9/27/2017 The Lower 48 Completed!

Posted on September 27, 2017 by rvrrat520

It took 5 years of full-timing, but we can finally say our wheels traveled through and came to a stop for at least one night’s stay in all of the lower 48 states of the union! And in all but 3 states we actually stayed in at least 1 RV campground/park. Kansas, Nebraska, and West Virginia were our park-less stops, but stops nonetheless with the help of some of the many options available for free, overnight stays. In these 5 years we have learned of several no-cost options for overnight stays during our travels, including but not limited to Walmart, Cracker Barrel, truck stops, some rest stops, Cabelas, Bass Pro, public lands such as BLM and National Forest lands, and occasional open field/private property that allows overnighters. Now, in that time and during these travels, we have seen a lot of beautiful sights nationwide, however we have only scratched the surface and there remains still much more to experience. How much more, on our part, remains to be seen, since we are starting to get the “settle down itch”. What that means – total “get off the road” to maybe becoming part-timers to remaining status quo, we just haven’t sorted the cards we have been dealt yet. But for now I’ll get back to current events.

Finished in Maine, it was time to head back west for some kids and grandkids time. It was not without some minor detours. When Jeanne’s sister Denise left us we told her we were gonna swing by on our way west to check on her in Branson, MO, (she recently lost her husband, Don.) So instead of a northern crossing we headed south. We did an overnighter at the Sturbridge, MA Walmart, then to an overnighter at a place called Aspen Family Campground in Candor, NY. Holy-Total-Pit Batman! This place was off a skinny road, with a skinny, back angled driveway which I BARELY made with the toad, then terrible rutted gravel uphill driveway. We were tired and did not feel like driving more, so we buckled and stayed here. The grass field we were put in was accessed through a tunnel of trees, then was not even close to level, and the sites were not delineated so you park any which way you like near the W/E post. The grass/mud was moist enough that when I tried to use my jacks, they just sunk into the grass/mud. So it was an unlevel, unrestful night’s sleep for us, never to return here again.

Next stop was the Luray KOA in Virginia. While here we took a drive along the Skyline Dr. in Shenandoah National Park and used this stop to take care of some business, car insurance business that is. Texas is a terrible state to have to insure your vehicles through if you are a full time RVer with the Escapees RV Club mailing address in Livingston. Our Jeep insurer, Nationwide, just notified us that the Jeep was going up $1,000 more this year, no tickets, accidents, nothing. After clearing the smoke out of our motorhome from what billowed out of my ears, Jeanne set off on yet ANOTHER insurance search. We ended up at Hartford through AARP (sometimes it’s nice to be an old fart) and got a $100 discount by just taking an online AARP Driver’s Safety course. The hunt continues for a break in our motorhome insurance, currently costing us $4,000 per year (just let that one soak in for a second, don’t say a word!)

Another Walmart overnighter in Hurricane, West Virginia, then it was on to Frankfort, KY and the Elkhorn Campground. While there Jeanne and I were able to finish out the Kentucky Brewgrass Trail (craft breweries in the area) and earned our official Brewgrass Trail T-shirts (sorry, no pic, they had to mail them to us and we haven’t gotten our mail yet.) We also made a visit to the Buffalo Trace Distillery this time around. It is not included in the official Kentucky Bourbon Trail or the Craft Distillery Trail, but it is on the trail. The distillery gives free tours and tastings and is quite picturesque. Also while here we started seeing these small painted rocks hidden around the park, we found 3. It seems there is a Facebook group called RVers Rock! who are the responsible culprits. The tops of the rocks are painted with anything the artist desires, then the backs have instructions printed to keep or rehide the rock, post pictures on the group’s FB feed, and frequently have the location/park of origin or state also included. This caught Jeanne’s curiosity/interest, so it looks like we will become artists now. Our 3 found rocks will also find new homes somewhere along our westward trail to California. You never know where you may find one, they can be anywhere. We will be sticking with hiding them in or around RV parks.

The playground and a pavilion at Elkhorn Campground.

Gotta love the RV lifestyle. For the couple of weeks prior to our Elkhorn stop we have been having more issues with our water heater. Our water only heated to tepid at best. We were putting off looking for a service center until I just blew a gasket (metaphorically speaking). I called Precision Temp and one of their people in the know helped me troubleshoot the issue, discovering the propane regulator was bad. Gasket #2 just went (another one of them there metaphors) since we had just replaced the piece of $h!t regulator last January. It seems somebody imported a buttload of bad regulators, probably from our friend China, this according to the Precision Temp guys. Anyways, on moving day our first stop was at Bluegrass RV in Lexington to get another regulator. The saving grace for the day was that on our way in for service we got treated to an nice sunrise, Kentucky style.

