Traveling the U.S.A – Georgia

It seems like ages since I last posted a blog, but it has been only 11 days!  We have just completed 1/3 of our summer trip around the U.S.A.  I have never been away from home in one stretch this long.  It doesn’t feel like I have been away because we are rolling along in our home on wheels.  There is no luggage.  All our clothes are in closets and drawers.  I have full cooking facilities, and plenty of seating. In my last blog we were in Alabama.  We made our way from Riverside, Alabama to Tallapoosa, Georgia. 

We had an appointment with a company to install a devise that would stabilize the RV from anything that could cause it to veer out of control on the highway, such as high cross winds or a blowout.  We delivered our RV, and disconnected the car, and found a Cracker Barrel for a hearty breakfast/lunch.  When we arrived back at the factory, we were told we had to do a test drive with one of the mechanics.  I don’t remember his name, and I will kindly call him Bubba.  He was a young squirrelly looking kid who rode in the passenger seat, while I sat in the recliner (not reclined, of course).  Bubba talked the whole time of this 30+ minute test drive.  Don’t ask me what he talked about, because I kind of shut off the droning. 

He asked Dennis where we lived.  Dennis told him Arizona.  A few minutes later he asked the same question.  Then a few minutes after that, he asked if we had planned on any big trips!  I’m kind of thinking driving from Arizona to Georgia is pretty much a big trip!  As Dennis would go around these windy roads, and make turns, Bubba would tell him to pull over.  He would jump out of the RV with wrench in hand, make some sort of adjustment, and hop back in to continue the ride.  He did this two or three times until he felt that there was no additional sway in the vehicle.  I must say, Bubba knew his job. Dennis said the RV handles much better after this was done–we are very satisfied customers.

From there we wound our way up to Blue Ridge, Georgia, which is in the northwest corner of the state.  The ride was beautiful, and we arrived mid afternoon at our RV campground off the main highway.  It was a new campground, very clean and well kept.  It sat on the Toccoa River.  There was a pool, a small dog park, and lots of kids on their bikes and scooters.  It was a lovely place to stay for our few days there.

We immediately got together with friends, Carol and Wayne.  For a couple weeks they have been receiving packages I had delivered to their home—things we needed that I could only purchase online, along with our mail being sent to us by our friend, Kim, who is checking on our home and picking up our mail while we wander the crountryside.  When Carol handed me my packages, I immediately noticed one package that I was expecting was not there.  When I checked the tracking, I realized I had two packages shipped UPS that had not arrived, but were expected delivery the next day.

Carol and Wayne live on top of a mountain, and it is a long and winding road, and for the inexperienced, a bit scary.  The next day the UPS truck arrived with my packages, but he pulled in wrong into the driveway and was having trouble getting out.  He kept trying to go forward, and then would back up to try to gain some traction.  As he was backing up, I walked away from the door.  As a person with an extreme fear of heights, I just pictured seeing him backing up over the cliff and that would be the last of the driver and the truck.

Dennis and Wayne stayed outside with the driver and gave him direction of how to turn the truck around so he could bolt up and out of the steep driveway.  My anxiety level was up, and I was grateful he made it out, and my packages were in hand. (It was my fault he was there anyway).

The next day when we returned to their home, I handed Carol the box that had been delivered by UPS.  I said this was not my package, but was hers.  On top of the package I had a birthday card celebrating her 60th birthday.  When she opened the box, she saw the quilt I had made for her.  My long arm quilter had it in her possession when I left for our trip on May 6.  When she had completed it, I asked that she ship it by UPS directly to Carol’s home.  I was afraid the quilt was lost, and then when it came for its arrival, I was afraid for the UPS driver who was new to this mountainy route.  I felt guilty that I had him deliver this package and put himself and his truck in jeopardy!  By the way, Carol loved her quilt!

• 

• 

We had a wonderful visit with Carol and Wayne.  Went out to dinner one evening, went to a winery another.  We played a lot of cards, and did a lot of visiting.  Our last night we shared a meal together in which I could provide half of the meal, since I have a home on wheels.  It was just a wonderful time with these lovely friends of ours.

We left Blue Ridge and drove back south into Georgia.  Our goal was a Harvest Hosts location at a small farm just south of Atlanta.  I was super excited about going to the farm, seeing the animals and purchasing fresh produce from their market.  It was around noon we found the farm as our GPS put us in circles.  We pulled into the property, but wasn’t sure about where to go.  Dennis got out and looked for the host, and I tried calling several times.  We disconnected the car because Dennis did discover that all the sites were back-ins.  The host walked out and told Dennis where to park.  I stayed back in the jeep until he was parked. I saw Dennis speaking for a while to the host.  He pulled up the RV, got out, and walked over to me.  He told me we were leaving, and I needed to bring the car around so we could reattach it to the RV.  What happened?  The host told Dennis that we could not run our generator after 8:00 p.m.  (This was not stated anywhere on their Harvest Hosts site).  Dennis told him he needed the generator to run his C-Pap machine, and the host again, said no generator.  Ugh!  So far, we are not having good luck with Harvest Hosts locations. Before we left, I made sure to get photos of the animals.

We drove down the highway toward Savannah and found a big parking lot to pull into.  We ate lunch and then went online to find an RV park nearby.  Fortunately, we found a KOA about an hour away, that had an opening for us.  We were so grateful.

We arrived in Savannah the next day.  When Dennis registered into the park, he also registered for us to do a trolley tour of Savannah, and the tour company would pick us up at the RV park.  We were ready bright and early at 9:00 a.m., when the trolley picked us up.  They went to another nearby RV park to pick up a couple there.  This couple, Marvin and Marsha, live in Peoria, Arizona (on the northwest end of the Phoenix area).  They moved from Bentonville, Arkansas, originally from Joplin, Missouri.  They were fellow midwesterners.  We spent our day with this lovely couple.

The trolley tour goes through the major historic neighborhoods of Savannah.  We chose to ride the whole tour, and then decide which neighborhoods we wanted to see more of.  When we arrived back to the original location, we were ready for lunch, and we all wanted to go to Lady & Sons Restaurant, the restaurant owned by Paula Dean and her sons.  The place is near the end of the tour, so rather than taking the long trolley ride there, we decided to hike the 7/10 mile.  The restaurant serves only family style meals, so we selected half the meal and the other couple selected half the meal.  

After we ate, we decided we wanted to see the Prohibition Museum.  When we looked at the map, we realized we did not have to find the trolley to get there.  We were only a few blocks away, so we walked.  What an interesting museum.  After touring the museum, we picked up the trolley back to our starting point because it was almost 4:00 p.m., the time we had to arrive to get a shuttle back to our RV parks.  We shared contact information with Marvin and Marsha, and we plan to meet up for dinner with them this fall/winter in the Phoenix area.

The second full day in Savannah we drove to Hilton Head Island to spend the day on the beach.  It was hot!  We hiked the beach, and then left to find ice cream and our way back to our RV park to get ready for the next day’s travel.  

We took off for five days at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where we are now.  It is a good rest spot right on the ocean.

I hope I am not boring you with the travel blogs.  It is giving me a rest from my typical blogs to reinvigorate my writing.  Thanks for following.  This is truly a trip of a life time.