2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 12

Day 12, Thursday, October 31, 2024 - Chester State Park, Chester, SC, Day 4 - 0 Miles, 936.3 Miles for the Trip

Happy Halloween! I don't expect too many kids; I haven't seen any here in the campground. A couple of trailers have Halloween decorations:

While the electric heater came on a couple of times during the early morning, it warmed up to the high 60's by noon, and a 5:30 it was 77°F. Party cloudy but when the sun is breaking through you can feel it! After my walk & breakfast I sat outside and read. Current book is Elmore Leonard's Freaky Deaky. I've read most of his books, but somehow missed this one (a 1988 copyright). It is interesting to see what things were like without cell phones and Google.

Around 3:00 I made a run to Food Lion for milk and a few other things. Back at the trailer, more sitting & reading.

Dinner was a P. F. Chang's Sweet & Sour Chicken bowl.

More Tomorrow - 

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 11

Day 11, Wednesday, October 30, 2024 - Chester State Park, Chester, SC, Day 3 - 0 Miles, 936.3 Miles for the Trip

A short period of light rain both yesterday afternoon and after dinner. Not enough to even wet the truck, let alone the grass & dirt.

Warmer than last night; 57°F at 7:00AM. During my morning walk I discovered there is a Rivian charging station at the Ranger Station. 

A pop up next to me left yesterday morning, and a small single axle stick built trailer left late yesterday. There were a couple of new arrivals. The campground is 3/4 full. A mix of tents, small single axle and double axle stick built trailers as well as a couple of large 5th wheels & motorhomes. I overestimated the number of sites - there are 25 plus a host site. There are also some dry walk in tent sites and 2 large dry group sites and a couple of cabins. The entire camping area including the bathrooms are a bit worn, but clean & well cared for. A crew goes through and cleans the sites when someone leaves, and the bathrooms are well stocked & spotless.

There are two showers, both have hand held shower heads clipped to the shower head pipe and high enough that it is an overhead "rain" shower for all but the tallest. Variable temperature that eventually gets hot enough to turn down, a soap dish and a hanging shelf for your stuff. The drying area has 2 small hooks & a small portable table. No lip between the shower & drying area so some of the floor gets wet even with a shower curtain between the shower & drying room. There are additional hooks in the part of the room outside the showers. The water is soft enough that you will spend more time rinsing than washing. Overall, a C+.

A warm 73°F afternoon with clouds drifting by. I spent most of the afternoon reading. Current book is Edna Buchanan's Contents Under Pressure.

Dinner was a Butterball turkey burger & chips.

More Tomorrow - 

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 10

Day 10, Tuesday, October 29, 2024 - Chester State Park, Chester, SC, Day 2 - 0 Miles, 936.3 Miles for the Trip

A quiet night. While you can hear trains when sitting outdoors, they are distant enough that the noise doesn't bother me and I can't hear them inside the trailer. I managed to get close to a mile on my morning walk. Cool at 47°F, but by noon it warmed up to 66°F. After lunch I drove the 4.5 miles to Walmart and bought a new pair of ear piece type headphones. While my Mpow Flame headphones are still working OK, they are not long for this world. The connector for the USB charging is broken & they can't be charged. Once the battery dies, so do the headphones. I couldn't find a pair that had an attaching loop, so the replacements are individual headphones. They do have ear hooks; I can't use any of the "pod" types without hooks since they fall out of my ears.

I checked the cell modem speeds here ar Chester - AT&T shows 39.5Mbps down & 12.2Mbps up. Verizon shows 18.8Mbps down and 3.7Mbps up. I am currently running on AT&T.

I sat outside and read, (current book is Cardinal Black by Robert McCammon) until it grew too cool to be comfortable. 

Dinner was an Anna's Enchilada bowl.

More Tomorrow - 

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 9

Day 9, Monday, October 28, 2024 - Chester State Park, Chester, SC - 219.7 Miles, 936.3 Miles for the Trip

After my morning (and cold) walk and breakfast I finished packing up the trailer, getting it ready for travel, unhooked the utilities, said good bye to the Guidos, and headed south. Heavy traffic on I 77, stop & go a couple of places. I arrived at Chester State Park around 2:30, and found site 19. No tags on the site & no one in the ranger station, so I just backed into the site & set up. 

