Tag Archives: traveling

Daily thoughts, travel days

The Road to Bowling Green, OH

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It’s Monday morning and after a hectic Sunday (the day before leaving). My goal was to be on the road by 6am. I wanted to get out early since Monday rush hour traffic can be brutal. I pulled out of Big Rock campground at 550 and headed to I-88. The traffic wasn’t too bad and even I-355 was moving well.

Then it happened, the dreaded beeping noise which generally means the leveling jacks are not up or low on fluid. I knew the jacks were up so that left low fluid in the pump. The beeping can drive you nuts, so I thought since I was just traveling on 80 for a short time then getting off and traveling east on route 30, I would wait and stop. I got over at route 30 and found a shopping center with plenty of room to maneuver. At 7 am, it was empty. I stopped, figuring it would be a quick fix: just put a little fluid in and off I would go. And then…ut oh! I couldn’t find any fluid. Crap.

So I pulled out of the shopping center thinking, “I can find a truck stop on the way that has the fluid I need.” I couldn’t just pull into an auto parts store with a 40ft coach and towing the Xterra — I’m about 56 feet long.

Route 30 going east in Indiana isn’t as popular as I imagine it use to be. I finally saw a sign that said Hank’s Truck Stop: Best Fried Chicken in Indiana, 2 miles. Bingo! That’s the place. I pulled in and turned around, finding a nice spot in the gravel drive. I went inside, purchased some fluid and filled the pump tank up. WHEW! that’s done. I started up the coach and no beeping sound, what a relief. By now it was about 9:30 am and I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. So I started the generator and had me a breakfast sandwich, then walked Chloe.

Route 30 improves further east: not the rough road it was through IL and into Indiana. You can generally tell the repressed areas by their roads and buildings. They don’t have the money to fix the roads, so sometimes they are pretty rough.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. In fact it was a pleasant drive. I had called the fair grounds to let them know what time I would be in. We pulled into the fair grounds about 3 or so. Right on cue one of the maintenance guys met me. I was getting ready to unhook the truck. He said we are going to park you over here behind the grandstands this year on the blacktop.

image of motorhome park at the fairgrounds
Where I parked at the fairgrounds

So I followed him to the spot they wanted me in and started to setup.

image looking out of the front of motorhome at the fairgrounds
Looking towards the front at the fairgrounds
image of motorhome parked at the fair grounds
Looking from the grandstands at the fairgrounds
image of the grandstands at the fairgrounds
Parked near the grandstands.

 

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Daily thoughts

Final day at Big Rock!

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Today is Sunday and originally I had planned to leave today. But sometimes the list of prep work is so long that it can not be accomplished in one day. Or rather I did a little procrastination. The day was filled with putting things away and taking some things to storage which do not go with me during the winter. My mind was filled with thoughts of what needs to be done and what can wait till another day.

The last day at Big Rock is always a sad day. I will miss my fellow employees, Anthony the ranger who was in charge of the park. Also the campers. Camping is such a diverse group of people, young couples, families, weekend campers and full timers. Working here for two years, you get to know some of the regular campers. Yes during the winter months I miss them. But I know the new season is coming and they will be back.

Over the last two years I became friends with one camper in particular. He and his family are great people. He sets up a huge kitchen for his family and cooks his heart out every weekend they come out. From BBQ grills to Ronco rotisserie cookers he has it all in his kitchen. Sometimes I would just stop by when I was working and he would always offer me something to eat. I can tell you all of his food is great.

One weekend George came in on a Thurs night to start setting up as sometimes he did. He said to me I have something for you. I said what did I do to deserve this? He said just because of how you treat me and my family. He gave me a Ronco rotisserie image of ronco rotisseriecooker! I was blown away by his kindness. So look for some articles about me using the famous Ronco!

 

 

Getting back to the last day, George had invited us for dinner. It was hard to say no to a friend. So I told him I didn’t know when as we had to run to storage to put stuff in there. We ended up having dinner about 9 and George cooked steaks on the grill with a rice dish that was out of this world good. My steak was cooked to perfection! We chatted with them for a bit then it was back to work.

I pulled the coach out so I could get the truck hooked up and then when I left in the morning it would be ready to go. Just one more thing that doesn’t have to be done.

There was so much more that happened on the “last day” but I think I have rambled on enough.
Thanks for stopping by!

Look for the Ronco posts, because I am so excited about cooking in the “set it and forget it” cooker!

Richard

travel days, travel plans

Our (Loose) Plans for Now

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Richard and I try to remain flexible on the road, but we do like to make some sort of rough road map for at least the next couple of weeks or so. But these are not set in stone. Things change: weather, health, constitution, roads, the budget, etc.

Being able to be flexible is one of the most important skills I think full-timers can have. It’s not necessarily my strong suit, because I am a planner at heart, but it is a skill I would like to develop. I knew this lifestyle would help in that development. I’ve recently (like in the past year) adopted a more optimistic attitude.

“It will work out,” comes to my lips now without even having to try, because I know from experience that it will. Will it always work out the way I planned? No. Will it always work out the way I’d prefer? No. But life continues, and it does work itself out.

I didn’t always have this attitude. It was something I had to work to gain. I faked it for a long time before it became instinct. When something seemed challenging, or in danger of “not working out” I forced myself to take a breath, and say,

It will work out.

And low and behold! It worked out. Often better than I’d wanted, or in a way totally unexpected than I’d planned. But because I had accepted that life works out, one way or another, I didn’t find it unbearable when it worked out in a, shall we say, less pleasant fashion then I’d planned.

Are things always hunky-dory? Nope. But without a doubt, even when things worked out not so well, things still worked out. The key for me was taking away the unspoken valuation on the phrase, “it will work out.” Before, I attached a positive value to the phrase. So when I said, “I hope this works out,” what I really was saying “I hope this works out to my advantage.”
Our friend from RVillage, Peter, expresses a similar concept in his blog, Life Unscripted:

I suspect we all say things we mean in part, but don’t mean absolutely. There is a portion of travel I tire of; there is a flavor in hazelnut that I dislike; I don’t like the tingling sensation I get in my fingers when I’m in extreme cold. — We all say we don’t like things with an emphasis on specific characteristics.

And I think these characteristic valuations go unspoken but not unexpected.

Now I merely say, “It will work out,” secure in the knowledge that life will work out one way or the other, ether to my advantage or not. But one thing is certain, life goes on, and life going on isn’t anything that I can’t stand, since if I’m alive, I’m clearly standing life.

So, here’s the (loose) schedule for our next few days:

Travel Data

  • Traveled 240 miles in 5.1 hours from Fort Payne, MS to Marion, MS
  • Used 26.4 gallons of diesel at an average of 9 mpg
  • Cost of one night (averaged between one night with Passport America discount applied and one night with FMCA discount applied) at Benchmark Coach and RV Park $26 (averaged, with tax)