Not “if” but “when”
First Travel Day
May 31st we started our trek North from Alabama to Pennsylvania. We knew we wanted to avoid long driving days and we broke the trip up into three days. We joined a subscription called RV Overnights. You pay an annual fee and then you have access to over 1500 small businesses across 14 categories Nationwide. RV Overnights | Exclusive RV Camping With Our Affordable Membership
Our first stop was booked and we needed to arrive prior to 5:00 pm. So, Sunday morning, May 31st we closed up the RV, unhooked from the water and power, hooked up the car, loaded the bikes and got on the road.
Our new travel day trick is to have two GPS’s going. Gary paid for and downloaded the RV Life Pro app RV LIFE Pro - We make RVing simple
The app, quite honestly, gets mixed reviews so we have Gary’s phone on the RV Life Pro app and I have Google maps. And sure enough, RV Life wanted to take us down some sketchy Lee roads in Smiths Station. Thankfully, we knew the area and went the best route.
Before we hit Atlanta we knew we needed fuel, we were just below half a tank. With a hundred gallon tank, you don’t want the bill of a complete fill. Also, with our generator using the same tank for fuel, you cannot let the tank get below a quarter. We chose a Loves station along 85. We had to prepay and I had no idea how much fuel that would be so I guessed $275 and I think we got pretty close to full.
Our next big decision was to bypass or not to bypass Atlanta. 285 gets some bad reviews but both GPS’s had us heading North on 285 so that is how we went. Everyone knows going anywhere near Atlanta is not for the faint of heart. But it was actually quite uneventful, which is what we like!!!
This was our first travel day with rain but it wasn’t terrible. Our windshield is gigantic but the rain was never so heavy we could not see.
The GPS at the start of the day predicted 4 hours and 32 minutes but we know that doesn’t hold true for us. We do not drive 70 miles an hour on the interstate, fuel stops are lengthy and we stop at a rest stop to eat lunch. We also have to tighten our tie downs a few times. We arrived at our stop at 4:15 so in reality, the trip took us just over 6 hours. A long day but not a terrible day. 284 miles.
RV Overnights
Our stay with RV Overnights was at the Tennessee Valley Winery in Louden, TN. Tennessee Valley Winery | Family Owned Winery in Tennessee This is actually quite comical, since Gary and I gave up alcohol decades ago! The owner, Paulette, was just lovely and her assistant Brittany was also very nice. They showed us where to park and Gary handily positioned the RV appropriately. The Winery sits way up on a hill, we parked in front of the business and when they closed at 5:00 pm, the staff vacated the premises, and we had the entire place to ourselves along with a lovely view.
Tennessee Valley Winery
When Gary made the reservation (which is free with the membership to RV Overnights) the business listed that electricity was available. Miss Paulette walked me out to the pergola and there were some outlets for the outdoor lighting. This is a 15 volt set up. RVs are either 50 Amp (our RV) or 30 Amp. We have an adapter to 30 amp and while it wouldn’t be ideal, we could make do with that. But we do not currently have an adapter to convert to 15 amp. So Gary ran the generator for the first hour or two to cool down the RV. The day had gotten warm and the air conditioning needed to run. I didn’t help matters by cooking dinner inside the RV.
After dinner the temperature started to slowly drop but we were still unclear what we would do overnight. We had found out in PCB (article “When things go Sideways”) back in April that the batteries alone would only get us 5 hours. We were not completely comfortable running the generator while we slept, so Gary was researching options. Really all he wanted was to run his fan in the bedroom overnight.
Staying at Tennessee Valley Winery, Louden, TN
We were sitting at the pergola enjoying a lovely evening when all of a sudden Gary jumped up so fast he almost toppled the chair he was sitting in and he says “Thank you, Jesus”.
“What?” I said, “Did Holy Spirit just speak to you?” Indeed! Gary found a long extension cord and a house extension cord and ran them from the outdoor lighting outlets to the fan inside the window of the bedroom. God is so sweet!!! The fan ran all night, as it does every night, and we were perfectly comfortable!
My lovely yard at Tennessee Valley Winery, complete with fireflies!!! ♥
Second Travel Day
The next morning I made breakfast and we ate. We had not put out the slides so after doing the dishes the only thing left to do was to load the car.
Let me tell you, we loaded, unloaded and reloaded that car four times. It just wasn’t loading well. The tire was up against the front bar on one side but not the other. We did it over and over until it was as good as it was going to get. I had wanted to leave at 9:30 but this delayed us until 10:00. Down the BIG BIG hill we went, let ourselves out of the gate, and back on the highway. We were not on the road long when there was stopped traffic. A Walmart truck had ended up down the ditch and in the woods off the right shoulder. NOW I understood the delay in leaving. We were on the road two hours, had stopped for a potty break, lunch and to tighten down the tie down straps. Shortly after we were back on the road and the TPMS alarmed.
