April 10, 2013 (Wed) Mars Hill, NC (10) 52/82° - An unremarkable day in the mountains.
April 11, 2013 (Thu) Mars Hill, NC (11) 54/74° - The main activity today was getting ready for the party Saturday. Joy helped Bob and Pat clean, shop and fix some of the food. Mark did his best to stay out of the way while he worked at putting our combined iPhone contact list in order.
April 12, 2013 (Fri) Mars Hill, NC (12) 53/72° - This was a day of preparation. Joy and Pat gathered the ingredients for tomorrow's party - not the least of which was the food. This included both shopping and cooking. Mark went with Bob to the weekly men's breakfast at the local greasy spoon (The Wagon Wheel) then went on into Asheville to shop for iPhones. Bob and Pat have resisted plunging this far into the modern world but seeing how handy a
synchronized calendar (on both their phones) could be was the straw that broke the camel's back. Then they picked up sons Tom and Jim at the airport. The gathering of people has begun.
April 13, 2013 (Sat) Mars Hill, NC (13) 40/68° - A cold start to Pat's 80th birthday. In spite of that all went very well. Preparing to host a throng or 35 (at least) people in a home environment is no easy task but it was accomplished and all who attended seemed to enjoy being together. The food was excellent, the conversation spirited and varied. Pat was well honored for having reached the status of octogenarian - though maybe dubious from her standpoint. Even so, Happy birthday, Pat.
Q089152 Bob and Pat's yard (x13)
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April 14, 2013 (Sun) Mars Hill, NC to Winchester, VA (408/3543 miles) 42/68° - The hills were ablaze with the light purple of many, many red-bud trees scattered among pale green budding deciduous trees. It was a beautiful drive up through the Shenandoah valley of Virginia. In spite of the cold start, we had to scrape frost off the windshields of both Q and Lamont before hooking up, it turned into an pleasantly warm day. Traffic was surprisingly heavy most of the way but it moved. The stress level was low. We saw gas at $3.08 but we didn't do that well. The Walmart in Unicoi, TN was our first stop ($3.22 with their gift card) and Harrisonburg, Va our second ($3.33). We arrived here at the Walmart in Winchester, VA at about 4:45 and pulled into a relatively level spot in the parking lot amongst several other RVs. We aren't going to be here alone tonight.
Thanks, Bob and Pat, for an interesting and relaxing two weeks. It was good to see Tom and Jim again for a short while and to spend some time with Ted.
Q089550 Camp Walmart, Winchester, VA
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April 15, 2013 (Mon) Winchester, VA to Home (275/3818 miles) 48/58° - It was a relatively quiet night in the Walmart parking lot. There were about seven other units when we came in and another arrived after we'd gone to bed. One fifth-wheel left before we got up but everyone else apparently decided to sleep in this morning. We weren't even seeing any activity when we left at 7:45. (Although we did see one of our neighbors getting diesel at the Flying J in Carlisle, PA when we stopped there around 10:00) The off and on spritzing rain made driving less than optimal but, all in all, not bad. The temperature didn't vary much as we came up I-81 but it began to drop as we crossed Pennsylvania on I-78.
We normally stop at the Flying J in Carlisle to fuel up, where it is usually at a good price, and to dump our holding tanks. We got the gas we needed but could not dump because Flying J was having problems with its sewer. The Cabela's, a huge sporting goods box store, in Hamburg, PA came to our rescue. Although not allowed to now by regional (city, town, county?) ordinance, this store was set up for over night RV parking complete with sanitary flush facilities. While long term parking is banned the dump facilities are still operative. We repaid them by having lunch in their cafeteria and buying a pocket knife for Mark.
A traffic jam caused by an accident on I-78 in NJ delayed us somewhat but we arrived home at about 3:00. All was in pretty good shape. The winter winds and cold deposited a yard full of twigs and the lawn needs mowing already, these are to be expected, what we didn't expect was our FIOS (our TV/internet/phone connection to the world) being down - since Mid January! (We were recording Downton Abby to watch when we got home. We got only two episodes!) Even so it's good to be home.
Q089825 Home
QC31-16 Back to sea level
QC31-15 Mountains with city break
March 31, 2013 (Sun) Ocala National Forest to Savannah, GA (241/2790 miles) 54/83° - Two white tail deer ran across in back of our campsite when we opened the door before breakfast. They must have come to see us off! Apparently we were the only ones leaving this morning as we had the dump station all to ourselves. In addition to her other travel preparation duties Joy added brushing the tree pollen off both Q's and Lamont's windshields. No wonder we've been sneezing so much.
We're a couple of weeks later leaving Florida this year and we can see it in the trees. What is normally just a touch of green is now a pale yellow-green haze of young leaves. Spring is coming to the south. Can its coming to the north be far behind? We got gas in Silver Springs (we had to) for $3.59. Prices are definitely dropping. If we could have waited, the Pilot station just over the border into Georgia boasted $3.35 and our discount would have made it $3.33. We finally got a refill for $3.42 at Walmart when we got here at about 2:50pm.
We have plenty of company here tonight. We count 16 other rigs parked around us. And there will, no doubt be more.
