My how life can change tremendously in a short period of time!
There we were ... fat (well me anyway), dumb, and happy ... RVing our way back home at a leisurely pace after a fun trip to the desert southwest ... when all of a sudden the world went crazy.
The COVID19 virus had reached the US, folks were starting to get really sick, and it was spreading fast as no one was immune. As we left Auburn, AL heading north our intention was to spend an extra day in Birmingham to re-visit the Barber Motorcycle Museum, then travel north to Nashville to attend another Grand Ol Opry performance, then travel east a bit to Crossville, TN to visit with friends Darrell and Judy Patterson, then travel to New Jersey to visit the NJ Evringham Gang, then make it home — somewhere around a few days from now. Obviously - we didn’t!
We did go visit the Barber Motorcycle Museum since we felt we could do so without interacting with other people much. Fortunately, there were not many folks there and we got to enjoy seeing the bikes on display in between several applications of hand sanitizer along the way.
We left Birmingham heading to Nashville (actually Lebanon - just east of Nashville) on Friday ... the 13th of March. During our drive we decided that even though we already had tickets to the Opry performance on Saturday the 14th — we were not going to attend. It just didn’t make sense to put ourselves, and others, further at risk from receiving or transmitting what could be a deadly disease. Fortunately for us ... the Opry folks made the same decision and cancelled their performances starting on the 13th and gave us a full refund on our “non-refundable” tickets. We went ahead and stayed in Lebanon, TN on the 14th and did a bit of grocery shopping in preparation for our trip home. By this time the stores were already empty of toilet paper and hand sanitizer - but we did manage to pick up the rest of what we needed while doing our best to stay “socially distant.”
About this time we also learned that Miss Judy Patterson was having some symptoms of fever and cough so our visit with them was also going to be problematic. We did drive to Crossville on Sunday the 15th, checked in to our RV Park, and then checked in with the Patterson’s to find out that Miss Judy wasn’t really feeling much better. As she would find out the next day — she had both Type A and Type B influenza! The good news ... she is now feeling much better — a week later! So it became pretty apparent over these few days back a week ago that “things” were about to get worse nationwide. Travel was being restricted, Canadian Snowbirds were being told to get back to Canada if they wanted continued healthcare coverage, business were starting to close, and it just seemed like us being “Home” was best for everybody!
So we pointed Winne north. We made it to Fort Chiswell, VA on Monday the 16th where we stayed overnight at our “normal” RV Park. We continued up I-81 all the way to Jonestown, PA on Tuesday - a drive of about 400 miles. It was a long day but the weather was decent and if weren’t for all the Canadians heading north - the traffic wasn’t too bad. I can tell you that most people were already staying home by this time as most of the vehicles passing us were snowbirds flocking north or truckers doing their job to restock the shelves. Probably the worse thing we experienced was PA had decided to close all their rest stops. Not just closing the doors on the toilet facilities ... but barriers on the entrance ramps preventing entry! I guess they figured people shouldn’t be out on the highways anyway and that the truckers could just use the commercial truck stops!
Now came the tough part of getting back to Maine in March. We had 500 miles to go and pretty much no place to stay overnight along the way if we wanted any kind of “facilities.” Even our normal go-to spot at the Mohegan Sun Casino was closed. We could have dry camped at the Danbury, CT rest area, and we could have dry camped at a Walmart or Cracker Barrel along the way but I decided to take a chance on a Campground in northern Connecticut that seemed to be open with limited facilities - although I couldn’t get a hold of them to ensure they had a spot for us. So after driving about 300 miles on Wednesday we pulled in to Wilderness Lake Campground in Williston, CT - a nice wooded family camping area (which looked pretty empty) - where we were greeted by the owner who guided us into a pull through spot by the lake with 50 Amp service - no water - no sewer - for way too much money. But we were happy to be there - the next option was to continue driving another 200 miles which didn’t sound that good at the moment!
We awoke on Thursday to a light but steady rain. Our last travel day was to be a wet one. Welcome back to New England!
Our last travel day was also pretty spooky. You know something serious is going on when you can drive on the Massachusetts Turnpike, then along I-495, and up the Maine Turnpike seeing very light traffic in general and once again - mostly trucks. It rained pretty much all day but we made it home safe and sound around 12:30 PM.
