We Didn’t Want to Leave … But We Did

Sunday, April 22 (From the stix & Brix)

It was time to leave … and this is why …

Run Mui!
On second thought, don’t; you’re not supposed to run from a bear.

Yes, I’m just joshing with you.  We had to leave because our vacation was over.

The receipt of this JibJab image from Russ of Travels in Therapy fame was very timely.  We were feeling ‘droopy’ because we had just left the campground and were on our way home.  Finding this in my email box brought cheer back into our day; thank you Russ.  By the way, I exercised my editorial privilege and replaced the big, bad gun in Mui’s hand with a video camera — that’s the only shooting he does :-))))

Saturday, April 21

We were on the road at 9:30a.  Check-out from the Tremont Outdoor Resort isn’t until noon, and we would like to have stayed until later in the morning before rolling out.  However, with images of last Saturday’s Pigeon Forge traffic snarl still fresh in our minds, we thought it prudent to get through there earlier rather than later in the day.  Our strategy paid off; traffic was heavy, but we drove through the area without delay this time.

In fact, our drive was going so smoothly that once we were on I-81N, I asked Mui to give me some time at the wheel.  He was a little hesitant at first as I had not yet driven the Phaeton in traffic, but he saw my logic when I pointed out that there has to be a first time and what better place than on a highway that was a reasonably straight shot.  My biggest concern was the semis whizzing by, but once behind the wheel, I wasn’t intimated by them.  I now also feel comfortable pulling back into traffic from the shoulder, and exiting to a rest stop and maneuvering into a truck parking spot; practicing turns and such will come later.

Mui doesn’t have to worry that I’ll want to take over driving duties full-time,
but it’s good to get some practice behind the wheel.

We pulled into the Virginia Welcome Center in Bristol right around 12:30p.  Knowing we had just a short distance to go until we reached our stop for the day, we dallied awhile with lunch, opting to eat at a picnic table nearby instead of scarfing down a quick bite at our dining room table.

Welcome to Virginia, and as the state seal says, “thus always to tyrants.”

the Phaeton has company in the parking lot; a Tiffin Allegro Bus, whose owners
are collecting information about Virginia at the Welcome Center.

We arrived at our destination for the day earlier than we expected.  We could have comfortably driven another 100 miles (160 km) before stopping, but decided to keep the reservation we’d made at the Fort Chiswell RV Park.  After fueling up at the Flying J just down the street, we pulled into #60, the same 50 Amp FHU site where we spent the night on our way down to the Smokies (post here).  This time, we had neighbors — Canadian snowbirds to our left and Virginia bovines in the field to our right.

The Phaeton is hidden behind the 5th wheel in the first row on the far left.
By the time I went for a post-dinner walk, the entire row behind us was occupied.

This time, the cows are more cooperative and come to the fenceline for a photo op.

After we got all set up, I threw a couple of loads in the washer and dryer to reduce the laundry I’d have to do back at the stix & brix.  In between loads, we explored the far side of the campground to stretch our legs a bit, and took advantage of the campground’s fast, free wi-fi to surf the web.  Our plans for an al fresco dinner were washed out when the rain that had been threatening all day finally started to fall.  The initial downpour was short, but returned later and continued through the night.

Scenes from the far side of the Fort Chiswell RV Park — it’s quite bucolic here.

Sunday, April 22

After a restful night of sleep, we were up early to get a head start on the remaining 276 miles (442 km) we needed to cover before putting the Phaeton to bed.  It was 9:00a when we pulled out, following even earlier birds that had been streaming out of the campground one after another for the past hour.

The mountains are hidden behind thick fog and the road is wet from last night’s heavy rains.

It was a chilly 49F (9.5C), and though the skies were overcast, there was no wet stuff falling — yet.  So, I asked Mui to give me some more time at the wheel.  I must have done a good job of putting him at ease yesterday as this time he readily agreed.  I’m starting to get a feel for how the coach handles.  I find it is easiest to drive right around 60-62 mph (96-100 km/h), which means I won’t slow us down too much when I do a stint at the wheel during our future travels.

I was at the wheel for only about five minutes before it started to drizzle, and then to rain.  It was a reasonably light rain, so I continued to drive until we got to a rest area 30 minutes later.  This time, however, vehicles were backed up at the entrance, so while we were waiting to pull ahead, I had Mui take over the wheel.  Call me chicken, but I know my limits, and I’m not up to parallel parking between semis and passenger busses.

I was trying to get a picture of the Packard (white car in the left lane),
but it’s travelling much faster than we are.

The rain continued for the rest of the day, making for a messy, yet uneventful drive.  We took a couple of rest breaks, had lunch in the coach during one stop, but otherwise had no incentive to stop and smell the roses.

Mui has his amber shooting driving glasses on.  It’s incredible how much brighter a dreary day seems when you look at it through these glasses.  Highly recommended for all drivers.

It was right around 2:30p when we pulled up to Fannon Petroleum to fill ‘er up.  After having paid $3.78/gallon with our Flying J Card just yesterday (6¢ off the cash price of $3.84; credit price $3.90), the $4.10/gallon came with a bit of a sticker shock.  But it is what it is; and in this area there aren’t any other handy alternatives.

