QC14-01 South to Englewood

August 21, 2011 (Sun) Home to Kenly, NC (498/498 miles) 72/88° - Another early start. We left the house at at about 7:15 Mark in Q and Joy driving Lamont. She picked up the Sunday papers and then dropped the Netflix DVD off at the Post Office and met Mark at Applebee's. Then with Lamont in tow we headed south on US18, west on I-195 and south again on I-295 (72° - some clouds). It looked like rain most of the way through New Jersey but there were only spritzes until just before we stopped for gas ($3.35/gal) north of the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Luckily the heaviest downpour was over by the time we did stop. The toll at the bridge has gone up to $20 for a rig like ours (up $4)! That with an additional $16 in tolls by the time we'd reached Washington made for an expensive start - not to mention the cost for the gas.

We thought the traffic around Washington, DC on a Sunday would be light, no commuters. It was, but between Washington and Richmond, VA it was horrible. We've never seen it so bad! We never did figure out what the problem was. Just before Richmond it suddenly disappeared and the rest of the way to Kenly, NC was relatively easy going.

Q079967 Camp Kenly 95 Kenly, NC
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August 22, 2011 (Mon) Kenly, NC to Savannah, GA (379/827 miles) 74/97° - Heavy rain on Q's roof, continuous lightning across the skies bright enough for the solar panel to produce electricity of its own, nonstop thunder drowning out the engine brakes of the 18 wheelers coming off the interstate, thus ended the 52nd year of our marriage. This morning we lay in bed as the dawn overtook the parking lot security lights and remembered, or better put, tried to remember the events of that day 52 years ago today.

Off at 7:40, gas at Flying J ($3.55), back on I-95 south at 8:00. Odometer turned 80,000 at 8:35. That was the extent of our excitement for the rest of the  drive to Savannah - unless you count our anniversary lunch at Wendy's (a spicy go-wrap and fries).

We got to the Savannah Walmart at about 3:30 and went in to do some shopping. When we got back the temperature in Q was 102°!  We started up the generator so we could run the air conditioner for a while. 2 minutes later it died! Temp was still at 102°! It turned out that the gas in the tank was too low - the generator doesn't run with less than 1/4 tank of gas. Off we went to the US Murphy gas station to fill up ($3.33 with a 10¢ discount for using the Walmart gift card).

Except for a rather fierce thunderstorm, we settled in peacefully for the night. We have our eye on hurricane Irene headed for the Florida coast, due late Friday.

Q080296 Camp Walmart Savannah, GA
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August 23, 2011 (Tue) Savannah, GA to Lakeland, FL (297/1124 miles) 75/99° - Up at 6:00, off at 8:11 (76° - some clouds). There is all kinds of talk on the radio and TV about the hurricane brewing in the Caribbean. A big sighs of relief from the forecasters as they predicted that it would probably miss Savannah - and slam into North Carolina instead - then move north to New England with the biggest punch they've seen in centuries! There were no sighs of relief from Q's occupants. Home would be in Irene's direct path! Just as we were getting used to the possibility that we would be coming home to devastation we got a text message from our son that there had been an earthquake - very rare in the east. It was 5.8 in VA near where we'd come through on Sunday. No destruction in our area but they had felt it. What next?!

Haze off in the distance as we crossed the state line into Florida. Could be fog, could be smoke. We smelled smoke when we stopped at a rest area to exercise Lamont. Mystery solved but what was the fire? We never did find out.

ZEUS CATillac on back of truck. Name of truck or name of business?

The 10¢/gal discount at Walmart's USA Murphy gas stations only yielded 5¢/gal at the Starke, FL. They'll hear about that - false advertising? We could have done better at a BP down the road 1/2 mile! We got to Ed & Kathy's at 3:00.

Q080593 Ed & Kathy's yard.
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August 24, 2011 (Wed) Lakeland, FL to Englewood, FL (114/1238 miles) 85/91° - We left Lakeland at about 10:20 am. Thanks Ed & Kathy for a chance to shower, do some laundry, refresh Q's sanitary systems and, most of all, for that delicious lasagna. We had all day to go a short 114 miles so we took the opportunity to stop at the Brandon Costco where we got some gas and a few supplies. A leisurely lunch at a rest stop on 1-75 yielded a Chinook sighting (a Concourse). We got to Jeannie's at about 2:00.

After paying Jeannie a short visit we headed out to do some shopping - and take up some time. While we were out it rained (downpour) several times (the electricity in Publix went out with one particularly loud thunder clap)! Alternating periods of downpours and oppressive humidity filled the remaining afternoon and evening. Ugh!

Q080707 Jeannie's back yard.