Today is Wednesday (09/06). We have been re-routing and flying by the seat of our pants the last three days, something I don't ever like to do. We made the decision on Sunday, that we would not go further north. Our plans had included a lot of walking and I was afraid that Big Bob's back might go out again. If it did, I wanted to be closer to home. Our plan when we went to bed on Sunday was to take I-81 through the mountains and spend some time in Roanoke and then go to Salisbury to see our NC family. But that changed the next morning and more rerouting. We left Labor day and headed the other direction with the plan of picking up I-95 past Richmond (I had read over and over that I-95 was a nightmare until after Richmond, but someone did not listen to me.) But again changes. We picked up 495 around DC and it really wasn't bad but when we hit I-95 it was a nightmare. Big Bob was determined to get through it before we stopped, though. Once we cleared it I started calling for reservations - three no answers, one sold out and then I got lucky.
South Forty Campground
The campground is located in Petersburg VA (where else would former St Petersburg residents stay?)
It had free internet and ME TV so Big Bob was happy.
It looked very nice but I was too tired to explore.
Soybeans growing across from the sites.
We finally heard about Irma, we hadn't seen a newspaper or heard news in days. At that point it was just beginning to grow. So we re- routed again and headed south to get home as quick as we could. We ran hard - 6 1/2 hours and stopped in Walterboro, 1 hour north of Savannah. Again no reservations made until we were about an hour out since we weren't sure how long Bib Bob would want to drive.
New Green Acres RV Campground
This one looked nice too, but again I was beat.
We were anxious to be home before the storm, remembering what it was like to be gone back in the 1980's when we had a hurricane and couldn't get any real news on TV and phones lines were down.. They were announcing that Shore Acres (our neighborhood) was totally under water and that all three bridges were gone. We still didn't know how bad Irma was until our son called and said stay put. Believe it or not we considered going to Savannah for a few days until it had passed. So glad we did not. Instead I made a call and we headed back to the Dillard GA campground where we are watching and riding it out. I pray that everyone will be safe through the upcoming days.
Waiting our Irma
River Vista RV Campground
The Cushman Scooter Rally
The Cushman Shuffle Competition - Go around the cone and back and whoever is closest to 30 seconds wins.
They even let the Cushman cart play.
Waiting our Irma
River Vista RV Campground
We
arrived here in Dillard Ga on Thursday 09/07 to a very full
campground. There was a "Easy Rider" GA RV club rally scheduled for the
weekend and in addition over 1/2 of the sites had been reserved for
Sunday through Thursday with some coming in as early as Friday for a
Cushman Scotter Rally. We were very fortunate to get a site. I had
reserved the site until Monday but was told we could extend until the
19th and only pay for the nights we needed it. Sweet! And as luck
would have it, we needed most of that time since Irma turned and caused
havoc up here.
Our camping buds evacuated for Irma, spending Saturday night in Florida on there way out and Sunday & Monday up here with us. We had rain all day Monday and lots of rain with high wind gusts that night. I kept listening for the "freight train" but only heard "truck noise." It was a little erie being in the motor home during in but all is good. No problems. It was clear on Tuesday so our friends headed out for a long 2 day drive home.
And then surprise. I wan't thinking. The storm did considerable damage here too. There were three of these as we twisted our way up and this is the most cleared. They just cut the trunk in the middle of the road and then pushed it off the road and left the rest for clean up later. As we got higher up and the road got worse, we bailed when we could and headed down.
Our camping buds evacuated for Irma, spending Saturday night in Florida on there way out and Sunday & Monday up here with us. We had rain all day Monday and lots of rain with high wind gusts that night. I kept listening for the "freight train" but only heard "truck noise." It was a little erie being in the motor home during in but all is good. No problems. It was clear on Tuesday so our friends headed out for a long 2 day drive home.
The next day we
decided to see Black
Mountain State Park, which is by the campground, which we didn't get to
do before . Bad decision. The road up is a constant curve.
And then surprise. I wan't thinking. The storm did considerable damage here too. There were three of these as we twisted our way up and this is the most cleared. They just cut the trunk in the middle of the road and then pushed it off the road and left the rest for clean up later. As we got higher up and the road got worse, we bailed when we could and headed down.
The Cushman Scooter Rally
The Cushman Shuffle Competition - Go around the cone and back and whoever is closest to 30 seconds wins.
They even let the Cushman cart play.
We were also fortunate to witness a tiny house being installed at the campground. Really neat how that is done.
Backing it into the site
Setting the support piers
Tires removed
Disconncecting from the truck
House stands alone. It will need to settle before the lucky owners move in.
While we were here, we
met up with an old friend from St Pete, Rick Taylor and his mother, on
Saturday for a great BBQ lunch at Haywood Smokehouse and then went to
see his house. He is high on a mountain and built the beauty himself
with a little help from friends. It was very nice to finally meet his
mom after all these years.
We have some very good food since we have been here. Nothing stops us from making the best out of a bad situation. A gourmet dinner at the Rumor Hazit (we didn't know that when we went but well worth the money), the Rusty Bike Cafe (a lot of heat on their food but no indigestion), The Wicked Pig, The Ugly Dog and Haywood Smokehouse (great BBQ), and of course the Dillard House for the great pig out. I will taking home lots of food I brought to cook while we were traveling.
We have some very good food since we have been here. Nothing stops us from making the best out of a bad situation. A gourmet dinner at the Rumor Hazit (we didn't know that when we went but well worth the money), the Rusty Bike Cafe (a lot of heat on their food but no indigestion), The Wicked Pig, The Ugly Dog and Haywood Smokehouse (great BBQ), and of course the Dillard House for the great pig out. I will taking home lots of food I brought to cook while we were traveling.
It's a small world
The River Vista Mountain Village RV Park main office is in St Petersburg and is owned by Scherer Construction. Our friend, Big Ralph Water (from the El Cap gang) worked for them for quite a few jobs.
The folks camped next to us during Irma evacuated from St Pete. They live on 1st and 62 Avenue N, less than 2 miles from the old house.
Seen in the campground
Cruising with his girl
Walking their pot bellied pig
We left on Thursday, September 14, 2018 for home. We stayed off the interstate and loved the "road less traveled." We did the trip with just one over night ( a little longer than we like to drive but BIg Bob was ready to get home.)
W stayed in Cordelle GA at the KOA - it wasn't impressive but it served our purpose.
Seen in the campground
One big boy!
Seen at a Pilot Gas Station in Florence SC
A Real Jerk - He was in line for gas behind two other cars and was blocking the entrance and the exit and access to the other pumps (and when asked to move, he wouldn't). All he had to do was pull up to any of the three RV lanes to his left (no one there but us.) No consideration. He definitely is an exception to the campers way.
This was a wonderful trip. Big Bob's back and Irma may have impacted it but didn't stop us from having a great time. And we will do the trip in it's entirety next year - God willing and the creek don't rise. Stay turned!