The site is on gravel with a tent pad, picnic table & fire ring as well as a lantern hanger. I needed a 3" side to side raise & a 3" drop for the tongue. The rates vary by day. I understand more for the weekends, but for some reason Tuesday is $3.00 more than Monday or Wednesday. If I average the daily rates, including state & local taxes, for the 6 nights I'm here it comes out to $36.52 per night. 

Site 19

After leveling the trailer, I walked down to the lake and around the camping loop (29 sites).

After finishing setting up the trailer I sat outside in the sun enjoying the 65°F afternoon. 

Dinner was a Beautiful Citrus Chicken with Broccoli & Carrots.

More Tomorrow - 

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 8

Day 8, October 27, 2024 - Camp Burson, Hungry Mother State Park, Marion, VA, Day 5 - 0 Miles, 716.6 Miles for the Trip

A cool morning; only 52°F at 12:30. After my walk & breakfast changed the sheets on the bed. For those that haven't done that in a fiberglass trailer you have not idea why so many of us wish for a walk around bed. While you don't have the "hop over" problem of night time visits to the bathroom with the north south bed in the 21C, it still has all the difficulties of making the bed that extends to the walls on three sides. You learn to pull up the sheets & blankets while hopping in the air while kneeling on the mattress. 

I started a load of laundry; there are 2 washers, but only one dryer. $1.50 per load for each; a 45 minute run for the dryer. Since someone was using one of the washers, I had to wait a bit for a turn at the dryer, but the people using the other washer were prompt getting their load switched so the wait was only a half hour of so. It only took one 45 minute run on high heat to dry my clothes. I've been in parks where you needed two or three runs to get things dry, so it was much appreciated.

About one third of the park emptied out during the day, but many are staying an extra day or two. The campground hosts are great at cleaning up the sites after people leave. They shut off the breakers, use a leaf blower to clear the leaves from the pad (although at this time of year the pad gets covered in one afternoon) and rakes the gravel smooth. 

I pulled the stakes on my mat & let it dry on the picnic table, Put the grill back in the truck along with the 5 pound propane bottle. By then the mat was dry so it went back in the truck. All I need to do in the morning is the normal stuff to reconnect the trailer, and unhook the utilities. I have a 217 mile drive tomorrow to Chester State Park in South Carolina. While there are a couple of non interstate routes, I am planning on I 81 to I 77 since it avoids the hurricane damaged areas.

Since it is still quite cool and cloudy, we decided to eat dinner in my trailer. Anne is making a shrimp dish. 

More Tomorrow - 

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 7

Day 7, October 26, 2024 - Camp Burson, Hungry Mother State Park, Marion, VA, Day 4 - 0 Miles, 716.6 Miles for the Trip

A bit of rain overnight, but only cloudy this morning. At 9:00 coffee & pastries supplied by Escape Trailer Industries gathered a bunch of campers. While most of the food was gone, the gathering was still going at 11:00.

By the way, yesterday around 4:00 I headed for the showers. Individual rooms with a large dressing area. Unfortunately, there is no lip between the shower & the dressing area floor, and although the showerhead is at right angles to the dressing area, the floor still gets wet - no shower curtain. There is a small electric heater on the wall of the dressing area, but pretty anemic. The good - plenty of hot water, a place for your stuff in the shower as well as 2 hooks & a bench in the drying area. Lots of hot water & a standard showerhead. Overall a B.

I didn't do much else for the day other than sitting around reading or listening to my latest Audio book. The audio book is Terry Goodkind's The Girl In The Moon, and the book is Nick Russell's Big Lake Sinner.

At 4:0 I gathered together my pies, table & chairs (and of course, the camera) and headed across the road for the pot luck supper. As usual, far too much food, and all of it good. All three pies went fast.

Dinner was, of course, the pot luck.