TPMS Saves the Day
The Tire Pressure Monitoring System was an RV purchase we made early on. There is a gage on all of the tires that are on the road…so six RV tires, two tow dolly tires and two car tires. All of these gages communicate back to a small monitor on Gary’s dashboard. It cycles through the amount of pressure and the temperature of every tire. Gary noticed that one of the tow dolly tires was running hot and just like that the TPMS was alarming. The tow dolly tire was flat. We thought it was a blow out.
Flat tire on the tow dolly along Interstate 75 in Tennessee
Roadside Emergency
Gary got off the road quickly and safely. Thank you, Jesus, there was a shoulder on this road...we were on Interstate 75 in Tennessee. Gary immediately opened the drawer to his right and got out our safety vests. As we put on the vests and exited the RV, I sent an SOS to my prayer warrior sisters in Alabama: “Urgent. Prayers. Needed.”
In order to jack up the tow dolly we need the scissor jack from the Santa Fe, which is contained in the back, under EVERYTHING. So we unloaded the bikes from the car, then the collapsable picnic table, benches, spare tires, RV rug, beach bag…all the things.
We had purchased roadside triangles from Tractor Supply almost a year ago but realized they were in a tote under the RV on the road side. So, I wrapped Gary’s fluorescent coat over the bicycles.
Gary started cranking up the scissor jack which required him to lay on the shoulder next to the tow dolly. Friends, my husband’s head was just on the other side of the rumble strips, which are just on the other side of the white line. Tractor Trailer trucks were flying by us at 70 miles an hour. I prayed and prayed and prayed. I prayed in my prayer language, I prayed in English. I just kept up a constant conversation with the Creator of the Universe for protection for my husband and I. Gary loosened the lug nuts and I twisted them off and put them in my fanny pack.
Gary got the spare tire and it was low on air. He has a hose to use with the air compressor but that is in the FRONT of the RV. Of course we tried running it around the safe side of the RV but it wasn’t long enough so he had to run it along and under the street side to the front. He inflated the new tire to the proper pressure and now we had to reload everything.
At some point he had accessed the tote with the roadside triangles but they are clearly not the right product. The triangles flash so maybe at night they will be helpful, but they might be 6 inches tall. While I did put two of them out, they were just really tiny. We will be purchasing the proper product before we travel again!
We reloaded the car with the table, benches, etc; then the bikes onto the car; and the car onto the dolly, Praise Jesus it went the first time. It was time to get back on the road.
I sent an update to my Prayer Warriors and asked them for a time check….45 minutes we were by the side of the road. Gary looked at me and said, “I need you not to rush.” And I lost it…I just cried. “I thought you were going to get your head run over by an 18 wheeler,” I sobbed.
The saying goes, “It’s not a matter of ‘if’, but of ‘when’…” Things will go wrong, you will end up along the side of the road. Thankfully it was a tow dolly tire and we can replace it. If an RV tire goes, we will have to wait along the side of the road until Roadside Assistance arrives. So much can go wrong. We are blessed this is all it was.
What was already going to be a long day – 333 miles. Turned into a seven and a half hour long day. We were so relieved to pull into our next stop.
We were going to stay at another RV Overnights stop but they had zero power so after we discovered we are not boondocking, Gary made a reservation at a T/A truck stop campground in Lexington, Virginia. It cost us only $45.00 for an overnight stay and we had full hook ups. We also had another fuel stop this travel day, $330 this time for just over half a tank. The fuel prices up north are significantly more than the south!
The road in the campground was awful with potholes but the site was a pull through and we didn’t even unload the car, we were so exhausted. We got out the lawn chairs, I reheated leftovers and we just sat and breathed. We did walk to IHOP in the truck stop for milkshakes after dinner…worst milkshakes EVER, I don’t recommend it at all. But we were again up on a hill and while I checked emails for work for an hour we watched the sunset.
Sunset at the Lee Hi Campground at the TA Truck Stop in Lexington, Virginia
Third and Final Travel Day
Tuesday morning we were on the road early, never have we left AHEAD of schedule. We got on the road at 8:30 and the GPS ETA was 12:32. We pulled over twice at closed weigh stations to check equipment and to have lunch. As we left Virginia, passed through West Virginia and Maryland and entered Pennsylvania my excitement grew.
We arrived at our new digs at 1:30; this was a really really good travel day!
We are thankful to be back in Pennsylvania for a few months and look forward to all of the adventures this summer!!!
Thank you for checking in on us. I love you dearly. ♥