Let's see...we left Bushnell, FL on January 2nd and headed to New Bern, NC - a trip of about 650 miles. Two easy days...right? Maybe even a day and a half....LOL! Not for us.....we definitely take our time. We don't set an alarm clock. We don't rush to get on the road. We stop whenever we need or want to, including any Harley-Davidson shop along the way (and we don't pass many Rest Areas either).
So, the first night out found us staying at a Flying J in the Brunswick, GA area. We had a nice dinner and a great breakfast...both accompanied by good coffee and conversation. Last night we made it to Dillon, SC where we opted to do the tourist thing and stayed at South of the Border. Stu had been there years ago with his kids. It was completely new to me and having seen it on a TV show, I wanted to personally experience the tacky....
Well, it's not what it used to be, that's for sure. Our hostess was nice but neglected to tell us we would need the passcard to get back into the campground. So after we spent 30 minutes getting parked and leveled in what seemed like knee-deep mud (if it had been earlier & still daylight, we would probably have opted to contact the office and move but it was level enough...finally), we walked up to the front of the park to exit and find a restaurant as well as sightsee the tacky shops.
Hmmm, card controlled gate...so we walked back to the rig (we were almost at the furthest corner of the park), got the keycard and walked back. Had a nice dinner with a pleasant waitress who was forgetful. Good thing we weren't in a hurry. The dinner was great and I was good about cutting my portion in half and taking it back to the rig. We then walked through several of the stores, checked out several closed ones and headed back to the park. Got to the keycard access gate and guess what....it wasn't locked. LOL! That's okay...we're trying to walk more anyway.
We had made arrangements to have lunch with friends today at a Cracker Barrel less than 30 miles north of us so we stayed up late and slept in. We packed out and got ready to head out and it was a good thing the park had emptied while we slept.....took us over 20 minutes to navigate a way out of our spot...after pulling the leveling blocks out of the mud and rinsing them off....Stu had to back out the way we came in....
Had a wonderful lunch....over two hours of good food, better conversation and the company of the best friends, Karen & Jerry. They are from Maryland and were in the area returning their daughter, Kristyn, to college after the holidays. We got back on the road about 3pm and headed north once more.
We really needed to make a Wally World run....the pantry was getting empty. The first attempt, using the GPS to locate one, took us to their distribution center. Oops! LOL....then we found one in Smithfield, NC. We parked and picked up everything we needed (except one thing) and a few things more. By the time we were done it was getting dark, foggy and cold. We opted to spend the night here rather than pressing on for the last 2.5 hours to our campground.
So tomorrow we really should make it to New Bern....we think. ;-) Our new motto is: "No Rules, No Routes, No Responsibilities.....RETIRED!"
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu
On the road again....FINALLY!
Friday, January 2, 2009
What a day...an early start didn't seem to help. LOL! So what else is new....we ended up chatting with several friends - some Stu had met in Livingston last winter (Mike & Ida), some I had met in Branson (Wanda & Wallace), some from the Escapee Class of 2007 (Marcia of Joe & Marcia, and Paul of Paul & Connie)) and some vendor friends I met at the Escapade in Goshen, IN (Smokey & Pam) last fall. Cards and hugs were exchanged and we got a final dog fix (thank you Smokey & Pam) before hitting the road shortly after 10:30. All in all, not a bad start to the day...
Then we hit the first accident on I-75, a 15 mile backup so we slogged along at about 2 mph (when moving) and exited in Wildwood. Stu wanted to visit the 75Chrome Shop to pick up some lug nut covers. It was now about noon...note, we got on I-75 at exit 309 and we got off at exit 329. Yup, almost 2 hours to go 20 miles.
We opted to NOT get back on I-75 since we knew we would eventually get off and head more easterly anyway. We headed out, keeping our eyes open for a convenient lunch spot. Not sure what town we were in, think it was close to Wildwood, but we found a little spot. Nothing to write home about but I sure liked the sign on the door! Gave us a giggle and had to snap this shot with my phone.
After lunch we continued on our way, eventually getting back on to the interstate system, I-10, west of Jacksonville. Traffic was flowing smoothly and we figured we'd stop at the first GA rest area to figure out where to head for the night. We picked a Wal-Mart at exit 38 and headed off. Next thing we know, another slowdown. This one was comprised of an accident and 14 miles of construction (the problem was the merge from 3 lanes into 2). We slogged along at about 4.5 mph this time and it was now getting dark. We had seen a billboard for a TA truck stop at exit 29 and we decided that was as far as we were going. When we got there, we found a Flying J as well.
We parked, ate a nice dinner and will hit the road again tomorrow. Our final destination is New Bern, NC but we don't know if we'll hit it tomorrow or Sunday. And guess what...it doesn't matter! LOL!
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu
Then we hit the first accident on I-75, a 15 mile backup so we slogged along at about 2 mph (when moving) and exited in Wildwood. Stu wanted to visit the 75Chrome Shop to pick up some lug nut covers. It was now about noon...note, we got on I-75 at exit 309 and we got off at exit 329. Yup, almost 2 hours to go 20 miles.
We opted to NOT get back on I-75 since we knew we would eventually get off and head more easterly anyway. We headed out, keeping our eyes open for a convenient lunch spot. Not sure what town we were in, think it was close to Wildwood, but we found a little spot. Nothing to write home about but I sure liked the sign on the door! Gave us a giggle and had to snap this shot with my phone.
After lunch we continued on our way, eventually getting back on to the interstate system, I-10, west of Jacksonville. Traffic was flowing smoothly and we figured we'd stop at the first GA rest area to figure out where to head for the night. We picked a Wal-Mart at exit 38 and headed off. Next thing we know, another slowdown. This one was comprised of an accident and 14 miles of construction (the problem was the merge from 3 lanes into 2). We slogged along at about 4.5 mph this time and it was now getting dark. We had seen a billboard for a TA truck stop at exit 29 and we decided that was as far as we were going. When we got there, we found a Flying J as well.
We parked, ate a nice dinner and will hit the road again tomorrow. Our final destination is New Bern, NC but we don't know if we'll hit it tomorrow or Sunday. And guess what...it doesn't matter! LOL!
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)