On the road with HOT water (!!!!Yippee!!!!), another Walmart, and into Branson, MO we rode. Denise hooked us up with a site at her camping club, Treasure Lake RV Resort, in downtown Branson. We had a nice stay visiting with Denise, Cedric, Savonna, Robert, Cooper, Brody, and Khloey (I probably mangled the spelling, sorry kid!). And we had HOT water the whole time!

Jeanne, Cedric, and Magnum enjoying coffee and cinnamon rolls…

Oh the joys of the RV lifestyle, volume 2. We have been having nothing but problems with our satellite reception since we switched DISH receivers to the Wally version up in Maine. Trying to figure out the cable and over-the-air reception has also been a disaster for quite some time. With (4) massive TV’s scattered throughout the motorhome, they never acquire the same channels from one TV to the other at any given stop. And to make matters worse, the jumble of wiring jammed into the small cabinet area is a nightmare trying to decipher. To add insult to injury, Woodrow Wilson (our K9 travel companion) has had one too many accidents on our small piece of carpet in the rig. It was becoming stained from all the shampooing Jeanne has had to do to clean up Woody’s indiscretions. So since we was in Missouri, another detour seemed in order, back to the east to our very favorite and happiest place on Earth…Red Bay, Alabama! (Insert mega-sarcasm here!) Home of Tiffin Motorhomes and the world famous Tiffin Service Center.

Which wire is it? That one, right there!

And the joys of the RV lifestyle are the gifts that keep on giving. So we are southbound out of Branson, heading for I-40 East. No sooner do we get out of town when my yellow check engine light starts going on and off, with the accompanying “ding, ding, ding” and the red “brake air” warning light flashing, the same time my gauges for the two air tanks go to zero. This goes on, intermittently, for about the next hour and a half. I have had issues with my warning lights and gauges since I got the motorhome 3 years ago. We have been to several Freightliner/Cummins shops, every time it occurs. It has gone unresolved from day one, but the audible alarms that go off drive me crazy. So this new occurrence was not surprising, but 90 minutes is a long time to worry if the bus would shut down at any time. The drivability during these episodes has never been affected. Add this problem to my Tiffin list, since Bay Diesel is just down the street.

We stayed at one of the off-campus campgrounds this time around (the service center was jam packed full). We got hooked up with Daniel Humphries, one of the “after-hours” techs who work on Tiffin products, to get new carpet (his specialty). While waiting we tried yet again to obtain full satellite reception. Our big gripe was we have never received high definition channels from the hi-def satellite, #129, since we switched to Wally. Still no hi-def, I did my usual call to DISH to try to resolve it. Gasket #3 went after another hour-long phone debate with the DISH techs and troubleshooting attempt. I hung up on DISH and we put a call into another after-hours tech for Tiffin products, Nick Brewer who specializes in the satellite/TV/electronics stuff. Nick took all of 1 minute and had me go into diagnostics, click one stinking button, and BOOM! I got satellite #129 and all the hi-def I could want. I guess the DISH techs were playing hooky the day they taught that in tech school.

While waiting/dealing with the cable/over-the-air issues, as well as a try to get in at Bay Diesel, we decided to poke our heads in and say howdy to Marion who is the tech in Bay #2, he has done work for us in the past. We also stopped in at the Tiffin parts store for a couple of things and Jeanne blurts out “Dave & Diane!” In the flesh, we see Dave and Diane (Dave writes his blog “Dave & Diane throwing caution to the wind”). Theirs was one of the first full timer blogs Jeanne started following way back in the beginning. And in the small world of RV traveling, we have run into them 3 times now; at the SKP park Jojoba Hills, CA, in the desert boondocking in Quartzsite, AZ, and now at the “real” happiest place on Earth in Red Bay. We chatted briefly and vowed to get together to swap stories, but regretfully we were not there long enough to make it happen.

