I think the old Willy Nelson song with the above title must be the theme song for fulltime RVers, and I bet a lot of us hum or sing it to ourselves when we pull out of a campground. It sure brought a smile to my face to do so yesterday morning!

It was 19 degrees at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington when I fired up the Winnebago and pulled out of our campsite. After a quick stop at the dump station to empty our holding tanks, we were on the road by 9:15 a.m. We usually wait until rush hour is over before we leave in the morning because we can’t see any reason to get out there with all the commuters on their way to work.

We took the Bluegrass Parkway southwest 90 miles to Elizabethtown, where we got onto Interstate 65. All along the way the rock faces, where the route was carved through the mountains, were covered with long icicles that looked like stalactites found in Kentucky’s many caves in this region. They call this area Cave Country, and it’s one of our favorite places, but not this time of year. We’ll be back sometime when it’s warm.

As we traveled south, eighteen wheelers and RVs going by us from places further north occasionally showered the highway with great sheets of snow and ice that slid off their roofs and exploded into white bursts as they hit the pavement. I guess we’re not the only ones in a hurry to get out of the cold!

I wrote about how much I hate driving through Nashville when I reported on our trip north, and several people suggested we take the State Route 155, known as the Briley Parkway, as a bypass. We had been on this stretch of road several years ago while it was under construction and were faced with long delays. This time around there was no construction, and though there was a lot of traffic, it moved along pretty well as we skirted the east side of Music City, passing by the Grand Ole Opry, where I imagine Willy Nelson has sung On The Road Again.

We made good time as we scooted across Tennessee, then crossed into Alabama. Rain had been predicted for much of our route south, and a few miles north of Birmingham it began to sprinkle, then picked up to a steady shower. Roadways are most dangerous just after it begins to rain, because all of the oil and road film gets wet and very slippery until it rains enough to wash it away. This is a very dangerous time to be using either a Jake brake or cruise control. We slowed down to a safe speed on the wet road and continued into Birmingham, another city I really don’t like driving through. There was a lot of road construction, with narrow twisting lanes, and the drivers all seemed to be in a hurry to be the first one to the accident.

The sky had been gloomy since we left Nashville, and as the afternoon wore on, it got darker and darker. By the time we were approaching Montgomery, it was pouring rain and visibility was dropping fast. Time to get off the highway. We pulled into the Prattville Moose Lodge, about ten miles north of Montgomery, and just a mile off the Interstate.

The lodge has a small campground for traveling Moose members, with a dozen sites with water and 30 amp electric hookups. We stayed here once before, in dry weather, but I wanted to test the dirt RV parking area before we pulled into it with our heavy motorhome. It was pretty saturated, and we decided instead to pull around behind the lodge and park on the edge of the driveway. There are no hookups back here, but that’s not a problem for us, with our Onan generator and fresh water holding tank.

We had covered 490 miles, and that was more than enough for one day. It’s chilly here, about 42 degrees overnight. But since that was about twice what we had the night before, and four times what we faced in Elkhart, nobody in our coach was complaining!

Today we have an easy run of about 185 miles to the Escapees Rainbow Plantation RV Park in Summerdale. It will be nice to be back with our extended family of RVers for a while.

Thought For The Day – Love your neighbor, but do not pull down your fence.

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The title of today’s blog pretty much sums up how I have felt for the last two days. All the while we were driving north toward Indiana, we were passing RVs going in the other direction. In the past, when we have been the southbound RV and we have spotted rigs going north late in the year, I always told Miss Terry “That dummy’s got it all wrong. He should be headed south like us.” Well, this year I am that dummy!

After spending the night at the Tennessean Truck Stop, we woke up early yesterday morning and were back on Interstate 65 a little after 8 a.m. I never like driving through Nashville, and this trip was no exception. The traffic was terrible, and on the north side of town we saw a UPS tractor trailer rig towing tandem that had rolled onto the drivers’ side. I sure hope nobody got hurt in the accident.

As we passed Bowling Green, Kentucky, where we taught for Life on Wheels so many times at Western Kentucky University, we reminisced about all of the good times we had there. The schedule was a real grind, but we miss all of our other instructor friends, and interacting with the students.

