Tight Fit

In keeping with our attempts at traveling slower, we pulled out of the Campground Under The Bridge at 10:55 am, just five minutes before the 11:00 checkout time.  We didn’t hear too much traffic noise because of running the a/c, but on occasion a really loud truck could be heard rumbling by.  I guess I can understand now why Trolls who live under bridges are so cranky.  ;c)

Not much to talk about on our travels, nice sunny day except for a five mile long rainstorm, just enough to take the clean shine off the Journey.  We stopped at Camping World in Roanoke, VA to pick up a few odds and ends.  I try to keep all my chemicals and cleaners fully stocked, as well as adding a tube of self leveling caulk to the repair locker.

I was pleased with the mileage the Journey cranked out, even with all the mountains (okay, hills for you westerners) I averaged a pretty solid 8.5 mpg, which helps take a little sting out of the cost of fuel.

After 325 miles, we pulled in to a Flying J in PA.  Since we’re in the Making Tracks mode we don’t really care where we stay the night, home is where ever we are.

Flying J’s usually have a parking area reserved for RVs, separate from all the truck parking.  The truckers need to have a place to get their rest and it’s good to keep the RVs out of their parking spaces.

Strangely, this FJ has a RV parking area that is jammed with Bobtail Tractors, (that is the term for the tractor without an attached trailer).  They took up almost all the RV spaces and apparently the management doesn’t care to enforce the parking rules and direct them to the truck parking area .

I squeezed the Journey in and was able to open the slides on one side.  I talked with the trucker next to me about the slides and he said he’d watch out for them when he pulls out if we’re still here in the morning. 

We’ve watched a bunch of RVs pull in and then pull out because there is no space for them tonight.  Bummer.  Glad we got here early.

We’re not complaining, you get what you pay for, and we’ll be paying quite a bit when we fill up with diesel tomorrow.  Keeping it in perspective, it’s still cheaper than overnighting at Walmart!  ;c)

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Stickin’ To The Plan…Almost

Being in no rush this morning to pull out, we had a leisurely breakfast and then set out to make the Journey road ready.  By 10:30 we rolled out of the Wood Smoke Campground and headed down the road to the nearby Walmart.

One thing we like about South Carolina is the reasonably cheap fuel prices.  This Walmart carries diesel and I filled up, wishing my tank was at least twice as big as it is.  I won’t see prices like this anytime soon.

 

Of course, there is also this sticker on the pump:

 

After my initial trouble with Biodiesel and going through a couple of fuel filter changes, the Journey runs well on it, even though I can tell I’m losing a few tenths of a mpg using it.  An occasional bottle of diesel fuel additive seems to help, or maybe it’s just my imagination.  At least I feel better doing it.

We took it easy and had a nice drive up from SC, through the mountains of North Carolina and into Virginia.  We planned to stop overnight at a Flying J, but that’s where the plan went awry.  That FJ is on I-77 and not on I-81, which we were on.  Oops!

Plan B time.  Not being sure of nearby Walmarts or other truck stops, we decided to take another stab at a Passport America campground and found one right off the highway in Radford, VA.  No wandering around back roads for miles this time!

Not much of a campground, but at $18.75 for the night, we paid to stay.  The first site we backed into had a problem with the electricity, the breaker kept kicking off.  We moved down a couple of sites, trying the electric box first with my Surge Guard to make sure it was good, before moving the Journey into it and setting up.

This campground is right on a little river, seems like there are a few fishermen using it. 

It also comes with an added bonus,

 

It is right under a highway bridge for I-81.  So now instead of hearing truck engines idling at a Flying J, we get to hear them flying by.  Not a big deal, we have the a/c on and the fan pretty much drowns out that noise.

We did stop driving at only 257 miles, so that part of the plan worked.  See?  I’m kicking the PDD habit!  :c)

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Too Tired To Take Pictures

Sometimes life gets away from you.  You get so busy that lugging that heavy pocket sized camera is the last thing on your mind.

First off, after returning Sunday from our weeklong Disney trip with our grandsons, starting Monday, Marti and I spent four hours every morning over at our daughter Heather’s church as volunteers for the week long camp program the church puts on every year.  465 kids showed up, Marti and I each handled nine 6-10 year old boys doing woodworking.  We built bird houses.

Eighteen rambunctious boys, power drills, sharp screws and electric screwdrivers kept us hopping, with visions on lost eyes and missing fingers if we let our guard down.  Thankfully, no blood was spilled, and eighteen boys each went home at the end of the week with a really well constructed bird house, as well as all their fingers and eyes.  And we went home each day to collapse and recuperate for the next day.  It has been a long time since I was so happy to see Friday!

We did have to postpone our after camp R&R Wednesday afternoon for a very important event:  Owie’s birthday, he’s now seven.  He got quite a haul of presents and had fun opening them while everyone looked on.  Okay, I did drag the camera along this time.

 

We went out to dinner to celebrate.  Score!  No cooking dinner.  :c)

I’ve continued to work on my computer.  I think I’ve gotten it to working about 90%.  We found the reason my files got so screwed up when being restored by Carbonite.  When the dolts at the computer non-repair shop wiped my hard drive, they removed my Windows Home and Office, which had Word on it.  So when Carbonite went to restore my document, it could only put them in Word Pad, which the dolts had installed back on the computer.

Fortunately, I had the original software for Windows Home and Office, so it would be an easy solution to the file problem.  So I thought.

Somehow, my disc drive no longer works.  It would not accept a CD.  $39 later, I purchased a portable disc drive so I could successfully reload the software.

Being the social butterflies we are, we couldn’t pass up a chance to visit with our good friends Laurie and George who are having a great time workamping at J. Strom Thurmond COE. (Laurie was my very first blog follower!). 

We arranged to meet Thursday halfway between where we both are located in SC for a late lunch and had a great time catching up. Okay, I may have misled you by the post title, I did bring my camera again.

Sunday we head out to New Jersey to son Corey’s and DIL Amanda’s house…and granddaughter Anabelle.  Anabelle’s new sister is due mid July and we want to be part of the welcoming committee.

Today, despite the heat and humidity, I changed the generator oil and oil filter, checked all the tires and their pressures and washed the Journey top to bottom.  I haven’t been able to wash the poor rig since March, just before we departed from our workamping jobs at J. Strom Thurmond COE.  It was so dirty, that once I got it washed, it looked like a million dollar rig.

Marti spent the day inside doing a deep cleaning, so we’re all spiffed up inside and out.

We’re taking our time to travel up to NJ, planning on three days to travel the 850+ mile trip.  Slow and steady driving is kind of becoming more in style for us lately.  Maybe I’m being rehabilitated from my PDD driving style (Or maybe I’m still tired from all that woodworking with those energetic lads)?  :cD

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