TRIP TO FL

TRIP TO FL, a set on Flickr.

ON THE ROAD TO GET THE CAMPER (FINALLY)
Well, not finally, but on the way to get the camper anyway. From the end of August, 2011 until Jan 6, 2012, we drove over 11,000 miles in all of our travels. That included the 8 weeks that we were basically off of the road while working as volunteers in VA. All of those travels were in the Jetta. We’re in the truck now.
We left WV on Jan 3rd, and true to form, the weather was TERRIBLE! We seem to have a problem with the weather whenever we move our stuff around. In Jan 2003, we moved into a new house with a temp of -4F. This time, the temps had dropped into the teens and there was blowing snow all day which effectively reduced visibilities to near zero at times. There was a near white-out as we crossed the New River Gorge bridge. We stopped that night in Wytheville, VA and the temps were still in the teens. It was even too cold to unload anything other than
the toothbrushes out of the truck. The truck was covered with lots of road dirt and salt
deposits so that it appeared to be white rather than its cool bronze/brown color. We couldn’t get it washed until down in GA where we found a tractor trailer washing place (Blue Beacon). They made it pretty and shinny again.
We had planned to be driving both our Jetta and the truck from WV-FL-LA. As always, we reacted to changing situations and changed plans when it became apparent that our daughter, Melanie, would not be needing a third car. The Jetta is staying in WV where my brother, Don, will be baby-sitting it. Now, we can both be in the same vehicle, and Judy can help me navigate. More Better!! Since we only had the truck into which we just had the fifth-wheel hitch installed, we had to rent a slightly bigger u-haul trailer to get all of our camper stuff down to FL. It has been good to pull the little trailer, because it has forced me to be thinking “looong truck” all the way down here.
We stopped in Charleston, SC and Daytona Beach, FL on our trip. It got warmer in each city which was a great change for us. We still have not acclimated to cold weather even after the last winter in Parkersburg.
So, we have arrived in FL where we will pick up our camper. We will stay here (near the dealer) for a week as we make a “shake down cruise” on the camper and try to get our stuff stored away for the real travels to come. It’s been a long wait, but it’s nearly over. YIPEE!!!