About 50 miles north of Bowling Green we hit a rough spot in the road, and suddenly a loud beeping noise startled us. Terry grabbed the PressurePro tire monitor control, sure we had blown a tire. But she quickly realized what we were hearing was our “Jacks Down” alert, and the red light was flashing on the dashboard. I pulled off the road and into a truck stop and turned on the HWH system. It showed our left rear jack was down. I checked to be sure that all of our automatic leveling jacks were in the travel position, then hit the Store button and the alarm went off. I guess when we hit the rough pavement, it jolted the system enough to give a false signal.

Back on the road, we continued north through Louisville, where traffic wasn’t as bad as I expected, then crossed the Ohio River into Indiana. We stopped for fuel at the Flying J in Whiteland, a few miles south of Indianapolis, and I was disappointed that the sign on the highway said diesel was $2.69 a gallon, but a sign at the pump said it was $2.83. What’s that about?

We circled Indianapolis on the Interstate 465 bypass, and got on U.S. Highway 31 northbound. We have driven this route so many times that I could do it blindfolded.

Blindfolded maybe, but not in the dark. My night vision sucks, so about 100 miles out of Elkhart, the sun was getting low in the sky, and Miss Terry took the wheel and drove the rest of the way. She test drove our Winnebago before we bought it, but this was her first time to drive it on the highway, and she did just fine, as I knew she would. I have been putting off letting her drive, because I was afraid that once she got a feel for the big Cummins diesel engine, she might never let me behind the wheel again! And I think I was right!

We are big believers in both people in an RV knowing how to drive it. While I do the great majority of the driving in our coach, it is an extra measure of safety knowing that Terry can take the wheel whenever necessary if I get sick, tired, run out of daylight, or just need a break.

We arrived at Duncan RV Repair in Elkhart about 6:30 p.m. local time, with just over 500 miles behind us this driving day, and 900 miles total in two days. That’s a lot of driving!

Duncan RV has several 30 amp RV hookups available, and can do any type of RV service or repair, from simple tune-ups to body work and refurbishing. Our regular hangout here, Elkhart Campground, is closed for the season, so we’ll be staying here while we wrap up our business with the bus buyer. We also have an appointment to have Duncan do some work on our motorhome while we’re here, killing two birds with one stone. Or at least in one trip.              

Thought For The Day – Was learning cursive really necessary?

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In a blog a few days ago, I wrote about the dumb mistakes all of us RVers make from time to time, no matter how long we’ve been at it. Just to reinforce that message, let me tell you about my latest blunder.

I was getting the motorhome unhooked and ready to hit the road yesterday morning, and since we might be overnight in a parking lot or two on our trip north to Indiana, I was filling our fresh water tank. Normally we only carry about 1/3 of a tank full of water, to keep our weight down, but when we know we might need it, we fill up.

After the water tank was full, I moved the knob in our Winnebago’s utility bay from the Fill Tank position back to the normal position that we use when in a campground with a water hookup. Then I reached over and slid the brass collar free on our Quick Connect fitting that connects the hose to the motorhome, never bothering to turn the water off at the campground outlet. Rainbow Plantation has darned good water pressure, which is a good thing, except on a chilly morning when you pull a stunt like that! I got a very cold shower before I could run over and turn the water off. Miss Terry got a real laugh out of that one! I’m glad one of us enjoyed it.   

We wanted to get an early start yesterday, but leaving an Escapees campground is never a quick thing. There are too many folks to say goodbye to! Dutch and Di Irrgang were parked a couple of sites down from us, and we stopped to see the complete re-do they had done on their beautiful Carriage fifth wheel. Dutch said they had been considering buying a new fiver, but they liked the floor plan of their present one so much that they had it remodeled for a whole lot less than the cost of a new rig. It came out great, and we were really impressed.

Between saying goodbye to several people and checking out at the campground office, it was 10 a.m. when we finally pulled out. We had an easy run north on State Route 59 to the junction with Interstate 65 at Bay Minette, and then took 65 on its path north across the state. We ran in a mixture that ranged from a light mist to showers until we got past Montgomery, with one stop for fuel at a Flying J. The Silverleaf and Miss Terry’s calculator agreed that we got 7.75 miles per gallon on our last tank of fuel.

