Greetings from Gaffney

Sunday, 7 July
Camp Freightliner — GAFFNEY, SOUTH CAROLINA
Temps: Lo 69F / Hi 83F (20.5C / 28C)

We left Virginia Beach yesterday morning and are in Gaffney, South Carolina now.  But before I get to the reason why we came here, a few words to wrap up our last week in Virginia Beach.

the Navy (left) and Marine Corps trainees marched by Sea Mist, our campground at the
Dam Neck Annex, NAS Oceana.  Early birds that we are, their cadence calls did not
disturb us when they came by around 7:15a daily.

Not much to write about since our plans for our final week at Sea Mist were mostly rained out.  The rain wasn’t constant, but we got light drizzles and downpours with no warning throughout the day … almost every day — until we hit the 4th of July.  Independence Day turned out to be a gorgeous day with lots of blue sky and puffy clouds — but it was too hot to be in the sun.  So, we made the most of our shade curtain and the light breeze that was a constant at our site to sit outside and enjoy the patio.

No birds to entertain us at Sea Mist … but plenty of dragonflies.

Our 23-day stay at Sea Mist was our longest in one place since getting on the road in December.  We weren’t very active physically, but I think we expected that.  After all, neither one of us much cares for heat and humidity.  So why not turn the wheels north or go up into the mountains where it might be cooler?  That was the plan, but we had to jiggle and wiggle, and move things around earlier this year, so a hot summer it shall be for us this year.

Looking back on our stay in Virginia Beach, it could have been much worse.  I didn’t think I’d be able to spend any time outdoors.  As it is, thanks to the breeze we got every day, I managed to sit outside for hours on end most days.  And the bonus was that I made considerable headway with the details for our fall vacation.  I even managed to process photos and put up several Two to Travel posts to catch up on last fall’s trip to Turkey.  A few more entries, and I’ll be done with that trip and can start thinking about how I am going to stay on top of blogging during this year’s much longer vacation.  I probably need to just accept the fact that’s not going to happen.

So, I’ll move on from Virginia with a fitting …

“The End” offered by one of the many blue darters that visited us daily.

… and move on to South Carolina.

We began our 404-mile (646 km) trek from Virginia Beach to Gaffney shortly after 8:00a yesterday morning.  The shortest route was on I-85 South, which meant that we were once again limited with campgrounds for our mid-point break.  In the end, we decided to overnight at the Greensboro Campground — the same place we stayed at on our way north to Ashland, Virginia in early June.  It’s not a destination campground, and we again had difficulty getting level, but it was fine for an overnight stay.  (My review from our earlier stay is here.)

404 miles (646 km) in two segments takes us from Virginia to South Carolina,
with an overnight stay in North Carolina.

Since today’s segment was only 148 miles (237 km), we weren’t planning on leaving Greensboro early.  But … we were both up at 5:30a.  We tried some tactics to delay our departure, taking time to not only have a healthy breakfast, but also going for a walk around the campground.  Our efforts were for naught, however, and by 8:30a, we were heading south on I-85.

A fruit bowl for breakfast is part of our new healthy-eating plan.

So, what’s there in Gaffney that we put it on this year’s Phaeton journeys?  Not much.  Even the city website lists only three things to do — visit the farmer’s market … our schedule doesn’t mesh with when the market is open; check out the visitor center/art gallery … it wasn’t open today, and the hours are wrong for the rest of our time here; and finally, explore the Cowpens National Battlefield … sorry, too hot and humid to go wandering around outside — even if we could fit it into our schedule.

This doesn’t look like a destination campground, does it?

So why did we come here if we’re not going to do any of the suggested activities?  We’re here to attend a two-day class for RVers who own rigs built on Freightliner chassis.  We were going to do this in March, on our way back up north from the Tiffin Service Center in Red Bay, Alabama.  But when Mui’s sister sent us a message that she was going to be in New Orleans in March, we switched things around so we could spend time with her instead.  Hence the odd-looking first-year travel map (inset in the map above).

Nine of the twenty sites at Camp Freightliner are now occupied, including two of
the three pull-throughs next to us that were empty when I took the photo.

We arrived at Camp Freightliner around 11:30a to find only 4 of the 20 electric-only gravel sites occupied.  We could have just taken one of the three pull-through sites  (the empty ones to our left in the photo), but decided on a back in site that looked more level to us.  With only a power cord to hook-up, we were settled in no time.

