Florida to S. Carolina to N. Carolina

Our last day and night in Florida was full again. Visiting old friends, meeting new friends, watching a rocket launch (!) and then the evening collapse into bed. Our good intentions of getting on the road by 9:30 am went straight out the window as our very chatty RV neighbor shared all sorts of tips and hints about RV living. And then as I was about to pull forward out of our parking spot, she ran over to share just one last tidbit of information.

It was much less stressful driving this time. Everything was a bit more familiar and and we were keen to get ourselves up to our reserved spot in South Carolina. Of course, to continue with the baptism by fire theme, the heavens opened in a deluge of rain. We pulled over into a truck stop and waited out the worst of it, had a snack while waiting, because you know…kitchen right there… and then got back on the road. Eventually we were driving in the dark and the rain.

It was around 4:30 pm, when with a final push of desperation, Dennis was able to get the bluetooth working on the radio, and viola, we had music! Up until then there was the rumbling of the engine and the road, and with every big bump, the wild creaking of the motorhome, sounding like it was about to fall apart. (Charlie has some serious adjusting ahead of him.) Anyway, back to the music…yes, there was singing and waving of arms, as we rocked our way along I95 singing “Highway to Hell”.

We arrived at the campground after the office had closed and found a note from management with directions to our site. We got ourselves set up in a few minutes and then enjoyed dinner. We spent the rest of the evening doing what we had intended to do in Florida…getting familiar with how things worked in the RV….generator, other radio…and in the wee hours of a very chilly morning, the heating. We found that the bedroom radio has two zones. One plays on the outdoor speakers, one in the bedroom. We unintentionally shared the outdoor speaker discovery with everyone in the RV park. Hah! To keep things interesting we locked ourselves out of the bathroom. Dennis used a knife to unlock the door.

Today was a beautiful and clear blue sky kind of day. We headed for a campground in North Carolina, but first we had a stop to get Dora winterized. Temperatures below freezing mean we won’t be able to use the water system. We have detailed instructions plus anti-freeze for all the pipes, but decided that since it’s the first time to go through this process, we would have someone do it for us…I leaned over her shoulder and asked a lot of annoying questions, well, she seemed sort of annoyed. But we have experienced burst pipes in our home in Maine before, and we have no interest in experiencing that in the RV. Once Dora was winterized she became a glorified, mobile, heated tent. And off we went, after a very long 3 hour wait at the RV dealer.

Yet another long day ending in night time driving and pitching up after hours to find a note on the office door for us. We are thankfully parked very near the main building and the bathroom/showers. We are really enjoying the music, the string of Christmas lights, and this new mobile home. Tomorrow we head for Maryland where we will stay in a hotel for the night.