Q088807 Camp Walmart Savannah, GA
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April 1, 2013 (Mon) Savannah, GA to Mars Hill, NC (345/3135 miles) 52/77° - We had expected rain, even thunder storms, over night but there was very little. As we drove up I-95 there was evidence of past rain, but just enough wet on the roads that passing trucks caused us to have to run the wipers. Other than that and a general lack of sunshine, it was a beautiful drive. The trees, while not as far along as in Florida, showed plenty of budding green and subtle reds and oranges. The Red Buds and Dogwood sprinkled color along the roadsides.
The Flying J advertised great prices as we crossed into South Carolina so the thought we'd take advantage. So did half the I-95 road warriors. It took us 15 minutes to even get to where we could make our way through the crowd to leave - without getting any. It was just as well because we were able to do a whole lot better at the Costco in Spartanburg, SC. - $3.24
A black minivan pulling a black inclosed utility trailer passed us. On the back of the trailer in large bold lettering "The Hog, the Dog and Me". We guessed there was a motorcycle inside. A large sail boat, "Privateer" out of Newport, RI, passed us taking up more than its traffic lane. The traffic came to a very slow crawl about 10 miles south of Asheville, NC. The CB said something about two trucks and a car. We finally made it to an exit where we could get off and get around whatever it was on the back hill country roads choked with other traffic off the interstate - an adventure in itself with a car in tow! i.e. when the rare 4 lanes suddenly and without warning became 2, no amount of signaling prompted any driver to back off and let us merge. When we finally and with no other option began to ease over, we were rewarded with the angry blare of a car horn.
April 2, 2013 (Tue) Mars Hill, NC (2) 36/54° - Not much in the way of exciting activity today. We enjoyed time with Bob and Pat in front of their fireplace - warm atmosphere, warm fire. Dominoes in the evening.
April 3, 2013 (Wed) Mars Hill, NC (3) 29/52° - Frost on Lamont (and probably Q) this morning. Somehow the cold doesn't seem so bad right now. Maybe because we expect it to be cold this time of year in the mountains. Or maybe it's the warm fire that awaited us inside.
We took off for Chattanooga, TN in Lamont at about 10:00 this morning. It turned out to be a longer trip than we anticipated but with a stop for lunch and gas ($3.24 at Walmart) we got there at about 3:15. Chattanooga is Joy's Mother's "home town" and many of the family are still there. Her cousin Sam and his wife Sallie were our hosts and "inn keepers" - we had the run or their upstairs suite. It was good to see Sam after many many years and to finally meet his wife. And to meet their daughter Susannah and her family who joined us for dinner.
April 4, 2013 (Thur) - We never got a temperature reading today but it was in the 60s which would not have been too unpleasant for touring the city had it not been pouring rain. Even so we had a great time, with Sam as our guide, visiting some family oriented sites around the city. One such was Joy's grandmother's house where she (Joy) lived for a year or so when she was five years old while her father was on active duty in the army. More cousins and families joined us for dinner at a wonderful local Italian restaurant in the evening. What a treat it was to be able to meet and visit with some many members of the family.
April 5, 2013 (Fri) - All too soon we had to say good-bye to Sam and Sallie. The time we spent with them was all too short - though we made the best of it by talking way too far into both nights. Thank you, guys, for the opportunity to renew family relationships.
Our trip back was uneventful except for one short slow-down which turned out to be a dead white tail deer and the front panel and bumper of a black car in the middle of the I-40 fast lane. There was no sign of the rest of the car. Traffic was backed up for miles southbound out of Asheville, NC as we approached northbound (fortunately).
April 6, 2013 (Sat) Mars Hill, NC (6) 34/64° - It's been rather a slow day. Joy did some laundry while Mark worked on bringing our Quicken (financial) data up to date. This was interrupted briefly so that we could go to the local farm market and grocery shopping with Bob and Pat - and not so briefly with spells of reading and visiting.
April 7, 2013 (Sun) Mars Hill, NC (7) 43/67° - Church in the morning and reading in the afternoon. This was the first time we've been able to don shorts in a long time - and then only in the warmth of the sun. We celebrated the promise of impending Spring by joining Bob, Pat, John and Marty for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Weaverville.
April 8, 2013 (Mon) Mars Hill, NC (8) 47/68° - There's a great yarn shop (Friends and Fiberworks) in Asheville. Joy likes to see what they have whenever we are here. We don't always make it but we did today - well Pat, Kaye and Joy did. Mark and Bob spent the time checking out the Dollar Tree store as they usually do. Then we all went for lunch at Pappa's and Beer, our favorite Mexican Restaurant in Asheville - can't get too much Mexican. Maybe!
When we got back we found Lamont's right rear hoof was very hot. Tomorrow morning we'll have a mechanic check it out.
April 9, 2013 (Tue) Mars Hill, NC (9) 49/76° - The mechanic could find nothing wrong with Lamont's wheel or any reason why it should have gotten so hot. He took it for a long test drive without a repeat of the problem. Pulling the wheel revealed nothing. Oh well, something else to worry about!
Joy enjoyed hanging the laundry on the outside lines - makes for nice smelling sheets. Mark finished up our tax returns with far less enthusiasm. Then, in the evening, we all went over to Kaye's house for a delicious spaghetti dinner and dominoes.
Q089152 Bob and Pat's yard