Well, we got the carpet and hi-def issues resolved during this run to Red Bay. The diesel shop could not get us in for the dash light issue and Daniel tightened up some connections but it did not resolve the cable/air issues for TV. So it was back to the road, westward ho again. We had been watching weather and noticed the North and Northwest were starting to take on snow. That made the decision on routes easy, I-40 it was. A plus with this decision was there are numerous Freightliner shops along I-40 and I was intent on getting my dash light issue fixed once and for all. I settled on the Premier Truck Group Freightliner Service Center in Amarillo, TX. Last December I had been to the same company at their Dallas, TX shop for the same issue. The overall experience, especially this current one, has eroded any faith or trust in Freightliner as a company. Besides having to waste 3 full days, getting NO resolution, and having to pay out of my pocket for the issue which should have been fully covered under the original warranty, I got to listen to numerous truckers bad-mouth and complain about Freightliner’s terrible customer service practices. I was so full of piss and vinegar that I wrote a lengthy letter to Freightliner, with a copy to Bob Tiffin.

Anger set aside, breathing deeply, chanting in a meditative state, we continue our trek westbound, a couple of days out of California. And soon, well, take a look for yourself…

Until next post…

6/11/2015 Atlantic Ocean to Pacific Ocean in 7 days

Posted on June 11, 2015 by rvrrat520

We did an overnighter at a COE campground, Rudd’s Creek campground near Boydton, VA. This was a nice campground, sites spacious and semi-private hidden amongst the trees and brush, right on the banks of the John H. Kerr Reservoir. It was a bit pricey as far as typical COE’s go, $26 per night but with full hookups.

Eastbound and down, we arrived at Virginia Beach. Our first stop was the North Landing Beach Campground just 40 minutes from downtown and the main beach area. This was an RV “resort” that was undergoing massive construction, non-stop dump trucks full of dirt for fill along the waterline all day long. The sites for RV’s were not well maintained, with knee-high weeds growing through the gravel/dirt, terrible knuckle-busting access to the water spigot that was in-ground, and the sewer hookup was too high off the ground for gravity dumping. Nevertheless, we stayed here for a couple of days to check out Virginia Beach. Very nice beach area, nice boardwalk, but the military aviation traffic is all day long, with fighter jets, some solo and some in groups, taking off from the nearby base creating a deafening jet noise. I’m not sure how the residents of the area maintain their hearing, the jet noise is so constant and loud.

After nearly going deaf, we headed up to Williamsburg/Jamestown/Yorktown to hang out in the middle of some of the Revolutionary War historical areas. Somehow, just standing in the different historical areas is an awesome experience. All the old buildings, monuments, gravesites, and an on-going archaeological on-site dig stir up all kinds of thoughts about our past, how things turned out, what-if’s had circumstances been different, etc. It all makes one’s head swirl… We stayed at a really nice Christian campground called the Williamsburg Christian Retreat Center in Toano, VA. This was a Passport America park, at $15 per night, for full hookups set amid a thick tree stand, so don’t hold out for any satellite reception here.

The Governor’s Mansion at Williamsburg, from days gone by…

Sadly, while here in Toano, I got the call from my sister that my mother had a stroke back in Sacramento, CA. She has had a couple of prior TIA incidents, but this one was a full on stroke. We terminated our stay here and headed directly across country (2,800+ miles worth) to return to Sacramento. We traveled about 400 miles per day until our return. That was a bit tough on the nerves, we caught Hwy. 80 in Iowa and rode it in, staying at several Cracker Barrel restaurants, WalMarts, and the Cabela’s in Boomtown along the way, with an occasional park for hookups mixed in for laundry. I say, if you have not tried Cracker Barrel for free overnighters, it is worth a shot. If you take your significant other out to dinner there, you can plan on a meal for 2 & the dry-camping overnight space for about $30, not a bad deal at all. They even have a free map of all the Cracker Barrel locations nationwide, ALL of them allow free RV overnighting (just make sure you do not ruin it for others by abusing this privelege—no slides, no jacks, no set up of any kind, be “drive-ready” at all times, and for Pete’s sake, CLEAN UP after your pets!) This goes for any and all other business establishments that allow RV overnighters. And a little hint for Cabela’s-they post signs all over the truck/RV parking areas (“No Overnight Parking”). They DO allow overnight parking, just go inside and talk to the manager or customer service person. They may request you pay a $5 overnight fee, or if you happen to need to buy anything in the store, just show your receipt and you are in for the night. These overnight stops are real handy for we who need to cover a lot of distance in a short time.

We got to Sacramento as my mother was just finishing up at the rehab hospital in Roseville. She recovered pretty well, with her main issue now being her speech. I got her settled in back at her house and she immediately got back into her usual routines, mobility not being an issue. We stayed with her for a little over a week, then hit the road again leaving the job of overseeing her recovery to my sister who also lives in Sacto.

