Arrived….. just ahead of the weather

An early start, for us. We were on the road by 07:30, under overcast skies and a temperature of -1C. The news was full of the approaching frigid weather that would hit the region in the next couple of days. Right down beyond the Gulf Coast and into central Florida they are expecting temperatures to drop overnight to -10C or lower, with wind chills in the -15 to -20 region. I know that isn’t that bad for Canadians, but it will be pretty brutal for the residents of the deep south. Many schools are either closed or starting 2 or 3 hours later to allow the heating to catch-up and have the students travel in later in the day when it may have warmed up a little.

We arrived here around 1530 having stopped to do our weekly grocery shop on the way through Foley. When we arrived I had a present for the owner, a genuine Canadian snowball! There was still a few inches of snow in the bed of the truck.

The rig was already on site  so all we had to do was unload the truck a little setting up. Lyn did the inside setup, and got to work outside.

All went well, except for the satellite, which for some reason didn’t want to play fair. I finally won the battle though as I was determined to get it set up in the remaining warmth of the afternoon rather than the cold of tomorrow.

Now it’s time to eat and then sit back and relax after 3 days of driving.

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We’ve obviously upset the Snow Gods

After a good nights sleep I woke up and looked out the window to check the weather, I was expecting a cold and sunny day. What I saw was falling snow and about 5cm of the white stuff on the ground. This is NOT supposed to happen.

We spent the first hour of the trip travelling between 25 and 45mph before finally driving out of the snow. After that we picked it up to 65mph and it was plain sailing with the skies clearing and the temperature climbing to +8C.

The further south we went the cheaper fuel got, diesel was down to $2.79US/gal (.87¢ Canadian / litre or   £1.11/litre) Gas (Petrol) was $1.79US/gal(.56¢ Canadian / litre or   £0.71/litre). So although the $ is down,fuel is down further!

We arrived at 17:30 after 550 miles of travel, last day tomorrow should be shorter, and we gain an hour as we cross into the Central Time Zone. All camp sites are now reserved as far as New Mexico. Probably should get around to booking some stuff for the Alaska trip soon.

 

 

 

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Lake effect snow should be banned

Well, we’re off again! This is the start of a different trip for us as we will be moving around. In a nutshell; down to Foley Alabama then New Orleans, San Antonio Texas, El Passo area Texas or New Mexico, Casa Grande Arizona. The last few weeks are uncertain but will probably be Las Vegas, Fresno California and San Francisco.

We headed out this morning with clear blue skies, sunshine and -16C. The crossing into the States was quick, less than 2 minutes. Once there, there was no more snow on the ground, I guess the last storm we had fell as rain. However all this changed as we got close to Syracuse where the dreaded Lake Effect Snow hit with a vengeance for about 40 minutes / 3″. For those across the pond that may not know what Lake effect snow is: This time of year we can get fairly cold temperatures, but the great lakes have not yet frozen. If you get a reasonable wind blowing the length of the lake (100’s of miles) it will pick up moisture from the surface and dump it on innocent people heading south for a few months. As soon as the lakes freeze the problem goes away.

Forty minutes after we ran into the snow it suddenly cleared up to clear skies and sunshine again and not trace of snow on the ground. Here’s a drivers eye view (it was a lot worse in places).DSC04015

Once through the snow it was plain sailing and we got into Martinsburg West Virginia at 1800.

Sunset on the I-81

DSC04017

 

Remember: There will be spelling and grammatical errors, if these will offend …….. don’t read, don’t complain!!

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Home Sweet Home (NOT Sweet Home Alabama)

After a really good nights sleep, we were up and away by 8:15. Most of last nights rain had cleared out, but unfortunately a thick fog had rolled in. Probably the first 3 to 4 hours of driving was in in fog with less than 400m visibility, so it was a little tiring. For some reason fog doesn’t worry me too much, I got used to driving in it in the UK. I find if you build up a mental picture of the traffic that has passed and then tag along behind a group, keeping the last guy in sight you have a reasonable idea of what is going on ahead.

We left West Virginia, went briefly through Virginia, even more briefly through Maryland, into Pennsylvania, New York and finally Ontario. Gas prices rose from $2.37 in South Carolina to $3.29 in New York State.

Customs was a five minute breeze, the did surprise me with a new question though ” Have you been in Africa within the last 21 days?”  I guess ebola is still creating some panic.

Paul and Amanda texted last night and offered us dinner if we wanted to stop by, which we did as it was free food! and some free Noah and Dylan time.

We finally got back to a toasty warm house thanks to an app that allowed me to turn up the thermostat when we stopped for lunch in Pennsylvania.

That’s it for this trip, now it’s time for all of you closet readers to come clean and leave a message so I can see if any one is reading this stuff.

