And we're off!

May 19—Jasper, AL

I made it! It was kind of dicey there for a minute, but I made it!

I apparently spent so much time relaxing yesterday that I didn’t get enough done, and wound up basically finishing up from 6am to 10am this morning. Which included finding out that the el cheapo bike rack I bought didn’t fit my bike, so no bike this trip. Oh well.

I chucked the last of the garbage and dropped off my keys at 10am, then went off to the local gas station to fill up. I never knew before that not every pump in a gas station that offers diesel, has diesel. They tend to be at the end of the rows, and I had to drive around a bit to find one. I’m VERY glad that this rig has a back-up camera; it’s a lifesaver—what on earth were all those people doing filling up at 10am on a Tuesday?!? I filled up (and yes, diesel was cheaper than regular gas—it’s a trend that seem to be holding, at least so far) and headed out.

I’d decided to take the scenic route, since I didn’t plan on driving very fast, and meandered my way up to Alabama. The wind was rather spectacular: between a big high-pressure area to the north and a possibly-tropical low pressure area to the south, I had winds that varied between headwind and broadside at up to 30mpg. Let me tell you, when I come out from some woods to a farmer field, the rig swerves like crazy. Another reason not to go too fast, although fast enough so that if the tropical thing did show up, I’d be long gone.

I managed to stick to mostly-two-lane roads up until Montgomery, and then switched to the interstate. I hate the interstate. Terrible road surface, people driving like maniacs, just awful. Birmingham was spectacular in its awfulness: concrete road surface (which meant that I spent a lot of time bouncing up in the air around the joints—imagine a motor home, even a small one, BOUNCING UP IN THE AIR), lots of noise, inability to get into the lane I needed—the best was when I went from I-65 to I-20 to get to route 78, and had to cross three lanes of near-rush-hour traffic in less than a mile to get to the exit. Give me two-lanes anytime!

I filled up at Birmingham (my first tank got me 17.3 mpg, which I figure isn’t bad given that a third of it was interstate at relatively-high speed), then came here to Sleepy Holler RV Park and Revival Camp. At least, I think it may be a revival camp; there’s a church on-site and the office is paved with religious stuff. It was also “fun” driving up the very steep narrow dirt road to get to the office; I am SO glad that I have a small rig! It’s pretty quiet; there is a country road a stones-throw from my site, but it’s still probably quieter than my old apartment. I’ve got most everything put away, but I have to make my bed yet. I’m hoping the cats will be able to get to the bunk—there’s not an easy way for them to jump, and I doubt they can use the ladder.

Ah yes, the cats. Nell has known that something is up for a while; she’s been looking very suspiciously at me since the boxes appeared, and she wouldn’t let me near her until I would make it clear that I wasn’t going to grab her. When I was ready to load them, I trapped them in the bedroom while I set up their fabric-crate in the dinette seat (where it fit quite nicely!). I decided to load Nell via the plastic crate, and had to corner her behind the toilet in the bathroom. I give her credit though: once she realized that crating was inevitable, she went in on her own. She did not, however, get out, and I had to disassemble the crate to get her in the kennel. Puck I just grabbed and carried out and stuck him in. They rode pretty well; Puck did meow a few times in Birmingham, I suspect as a result of the rough ride, and since I was also a bit vocal at the time I didn’t much blame him. I let them out when I got to the campsite (after blocking the footwell of the driver’s seat to make sure Puck didn’t get under the hood somehow), and both left the kennel fairly quickly. I thought Nell was adapting much faster than she did to the trailer, until I realized that she had crawled UNDER the fabric kennel in order to hide. She just doesn’t like the idea that people can see her and be all around her; she’s not secure yet. Puck is also a bit insecure, but not nearly as much—he’s much more of a “dog” than she is. Both ate and are using the litter boxes (one in the kennel, one in the passenger’s seat footwell) nicely.

Well, I’m going to go shower (not using mine yet, as I haven’t had a chance to sanitize the water system and I’m too damn tired to do it now—besides, I don’t much trust rural well water) and maybe see if I can get anything on the TV once I finish listening to NPR. Such civilization!

Hope all is well with y’all.


