Mobile again.....finally

A month later than anticipated, but we are mobile again.  The tiny Port house is great, but the whole purpose of it is to just be a home base and leave us free to roam...First destination is the Freightliner Service Center in Gafney, SC for Big Blues annual checkup.   Then its north to PA, CT, NH, ME and finally to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, then back to CT in Oct.  Hoping to go west to Arizona in November and  After that its anyone's  guess...Probably be back at home base in late Jan for the winter months.
Made a quick overnight stop in GA just short of the South Carolina border to avoid driving in the thunder storms and torrential rain.  Parked Overnight at a Cracker Barrel- which is becoming one of our favorite "transit" stops.  Generally quiet, safe,  easy on and off the highways and almost all of them have designated  RV parking and we are welcome there. Plus there is always a decent relatively inexpensive meal or some take out road food available. 

Arrived at Gafney and one of Big Blue's working siblings was there for service as well.  Given that there were only 28 Skydecks made, we are always glad to see another one.  Coors owns 5 of them, and they are based right down the road from the service center.  The Coors graphics make Big Blues colors look pretty conservative! 

New Home Base

After looking at a lot of alternatives (city condos and apartments, beachfront condos, building on a lot we purchased in another RV complex etc) we went full circle and purchased a small "Port home"  in the same community as our previous house!   BUT, this is a compact 650 sq ft. 

Open floor plan, living area, dining area, full kitchen, nice bath and laundry- no bedroom. Best part is a large port for the Coach to park under, with plenty of room for some outside furniture in the shade.  Condo docs say you are supposed to sleep in the coach (but we do have murphy bed in the house....) Overlooks the 18th green out back, and driving range across the street in front.  Its within easy walking distance of the restaurant, pool, and fitness center.  Plus its at the front end of the community, no more 15mph for 3 miles to get to our house! No gardens to maintain, shut the water off, close the door and hit the road- which we plan to do for most of the year.  Maybe we will spend 3 months or so here each year.  But at least it gives us a home base to come back to if needed for any reason.   

Houseless...and Full timing

Sold the Fl house today...Moving to a rented pad nearby for now.  Gave some stuff away to the kids, to goodwill and put some in storage... Will be looking at alternatives for something smaller and easy to serve as a safety net and home base here in fl, while we set off on the full time RV lifestyle.   Home will truly be where we park it. 

Infamous RV Hall of fame

We made a point of visiting the RV hall of Fame in Elkhart IN since we were already in the neighborhood- besides, Alan wanted to go there before they close down.....

OK, so they claim their financial troubles are over.... but it was pretty obvious how they got in trouble in the first place...Very Fancy, way over sized building... lots of wasted unuseable space...  not even any dedicated RV parking for visitors! The car parking areas were almost empty, so taking up a bunch of spaces wasn't a problem...
The library (?) was gigantic and mostly empty and not cataloged... but they did have a lot of pictures of old guys on the walls in the hallways.... We didn't see anyone looking at them though...

The best feature was the exhibit of old RVs- a few were significant, most were loaned by their owners..(RVr'are always looking for free parking..)  Some cool old rigs, some strange unique efforts and some ordinary older units.  The exhibit with New Rigs contained a half dozen ordinary trailers or fifth wheels.... I suspect the manufacturers paid to display them... A waste of good  exhibit space. They should expand the old RV section and do away with the new rigs...

We would like to see the Hall survive, but if the same guys who conceived the idea (a good idea)  and build it (wrong building) are in charge of running it now,  then it will likely go the way of many former RV manufacturers- out of business.

BADLANDS

South Dakota- the best roads we have encountered to date.  Smooth, straight, mostly flat.  I love it.

Taking the gang to the Badlands National Park-located 75 miles east of Rapid City SD.  We have seen pictures of the park in books etc, but all we have seen for real  is grasslands and prairie.  Then comes the exit off Rt 90.  Eight miles to the national park.   Bam! We enter the park and the landscape changes dramatically.  As we enter further into the park the view just gets even more amazing. Alan took some pics (he really needs to learn how to use the camera) as the pictures just  don't show the drama, color variations and vastness.  244,000 acres of buttes, pinnacles and spires and the largest grassland prairie in in the country.  Amazing place.   We score a campsite (first come first served) at the  Cedar Pass campground (96 sites) located in the valley floor near the visitor center.  $10/ per day for a dry camping spot or  $18 with electric only. Not free, but the view is worth it.   

No sooner do we get set up and the typical afternoon storm moves in.   The scenery changes again as the sky darkens, the winds blow and the rain falls.  Half an hour later the storm moves on.

 The next morning they take the jeep and wonder off to see more of the park.There is the loop road and some smaller interior roads leading to hiking trails.  They see the warning signs and stick to the well marked trails!

Even the sunsets are great!

Later that day they take a 3 mile ride out of the park to check out the closest town, Interior SD, 

population 67.  There  is a grocery (really a  liquor store that sells a few edibiles) a school,  a bar/casino, and a post office (didn't even have a mail box outside for after hours) and a city (?)  jail of course!

We needed to be at our next destination in a few days so only stayed for two nights.  Lots more to see here so a return trip is not out of the question to this beautiful National treasure.  

Bev and Major relaxing  on my roof deck and  enjoying the view. 

Hiking the AT (Appalachian Trail)

No , not us.  Through Facebook and RVillage.com  Bev has keep in touch with some friends (Mike and Jackie) whom we met at the Alumaflamingo Airstream rally in Sarasota FL last February.  He is hiking the complete AT (Alabama to Maine) by himself. Jackie is hauling their Airstream trailer and meeting him at various trail heads along the way for resupply and support. Somehow I don't see us doing that anytime soon...  Anyway, on our way north, we got the opportunity to meet up with Jackie at the Dixie Caverns Campgrounds  in Salem VA.  She was glad to have the company, and we were glad to hear about his adventure to date. Yes, the people we meet are as important a reason for hitting the road as the fantastic sights and adventures that can come our way. 

Our goals are a little simpler, boon dock (camping without hook ups)  as much as possible and avoid the RV parks when ever possible.  Saves us money and makes for more interesting adventures.  

Cracker Barrel Virgins

Got a late start (as usual) and headed towards Gafney SC to the factory freightliner Service Center for my annual scheduled checkup and service.  Stopped in Ponte Verde Beach  Fl to visit some RV friends and their traveling Parrot Nancy who we met last winter in Marathon.

 Introduced them to the RVillage App (www.rvillage.com)  on which we hope to be able to keep up and meet up with our nomadic friends.  One new addition  to my equipment this year is a Rand McNally RV ND 7720 GPS.  Seems like Alan and Bev finally gave up on trying get Blue Eyes to work properly and retired her. We really needed more than the phone apps to keep me out of trouble on the road. Well RM got its first test on our first night on the road. We needed a place to stop over so she located a Cracker Barrel in nearby Pooler GA and took us there flawlessly.  We have stayed at highway rest areas (not always possible) truck stops (noisy) Walmarts (crowded but ok- especially if we need some provisions) and on the side of the road (not really a good idea.) But we had never spent the night at Cracker Barrel.   It exceed our expectations.  Easy in and easy out, only 2 other rigs there.  So we parked in the back, quiet and shaded and even got free WI-FI from the Quality Inn next door!  Not to mention, she cooked us a good breakfast early in the morning before hit the road again.