Our next order of business is to pay a visit to the Gladiator, our grandson Maximus in Santa Rosa. From there, we just aren’t sure of which way we will be heading…

5/11/2015 Yes, Virginia, there ARE recreational wanderers!

Posted on May 11, 2015 by rvrrat520

Custom Paint and Auto Body, owner Bruce Deaton, is the place to get body work done on your rig when in or around Red Bay, AL. Absolute best folks you could meet, quality work gets done quickly (despite most of the area running on “Alabama time”). And there were 4 families/customers there at the time we were there, all living in their rigs for the days they were there at the shop. We set up chairs in front of the roll-up doors of the shop and had covert happy-hours after shop hours (work starts at 0500 hrs. and ends promptly at 1400 hrs.), covert because we were in a dry county and did not wish to become guests of the local Gray Bar Motel. The locals drove by all night, probably wondering about us goofy touristas just hanging out in front of Deaton’s place.

With some of our new friends Steve and Christy, Harry and Kathy, at Deaton’s RV Resort and Auto Body Shop in Red Bay, AL. The locals think we are all nuts…Bruce Deaton, you are the best!

Work at the Tiffin Service Center went well. Marion in Bay #2 took good care of us and I would recommend anyone going for service to ask for Marion specifically. He is another one of their techs who other techs seem to go to for assistance or to pick his brain for a problem. We were out in 3 weeks, but could have cut that in half but for the body shop work that hindered us from getting into a bay within 10 days. The weather was good while we were in Red Bay, but we did no repeat sightseeing while there, so we were glad to hit the road.

We made our way to Woodville, AL for a couple of nights at the Parnell Creek RV Park. This park was right on Hwy. 72. It was OK for a brief stopover, not spectacular by any means. The gravel inner roads and sites were fairly newly laid, still a bit mushy for 30,000+ lbs. of fiberglass and steel to be rolling/parking on. The park actually had a funky small cabin used as a “fitness and tanning center” (had I think 1 weight machine and one small room for tanning). Must be a destination for the Hollywood elite…

For that hoity-toity lifestyle in Woodville, AL.

There were basically 2 local attractions to see here near Woodville. The Cathedral Caverns ran paid tours underground through the cave. It was a so-so cavern, as far as caverns go. No tight spaces, a few interesting formations to see, and it felt a bit “commercialized” to me; several of the inner “pools” appeared man-made, lined with visquine. I would not recommend this place as a must-see as it is a bit pricey.

The second “attraction” the campground owner recommended was the Unclaimed Baggage store in nearby Scottsboro, AL. We went and found it and I had to giggle. It is a large warehouse type store with racks and racks of items that are actually unclaimed baggage from various transportation venues that this company buys up, spruces up, then sells to the public. They have for sale, and on display some unique items that have gone unclaimed, such as a set of something that looked to be tribal warrior chest plates, and what I thought must be the world’s largest stand-up paddle board. I mean, who could go and forget to claim this stuff?!?

Done with Woodville, AL, we were off to Chattanooga, TN. We surfed the net for places to stay, and picked the Chattanooga/Cleveland KOA North because they claimed to be near the sights in and around Chattanooga. We found out otherwise when we arrived and discovered the park was at least 30 minutes from the central Chattanooga area. The road to and driveway into the park is very tight for our 40’ + toad. Then when I asked the camp host clerk if I should disconnect before we proceeded to the assigned site, he said no, it was not necessary. Wrong answer. I barely made a couple of the turns, spewing a good portion of my extensive 4-letter vocabulary as I went. But our site was gravel, level, clear from the trees, and otherwise a good site.

Home sweet home at the Chattanooga/Cleveland KOA.

While in the Chattanooga area we took in some of Lookout Mountain, including Rock City and Point Park. Point Park had some spectacular views of the valley and river below some of the gun placements that were situated as they would have been during the Civil War.

One of the batteries at Point Park overlooking downtown Chattanooga.

Rock City is the brain child of a German couple who found this unique area of land formations and rocks to be like a pattern of city streets and alleys cut through the rock. They scattered quite a few gnome carvings and scenes throughout the rocky area, and the end is a walk through a “cave” with scenes from various Mother Goose fairy tales that are painted in bright fluorescents and lit up with black light. At one viewing platform they have the “Seven States Flag Court”, where it is purported you can see, on a clear day, the seven states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama.

Take a walk through the Needle’s Eye at Rock City.