Traffic began to get heavier as we approached Birmingham, and soon we were in a tangle of construction zones, kamikaze drivers in four wheelers, and truckers trying to dodge them as they merged without yielding,  and changed lanes without signaling. I don’t remember traffic in Birmingham being this hectic on past trips through the area, but after yesterday, I’m in no hurry to get back.

Once we were clear of Birmingham, we rolled north, making good time, and began to see blue sky above us, which was a welcome sight after the gloom we had been driving in.

By the time we crossed the Tennessee State Line it was late in the day and we were running out of time. It was getting pretty dark by 5:30 p.m., and though I had hoped to get past Nashville by the end of the day, it just wasn’t going to happen. We pulled into the Tennessean Truck Stop, about 60 miles south of Nashville, and parked way back in the furthest reaches of the lot, well away from the truckers. After a nice dinner in the truck stop restaurant, we returned to the motorhome, shivering all the way. The temperature had really dropped! We started the day wearing T-shirts, but walking back to the motorhome wearing a T-shirt, sweatshirt, and jacket, I was still cold! We fired up the Onan Quiet Diesel generator and turned on the heat pump to warm up the rig.  

Even with our late start, we covered 392 miles yesterday, and that’s a lot of driving in one day. Certainly much more than most RVers usually cover in a day. Usually 200 to 300 miles is a good day of driving in an RV, and gives you time to relax along the way, and get off the road and set up someplace early. But we’re not in a relaxed RV travel mode where we’re playing tourist, we’re in our “go fast” mode to get up to Elkhart and take care of our business up there. It’s too cold to play tourist!

Thought For The Day – Anger hurts you more than the person who upset you.

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Fulltime RVers always say that their plans are written in Jell-O, and that’s a good thing, because it gives us the flexibility to go with the flow. Even when the flow is taking us where we don’t want to go!

I have bad news, and good news, and more bad news to share with you. The first bad news is that we have had a change of plans and had to cut our Florida visit short. The good news is that we have received a deposit on our MCI bus conversion and soon it will have a brand new owner. The second bad news is that we have to meet him December 4^th in Elkhart, Indiana. Yes, Indiana in December! Can you say cold?

So yesterday we were out of bed at the ungodly hour of 7:30 a.m. and started preparing to leave The Great Outdoors in Titusville, Florida. I wanted to be on the road by 9 a.m., but we were low on propane, and nobody was going to be available at the resort’s propane station until 9. Okay, how long can it take to get propane? We’d be on the road by 9:15 at the latest. Yeah, right?

I unhooked our utilities while Miss Terry stowed things away inside the motorhome, plugged in our PressurePro tire monitoring system, and started to scan our tires when an alert started beeping, telling me that our right outside dual was low on air. How low, you ask? It was down to eighteen pounds pressure! That’s not a good thing!

Our Winnebago diesel motorhome has an onboard air compressor, and came with a coiled plastic air hose to fill tires and such. I had never used it, but I drug it out of one of our storage bays, only to discover that it was kinked and cracked in three or four places. Totally useless.

The Great Outdoors has its own RV service facility, Eagles Pride, which is conveniently located next door to the propane station. It was a short drive, and I knew I could get there okay with the second tire on that dual side carrying the weight. After taking on propane, which took longer than expected, I walked over to Eagles Pride and asked if they could air up the tire and take a look at it. They said no problem, pull it up in front of one of their service bays.

That’s when I discovered that I had locked the motorhome door and left the keys inside! This day was rapidly going downhill. Fortunately (for me, at least), I had left the sliding window open next to the driver’s seat. I boosted Miss Terry up, she slid the screen out of the way, and crawled inside to open the door.

Ever the optimist, I was hoping that I had burned up all my bad karma, and maybe the flat tire was because I had not screwed on the PressurePro sensor cap correctly and had accidentally allowed the air to seep  out.

No such luck, the tech at Eagles Pride found a bolt stuck in the tread of the tire. They are not set up to repair tires, so they recommended a shop in Cocoa, about twelve miles away. With the tire aired up, we drove to the shop and it took an hour or so for them to take off the tire, remove the bolt and make the repair.

