2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 45

Day 45, Tuesday, December 3, 2024, Reed Bingham State Park, Adel, GA, Day 2 - 0 Miles, 2,250.5 Miles for the Trip 

I walked around both loops (.74 miles) then had breakfast. After breakfast I went through the internet speeds for both AT&T & Verizon for the rest for my stops. There are a few places that I'm staying for longer than 3 days that show slow or no internet. So, using that as an excuse, I called Best Buy in Valdosta, about a half hour drive from the campground. They did have a Starlink Mini in stock, so I ordered it. It sure is not going to save me any money with what I'm already paying to AT&T & Verizon since the phones are the highest cost.  I love their ads that show $45.00 per month, then in the small print "when you order 4 lines". The unlimited AT&T cell modem only cost $23.00 per month, and the Verizon 50GB per month modem cost is $17.  All I can really say is it is a way to be fairly sure I'll have a connection to the internet where ever I go. I'll admit it is also a toy.

Back at the campground I set it up & went through the registration process. A bit confusing, but I eventually got through it and paid for my first month's 50GB. I will need to come up with a way to DC power it. Some have had success running it on 12V, however the 120V power block puts out 30V, and from the on line suggestions from various users, going to a doubler to 3 amp, 24V is more reliable. I'll also need to get a storage case for it & the cable.

So, hopefully no more "posting in a couple of days".

It is up to 54°F at 3:00. Bright sun and little breeze so I sat outside for a bit. I only lasted half an hour; 54°F is just too cold.

A great looking tree with Spanish Moss a couple of sites away:

Neat Tree

I'm currently reading John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flats. I think I read it many years ago, but long enough that it feels new.

Dinner was a grilled peanut butter & cheese sandwich & a salad. If you try a grilled peanut butter & cheese sandwich, go easy on the peanut butter or it will be a mess. Tastes great!

Until Tomorrow - 

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 44

Day 44, Monday, December 2, 2024, Reed Bingham State Park, Adel, GA - 191.1 Miles, 2,250.5 Miles for the Trip 

I did a short walk around the campground, ate my "moving day" breakfast (yogurt & cottage cheese) unplugged the power to the trailer and headed out around 9:30. Most of the drive was on US & state 4 lane roads with a few sections of 2 lane with plenty of passing sections. Two stops along the way - a lightly stocked Walmart for a birthday card for Asher. Almost no Christmas cards; I'll have to check a bit further down the road. I also stopped at a Home Depot to see if they had a Starlink Mini in stock. Nope, on line only.

At registration they factored in my senior discount and refunded my credit card $20.92. I'm in site 37, which is in the 2nd loop. There is a Scamp 16 in the first loop, but not someone I know. Site 37 is a long full hook up site on gravel with a tent pad, picnic table, fire pit and double hanger. I'm not sure what is the official use of the pipe hanger thing with hooks; I've seen them used for lanterns, garbage, bird feeders, etc. Most of the area state parks have them. Anyhow, three nights at $39.56 per night. Level enough that I would not have needed to unhook, but because I'm here for 3 days I did anyway.

The Scamp 16

Me in Site 37

After setting up I walked around both loops. I checked the bathrooms - no or little heat in the each of the main bathrooms in both loops, but some warmth in the large handicapped rooms (2 in each bathroom with shower, toilet & sink). I decided to use the closest handicapped room for a shower. Plenty of hot water with a 2" diameter, low volume shower head (and a handheld shower I didn't use). One small hook and a fold down bench in the very large room with a sink with lots of room on both sides. While the water does run under the shower curtain, the room is large enough that there is plenty of floor area that stays dry. Overall, a B+. It would get an A if it was warmer. The shower head in the main bathroom was a large diameter standard one, but the room was just too cold to use.

AT&T would not give me a connection to the internet although is showed 2 bars & my phone works fine. Verizon shows 105.1Mbps down & 15.6Mbps up so I went with it. There is a Georgia NPR station on the FM radio.

While I have been complaining about the cold, I called my son in Oswego, and it was down to 23°F overnight and only in the 30's during the day. At least they didn't get any of the lake effect snow that hit the Buffalo area. Here it was 33°F at 7:00AM, and 56°F at 5:30. They are calling for a bit cooler tomorrow, then warming up over the rest of the week.

Dinner was a turkey on rye sandwich & succotash made by combining a small can of creamed corn & a small can of baby Lima beans. Tasted like the real thing, but next time I'll only add 1/2 a can of Lima beans to the mix.

