Unexpected departure - #51-01

December 18, 2004 (Sat) Home to Smithfield, NC (506 miles)- For those who do not know, we're off for Florida two weeks early. Joy's mother fell on Wednesday and broke her femur at the hip. Surgery to implant some pins was this afternoon and she's doing well. We prepared and packed Q in record time. Usually we do it over a period of days to be sure we haven't forgotten anything. This time we did it in one day. In addition to taking aboard all that we might need for an 8 week trip we had to bring Q out of winter storage mode, which means flushing the antifreeze out of the pipes and tanks and reloading everything taken off for the winter. We got off at 8:00 - 25°.

We topped off the gas tank before leaving NJ ($1.64) at the foot of I-295. Bad move. Prices were better in Delaware! We took US-301 south to avoid the heavy traffic near Baltimore and Washington, DC. - we're not sure it was a wise decision either - and rejoined I-95 north of Richmond, VA. We listened to NPR and Christmas CD's all the way down. Other than seeing the first Chinook-in-the-wild of the trip, there was nothing else worth noting here.

This is our first experience camping at a Walmart. It seems quiet - a lot quieter than a Flying J truck stop anyway - and well lit. There are two other rigs here, a fifth-wheel with its 3 slides out near us and a class A motor home some distance away. This Walmart is part of a large fragmented strip mall off US-301 (that parallels I-95). Among many other things there is a McDonald's, where we picked up dinner, and a Chinese buffet, that we may hit next time. Also the Carolina Pottery outlet stores, where we've stopped several times, are at the I-95 junction.

Q008606 Walmart Supercenter parking lot Smithfield, VA

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December 19, 2004 (Sun) Smithfield, NC to Stark, FL (481 miles) - It got down to 31° last night. This isn't normally a problem but we weren't expecting it. Mark woke up cold and, thinking it was about time to get up, turned the furnace on. Then crawled back into bed to wait for Q to warm up. He woke again later and saw that it was only 1:30. He turned the furnace off, put on more blankets, and went back to bed. At 6:30 we tried again. After some shopping at Walmart - a friendly comment to the cart return man yielded the information that snow is expected tonight and an endless flow of chatter that we could barely understand - we got on the road again at about 8:30.

We stopped at rest stops to eat breakfast (cereal!) at 9:15 and lunch (cold cut roll-ups) at 12:45. By this time the temperature was up to 56o with big puffy white clouds in a beautiful blue sky above. At 4:30 we stopped to fill up on cheap gas ($1.54/gal) and when we got to the pump we found they were out of regular/no lead gas. The station next door had lines at each pump but worth the wait - also $1.54 a gallon. It was about then that we decided we weren't going to make it to Englewood in time to see Joy's mother today.

We remembered Dorcas and Mike talking about a Walmart in Stark, Fl next to the KOA where they were camping at the time. We thought that if the Walmart didn't work out, we could go to the KOA. We left the interstate north of Jacksonville, FL and headed west on US-301. We not only avoided the heavy traffic around Jacksonville but were rewarded with a beautiful sunset. The whole western sky was lit up red making silhouettes of the roadside palm trees.

We didn't feel comfortable about the Walmart parking lot and no one else seemed to be spending the night there so we decided not to either. We wanted to find something less expensive than the KOA - we think $30.00 is too much to pay for 8 night time hours on a small strip of grass or gravel - but it was late and the campground was right next door after all.

Q009085 Stark KOA #B w/e/s $30.00 B

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December 20, 2004 (Mon) Stark, FL to Englewood, FL (233 miles) - 35.6° last night. It wasn't as cold but we were prepared this time. We slept warmly, snugly, and soundly until about 4:30, then dozed until 5:30. As we ate breakfast we watched local TV newscasters talk about the problems with ice and snow up north - an 80 vehicle pileup on I-80 in Pennsylvania and the closing of I-95 because of ice in Virginia - 18 to 20 inches of snow in Chicago and almost as much across New York State. We got out just in time! It was then that we discovered that Q's dining room clock was wrong! We'd been starting our days an hour later than we thought. No wonder we trouble making the trip in two days - that and our advancing ages, of course.

We rode along side the Amtrak Auto Train for several miles as we followed US-301 south. We were generally going faster than it was because we'd gain on it until we had to slow down through villages along the route. Then we'd have to catch up and begin to pass it again. At one point the track and the road diverged and we were alone again - more or less. Among our companions southbound were flatbed trucks loaded with construction equipment and materials. We finally figured out that it was probably for rebuilding the hurricane damaged areas. We haven't see much evidence of destruction but we have seen some.

We got to the Englewood hospital at about 1:30 and found Bom (Joy's mother) up in her chair eating lunch. She seemed completely herself. It was hard to imagine that she'd undergone surgery only two days before. The Doctor came in while we were there and discussed her going home in a day or two. Wonderful!

December 21, 2004 (Tue) - First day of Winter. It's 65° outside. It doesn't seem much like Winter. But then it got into the mid 30s last night that doesn't seem much like Florida either. Bom came home this afternoon, walking with the help of a walker. We're very proud of her.

We'll be here until after January 6th. Our next installment of this wanderlog will come after that. Q sends his best wishes for the season.

Q009318 - SunTrust parking lot (parked) x2