More Tomorrow - 

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 6

Day 6, October 25, 2024 - Camp Burson, Hungry Mother State Park, Marion, VA, Day 3 - 0 Miles, 716.6 Miles for the Trip

A cold night & morning, 37°F for my morning walk. A couple of folks out & around, but most either still sleeping or bundled up in their trailers. 

I started a Hungry Mother Fiberglass Rally page with lots of photos. A few are here, more at the rally page.

A bunch of us went to the Mi Puerto Mexican restaurant for lunch. I had a Shrimp Chimichanga that was excellent. Filling enough that dinner will be simple.

I stopped at the Food Lion for a few items, then headed back to the campground. Back at the campground, Guido worked on fixing the hole in his Scamp:

Since lunch was dinner, I just had a ham & cheese sandwich & some chips.

More Tomorrow - 

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 5

Day 5, October 24, 2024 - Camp Burson, Hungry Mother State Park, Marion, VA, Day 2 - 0 Miles, 716.6 Miles for the Trip

So, we are together again. The Guidos set up; Guido did not enjoy a back in site at night, although he doesn't like them all that much during the day. They didn't hook up anything other than electric since they will need to dump their tanks today.

I did my morning walk around the campground. Doing all the loops is about a mile. They had a culvert collapse going to the first row so they are rerouting trailers into the back way in.

Not a lot of early arrivals. I saw a few Casitas, Escapes, & Guido's Scamp; maybe 10 trailers. Quite a few stick built trailers throughout the park.

I did a speed test on both AT&T & Verizon. Speed doesn't mean all that much here. While AT&T came out at 28.2Mbps down & 6Mbps down, and Verizon showed 29Mbps down & 8.2Mbps up, both are quite variable. Verizon seems to be more reliable, but at times AT&T is faster. I'm running both modems and can switch when necessary. I have lots of data time on Verizon; have not used any before this trip and it rolls over on November 2nd.

After breakfast I started making blueberry pies. Since there were 60 folks planning to attend, I'm making 3 pies. With the cancellations, there may be fewer folks attending, but somehow it all gets eaten.

Well, it is 3:00 and the pies are done. As usual, at least one is messy (but still tastes the same). A little cooler than the last couple of days, but still 64°F outside (71°F in the trailer with the oven hopping between 350°F & 450°F).

Guido is attempting to cover the hole the AAA put in the bottom of his trailer. At Creekside they jacked the trailer on the body, not the frame, and punched a hole in the bottom. They didn't say anything, and it is likely a piece of plywood from the hole was rubbing against the new spare causing the blow out on I 81.

Here is a 2 year old never used until yesterday spare:

The Blown Out Spare

That was about it for the day.  More folks arrived; there are many Casitas, fewer, but many Escapes, a Trillium (pulled by a Tesla) a couple of Olivers, and 3 Scamps.

Dinner was a pork loin, German potato salad & applesauce.

More Tomorrow - 

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 4

Day 4, October 23, 2024 - Camp Burson, Hungry Mother State Park, Marion, VA 245.3 Miles, 716.6 Miles for the Trip

When it rains, it pours. On the way down I 81 about 100 miles from Marion, VA the 2 year old never used spare tire on the Guido's Scamp blew. Chunks of rubber going everywhere, but the trailer was stable & Guido pulled well off the road. Since this was the spare, they didn't have anything to replace it. Called AAA & eventually they sent a "Tow Truck" to pick up the trailer. Evidently, there is some damage to the fiberglass; maybe more. 

On The Truck

The Damage

They followed the truck and hope the previous tire can be repaired. As of 6:00 I'm waiting to hear from them.

Since there wasn't anything I could do to help, I continued on to Hungry Mother. Even that had problems. My GPS wanted me to go to Exit 45 but I usually get off at Exit 47. I got off at 47 & once on Rt 11, found a sign saying it was closed at the railroad tracks. Since I didn't remember how far down Rt 11 the railroad tracks were, I turned around, got back on I 81, followed the GPS directions, and drove down to Exit 45. I made it to Rt 11 north, and found it closed well before the entrance to the park. So, back on I 81, exit at 47, and hope I reached the campground road before Ry 11 was closed. It was open to the park road.