Until Tomorrow - 

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 43

Day 43, Sunday, December 1, 2024, F. D. Roosevelt State Park, Pine Mountain, GA - 94.8 Miles, 2,059.4 Miles for the Trip

Not as cold last night. The low was 36°F. I packed up the trailer an headed out around 10:00. No interstates - most of the drive was on US431 in Alabama, then to Lagrange, GA and south to Pine Mountain & the park. There was the change to Eastern Standard Time as I crossed into Georgia. 

F. D. Roosevelt State Park is a large park with a restaurant, hundreds of campsites, lakes, etc. I'm in site 223, a water & electric site on gravel with a tent pad, picnic table & fire pit. With senior discount, $36.10 per night. I'm only here for one night and the site is level enough that I don't need to unhook. !/4" side to side & 1 1/2" up on the tongue. 

Site 223

I checked both AT&T & Verizon & AT&T looked good at 20.96Mbps down & 9.93Mbps up, so I went with it. First was going through 300 e-mails. I also posted a Happy Thanksgiving comment on one of my Blogger pages a little late because of not having internet over the last 6 days. I did some bills, and other on line stuff that I've been unable to do.

It made it up to 56°F by 4:00 with lots of sun. I didn't get outside to enjoy it; too much catching up on the laptop. 

I was hoping for a shower, however while there is one in the men's bathroom, and it looks to be a C or so, the bathroom is unheated and much colder than the outside air temperature. So, We will see what the next stop looks like.

Dinner was a Lean Cuisine Chicken Fajita Quesadilla.

Until Tomorrow? 

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 42

Day 42, Saturday, November 30, 2024, Cheaha State Park, Delta, AL, Day 6 - 0 Miles,1,964.6 Miles for the Trip

Another cold night. It didn't hit the predicted 27°F, but close at 28°F. Around 10:00 it finally warmed up to the point where the outside temperature was higher than that inside the refrigerator.

Lots of folks outside walking this morning. Late yesterday more tenters & RVs showed up - the campground is about 1/2 full. I checked my phone as I walked by the top of the ridge (where I get 1-2 bars of reception). 249 emails, none of which I can read.

I changed the sheets and after breakfast & coffee, headed to the laundry. The map shows two of them, the nearest at the motel. The laundry near the motel is a small room just large enough for one washer & 1 dryer. Maybe a 2' square space to stand in in front of them - no table or chair. I opted to head for the 2nd laundry, which is in the Cheaha Lake area. 3 washers & 3 dryers, $2.50 to wash ($3.00 if your want heavy duty) and $2.00 for the dryers. There is a decent sized folding table and one folding chair. It does have heat, in fact, too much.

Back at the campground, after putting away the laundry I ran the electric trimmer over my beard. I used the truck mirror to keep the leavings out of the trailer. A bit chilly at 43°F at 2:00 standing outside in a "T" shirt, but probably near the warm temperature for the day. At least this time I remembered to fold the mirror back to its driving position after I was done. I usually use the passenger side mirror, forget to fold it back, then don't discover it being out of position until on the road.

By the way, I had at least 1 bar of AT&T cell signal over most of the park, including at the laundromat. I'm in a hole here at site 17, and no signal. It doesn't matter all that much since even with 1-2 bars, texting or phone calls is all I can do. No data or downloadable email. I do know that I'm up to 266 unread emails...

Diner was, guess what? Turkey. About 1/2 the Thanksgiving turkey breast is gone. I doubt I'll eat it all before getting too tired of it.

I'll post this & the last 3 journals when I get a good cell signal & a place to stop.

Until The Next Internet Connection - 

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 41

 Day 41, Friday, November 29, 2024, Cheaha State Park, Delta, AL, Day 5 - 0 Miles,1,964.6 Miles for the Trip

The electric heater got a workout last night. Down to 33°F by morning. It was still cycling off & on, but set at 66°F it was on more than off. 

A little condensation problem along the sides of the bed, even with the Maxx fan on low. If I could learn how to not breath that would solve the problem. Of course if I made the bed up in the opposite direction that would put my head (and breath) out in the main area of the trailer rather than contained by 3 walls, but the lights, shelf, and cell phone cradle are all positioned for sleeping with ones head at the front of the trailer. 