Merry Christmas

Back in January.

 

Posted in 2014, Alabama, Trips, Week 6 | 4 Comments

Started Out OK But…..

Headed out this morning in cool but clear weather, it climbed up to about 15ºC before plummeting to 1ºC as we headed further north. The roads were pretty clear until the final couple of hours where we hit rush hour traffic, dark and heavy rain.

We traveled from South Carolina through Virginia into West Virginia where we stopped for the night at Martinsburg.

One day go and if the weather behaves we should be home tomorrow evening.

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On the Way

Woke up at 7AM to a clear warm morning, typical, now we are leaving it decides to warm up. It was 23°C by 9AM. It took about 45 minutes to get the trailer closed up, the we headed out. About 20 minutes up the road Lyn remembered that the fleeces and geo-caching stuff were back in the trailer! Well they are still in the trailer!

We headed out of Alabama into Georgia and through the centre of Atlanta. We had a couple of slow downs in Atlanta, but it only added a few minutes to the trip. Next state was South Carolina, we are stopping in Anderson SC for the night, about 20 miles north of the GA border.

We averaged around 65MPH and 46MPG, so far the cheapest gas has been here in S.C at $2.37 per gal (70¢ CAD/Litre)

Time for a walk and food.

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Giving into Temptation

Yet another clear sunny day and, as it gets closer to our leaving, the temperature continues to rise. We topped out in the low 70’s today.

After breakfast it was time to do a little clearing up outside in preparation for packing. The BBQ was stripped down and cleaned, it is amazing how much “stuff” accumulates at the bottom of the BBQ after a few weeks use. I also did a little work on the water tanks so that I can do a quick final rinse on Monday morning.

Lyn has almost fully recovered from her stomach bug, and luckily it stayed away from me!  The sewing machine was put through its paces for the last time this trip.

After lunch we headed off to a trail that we had walked previously, but not on this trip. We walked about 2.5 miles on a sandy track around a large lagoon, the sand was fairly loose in places so we got a good work out.

On the way home we managed to find 3 geo-caches and a Wal-Mart! We needed a few last minute things from the store, and this is where we gave into temptation Wal-Mart has some fresh baked donut and pies, so we decided to reward ourselves for our continued weight loos on this trip.

Depending how well the packing goes tomorrow there may or may not be a blog. Likewise on the trip home,  the blog will depend on internet access etc. I will definitely do a blog once we get home.

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Over Indulgence?

Another clear and sunny wakeup, the temperature hovered around freezing point last night, but climbed into the low 60’s later in the day.

Lyn was suffering from a slight tummy bug last night and it didn’t get much better today, so we spent Black Friday doing the best thing we could, stay in and avoid the shopping crowds. Hopefully she’ll be back yo normal(??) tomorrow.

 

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Stuffed

Again, a clear sunny start to the day, with temperatures climbing up into the high fifties. Being as today is a holiday we decided to do even less than usual.

Lunch was scheduled for noon, which is an hour earlier than we usually eat, plus it would be a full meal. How to confuse the body. As is usual here, if something is scheduled for xx o’clock, people start arriving at least 30 minutes early. Lyn cooked the sweet potato casserole yesterday, so it just needed heating through. We headed across just before noon and put the casserole on the table…….. along with 3 other almost identical dishes! Oh well, its the thought that counts!

The meal was great with about 44 people attending, although there was a great temptation to over indulge, the stomach filled up pretty quick and told the brain NO!

After lunch we headed back to the trailer for a while, then headed out to try and walk off some of the excess calories. I think my appointment with the scales may be delayed a few days.

The next few days will see us start to close up the trailer for an early start out of here Monday morning.

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Preparation

Running short of title ideas again! A clear sunny morning after a coolish night. The temperature climbed up into the high 50’s as the day progressed.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and there is a communal meal being hosted in the rec. room. The resort is providing the turkeys and each couple is asked to bring a dish with them to share. We headed out this morning to do our final grocery and get the items needed for our contribution. Lyn is making a sweet potato casserole.

These cooler evenings are taking a toll on our propane gas usage, the tank had to be filled again today. Unfortunately with a trailer that is not overly well insulated, and a furnace that seems to exhaust as much hot air as it circulates, we don’t have a very efficient system.

This afternoon we headed north to the town of Roberstdale in search of a liquidation store that Lyn had been told was selling crochet cotton at a very good price, and of course some geo-caches. We found the store, but they had decided to take the afternoon off in anticipation of Thanksgiving. Further north we found all six of the caches we looked for.

Back at the trailer it was time to sit outside and drink coffee, then onto the computer to sort out the route and hotels to stay at on the trip home next week.

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