May 20—Perryburg, MO

I didn’t sleep all that well last night, I suspect for a couple of reasons. First, it had been a stressful day and I was still a bit wired. Also, it was the first night in the new rig, and I needed to get used to the new mattress (harder than my memory foam, and not completely level) and it smelled a bit of chemicals (I’m not sure if it was from the commercial dryer I had washed the linen in, or if the RV place had cleaned and/or Simonized the bed—the smell seemed to get better with time). I was also a bit worried about how the cats would react. Nell figured out how to get up to the overhead bunk: she hurled herself bodily from the dinette to the bed, a combination high/long jump. She was also smart enough to figure out that the way to get down was to jump onto the couch and not onto the hard floor or back onto the dinette. Puck took longer to figure this out; I woke up at 12:30 to pee (yay indoor toilet!) and he was curled up into a little ball on the couch—I’m wondering if he even knew I was still in the rig! He also didn’t really want to wake up, which worried me (y’all know me, I live to worry) so I poked him a few times to make sure he was awake. He then managed to clamber up to the bunk, going from the couch to a rolled sleeping bag I used as a cushion to the extra dinette cushion I have leaning against the bunk to the bunk itself. He also figured out how to get down; I was afraid that he’d jump somewhere other than the couch, but he didn’t. So I spent much of the rest of the night rearranging myself around Nell, who was under the covers (which served a double purpose: she kept warm (it got down to 55 inside the rig last night) and she can’t see out, which she likes when travelling as she’s still insecure) and Puck arranging himself around some portion of my anatomy. Ah well. I did sleep better toward the end of the night (which is always true—I also had some weird dreams: I don’t really know Adam Lambert, do I?) and woke up at the late (for me) time of 7am.

I wanted to get on the road rather quickly, so I fed the cats and then got everything together and left around 8am. I had to bribe Nell out of the bed with some of Puck’s uneaten food; she really wanted to stay under the covers, and if I weren’t afraid she might either get motion sick in my bed or decide to come out in the middle of a bad road section, I might have let her.

On the way back to the highway, I stopped at a Winn Dixie to buy some supplies, most notably Scott toilet paper (RV septics don’t like nice thick toilet paper—they like stuff that dissolves when it hits the water—but there’s no toilet paper holder in the bath!). I then picked up the stuff I hadn’t stowed properly (which was now all over the floor, including a pint or so of water—oops!) and continued on Highway 78.

Remember yesterday when I talked about Birmingham roads? I found something worse! Still in Alabama (I now know why there are churches everywhere here: people are so pleased at surviving the drive that they want to thank God IMMEDIATELY), on Highway 78: they were paving the right lane, so they had us all go into the left lane. Except we didn’t have the entire left lane; they had added a wee little paved shoulder to the left side, and the trucks and I were balanced precariously between hitting the dividing drums in the middle of our lane or going into the ditch (which, since it was really steep, I assumed would result in my rolling the RV). Add in the wind still blowing hard, and it was a lovely few miles of driving. White-knuckle, freaking out the whole way, lots of fun. I don’t know how much room I actually had on the right side, since I was afraid to look into my right-side mirror, but I was on the edge on the left. I hate Alabama roads, I really do. I did, however, make it without a problem (and it made me really glad I had bought myself a Pepsi!).

Around the Alabama/Mississippi border the Appalachian foothills that I’d been in since Birmingham vanished, and the land got quite flat and pretty much stayed that way (with the occasional rolling hill). I didn’t stop to see the Elvis stuff in Tupelo; it turned out to be a “just keep driving” day. Not much to see, really, though. I drove up Hwy 45 to Jackson, then 412 to I-155, then up I-55. The Mississippi is really high; lots of flooding in the low-lying fields around the river. I even saw a couple of cars trapped on a high place on a levee, with the road ahead and behind washed out (who knows for how long). My weather continues nice, sunny and warm (maybe too warm; I had to turn on the AC this afternoon after crossing the Mississippi, and while it did cool down the rig nicely (I was more worried about the cats than myself) it sure did hammer the mileage! I got nearly 19 mpg the second tank, but I doubt I’ll get anywhere near that this time), and the godforsaken wind may well have died down.

I’m in a campground between Cape Girardeau and Ste. Genevieve. It used to be a KOA, and like most it’s within sight of the interstate—in fact, I can see it from where I sit now at the dinette typing. Blah. But beggers can’t be choosers; I’m exhausted, there aren’t that many campgrounds around here, and I ain’t moving. Maybe I’ll just pretend that it’s white noise to help me sleep! I know I won’t go swimming; the pool is a rather unappetizing shade of green. And hopefully the guys who just got out their ATV will stop driving it around soon (they just ran it into a small swing set—never a dull moment!).