I'm in site 38, a water & electric site on gravel with a picnic table and fire ring. While they give you an envelope stuffed with stuff about the park, no receipt. I looked up my reservation, and it looks like I'm paying $43.12 per night.

Me in Site 38

The Guidos Setting Up in the Dark

So, after setting up I made an Impossible Teriyaki Chicken Bowl since it was the first meal to fall out of the freezer when I opened the door. The Guidos arrived at 8:30 and set up in the dark for the first time. I've only done it once, so I can feel for them.

More Tomorrow - 

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 3

Day 3, October 22, 2024 - Creekside Campground, Edinburg, VA 183.2 Miles, 471.3 Miles for the Trip

I went out last night an hour after sunset & while the background lights from the campground lighting fixtures made it impossible to see the comet by eye, you could see it on the view screen of the Nikon Z8. Another plus for the electronic viewfinder & monitor on mirrorless cameras.  I still can't get used to the electronic viewfinder, but under night time lighting I would not have been able to see anything using my SLR. I did manage to get a couple of photos, although nothing I'd consider quality. I dragged Anne & Guido out. Guido got a few images as well. Anne got one with her iPhone (she took a photo of the Nikon Z8 monitor).

C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS Comet 

An uneventful drive down I 81, although heavy traffic. I tried my Loves's App and got $.10 off per gallon; paid $3.05.

As we were doing the back roads to the campground I noticed that Guido's passenger side trailer tire looked soft. We got to the campground & as he was filling the tire with his compressor the valve stem fell apart. A call to AAA, and after lots of dropped calls & long holds, they said they would be here in 45 minutes. 45 minutes later no sign of them.

Only Flat on the Bottom

AAA did show up, changed the tire to the spare which is a 175 and the current tires are a 185. The difference is small enough that he should be OK till we get to Marion, the home of Hungry Mother.

The Guidos are in site 29 & I'm in site 30. Both are on grass, water & electric, and along side a small creek for $37.86 per site. 

The Guidos in Site 29

Me in Site 30

Dinner was burgers; Bubba burgers for Anne & Guido & a Butterball turkey burger for me. Some Kraft Deluxe White Cheddar & Garlic & Herbs mac & cheese as a side dish along with some canned pears.

More Tomorrow - 

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 2

Day 2, October 21, 2024 - Twin Grove RV Resort, Pine Grove, PA 159.5 Miles, 288.1 Miles for the Trip

We were off at the crack of 11:30, heading down I 81 into Pennsylvania and the Twin Grove RV Resort. We have stayed there a number of times, often in the same sites, 8 & 10. The Guidos are in 8 & I'm in 10. Gravel full hookup sites that are fairly level side to side, but require a tongue jack lift of 4.5". I managed to do that while still attached to the trailer. Not cheap at $66.15 per night including a $15.00 reservation fee.

Me in Site 10

The Guidos in Site 8

After setting up we sat around reading and munching on grapes & potato sticks (the good & the bad).

While I was hoping for a sighting of the A3 comet, even with the clear skies we have trees to the west of us. I'll give it a try anyway since is is suppose to be higher in the sky at this time.

Dinner was grilled brats & Bush beans.

More Tomorrow - 

2024-25 Trip to the Southeast, Day 1

Day 1, October 20, 2024 - The Guidos, Binghamton, NY 128.6 Miles, 128.6 Miles for the Trip

I finished packing, hooked up the trailer, said goodbye to Kyle, then headed out around 12:00. First stop as usual was the nearest CAT scale. The combined weight of the truck & trailer was 11020, and the trailer axle 4480. A second weighing with the truck alone showed 6000. Subtract the truck weight from the combined weight to get the trailer weight - 5020. Tongue weight is the trailer weight minus the axle weight or 560. So, the trailer is 10 pounds heavier than my last cross country trip & the tongue weight is 40 pounds heavier. The truck is exactly the same.

An uneventful drive down I 81 to Binghamton. I arrived at 3:30, just as Guido was heading out to wash the trailer. I parked, gathered the clothes & stuff for tonight and headed into the house. 