Then it was onto the storage lot.  We made short work putting the Phaeton to bed, and were soon on our way to do a bit of grocery shopping before heading to the stix & brix home.  We won’t be there long, however, as we have another Phaeton outing scheduled for next weekend.

Off to the Smokies: Travel Day 1

Friday, 13 April

Greetings from Fort Chiswell RV Park in Max Meadows, Virginia.  After an easy 273-mile (437 km) drive, we’re calling it a day.  Our original plan was to overnight at the Flying J located at Exit 80 on I-81 South.  That would have been OK had we arrived late in the day and all we wanted was a place to sleep.  Since it was only 4:00p, we decided to continue up the street to this campground instead.

With 273 miles (437 km) of the 463-mile (741 km) drive under our belt, we’re more than
half way to our final destination.

I’ll get back to the campground in a minute.  Let me first backtrack to the beginning of our travel day.  Initially, we thought we’d get started around noon, but when my 10:00a conference call was cancelled, we decided to head out earlier.  We left the house at 8:30a and were on the road in the Phaeton an hour later.  The comfortable 50F (10C) temp, blue skies, and sunshine made for a perfect day to get our wheels rolling.

The toad is hooked up; we’re ready to get on the road.

Securing the storage lot; I’m the designated gate keeper.

Today was a workday for me, so once we were safely on I-66 West, I fired up the company laptop and got cracking.  I gotta tell you — working as we rolled down the highway gives a whole new meaning to tele-commuting.  The wi-fi signal with our aircard/CradlePoint router/Wilson antenna set up was strong.  I managed to not only check emails, but get a VPN connection to the office network to export data for reports and send them onto my boss.  Nice; really nice — and it opens up new horizons for me should I wish to pursue them.

On this trip, we’re also testing out the Vonage VOIP home phone we set up here in the Phaeton in February (post here).   We both called our families in Turkey, and it was no different than calling from our stix & brix condo.  I love technology — especially when it works :-)

I exchange IMs and emails with my boss, and manage to get a whole lot of work done
while we’re rolling down the Interstate.

Left: I love my office on the road (Mui took the photo when we stopped at a rest area on I-81).
right: Mui takes advantage of the break at the rest stop to call his mom on the house phone.

The Phaeton fits nicely behind a semi at the rest stop.

The next two-hour segment of the drive was a comfortable one.  Traffic moved at a constant speed and wasn’t that heavy despite the number of semis with which we shared I-81.  There were a lot of RVs in the northbound lanes — the snowbird migration is well underway.  We didn’t see many RVs heading south.  In fact, the only one we saw was at the rest stop where we took our lunch break.

Speaking of the drive, Mui’s very happy with the performance of the Safe-T-Plus steering control device we recently had installed.  The Phaeton handled well to begin with, but with this device in place, he says it’s a dream to handle.  And there’s noticeably less sway when the semis whiz by us at high speeds.  More details in a future post.  (Mui’s sleeping, so I can’t bug him for information now.)

It was just too nice to be eating at home; we chose to eat at a picnic table instead.

Back on the road, we debated just pressing on to Townsend, TN.  Common sense won out in the end, and I went online to Woodalls to look for campgrounds en route.  Since Whytheville (actually, Max Meadows) was where we were going to initially stop anyway, I focused on that area.  And that brings us to where we are right now.

Fort Chiswell RV Park — Site 60 from the grassy knoll we face.

The campground is nice.  The sites are a bit tight, but it’s quite doable for an overnight stay.  Site 60 is a 50 Amp, pull-thru, FHU overlooking a grassy knoll.  We’re at the beginning of a row, and as luck would have it, several sites on our other side are empty.  It all adds up to plenty of privacy for us.  We didn’t have to unhitch the toad; a good thing for an overnight stop.

Site 60 is circled in red.
[map courtesy of the park website]

The park is not inexpensive.  The nightly rate is $33.50+tax.  Our Good Sam discount covered the taxes and saved us 50 cents to boot :-)  Cable TV is included in the rate; as is wi-fi with good speed for internet browsing, but slow for uploading photos.  And forget about streaming a video.

Site 60 from a different angle of view.

After we quickly set up, Mui washed the windshield to rid it of today’s bug casualties.  (There is a reason why I have just one photo from the road in this post.)  While he did that, I unpacked our bags, hung the clothes, and stocked the pantry with the food we brought from home.  Having fewer chores to do when we arrive at our destination campground tomorrow is a good thing :-)

Our nearest neighbors are the cows on the other side of that fenceline.

A quick dinner and a quiet evening at home — a pleasant way to end our first travel day.  We’re already fueled up, so we can get on the road without delay tomorrow morning.  But we won’t be in a hurry to check out.  After all, we have just 190 miles (304 km) to go and check-in at Tremont is not until 1:00p.

Speaking of fueling up.  We did so at the Flying J where we thought we might spend tonight.  The diesel credit price was $3.93/gallon — one of the best we saw en route — with a cash price of $3.87/gallon.  We did even better by using our Pilot/Flying J RV Plus card and got our diesel for $3.81/gallon.  Not too shabby!

Time to call it quits and get my beauty rest — mañana.