While our visit to SC was fantastic we planned on rolling North to visit family and our original plan was to cut across Tennessee to visit a cousin. We still haven't added our Tennessee sticker to our map so it would have been a double whammy. While still visiting with our SC friends we mentioned our plans and discovered that the route we were considering had be riddled with issues from the recent flooding. This meant that we had to reconsider this move and we ultimately decided to head North heading up I 75 but had two options. One, we could go up I-77 to Ohio and cut East, or go up I-81 through Virginia. We chose the Virginia route thinking we would stop of in the Shenandoah National Park and check out the area. Unfortunately the park was closed until the beginning of April because of damage from heavy snow fall. In the end we stopped at a Camping World/Gander Mountain in VA over night and drove the rest of the way to my mom's in PA. It was truly delightful to roll in Sunday afternoon and surprise my mom. She kept saying. "I didn't know you were coming today." We said we didn't know either.
While visiting Columbia we not only enjoyed the park, we found some of our favorite eateries were still open. The Flight Deck in Lexington SC was just as wonderful and the food just as delicious as when we lived there before. They have the best ever onion rings and honey mustard made on the spot. They say you can never go home again but for that lunch it was 1997 all over again. The owner even stopped by and remembered us. Other things had changed a good deal though and the church we once attended in a school gym now has it's own wonderful building. It was great to see the fruits of hard labor come about at Sandhills Community Church.
From Columbia we made our way slightly north again to visit a friend and do a little bit of driveway surfing. The 'beastie' as I've started calling our motor home handled like a dream for my everyday hero and he backed it down the drive giving us a lovely two day stay with my friend. While visiting Fort Mill another exciting event was brunching with the lovely Caroline Lee, sweet Princess Wiggles, and the delightful Amy Carter Loudermilk. Being accompanied by our husbands made the outing just perfect. After our bookish brunch, the everyday hero and I headed off to the Wycliff ABC museum. It was fascinating to follow the development of written language.
While our visit to SC was fantastic we planned on rolling North to visit family and our original plan was to cut across Tennessee to visit a cousin. We still haven't added our Tennessee sticker to our map so it would have been a double whammy. While still visiting with our SC friends we mentioned our plans and discovered that the route we were considering had be riddled with issues from the recent flooding. This meant that we had to reconsider this move and we ultimately decided to head North heading up I 75 but had two options. One, we could go up I-77 to Ohio and cut East, or two go up I-81 through Virginia.
We chose the Virginia route thinking we would stop of in the Shenandoah National Park and check out the area. Unfortunately the park was closed until the beginning of April because of damage from heavy snow fall. In the end we stopped at a Camping World/Gander Mountain in VA over night and drove the rest of the way to my mom's in PA the next day. It was truly delightful to roll in Sunday afternoon and surprise my mom. She kept saying. "I didn't know you were coming today." We said we didn't know either.
So I guess the whole purpose of this blog is to say sometimes you just have to roll with it.
Living full time in an RV is never boring. There is always something going on, something new to see, or some modification to be worked out. No matter where we go we need to be able to adjust to the new Leaving Florida which was quickly headed for summer weather and heading north meant we
experienced spring all over again in SC. Getting to Pennsylvania we discovered that winter was still willing to give us bit of snow. Fortunately, with temperatures below freezing on many nights we were prepared. Not only is the underbelly of the beastie closed it is heated to some extent. We also stopped and bought reflectics foil for all of the windows and covered them up to keep heat in. Over all we've maintained a toasty 67 degrees every night. I hope this is good practice for heading further north in the near future.
There is a great deal of freedom for the open road but freedom of the open road often means that sometimes you need to be flexible, look at your options and just roll on.
What's next? We have plans but we'll have to see if they really happen.
See you soon.