Parking Lot Camping

Tuesday, 4 December
Parking Lot of RV Service of Virginia — Ashland, Virginia
Temps: LO @ BRRP 47F / HI in Ashland 76F (8C / 24C)

Tonight we’re getting our first taste of parking lot camping.  We’re overnighting in front of the service bays at RV Service of Virginia in Ashland, just north of Richmond.  Though this is a far cry from the kind of camping we usually do, with a 50 amp hook-up, we’re certainly not roughing it.

I didn’t sleep well last night; I think I was just a bit too anxious to get this adventure on the road.  So, I was up at 4:47a.  Since Mui was already awake as well, together we prepared the Phaeton for the trip ahead and took the time to eat a stick-to-your-bones oatmeal breakfast before pulling up stakes.

Part of our getting-on-the-road routine involves rolling up the rug and securing
it on the sofa with bungee cords.

At 8:30a, we pulled out of site 109 at Bull Run Regional Park, stopped at the campground’s propane station to top off our tank (the first time since about a year ago), and headed over to Fannon Petroleum to top off the diesel (3.94/gal).  By 9:30a, we were finally on the road.  We easily negotiated the Prince William Parkway to connect to I-95S.  The latter was surprisingly free of any traffic troubles, and we made the 92-mile (147 km) drive in record time, arriving at RV Service of Virginia well before our 1:00p appointment.

Mui makes himself comfortable in the RV Service lounge while we wait for our appointment.

We came here to have the Winegard tech look at the signal-lock problem we had with our satellite dish.  Though we were hoping for a quick in-and-out, we knew there was a distinct possibility that would not be the case, so we had no plans past getting here today.  Good thing, too; it was 5:30p before we got the Phaeton back with the signal-lock for one of the three satellites in our programming band resolved.  From what I gather, the LNBs (Low Noise Blocks) — those white thing-a-magies in front of the dish — will have to be replaced to get the other satellites.  After checking to see what channels we’d be getting from the remaining two satellites, we’ve decided we’re not missing anything.  So, for the time being at least we’re going to hold off on this part of the fix.

Seeing as how night had fallen and we didn’t relish getting on the freeway, we were considering our options when Mui decided to ask the service shop owner if we could stay in their parking lot.  Not only did they say yes, but they also offered to hook us up to 50 amp electricity.  Better than the Walmart parking lot ;-)

Snug as a bug in our camping spot; note the satellite dish is up and ready to
entertain us tonight with no manual intervention required on Mui’s part.

After making our home habitable for the night, we decided to take the recommendation of the tech who worked on the satellite and go to the World Famous Islamorada Fish Company Restaurant for dinner.  The eatery, which has a 12,000 gallon saltwater aquarium in the center of the oversized dining room, is part of the Bass Pro Shops restaurant family and was doing a booming business tonight.  Not bad at all, but we wouldn’t go out of our way to seek it out again.

We knew there would be parking lot camping in our future, but didn’t think we’d be experiencing it on our first day on the road ;-)  We’ll see what tomorrow brings as we continue to head south.