QC21-11 Northbound and home

March 22, 2012 (Thu) Titusville, FL to Ocala National Forest (92/2131 miles) 72/91° - We said good-bye to Mike and Dorcas and made our way back out into the real world. It should been an easy, worry free trip, 92 miles isn't far, but Lamont's battery monitor was reading 9.2 volts. Not good! It has been reading 11.2 volts at least. We pulled into the Walmart parking lot after getting gas (Not all Murphy USA gas stations at Walmart stores are affiliated with Walmart! Is this new?) so that Mark could look for the problem. The result of that exercise was that now the meter was dead. Probably a loose or shorted wire.

Problem upon problem! At our campsite in Juniper Springs, when Mark started to remove the 6 wire umbilical cable socket from Q's bumper, all the wires popped out to hang loose. He had no idea where the wires went in the socket to properly activate Lamont's brake, tail, and directional lights! 2 1/2 hours later everything was back together and operating properly. Even Lamont's battery voltage reads 11.2. Why it was reading low earlier is still a mystery.

March 23, 2012 (Fri) Juniper Springs CG (2)  - It's been a fairly quiet day. We went into Silver Springs to do a laundry and some shopping then came back to put our feet up. Our site has lots of sun, too much actually. After our daily limit of UV rays, we had to move every half hour of so to find shade. However, there is shade most of the day where Q sits. So the solar panel isn't getting much sun. In the late afternoon the weekend crowd began to come in. There are at least two widely separated sites with groups of 6 or so (spring break?) college or post college young people - males in a site on one side of us and females on the other. They parade constantly back and forth on the road out front.

March 24, 2012 (Sat) Juniper Springs CG (3)  - Imagine what a large firecracker in a dumpster might sound like. Now imagine it going off just as you are going to sleep. It sounded to us like a bomb and we were sure the end was near. It took us a while to get back to sleep!

Someone, in the tenting area we think, has gotten hold of a diesel locomotive horn. Every once in a while all day there has been a loud blast that makes us think we're about to be hit by a train - not so good for the nerves! And there is another jerk, maybe among the spring break crowd, who occasionally blasts a boat horn-in-a-can to keep the rest of us awake and the wild life away - or to impress his/her peers.

Mark found a tick on his leg just before going to bed. This is the campground where they were so bad last year. Different site though.

March 25, 2012 (Sun) Juniper Springs CG (4) - We expected the night to be filled with the sounds of campfire revelry but it was relatively quiet. Even the locomotive and boat horns were mute from early evening on. Fire crackers, silent after the heart stopper the other night, became the noise of choice this morning. We were able to tell, from the puffs of smoke following each explosion, that they were coming from the group of young men to our east. No one seemed to care except a young mother who stopped a campground host to complain. He said they were looking into it but went on, not even looking at the offending campsite.

We spent the morning again chasing the shade around our campsite and watching the weekenders around us pack up and pull out. By evening the campground was quiet again and the wild life began to come back - even the ticks. Mark found 2 more.

084423 Juniper Springs CG, Ocala National Forest #33 dry $9.50 A (x4)
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March 26, 2012 (Mon) Ocala National Forest to Savannah, GA (336/2467 miles) 52/80° - Joy found a tick last night and Mark a fourth. Itch, itch,itch!! What with noisy neighbors and aggressive ticks, maybe we should not plan any early spring time camping in the forest next year!

We got up early this morning, took showers and after a leisurely breakfast (and a sanitary dump for Q) we got underway at 9:30. We went up SR326 and US441/301 to Waldo, FL where we got gas and ate lunch. Then on over to I-95 north. About 30 miles after crossing the Georgia border we were at a stand-still, 7 vehicles (3 cars and 4 18 wheelers) back from a bad accident. We were completely stopped on the highway for 45 minutes while a helicopter came for the victim (one victim we think). We were far enough back to not be able to see very well, even with binoculars, but when we were finally able to go by, it looked as if only one car was involved and it had rolled several times before coming to rest against a fence. We could only see the top of the car but it was very badly mangled.

Q084667 Camp Walmart, Savannah, GA
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March 27, 2012 (Tue) Savannah, GA to Mars Hill, NC (338/2805 miles) 60/70° - Woke this morning to a completely dead Lamont. We think it was because Mark left the ignition on when he put Lamont to bed last night but it could also be that his new IV isn't working as advertised. Whe we got to Mars Hill, the voltage was low but not bad. That could be because it was low when we left Savannah or, again, a non-functional IV. The jury is still out.