Next on the agenda was a quick stop at Wal-Mart, so we drove the 1.5 miles into downtown Gaffney.  While at it, we managed to sneak in a bit of sightseeing when we spotted a quaint log cabin near City Hall.  Turns out the cabin was built in 1804 by an Irishman named Michael Gaffney.  If I interpreted the signage accurately, he is the founding father of the city.

Arriving in the area in 1803, Gaffney purchased 805 acres of land for $600
and built this log cabin in 1804.

From the nearby signage:

Michael Gaffney was born in Granard, Ireland and immigrated to the United States in 1797.  After a short period in New York, he set sail for Charleston, South Carolina.  He departed Charleston for upstate and arrived at Smith's Ford on the Broad River on December 17, 1800.  There he met and married Mary "Polly" Smith, daughter of John Smith, on July 21, 1803.  Gaffney purchased 805 acres of land from Jon McKie on January 20, 1804 for $600.  He then constructed this home, store and trading post at the corner of present day N Granard Street and Baker Boulevard.  This intersection was a Native American trail and wagon road.  It became known as Gaffney's Crossroads; later Gaffney's Old Field. Michael and Polly's first child was born June 1 1804, most likely in this log home.

The hand-hewn boards are all original to the cabin, which was moved here
from where it was initially built a few blocks away.

The cabin was locked up, and the windows were shuttered, so we had to make do with just seeing it from the outside.  Thus completing our sightseeing, we returned to the campground to rest up for two-days of classwork.

As I write this post, Mui’s busy making money?  How?  He’s working his way through an online driving course that will net us a $25 gift card when he completes it.  The offer came to us from USAA, with whom both our vehicles are insured (the RV is with Progressive, but under the USAA umbrella).  The Drivesharp program, which is worth $89, is being offered for free to USAA members age 55 and older (you must have an active USAA auto insurance policy in the US).  Look into it if you qualify (click the word Drivesharp above to get to the website).

Looks like Mui is playing an online game, doesn’t it?
Actually, he’s taking an online driving course.  He has successfully made
his way from Acadia NP to Shenandoah NP, and is now navigating the Smokies.

When we initially signed up for the March session of Camp Freightliner — the class, not the campground — we intended to have the M3 service done here as well.  Those plans changed when we postponed the class to July.  We had the service done at Bay Diesel while we were in Red Bay, so we cancelled the appointment here.  However, we are going to go ahead and get the four-corner weighing done.  Freightliner will take care of that while we’re in class tomorrow.

The RV parking at the service center is free for those who are having their rigs serviced; trainees like us can stay here as long as space is available.  We’re up to nine rigs now, one a fellow-Phaeton.  We are hoping that there will be plenty of space for us to stay here through the end of our two-day class.  If not, there is a KOA nearby that offers a 10% discount for those who are in Gaffney for the Freightliner class.

Neither of us has been in a classroom setting in quite some time, so the next two days ought to be interesting.  Stay tuned to find out if we passed with flying colors ;-)

The VA Beach Boardwalk

Sunday, 30 June
Sea Mist RV Park — NAS Oceana, Dam Neck Annex — Virginia Beach, Virginia
Temps: Lo 74F / Hi 83F (23C / 28C)

Figured out another plus to the new awning curtain (post here) — to some extent it acts as a rain barrier — assuming the wet stuff is light and the wind isn’t blowing.  We’ve had on and off rain since I last posted four days ago.  Even then, when the temperature and humidity allowed it, I was able to sit on the patio without getting wet — or more importantly, without getting the laptop wet.  That’s a good thing ;-)

We’ve been busy, even if it wasn’t to go out and explore the area.  Only one of our planned walks happened; the others were rained out.  We could have gone to a museum or two, I suppose, but with beach activities curtailed, we figured they would be crowded with visitors looking for alternative fun.  Besides, we’re not all that into museums.  So, we focused our attention on other things instead — most of them not blog-worthy.  We expect to be particularly active during the September-December time frame, so we see nothing wrong with having a couple of slow summer months to make sure our batteries are fully charged before we go on our sea-air-road vacation.

Where did we go on that one walk that didn’t get rained out?  To the Virginia Beach Boardwalk — rightfully designated a “Great Public Place” in 2009.  It wouldn’t be my cup of tea when it is choc-a-block people, but early on a weekday morning, it was a great place for an easy walk.  (All of the photos in today’s blog are from the boardwalk.)

To beat the heat and humidity, Thursday morning we left home shortly after 6:00a and drove the 7.5 miles (12 km) from our campground at Dam Neck Annex to the south end of the boardwalk.  We arrived just in time to nab one of the two remaining parking spots near the boat channel that are free until 10:00a.  With our to-go-breakfast and a couple of bottles of water stowed in Mui’s daypack, we started our 6-mile round-trip walk shortly after 6:30a.

