopping for the night at a recommended KOA campground in Pennsylvania. It was quite chilly but our furnace worked first try and the little electric heater made up the difference.
738Km.(443mi)
Saturday, November 19
Another uneventful day. Through Pennsylvania on I 81, a little of Maryland and West Virginia then stopping at another recommended campground near Fort Chiswell, Virginia. 615 Km. (369mi)
Sunday, November 20
Interstate 81 ends in Tennessee as it joins Interstate 40 where we go west through Knoxville. We decided to make this a shorter day, do some shopping at Walmart then stay at the Escapee Park at Raccoon Valley. By now the temps had warmed considerably. We were welcomed to the Tennessee woods with shotgun blasts as some of the good old boys did target practice. They were uncomfortably close. Went to the Sunday ice cream social and by the time we returned to the trailer the shooting had stopped. 356Km (214 Miles)
Monday November 21
We were on our way early this morning but still got caught in Knoxville's morning traffic. It really wasn't too bad and soon we were back on I 40 west till we joined I 75 south. Other years we went south on I 59 at Chattanooga but there is a very bad stretch (about 40 miles worth) of really rotten road. We've been caught on it twice, but not this time. We went a little further west and got on a scenic byway called Alabama 75. We had to climb to get to it. At the top we were almost 2000 ft above sea level. It was a pleasant change from the interstate. By the time we reached Birmingham the temp had reached 80+ degrees. Just past Montgomery, tonight’s stop was a park near Hope Hull, Alabama. It was a former KOA that had seen better days. Expensive and nothing special. 605Km (353 Miles)
Tuesday November 22
Our first stop today was a Flying J for gas and breakfast at Denny’s. As we pulled out another truck pulling a 5th wheel trailer was behind us. Surprisingly they followed for quite a while. When they did pass us I recognized them from last year. We caught up with them at a rest stop and we were greeted warmly.
I had discovered last night that we had a problem with the faucet set in the bathroom because they would not turn off. So we stopped in the Walmart in Bay Minette to see about a replacement. I didn't like what I found so we stopped at Camping World. Still no good. Next stop was Ace Hardware. There we got a nice metal (chrome) set and in line shut off valves. Total cost $50.
About 2 pm we arrived at our destination, the Escapees Rainbow Plantation Park. The park manager Gary and his wife Millie met us at the office and asked “what took us so long?” Our site from last year was open, so we took up residence again. It was nice being back in our winter home. 272Km (163miles) Trip total so far 2595 Km. 1557 Mi. Gas mileage seems worse this trip, not sure why.
Wednesday November 23
First on the agenda today was get that water faucet set working. Plastic pipe plumbing is a lot easier than that old copper stuff. It still surprises me that it works as well as it does. The only real problem was getting down on the floor to do the work. All those years repairing photocopiers has taken its toll. My knees just aren't what they used to be. At least our home away from home has water now.
If this works like I think it does, you can clik on the location button below to see a map of where we are.
nice blog ,will read it as you write it ,,we are very close friends with barb and terry ,you should have seen them by now,, hope your winter is good.huggs and ttyl.
ReplyDeleteGlad you guys made it safely and are warming up. Still facing the dull and drab winter here in the North of Ireland. Nice to have the map link to see your location. I like the egg nog reference too. Look forward the next blog!
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