Our traffic accident for the day actually happen yesterday (or last night). An 18 wheeler loaded with what must have been something interesting had hit a bridge abutment. The truck was gone but what was left of the trailer and its cargo was still spread all over the road and median. Vehicles of various stripes were in the middle of cleaning the mess up so 3 lanes of the northbound traffic had to merge down to one. We never stopped but we probably could have walked faster for the couple miles of backup.

The roadsides have been nothing short of spectacular these last two days. The Dogwood, Red Bud, flowering fruit trees and Wisteria are in full bloom. Scattered through the multiple greens of newly budding tree were splashes of white, red, purple and violet. It looked like a miles long three dimensional pointillist pastel painting. So subtle and so brilliant! The green faded as we climbed into the mountains but the color remained supplemented with beautiful pinks, salmons and golds. In one area near I-26, exit 54 the grass was covered with little pale blue flowers so thick that no other color showed through. From a short distance away it looked like pale blue snow.

The Costco gas station in Spartanburg, SC sold us a fill-up each for both Q and Lamont at the best price we haven't seen in a long time, $3.44/gal. We also went into the store for some supplies. May as well as long as we're there, right?

March 28, 2012 (Wed) Mars Hill, NC (2) - This morning Bob helped Mark reconfigure the way the tow bar attaches to Lamont. It turned out to be a surprisingly easy and logical way to make the bar more level. As far as we can tell the integrity of the connection is not compromised in the least. Why the experts didn't suggest this solution is a mystery.

Bob has borrowed Robertjohn's fiddle for a few days while he is away so it was his instrument of choice when he and Mark played some mountain music together this afternoon. In the evening we all went up to Kaye's for a wonderful corned beef and cabbage dinner.

March 29, 2012 (Thu) Mars Hill, NC (3) - Our big adventure for the day was a trip to a very good yarn shop south of Asheville, NC. In addition to examples for knitting projects, this shop was displaying examples of many ways their yarns can be used. They also sold looms of various types from 4 harness looms to small flat hook and tapestry type looms for wearable and decorative items. For lunch we went to Papa and Beer - a small California-Mexican style restaurant - a small chain in this area. Excellent! Then we were off to a huge discount shoe place where Joy was able to find a pair of Birkenstock sandals at a very good price.

March 30, 2012 (Fri) Mars Hill, NC (4) - While Bob and Mark were at Bob's weekly men's breakfast, Pat and Joy did some food shopping. Other than that it was just another day to hang out in the sun on the deck.

Q085005 Bob & Pat's driveway
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March 31, 2012 (Sat) Mars Hill, NC to Winchester, VA (400/3205 miles) 55/68° [] - Disaster!! The Q Chronicle we've been composing daily since March 21 is missing from the computer! so the entries above were written from our notes and memory.

It rained while Mark was hooking up Lamont this morning but it had stopped by the time we were under way at 9:00. The Blue Ridge Mountains, as we drove through the pass into Tennessee, were spectacular. The mist from the leftover rain and rising fog was gathered into clouds cloaking the valleys between the many hazy blue peaks. This with the subtle Spring coloring and light traffic made for a beautiful morning drive.

The new configuration for the tow bar has an unexpected benefit. The surging and porpoising on rough and less than flat roads that we have been feeling is all but gone. It's almost fun to be towing a car except. . . Lamont's battery keeps loosing its charge. Three hours after leaving Mars Hill, when we stopped in a rest area for lunch, it was dead. The jump-starter we bought for such emergencies, and thought we'd never have to use after installing the IV wire, came to the rescue again. Some testing revealed that there is no voltage in the IV wire. It's not supplying the power it should! Loose wire? A project for when we get home.

Q085405 Camp Walmart, Winchester, VA
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April 1, 2012 (Sun) Winchester, VA to Home (294/3499 miles) 49/50° [] - Walmart had lots of overnight guests last night. One fellow who came in late with his big diesel class A motor home towing a car parked so that he was taking up 12 parking spaces - not easy but he managed it. This morning at about 4:00 he started up his engine and let it idle for 15 to 20 minutes. When we were good and awake, he shut it off. Then just as we were finally able to get back to sleep, he started it up again, but this time he drove away - after a while. By this time we were so fully awake that we decided to get up.

We ran Lamont to make sure his battery was fully charged and headed out to the first rest area on I-81 where we ate breakfast. On the rest of the trip home we made several stops to recharge Lamont's battery and one in Carlisle, PA for gas and to clean out Q's sanitary system. We got home about 3:00 and began the exhausting job of unpacking. It's good to be home, the forsythia and tulips are blooming, and all is well in the house. 

Q085699 Home