The sun was still low on the horizon; the temp was already at 75F (24C), but with a low humidex; and a light breeze was coming off the ocean to keep us comfy.  In other words, perfect walking weather.

While I wouldn’t describe the boardwalk as deserted, it sure wasn’t crowded.  Fishermen had their poles in the water at the south end of the boardwalk … surfers were trying to catch a wave or two — not very successfully since the ocean wasn’t cooperating … people were sitting on benches, sipping lattes and reading books or newspapers … bikers were spinning up and down the bike path that parallels the pedestrian-only boardwalk … strollers and speed-walkers, and runners and joggers were giving their feet a workout … guests at hotels and condos were chatting quietly on balconies warmed by the rising sun … here and there shop owners were raising shutters and setting out displays to attract buyers.

A short ways up the boardwalk, we sat on a bench to eat our breakfast and do some light-people-watching.  A little further along, we stopped to take a look at the Old Coast Guard Station that is now a museum.  Had it been open, we would have gone in to check out the exhibits, but we were three hours too early.  So, we took a gander at pieces of a shipwreck (top right in the collage below) exhibited outside and moved on.

Found in December 1993 near the shoreline following a winter storm, the wreckage is thought
to be part of the the barkentine Nettie, which sailed from the West Indies to Norfolk with a
cargo of salt and wrecked 1.5 miles south of the Little Island Life-Saving Station on January 7, 1894.

The next stop on our route was at the Naval Aviation Monument.  It was a short stop.  Not because it wasn’t interesting, but because the temp and humidity were rising, and we still had a ways to go to get to the end of the boardwalk and then make the return trip back to the car.

Top Left: The Homecoming … the family reunited.
bottom left: The Team … the modern force - Naval Aviation in the 21st Century.
center: Pilots man your planes … the Greatest Generation - Naval Aviation in WWII.
Right: Where It Began … the Birthplace of Carrier Aviation.

It was 8:00a by the time we finally got to the north end of the boardwalk.  By then the breeze had died down, and the humidity had increased to make us feel sticky and uncomfortable.  As luck would have it, a big cloud moved in to veil the sun for nearly the duration of our walk back to the car, affording us some relief.

Not feeding the parking meter.  Rather, trying to feed the “donation” meter.
Alas none would take our coins.  They were either jammed or not yet operational.
[click the photo on the left for a more legible size]

A stop at the bank; another one to check out Ocean Pines, the off-base military campground at NAS Oceana, and we were back home in time for lunch.

(As an aside for those readers who are eligible to stay at military campgrounds: While Ocean Pines seems like a decent campground, we didn’t care for its ambiance for a long-term stay … too many sites seemed to be occupied by homesteaders.  An oddity at this campground — the sewer hook-up is in the middle of the pad!!!  That said, if we needed a place for a night or two, and wanted to be closer to the commissary and BX than we are at Sea Mist, we would definitely consider Ocean Pines.)

So far the forecast for the first week of July has more rain and overcast than sunshine.  The likelihood of getting out and doing something blog-worthy is small, but you never know — stay tuned.

Nearing the Two-Week Mark at Sea Mist

Tuesday, 25 June
Sea Mist RV Park — NAS Oceana, Dam Neck Annex — Virginia Beach, Virginia
Temps: Lo 74F / Hi 95F [feels like 101F] (23C / 35C [38C])

A routine of reading on the patio, walking and sitting on the beach, triking around the base, and going to the movie theater twice doesn’t really provide anything exciting to write about.

Nonetheless, here is a bit of this and a bit of that from the days past.

One of our goals for retirement was to change our diet to include more plant-based foods and less animal-based foods.  We implemented that change a week ago and Mui’s been fixing up a storm of delicious dishes for us to try out — including yummy frozen treats for after dinner … our favorite so far has been a chocolate cherry concoction.  It hasn’t been difficult to make the change since we’ve always enjoyed salads, legumes, vegetables, fruits, and the like.  Not becoming vegetarians, mind you … just leaning a little more in that direction.

Not much in the way of wildlife to keep the camera clicking around here.  Except for the smallish black snake I saw slithering under our coach a few days ago [double shudder] — which I had no desire to photograph.  Mui managed to shoo it back to the dunes from which it came by using a stream of water from the hose to nudge it off the patio.