72 Nights
7,118 Miles
29 RV Parking Spots (5 twice)(6 new ones)
30 travel days
9 mpg average
Average Fuel Cost: $2.80/gallon
Cheapest Fuel: Junction, TX at $2.46/gallon)
Most Expensive Fuel: Port Jervis, NY at $3.46/gallon
(Same spot 70 days later ... $3.00/gallon)
Since our arrival home we have been doing our usual routine of unloading and restoring our household to “normal.” Except Normal isn’t exactly Normal this time. No hugging on kids and grandkids, no getting out to see our friends, no church service on Sunday.
All this will come soon - but not soon enough! Until then we will do what we have to do to stay safe - right along with all y’all.
Meanwhile - I reckon it’s time to clean up the motorhome, do all those house projects I’ve been fix’n to do, and oh yeah ... shovel the 5” to 8” of snow we are supposed to get tomorrow!
Welcome Home Maineiacs!
So here we are some 11 days after my last post! My how time flies.
First I’ll give you the short version of what we’ve been up to .... We finished off our visit in Fredericksburg a week ago Sunday and then hit the road heading east for what was planned as a four day trip through the remainder of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and then back to the Rainbow Plantation RV Park in Summerdale, AL. I was keeping a close eye on the weather as a bunch of thunderstorm activity was brewing in the Gulf of Mexico and due to come into Texas and then move along I-10 ... right along our intended travel path! On Monday we drove through New Braunfels and then back to I-10 heading east. Our travel day was going pretty smooth so we decided to push on past Houston and made it all the way to Beaumont, TX before calling it a night after some 320 or so miles.
We awoke fairly early on Tuesday and hit the road again - trying to make as many miles as possible before the thunderstorm activity brewed up as forecast in the afternoon. Once again our travel day was going pretty smooth - in spite of traveling through Louisiana and it’s I-10 construction areas (which it really needs) — so we decided to press on since the thunderstorm activity seemed to be behind us. Somewhere in the middle of Louisiana we made the decision to keep on going - all the way to Summerdale. This would require over 400 miles in one day which we hardly never do — but we decided to “just get it done” and not have to deal with driving in the rain the next day. We arrived safe and tired around 4 PM at the Plantation where they were able to accommodate us coming in 2 days early. We may have been tired ... but not too tired for a trip to Big Daddy’s Grill for some Welcome Back grilled shrimp for dinner! Had a great night’s sleep!
So we hung out at the Plantation for the next 6 days ... relaxing a bit, visiting with friends a bit, did a little shopping and ended up with new western boots for Peggy and I, visited the beach on a pretty nice day, and then hit the road again the last Monday ... this time heading north. We landed in scenic Auburn, AL — proud home of the Auburn Tigers ... and also home to friends Mike and Gerri Jones.
Mike and Gerri drove over to greet us after we got set up and after a short visit we headed into Auburn for a great Pizza downtown at Little Italy Pizza. I’m told this is a popular hangout for the college crowd but fortunately for us it is spring break and the kids are gone doing whatever it is college kids do on spring break!
We visited more with Mike and Gerri on Tuesday, got a driving tour of the Auburn University Campus, had some pretty good local BBQ, and then visited some more. It was great seeing them both again!
We were back on the road again yesterday but only for a couple of hours as we only drove a bit over 100 miles up to Birmingham, AL. We plan on visiting the Barber Motorcycle Museum again today. I know they probably will not have much on display different than last time we were here last year — but it is a really nice museum — if you happen to like old motorcycles! Or in Peggy’s case — if you happen to hang around with someone who does!
So that should pretty much catch you up on our doings. I understand there is very little snow left in Maine and probably will be even less after the rain they are supposed to get soon ... so we might as well wander our way back home.
See ya’ll in a couple of weeks!
March 1st finally! It sure seemed like February was taking forever to drift by ... must have been that Leap Day.