A cool but sunny morning with a few small clouds. Again, a couple of RVs left while at least two arrived as well as a tenter. Still about 1/4 full. There are a couple of other tent campers still here. I remember tent camping in near freezing weather and don't miss those days at all.

After my morning walk wearing a knit hat & parka and listening to Michael Connelly's Resurrection Walk I ate breakfast, listened to Symphony Hall on XM Radio, drank coffee and read. Current book is Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher. It is slowly warming up - currently 36F at 10:30AM. I miss the desert where is still might go down to the low 30's overnight, but the bright sun & dry air warmed up things quickly.

After lunch I put away the water hose. While it did get up to 42°F, I suspect it will get much cooler overnight. I usually roll up the hose during the day before I leave rather than on the cold morning of departure; a day early won't hurt - plenty of water in the fresh water tank and I don't have a pile of dishes to wash.

I took a bag of garbage up to the dumpsters (the problem with using grocery bags for garbage is they are small so you need to make many trips, but I have a plastic stand that holds them and they are small enough to keep in the trailer aisle). At the dumpsters I discovered I had 2 bars of AT&T, so I tried a call to the Guidos. Got through & talked for a bit. While that was going on my phone let me know that I had 200 emails. It wouldn't let me read any of them, but did show the headers for each.

Back at the trailer I'm warming up my fingers; still a high today of 42°F. Putting away the water hose was a good idea. While connected at the dumpsters my weather app downloaded the week's temperatures for both Cheaha State Park & FD Roosevelt State Park (my next stop). Tomorrow morning is is suppose to be 27°F here with a high of 50°F, 30°F Sunday morning. Not all that much warmer at FDR. While Sunday's high is a balmy 55°F, I'm looking at 31°F Monday morning with a high of 50°F. It will be warming up slightly as I move from park to park over the next week.

Until The Next Internet Connection - 

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 40

Day 40, Thursday, November 28, 2024, Cheaha State Park, Delta, AL, Day 4 - 0 Miles,1,964.6 Miles for the Trip

Happy Thanksgiving!

Strange weather. It got warmer throughout the night, with lots of wind and even some heavy rain. It was up to 59°F by early morning, after which it started cooling down. It is 50°F at 10:00AM. 

More folks left late yesterday & this morning. I'd guess that the campground is at 1/4 capacity. A light fog during my morning walk.

I opened the turkey breast package around 12:30 & discovered that there was a gravy package inside. Guess I won't need to try the jar gravy. The breast went in the oven at 325°F and should be done around 2:00. Outside is is still getting colder; 47°F at 1:00.

A little later than predicted, but dinner was at 2:00. I don't usually photograph my food, but since this is an RV substitute for my usual 20 pound Plainville turkey & about 8 sides, I decided to keep a record of why it is better to do Thanksgiving in a real kitchen. For one thing, cooking a real turkey produces dark meat, by far my favorite. Have you ever tried to find turkey thighs in a grocery store? I don't know why they are not available since turkeys have more thighs than breasts. I do sometimes find turkey legs, but the produce stringy meat, and while good for gnawing, they don't slice well for sandwiches. Turkey thighs are best.

Thanksgiving Dinner

The other reason for preferring Thanksgiving (or Christmas, Easter, etc) dinner at home or at least in a real kitchen is when I do that I almost always invite a bunch of friends, students, even relatives to dinner since a turkey goes a long way, and after watching me slave at the stove, at least a couple of them insist on doing the dishes after dinner. Of course I'll spend the next couple of weeks trying to find where things were put, but I do avoid the chore.

Here, I did my typical RV after real cooking dish wash up. I spend a lot of time dry camping where saving water both from the fresh tank and into the gray tank is important. The substitute is lots of paper towels. Everything gets wiped completely clean, then washed. Saves lots of water. Since I'm in the habit of doing that, I even do it in campgrounds with hookups. So, an extra trip to the dumpsters to get rid of a garbage bag full of paper towels, but the dishes are done. During the trip to the dumpster I managed to send a couple of text messages that appeared to get through. I also got a couple that had been looking for me. Sure wish I could do them from the trailer - it is cold standing at the dumpsters. If I stay here again I will try for a site along the rim rather down in the hole I'm currently camped in.

The evening meal (I can't call it dinner after the afternoon feast) was a turkey sandwich. I'll be having lots of them since even the smallest turkey breast I found was 6 pounds.

It might be a cold night. At 3:30 it is already down to 43°F.

Until The Next Internet Connection -