The ospreys, on the other hand I am always happy to see.  There are plenty of them nesting here at the Dam Neck Annex; some with chicks.  Alas … no photos as I had no desire to get into trouble by pulling out my camera in a restricted zone.

Dragonflies are plentiful here — especially these black saddlebags.

We’ve been taking advantage of our proximity to the beach at this campground.  A short walk to one of the two access points puts us on a wide stretch of sand fronting the Atlantic Ocean.  We — I, actually — have been walking out on the beach in the mornings when there is seldom anyone else about.  Mui has gone triking instead, although he has joined me on occasion.  We’ve gone over with our chairs and beach shelter, but the north/south orientation of the beach makes it difficult to escape the sun until later in the day.  By then, it’s too hot to be on the beach.  Unfortunately, the ocean has been too rough for swimming.  Mui did manage to go in for a dip yesterday, but it was more playing in the surf than swimming.

Looking south (left) and north … scenes taken within seconds of each other.

The waves might not look like much, but the undertow is very strong.

The only birds I’ve been able to photograph in the past ten days have been on the beach.  And they have not been around in great numbers.  In fact, we saw the terns one morning as we walked by the enlisted beach; and then they disappeared.

The only royal terns we’ve seen showed up on the beach on a day of strong-wind,
which swirled about the mist from the Atlantic Ocean.

Digging around the edge of the surf nets this boat-tailed grackle a tasty ghost crab.

When I said there wasn’t much in the way of wildlife here, I forgot about the ghost crabs.  They are quite abundant on the beach — and they seem to come in all sizes.  The really big ones came as quite a surprise to me.  For some reason, I always thought they were teeny-tiny.  Watching them dig their burrows has been an ample source of amusement for me.  I posted my favorite ghost crab photo at the beginning of this blog entry, but here’s another one that I really like because it shows how disproportionate the claws are.

The claws are actually the fifth pair of legs, which — in conjunction with the
other four pairs of legs — allows a ghost crab to move in any direction.

I guess I should come out of the “shoe closet” and admit that I hopped on the Oofos bandwagon this week.

After hearing about them first from Sherry and then from Sue, I decided to buy a pair.  After all, who could resist Sue’s description: “…kind of like falling into one of those Memory Foam beds, only for your feet.  Luscious.”

I’d describe them as cushy without being soft … if that makes sense.  I love the arch support, and the toe-thingy is not at all uncomfortable.  If I didn’t need to wear thick socks during our partly-cold-weather vacation this fall, I’d take the flip-flops with me.  As it is, I will probably end up getting a pair of the clogs to wear as slippers on our off-the-road trip.

When we booked our stay at Sea Mist, we anticipated hot and humid days, and not much time spent outdoors.  We were wrong — even with the change in weather a few days ago.

Our first ten days here were pretty wonderful, even if some of them were mostly cloudy; and we did have a deluge with thunder and lightning one day.  On the other hand, we had low-to-no humidity to speak of, and the mornings were cool enough for long pants and a fleece jacket while reading on the patio.  The afternoon hours did warm up, but it really wasn’t bad until this weekend when the temps started to rise dramatically.

Thanks to the almost-constant breeze — and our man-made shade (more about that in the next post) — I was able to sit outside this afternoon until the thermometer hit the 88F (31C) mark.  One thing I have noticed is that there’s always a breeze in this section of the campground.  That’s not necessarily the case in the older section, where the breeze is blocked by the trees and vegetation.  The forecast is for increasingly hot temperatures, so the breeze may not help much in the days ahead … we shall see.

Surf Lace

I mentioned at the beginning of this post that we’ve been to a couple of movies here on base.  At every military installation we’ve been on, we’ve checked to see if there is a movie theater.  NAS Pensacola had one, and we went to a show while we were there.  NCBC Gulfport had free DVD screenings, and we caught one of those as well.  All of the other installations have had to close their movie theaters — for a variety of reasons, but mostly due to lack of funding.

We were thrilled to find that NAS Oceana still has a theater — and a big one that seats 900.  I imagine it is used for all-hands-on-deck meetings as well as entertainment.

Of the movies being screened, we opted first for The Big Wedding, a romantic comedy.  It was entertaining, but would have been better without so much potty-mouth language.

Next we went to see Star Trek: Into Darkness, which was a James Kirk meets James Bond space adventure.  We enjoyed this one as well; Trekkies will easily see the plot similarities to some of the original Star Trek movies.  (Click the posters for info about the movies.)

