The Hitch-Itch got us home

During the past week we noticed numerous sites being vacant at the RV Park and no new RVs coming in to take those spots.  But the highways were busy with trailers and RVs of every kind traveling in the direction of the I-75. Looking at the weather forecast for our hometown they were experiencing record breaking temps of 66F/19C for this time of year. Wow, so what are we waiting for?

As an update to anyone interested to find out what happened to the motorhome that had caught fire (see my post from Jan. 17th) A couple of days before our departure I had the opportunity to talk to the owner of the coach that had the refrigeration fire in January.  Since then he and his wife had been living in the damaged RV making do with a small stand-alone refrigeration unit because the big Norcold refrigerator had been out of commission.  They were going to pullout of the RV Park the next day going to an RV dealer to meet service technicians from Norcold to have the damage addressed.  His insurance company, however, had denied his claim because they were full-timers.  He said that nowhere in his policy did it state that by not having another residence they would not be insured for something like this.  He promised me that when all damages were fixed and his RV insurance was up for renewal he would place an extensive write-up about the incident and his dealings with the insurance company in all RV-forums available to him. 

It was close to 10 a.m. on Friday by the time we left the RV Park for our trip up North.  The weather was sunny and warm, the I-75 was busy with tractor-trailers and lots and lots of RVs, all heading NORTH!  There are signs along the I-75 indicating that it is an evacuation route.  Benno and I were joking that it looked like every RV was taking it literally and they were running from something.  By 4 O’clock in the afternoon we had had enough of the Friday afternoon rush hour and pulled onto the parking lot of the Camping World store in Byron, GA, which is located right next to the I-75 slightly south to the town of Macon.  It was even hotter there than it had been down in Florida.  We asked for permission to spend the night on their property and were assigned a spot next to the gated storage yard.  They even provided us with a power cord so we could plug in and wouldn’t have to use our generator during our stay, very nice folks at this store.

Next morning we were on the road by 6 a.m. and that was after eating breakfast of fruits, coffee, toasted rolls and bagel. Traffic was very light and we made good time until everybody had gotten up and decided to drive somewhere.  We stopped for the usual gasoline fill-ups, a few fast food stops and to let the dogs get some exercise.  It was a long driving day because we don’t drive faster than 55 mph with the rig in tow.  It was dark when we stopped at another Camping World parking lot in Cincinnati, Ohio.  They were already closed for the day and we could not ask for permission.  However, we had stopped here on our way down and were given the go ahead, so we had no worries.  Not far from there we could have also stayed at a Walmart store or a rest area along the I-75, but we preferred this spot.  Right next to the Camping World is a Papa Johns pizzeria, which could be useful if I didn’t want to cook.  However, I still had lots of leftovers in the fridge, which just needed microwaving with the help of our generator.

On the final stretch home the next day the weather again was gorgeous.  If it wasn’t for the colors long the highway changing from bright green to olive and then brown I could have sworn we were still down south as the sun warmed us up inside the truck.  Traffic was next to nothing with hardly any tractor-trailers and no delays anywhere.  Even at the border crossing into Canada at lunchtime we couldn’t believe that there was no waiting time and an hour later we pulled into our driveway at home after driving 1,800 km/1125 miles from Ocala, Fl. On a side note, we noticed a big difference with the Hayes Sway Master (see my post from Dec. 31st) that Benno had installed. The trailer towed nicely straight behind us and there was never any indication of swaying when those big eighteen-wheelers passed us at top speed or while encountering crosswinds. The Hayes Sway Master made a big difference and we felt both very relaxed.

Winter seems to be over here in these parts of Ontario. The tulips are peeking out of the ground in my flowerbed, the dandelions are coming up and the buds of the trees across the street are all signs that spring is around the corner.

I’ll be still posting, although the trailer is parked on its spot next to the house. So stay tuned for more.