Peggy and I left Tucson last Tuesday on a lovely sunny morning and pointed Winne east on I-10. It didn’t take long for us to make it past Benson, AZ and shortly thereafter we had kind of an interesting few minutes when we came upon a motorhome pulled over on the shoulder of the road with thick black smoke billowing from underneath! Yikes! Fearing the worse, we pulled over and I went back to see if everyone involved was OK and if I could help. When I arrived I could see a man (turned out to be the only passenger) frantically talking on his cell phone. I could also tell by this time that the motorhome was not on fire and that the black smoke was coming from the running diesel engine. About this time the man on the phone informed me that he couldn’t get the engine to shut off! The engine seemed to be running on a high idle and was continuing to belch black smoke so something was definitely not working right with the fuel system. As the man had just been told by his mechanic friend on the phone and as my past training on diesel engines would suggest - if the engine couldn’t be turned off with the key - the only way to get it stopped would be to starve it from getting any air. I helped the fellow get the rubber boot disconnected leading from the air filter to the turbocharger inlet and then he stuffed a bunch of rags into the turbo inlet pipe which ... after about 30 seconds finally choked off enough air and the engine stopped running. Whew ... that was fun! Since the motorhome driver was safely (sorta) off the road and had already called for a tow ... we said our farewells, I walked back to our motorhome, and Peggy and I continued heading east.
After that little event the rest of our travel day was pretty uneventful. We traveled into New Mexico and then stopped for the evening in Deming, NM at the Dream Catcher RV Park ... yet another Escapee Club Park that we have visited in the past.
I wanted to get off the road rather early on Tuesday since the winds were forecasted to get pretty high in the afternoon —- and they did for a while — but then they calmed down overnight. We awoke Wednesday morning with outdoor temps down around 24 degrees! Brrr!
We got back on the road Wednesday morning - another sunny (but chilly) day. We finished our drive through New Mexico, stopped for fuel at the New Mexico - Texas border near El Paso, and then made it past El Paso using the Highway 395 bypass route. On our past trips through El Paso we have gone straight through the city on I-10 with lots of traffic everywhere but this time I tried this bypass route around the east and north side of the city which was much nicer ... although there is fairly steep climb and decent on the north side as you transit the Franklin Mountain range.
Once we found our way back on I-10 south of El Paso we settled in for the remainder of our calm drive across West Texas. Well it was calm after we dealt with our own semi-emergency! There we were cruising along I-10 when all of a sudden a very loud alarm screech goes off in the motorhome! Yikes again! So I pulled off onto the shoulder of the highway and found the coach Propane Sensor alarm going off. We could faintly smell something that we thought was propane so we opened the door, and turned on the roof exhaust vent fan to ventilate the coach and the alarm cleared. We checked that the stove burner valves were off ... and they were ... and I shut off the main propane valve at the tank outside. We weren’t really sure what had caused the alarm - but all seemed OK for now - and I felt safer knowing the tank valve was shut off ... and I didn’t like sitting there doing further troubleshooting while parked on the shoulder of the road ... so we closed things up and continued on down the road.
We made it about 5 miles when the alarm went off again! I pulled off onto the shoulder again and this time I could definitely smell propane. It then dawned on me that we had another source of propane on board besides the main frame mounted tank ... our portable BBQ uses those little 1 pound propane bottles ... and sure enough ... the bottle that I had left connected to the BBQ was leaking propane into the basement when the valve had gotten bumped by something else stored in the basement! Once that problem was fixed and the basement and coach area was aired out ... we were back on the road again! Although I have carried our portable BBQ with the bottle connected plenty of times in the past without a problem ... I won’t in the future! And it was also nice to know that the propane sensor and alarm works quite well!
We finished up our trip across some of West Texas ... back to Fort Stockton without further incident.
We decided to take a day off from driving on Thursday and just poked around Fort Stockton a little with our travel companion Curious George ... who found some mischief to get in to when he met Paisano Pete ... Fort Stockton’s mascot Roadrunner.
We were back on the road Friday — finishing off West Texas and making our way here to Fredericksburg in the Hill County Region a little north and west of San Antonio. We have visited Fredericksburg several times in the past but this is our first time staying in this area. Fredericksburg is a neat little town - founded in the mid 1850s by a group of German immigrants. The German heritage is still very evident today in the names of the places, the restaurants, the breweries, and yes — even the wineries that have become quite prevalent in this area over the past 20 years or so.
Yesterday we played tourist a bit in downtown Fredericksburg. Peggy bought some gifts, I bought a new Stetson, we visited the Pioneer Museum downtown, and we had some fairly decent smoked brisket and turkey at Mac’s BBQ.
Today looks to be another nice day temperature wise with a high in the mid 70s but the clouds have really moved in. We plan on spooking around Fredericksburg a bit more today before hitting the road heading further east tomorrow.
Look out you folks at the Rainbow Plantation — looks like you may have some Maineiacs coming to visit again soon! Save me a place at Big Daddy’s!