What happened to exploring the area?  We’ve in fact talked about doing something almost every evening, but that’s all it’s been — talk.  When morning rolls around, we get too comfortable on the patio and postpone our plans to another day.  Part of the reason we’ve been not-so-enthusiastic about visiting the nearby sights is because we’ve been to Norfolk and Virginia Beach before, and it’s all “old news” to us.  We’re still hoping to get out and do some sightseeing, however.  Hopefully we haven’t entirely missed the “sightseeing weather” window.

Survived a Storm Non-Event

Thursday, 14 June
Sea Mist RV Park — NAS Oceana, Dam Neck Annex — Virginia Beach, Virginia
TEMPS: LO 61F / HI 73F (16C / 23C)

When we left Ashland, Virginia for Virginia Beach yesterday morning, all weather indications pointed to us heading into the highest risk area for a storm that was coming in from the west.  By the time we arrived at the Sea Mist RV Park on base at the Dam Neck Annex of NAS Oceana, the risk had been downgraded to moderate for thunderstorms and hail, and to slight for tornados.

The storm arrived in our area at 6:00p.  Just as the weather talking-heads had predicted.  We pulled in the slides to protect the toppers from the forecasted gusts — up to 70 mph (112 km), they said — and hunkered down to sit out the storm.

We weren’t overly worried.  Not only did we have a nearby hurricane-proof bathhouse to shelter in, but the host had come by to let us know that in the event of a tornado warning, she was going to open up the ITT/MWR office — a designated storm shelter.

Turns out we didn’t need to seek shelter anywhere.  Taking a more northerly track, the storm fizzled out entirely in this area.  The few wind gusts that barely rocked the Phaeton never reached anywhere near the forecasted speeds.  And the downpours that came through were of short duration.  In fact, we’ve had stronger winds and rain today than we did yesterday.  And the temperature has dropped dramatically from yesterday’s feels-like 102F (39C) boiling hot afternoon high.

Enough about the storm that didn’t happen — at least not for us.

We left Ashland shortly before 8:00a yesterday.  The 2½ hour drive down to Virginia beach was an easy — but bumpy — 121 miles (194 km) mostly on I-64E.  With directions to the Sea Mist RV Park as a handy reference, we bypassed NAS (Naval Air Station) Oceana and headed directly to the Dam Neck Annex.

121 miles (194 km) from the Americamps KOA in Ashland to the Sea Mist RV Park
on base at the Dam Neck Annex of NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach.

After checking in with the campground manager, and signing off on the governing rules and regs, we did a quick drive through both the older and newer sections of Sea Mist to take a look at the 12 available sites.  The only open site in the heavily-treed older section didn’t tickle our fancy, so we settled on Site 26 in the new section.  ($154/week; $25/night.)

Sea Mist is situated between vegetation-covered sand dunes and Regulus Avenue.
(Site 26 [circled in red] is on the left side of the RV park map.)

Site 26 is a 50A FHU with a double wide concrete pad; it backs up to vegetation-covered dunes that separate the campground from the beach.  The site on the driver’s side is a pull through facing away from us, and there is a wide grass ditch that separates us; plenty of privacy in that direction.  The neighboring site on the passenger side is separated by a patch of grass that is half as wide as the concrete pad; good spacing between the sites.  This section of the RV park is lacking in shade, but we’re not overly bothered by that.  I can’t say that this is a quiet place.  Chanting military students march in formation to and from class on the road that parallels the campground.  And Navy jets fly practice runs overhead.  No train noise, though ;-)  Since the day-to-day sounds of an operational base are not 24-7, we aren’t bothered by them.

Left: our site (#26) and the neighboring pull through, which is the last site at this end.
Right: Looking from our site back towards the office and the far end of the RV park.

Even though it is breezy with mostly cloudy skies as I write this post, that wasn’t the case when we woke up this morning.  In fact, sunshine and a comfy temperature of 68F (20C) encouraged us to explore the beach on the other side of the dunes.  We even managed to enjoy an al fresco breakfast at our campsite before the first raindrops of the morning drove us inside.

There are two beach access points at Sea Mist — one at the far end of the old section, and one just on the other side of the new section.  The latter is at the back of a parking lot where we can leave the car when we go to the beach with our chairs, beach shelter, and other paraphernalia.  This brown-sand Atlantic Ocean beach is nothing like the sugar-white beaches of the Gulf of Mexico; and the water itself is a moody dark blue instead of crystalline aquamarine.  Nonetheless, we’re looking forward to some relaxing days on the beach while we’re here at Sea Mist.

Welcome to the Atlantic — from the “walkover” in the old section of the campground.