We also visited the Chickamauga Battlefield. This was a self-driving tour through the battlefield area with hundreds of monuments, memorials, and cannons set up at actual locations from the Civil War. Very awesome to be in the middle of all of this history and reflect on what it was all about at that time and wonder where the heck did our country disappear to today? Career politicians and liberals are destroying us from within…

One of the many fields at the Chickamauga Battlefield…

Enough of Chattanooga, onward to the area of Limestone, TN and the Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park. The road to get into this park was a real nail-biter, especially as we approached a couple of outgoing 5th wheels. But we made it unscathed. The camp host was very friendly and set us up in a nice, open, level pull through site. The park is right on the Nolichucky River, with a replica of the cabin Davy Crockett was born in and a large swimming pool complex (must be a hangout for local families during the summer, it is fenced, gated, and they charge admission). During our three days stay here, we ventured into nearby Greenville. This is not a huge town, but it does have contemporary shopping facilities and what has become our new standard of measure, they have a Walmart. We did dine at a restaurant called Fatz, and it was very tasty, our server treated us very well. We happened to sneak in just early enough, when we left it was SRO waiting to get in. Jonesborough is heralded as the oldest town in Tennessee, so we just HAD to go see. We stopped at the visitor’s center and picked up a walking tour map, then meandered around downtown on our own, taking in the old historic buildings, many of which are still in use. Quaint town, LOTS of churches.

Next stop–Bristol, TN/VA. We stayed at the Shadrack Campground, a Passport America participant. The campground is just a couple of miles from the Bristol Motor Speedway, and I imagine it would be jam packed during all the NASCAR and NHRA events during the seasons. The sites are gravel with grass, level, open, and the park is surrounded by a creek that tends to flood when it downpours. And there are families of groundhogs that inhabit large burrows near the creek.

We took a drive on a small piece of the Blue Ridge Parkway along the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the town of Blowing Rock. We wanted to see what THE Blowing Rock was all about, so we paid the admission fee, I think it was about $7 each, and took a close up look at it. Wow, talk about anti-climactic, way not worth the admission fee, I don’t suggest anyone waste their money or time on this one. A rock jutting out from the cliff, supposedly winds blow up from below full time, but not a puff of breeze while we were there. It did give us a nice view of the mountains and valleys, but not enough to justify charging admission. While on that drive we also went to Grandfather Mountain, but that also involved an admission fee, this time I think it was $20 each. And from what I could gather from info at the visitor center, the view would be the gardens and a suspension walking bridge. Not worth my time or money I’m afraid…

One other sightseeing outing took us to the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, VA. Unfortunately it was a Friday, and they only do their concerts on Saturdays. The Carters are considered the First Family of country music and they have been doing Saturday concerts of country/bluegrass here since 1953. No electrical instruments are used, strictly old style with the only exceptions being when Johnny Cash or Marty Stuart played concerts here. It is hard to imagine Johnny Cash playing a concert out here in the middle of NOWHERE!

The A.P. Carter cabin, relocated to here in Hiltons.

Hillsville, VA is our current stop, at the Lake Ridge RV Resort. The “resort” is seriously off the beaten path and is a Passport America participant. Even so, it is still way overpriced for what it is. The upper sites are for resort “owners”, those that actually buy their lots and the lower loop is for transient campers like us. The lower loop is gravel/dirt with pull through sites that have full hookups. At a quick glance the sites appear level, but I quickly found out they are anything but level. It took me 3 sites until I could find it somewhat level enough so that the MH auto-leveling system would not go to “excessive slope” mode. The sewer hookup connectors were way too high off the ground for a successful gravity action dumping system. And to top off my sour mood once we relocated to a spot we could get level on, we find the water spigot wound with duct tape and when turned on, we got some fountain action. Unwilling to try to find another close to level spot, I just filled my fresh tank from the fountain, flooding the dirt and grass area as I did so, and used the on-board water for our stay. There was not much to see here in this area, but we did manage to find an excellent eating establishment, Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant, in “downtown” Hillsville. We had the fajitas for 2 with a couple of the mandatory margaritas and both were outstanding.

But now, it is time to head eastbound and down, forging ahead toward Virginia Beach and points North. We’ll catch you on the flipside…

Road Trippin', Watkins Style

Prowled county roads for a living, prowling country roads in retirement!

Category Archives: Virginia

9/27/2017 The Lower 48 Completed!

6/11/2015 Atlantic Ocean to Pacific Ocean in 7 days

5/11/2015 Yes, Virginia, there ARE recreational wanderers!