Parked at the Guidos

I started my trip spreadsheet that I use to keep track of campground costs, fuel costs & propane expenses. No good reason, other than it also gives me a quick list of the campgrounds I've strayed at. I also started Day 1 (this page) of the Southeast trip journal.

Dinner was a chicken Speedie salad.

More Tomorrow - 

Early Days, Part 3

October 19, 2024:

The truck & trailer are three quarters packed. Tomorrow morning I'll add the last minute things that I'm still using, then head to Binghamton & the Guidos. Today the projects include cutting down the asparagus fonds, and the butterfly bush. Both are a bit early, but I won't be here after the first frost. 

Yesterday I changed the taillights on the trailer. Some of the driver's side individual LEDs in the taillight failed. I purchased an adapter that lets me use the screw holes from the original lamps with the new, different sized replacements. The original fixtures are no longer available. The only difficult part was the short wires left coming out of the trailer. Tough to strip the old insulation, but it is done. 

I also did one last mowing of the leaves. Most are still on the trees but I managed to grind up what was on the ground. 

While Hungry Mother State Park is open, they still don't have phone or internet service. Some rally attendees needed to cancel their reservations because they are from the areas that got hit hardest by the hurricanes, and still can't get to their trailers or are too busy taking care of the damage to their homes. Canceling has been a problem because the reservations were made through the campground itself (as a favor to the rally). They can't be canceled by the Reserve America site, and because the phones are out at the park, can't be canceled at the office. Hopefully things will settle down next week.

More later -  

Early Days, Part 2

October 13, 2024:

Not too much to update - Hungry Mother State Park is now open so the rally is on, and Aiken State Park is also open. At this point only the General Coffee State Park in Georgia is still closed. I have reservations for December 16 - 22 and hope it will be open by then.

Too early for packing, but I did fire up the refrigerator and will start moving stuff into the trailer during the week. It has cooled off this week - 47°F at noon today. I am running the mini split AC in the living room on heat set for 70°F, keeping the bedroom at the other end of the house at a comfortable sleeping temperature of 65°F. Dinner tonight will be Kyle's favorite - spaghetti and meatballs, all from scratch. We will also have chocolate cake to celebrate his birthday; still a week away, but I'll be leaving the day before his actual birthday.

More later - 

Early Days - Trip to the Southeast

October 6, 2024:

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I've decided to skip a trip to the southwest and stay here in the east. I still want to avoid freezing cold days, so I'm heading to the southeast. The current plan (and reservations) are for a 178 day trip bouncing around northern Florida, Georgia, South Carolina & Alabama state parks.

While today is 2 weeks before I plan to leave for the winter, it appears I may have picked the wrong year for staying in the east.  

Hurricane Helene has done quite a bit of damage all over the area I planned to stay.  The usual start to my winter snowbirding is a trip to the Hungry Mother State Park in Virginia for a fiberglass rally.  The Guidos usually make it the last trip of the season.  We are not sure it will happen - Hungry Mother suffered enough storm damage to close, and will wait until October 14th to decide whether to open.  My schedule (and reservations) has me leaving Oswego on the 20th, so not a lot of time to make changes.  If the rally is canceled, the Guidos will head to Michigan to see great grandkids, but I plan to do my winter trip anyway.  I don't have anything scheduled for the eastern part of North Carolina or southwestern Tennessee, the most heavily damaged areas.

I planned the trip with RV Life's Trip Wizard, and a couple of days after the hurricane checked and the next 5 parks after Hungry Mother were all closed.  I rechecked this weekend and it is down to 2 closed parks before Christmas, and one after, the first of which, Lake Wateree, has already canceled my reservation & credited my credit card with the full amount of reservation.   

I assume that if they opened the park they want visitors - I don't want to be any kind of a burden on the folks that had so much devastation. 

I found another state park within my normal driving distance (under 250 miles) that was open & made new reservations for the first stop after Hungry Mother. If Hungry Mother stays closed, I'll need to find something between Creekside Campground in Virginia & Chester State Park in South Carolina.  

 So, as of today, only one of the early parks is still closed; Aiken State Park in South Carolina.  I have a reservation for 3 days, November 3-5 so I hope it opens before then. 

More later -