Because there are no lifeguards in our section of the beach, swimming is not encouraged here.  But just down the road is a section with pavilions and lifeguards that we can drive to should we wish to take a dip in the Atlantic.  When we came on base yesterday, we turned in the opposite direction from the swimming beaches, so we haven’t seen those facilities yet.  If the weather cooperates, we’ll trike over there soon to take a look-see.

Nothing but a long stretch of beach greets our eyes when we go for our morning walk.

When our plans for the Army Rec Area in Appling, Georgia fell through, we added some days here to fill the gap until it’s time to return to South Carolina for our Camp Freightliner appointment.  With a departure date set for after the 4th of July, that means we will be here for a while.  Plenty of time to explore the area and revisit some old haunts.

Solar … Storage … Bugging Out Tomorrow

Wednesday, 12 June
Americamps KOA — Ashland, Virginia
TEMPS: LO 69F / HI 91F [feels like 96F] (20.5C / 33C [35.5c])

We’ve accomplished what we came to do here in Ashland, Virginia.  That’s the good news.

The bad news is that there is a big storm heading in our direction.  We were going to stay two more nights at the Americamps KOA, but have decided to leave tomorrow morning instead.  (The campground refunded the fee for the fourth night; that’s a bonus we were not expecting.)

We considered heading south, but we’d have to drive 400-450 miles (640-720 km) just to get out of the red zone (bottom half of the collage).  Not only would we be risking getting caught in the storm while still on the road, but the storm is projected to cover much of South Carolina by Thursday night, so we’d be in the same boat.

No worries about tonight (top photo); we’re outside the red zone … can’t say the same about tomorrow night.

So, even though Virginia Beach (near Norfolk) falls in the highest risk area, we are going to head there.  I can hear the gasps and everyone thinking we must be nuts.  Not so … at least at Naval Air Station Oceana, where we have campground reservations, there will be a real shelter should the worst happen.  Oceana is only 120 miles (192 km) from where we are now, so we should get there well in advance of the storm.

But enough about the storm.  We have a plan in place; borrowing trouble in the meantime isn’t going to do us any good.  After all, there’s still a good chance the storm will weaken as it crosses the mountains.

Tuesday, 11 June …

We came to Ashland primarily to have solar panels installed on the roof.  We expect to take periodic vacations from our life on the road and wanted to have the means to trickle-charge the house batteries in our absence.  Solar panels seemed like a good option, with the added bonus that they would allow us to boondock in mild-climates without being entirely reliant on the generator.

From top left: specs; a solar panel awaiting installation; the regulator;
back of the solar panel showing the branch connector and positive/negative cables.

After doing considerable research, Mui consulted with RV Service of VA, the company that worked on our satellite dish last December.  They helped him figure out what we needed, and at our request, ordered three solar panels and a digital solar regulator from GoPower.  The install went smoothly, and by the end of the day we were “solarized.”  Provided we have a tree-free site at Oceana, we’ll put the panels through their paces and make sure they are operating as expected.

Solar install completed.

The digital solar regulator showing the batteries are fully charged.

I’m not going to include a whole bunch of technical specs in this post.  If you have an interest in that information, drop us a note and Mui will be happy to provide details and answer questions.

Back to Today …

The second reason for returning to Virginia was to stop by our storage unit in Winchester.  Having been on the road for 6½ months now, it was time to purge some stuff from the coach and return them to storage.  More importantly, we needed to pick up some Arctic gear for our off-road vacation this fall.  We debated driving to Winchester with the Phaeton and staying at a campground in that area for a couple of days.  In the end, however, we decided we would make a day trip in the toad instead.

120-miles (192 km) each way is faster to drive in the toad than it would have been in the Phaeton.

We were both up early, so we had breakfast at home and headed north shortly after 6:00a.  Traffic was minimal — a pleasant surprise.  Listening to radio reports of traffic jams further north on I-95 and delays due to accidents in the area where we used to live in Northern Virginia were all too familiar.  Luckily, none of those problems had any impact on our drive and we arrived at the storage unit around 9:00a.  An hour to take care of things, and we were back on the road by 10:00a … and back at the campground by 1:00p.  A long drive to be sure, but a productive one … and one we don’t anticipate repeating any time soon.

Following four busy days since leaving Lake Greenwood — three of them driving in either the Phaeton or the toad — we had hoped to chill tomorrow.  But thanks to the forecasted storm, we’ll be driving to our next campground a day early.  I guess we’ll just have to chill after we get there.