We have arrived in the sunny south!

For all you folks that have been wondering why there were no blog updates recently, rest assured all is fine and we are well. Here is a recap of all the happenings.

 

First off, I am writing to you from our winter retreat at the Snowbird South RV Resort in Center Hill, Florida where we are planning on staying through March 23.

 

Back in Canada there were many things that occupied our time and attention in November including the annual packing of the RV for the trip down south. My brother-in-law’s mom had recently passed away. She and her husband also happened to be dear friends of ours before they even became family. Her celebration of life ceremony was scheduled for the 1^stof December in Oakville, Ontario Canada and we crossed our fingers that the 4-hour highway trip there would be in good condition without icy roads or a roaring blizzard. We were lucky weather wise as there was just a dusting of snow there and a bit on the highway and but no snow back home. The next day was departure time for us so upon coming back home there were still many things to take care of.

 

We got underway pretty much as planned the next day at 08.00AM and even at the border to the USA there was no traffic in front of us and the customs and border officer wished us a nice day after inspecting our passports. No hassle at all, no raiding of the fridge or so and that made us happy.

 

The weather was good the first day for driving with temperatures around 15C/60F and overcast sky which is actually nice so no glaring sunshine in your eyes. Gasoline prices were much better in the USA than Canada. We filled up in Ohio for 2.959/gal, which seemed the going average for that weekend. However Walmart in Cartersville Georgia sold Gasoline for 2.759/gal, wow!

 

We never know exactly at what location we would be spending the night with our travel trailer as it depends on traffic and maybe unforeseen circumstances. Well, we noticed a black smoke rising ahead of us while we were driving south on I-75 near Vandalia in Ohio. The smoke seemed to intensify and shortly after we got into a traffic jam. It seemed there was a fire somewhere ahead of us. There were no announcements on the radio so we just sat there stuck at a total standstill, the I-75 turned into a parking lot in no time. An hour later we started to inch a bit forward but we had noticed no traffic coming on the I-75 northbound either. After a long time we finally had crawled forward enough to see a bad accident involving two tractor–trailers and some cars piled under and on top of the concrete barrier with several fire engine crews trying to dowse the flames. We were all rerouted through the exit next to it and had to drive a detour to make it onto the next I-75 ramp. 

 

That night we parked at the Town Center Outlet Mall parking lot in Dry Ridge, Kentucky that was shared with a Cracker Barrel restaurant as well that seemed to be very busy. It turned out to be a nice and peaceful place with free wifi to boot.

 

It rained through the night and the next day turned out to be damp with a bit of drizzle off and on but the temperature was warm so it didn’t bother us much. When it became time to look for another overnight location we were just before Atlanta, Georgia and all of a sudden traffic got to a total stop again. “Oh no” I thought, not again.  Luckily there was an exit approaching and I found us a large parking lot shared by Super Wal-Mart and Lowes in Cartersville, Georgia where we spent the night along with a few other RVs that had come off the highway. 

 

With fuel stops, lunch and coffee brakes including dog pit stops we arrived just before sundown on Sunday at our new RV winter resort. In past years we stayed at the Wandering Oaks RV Resort in Ocala, Florida, but that place now only takes full-timers that stay year round. However, this new to us place is also very nice and for Florida standards reasonably priced since our Canadian Dollar does not do too well right now compared to the US currency.

 

We had a reservation and knew our site number, which helped since the office was already closed. Fellow RVers helped us to find our site and because it is a pull-through we had no problems parking and leveling the travel trailer. I was looking forward to getting electricity, water and sewer hooked up. However, shortly after the water hose was connected, Benno shouted for me to bring towels while water was everywhere in the basement compartment. Something was busted and water spewed like a geyser from the connection fitting. Oh no!

 

Stay tuned, this will continue in tomorrows update….