North to home - #41-13

February 12, 2004 (Thu) - It rained all night again last night - not hard but enough to let us know that it was. It was still rainy at 5:10 when we got up, and still dark. Breakfast was cozy after the furnace took the edge off the chill. Fort McAllister must be in the middle of a huge bed room community because when we got out to US-441 from the spur to the state park, the traffic was bumper to bumper. We waited over five minutes for an opening to get out onto the road - and it's a small "country" road! Then it was stop and go all the way to US-17. Most of them must have been headed for Savannah because there doesn't seem to be industry enough in Richmond Hill to support that kind of migration.

The trip up I-95 was wet and tense. The traffic was heavy with 18 wheelers kicking up blinding mist. The rain was more or less constant, some times heavy, sometimes light. It was much better sleeping weather than driving. The trees along the sides of the highway from the middle of South Carolina and into North Carolina were bent and broken. Limbs littered both shoulders. We're guessing that it was damage from the recent ice storms that hit the south. We hadn't heard that it was so destructive.

We stopped for lunch in a rest area about 1:00 and at the Carolina Prime Outlet Mall at around 2:30. We pulled in here about 4:30. This isn't really a campground. Rather it's a motel back lot set aside for overnight RVs. It's not quite the ambiance we've become used to but it's a place to call home for a few hours.

Q058962 (414 mi) Weldon (Roanoke Rapids), NC Interstate Inn RV area w/e $14.98

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February 13, 2004 (Fri) - We awoke at 4:30 and couldn't go back to sleep so we got up, showered and had a leisurely breakfast. At 310 small amounts of water had frozen, condensation on Q and neighboring rigs, the shallow puddle below Q's step, and remnants from yesterday's rain in the TV antenna mechanism! Mark had to haul out the ladder to climb up and free it up while Joy cranked it down from inside. After dumping we headed across the highway to a Walmart where we bought, among other things, a couple of rugs for Q. In Fredricksburg, we dropped off the I-95 in search of a parking lot for lunch. A Radio Shack in the strip mall yielded a microphone headset for the computer. While waiting to get back onto US-1 a Chinook Baja went by - our first sighting in the wild. The Baja has a body like Q's and the same living quarters inside but it sits high on a four wheel drive frame with oversized tires and a front end winch. This one had a safari type luggage rack on top. Cool!

Rather than asking Jim and Sue to send directions to their house, we chose to rely on "The Voice" to get us there. It worked flawlessly. Q is 21 feet long. Jim and Sue's driveway is 22 feet long (maybe 23). We had to take the bicycles off the front to fit and not intrude on the sidewalk. It didn't seem like a neighborhood to tolerate overnight motor homes but we were assured that it was OK. After a walk around the community they gave us a delicious seafood dinner - shrimp, scallops, and salmon steaks with mixed vegetables, rice, and great conversation.

February 14, 2004 (Sat) Gaithersburg, MD - Nature hikes were on the agenda for today. After pancakes for breakfast we packed sandwiches and headed for Little Bennett Park. There was still snow and ice on the trails and the air was chilly but not enough make the hike unpleasant. A pair of bald eagles sat high in a tree across the lake in Seneca Creek State Park - a real treat as information in the visitors center said that sightings were few. We didn't see any beaver but at one place on the lake we saw the stumps of many trees they had cut to build their lodge. Interesting but also destructive!

In the afternoon Jim showed us his basement workshop where he makes split bamboo fly fishing rods. He is a superb craftsman and his rods are works of art. He has also been know to use them on occasion and has even caught a fish or two with them. For dinner Joy fixed pizza with some delicious pepper salami from Trader Joe's - where we'd gone to shop after arriving at a Amish market 10 minutes after it had closed. We exchanged slide shows in the evening and enjoyed getting to know one another better.

Q059180 (218 mi) Gaithersburg, MD - Jim and Sue's driveway

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February 15, 2004 (Sun) - This morning "The Voice" directed us over back roads to I-70 - Yesterday Jim had helped Mark with a route to avoid the horrendous Washington, DC traffic. We had no idea so much open space was so near the city. Traffic was heavy on I-70 and I-95 but not too bad. The trip went very smoothly except for a gas stop at the south jersey Flying J It seems that RVs have to use special pumps there - no exception! (Welcome to New Jersey!) Also draining and winterizing all of Q's tanks and pipes was a cold miserable task - as it always is. In Freehold we stopped to see daughter Jennifer and her husband Dave and to pick up our mail. We found all well at home when we got here at about 5:00. The snow that we heard so much about while we were in Florida is about gone. But it's cold!

Q059415 (235 mi) - Home