Finally, we hit the road, and rolled north on Interstate 95. We pulled into the Flying J in Saint Augustine for fuel, and since it was almost 2 p.m., had a late lunch. We were back on the road by 2:30, continued north to Interstate 10, and turned west. We were so far behind schedule that I had given up any hope of putting too many miles behind us this driving day. But traffic was light and we scooted right along, making good time.

We don’t like to drive at night, but we pushed it as far as we could, and just as the last light was fading from the sky we pulled into the Flying J at Midway, Florida, just west of Tallahassee. They have several designated RV parking spaces in their parking lot, and we slid in between two other motorhomes and settled in for the night. Including our detour south to Cocoa to get the tire fixed, we had covered 330 miles, which was a good day of driving after all.

Today we’ll have an easy run of 225 miles to the Escapees Rainbow Plantation RV Park in Summerdale, Alabama. We plan to stay there until after Thanksgiving, and then we’ll have a straight shot north up Interstate 65 all the way to Indiana.

That’s assuming, of course, that there are no other last minute changes of plans or problems to get us sidetracked.

Thought For The Day – Plant yourself in good soil if you want to bloom.

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I met a man at Elkhart Campground a few years ago who told me he was unhappy in the RV lifestyle because he was bored. I suggested several things he might do to keep himself busy, and he pooh poohed every one of them; visit the RV Museum? No thanks, he wasn’t interested in looking at a bunch of old junk. Play golf? Nope, that was a rich man’s sport, not for him. Go fishing? Why go to all that trouble when you can buy a nice fish dinner in a restaurant? Build houses for Habitat for Humanity? Nobody ever built him a house, so why should he build someone else one?

It didn’t take long before a light bulb went off in my head and I asked him if he had been bored before he became an RVer. He told me yes, that was why he bought the motorhome in the first place.

In talking to him, I learned that he spent part of the summer and early fall parked at his brother’s farm in Pennsylvania; then he went to the same site, which he had reserved, at the same RV park in Florida for the winter. Then in the spring he drove to Elkhart for a few days before continuing on to his niece’s home in Wisconsin, where he stayed until it was time to go to Pennsylvania again. “I tell you, I know every inch of Interstate 95 between Pennsylvania and Florida, and Interstate 65 back up to Indiana,” he told me.  

“How about just for the hell of it, you take I-75 north or south this year,” I suggested. “You could stop in Clinton, Tennessee and check out the Museum of Appalachia. It’s really cool.”

He was shaking his head before I was halfway through my sentence. “Nope, that’s not on my route,” he said stubbornly. If I go off on a different route then what I’m used to, who knows what could happen?”

I wanted to tell him that one thing that might happen was he’d see some new country. Heck, he might even make a new memory or two! But I knew I was defeated, so I just gave up, told him to have a good life, and went on about my business, leaving him to his misery.

I’ve met a lot of RVers who, while they may not be as extreme as this fellow, are still stuck in a rut. They spend their summers in the same place and their winters at the same RV park in Florida, Texas, or Arizona. They tell me they have friends in their favorite campground in the Rio Grande Valley, or wherever they hang out, and they want to get back and spend time with them. I guess that’s okay if it works for them, but that’s just too much of the same old thing for me!

It’s an easy rut to fall into. We have our favorite places we enjoy returning to again and again, but we also go out of our way to visit new places too. Or at least to take a different route to wherever we’re going. And when a place gets too comfortable, we start asking ourselves if we need to look elsewhere.

We absolutely love the area around Aransas Pass and Rockport, on the Texas Gulf Coast, and last year we came across a good deal on a couple of RV lots down there that we seriously considered. But then we realized that buying them would be the first string that would tie us down. Why have the lots if we were not going to go there? But if we went there, what were we missing someplace else?

We didn’t get into the fulltime RV lifestyle to remain static. We wanted to see and do different things, new things. The familiar is comfortable, but it can also become suffocating if you allow it to be. We’re always looking for that new route we haven’t traveled yet, that new place we haven’t seen yet, and that new adventure we haven’t experienced yet.

Remember that the only difference between a rut and a grave is the length and depth.

Thought For The Day – Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.

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