It was extremely quiet here last night at Thunder Gulch with just the occasional sound of a revved motorcycle passing by. Jewel was very happy and relaxed for the first time in 5 days. LOL
Today is reorganize the MH day. Ron is on a tear cleaning out his cabinets and actually getting rid of stuff that has been outdated for years. By 3 pm we had several bags of trash loaded and ready to dump.
We took Jewel for a walk and noticed an old fire engine that had once been used by Thunder Gulch. There is a motocross track right next to the CG. I think this fire engine was replaced a long time ago by something more modern.
We decided to go out for an early dinner at the Los Dos Potrillos local Mexican restaurant. It had good reviews on line so we took the chance. Food was great and filling.
Later we sat outside to enjoy the weather and read.
Ron got to talking to our neighbor and stayed out until after dark. It was too chilly for me so I hibernated back inside the MH.
Tomorrow is New Year's eve so I called around to CG's in or near Homestead only to find no openings. I was finally able to get a spot for us for three nights at the Goldcoaster RV Resort. A little pricey at $68.00 a night but it is a holiday weekend.
Tomorrow we will be making the 328 mile trip to Homestead. Hopefully the traffic won't be too bad.
It turned out to be a good move for us last evening. Lucky to have gotten into the one RV spot available at the Flying J. It was fairly quiet so we slept well through the night.
Today is day 5 of traveling so tonight we will look for a CG to stay at for two nights so we can get the MH organized.
It was an uneventful drive today. A few minor slow downs and accidents, but nothing that took a long time to get through. We managed to drive another 286 miles and get into Florida - finally.
We found a CG in Bunnel, Florida that had availability. The web site was well done and the place looked very nice. I spoke to the woman at check in and she sounded a little disinterested but told us to come on in - no reservations needed.
We arrived there around 3 pm and were greeted by a "grumpy" intake person. The same person I spoke with on the phone. She stated, with a disgusted look on her face, that our "rig" was too big! She took Ron to the site to make sure we would fit and he approved the site. Once paid, I asked if it might be possible to stay an extra night if needed. She showed me a list of people waiting to get in and that she was going to hit me. I know she was kidding but since her affect was still sour I couldn't be 100% sure.
Resort is a term that is used fairly loosely in the rv park industry and Thunder Gulch fit that bill. More then 90 % are permanent residents and almost everyone has a motorcycle. The "thunder" in Thunder Gulch represents the loud noise from the motorcycles.
The place looks and feels like an outdoor rest home for retired "bikers." Pretty interesting to say the least.
There is a restaurant at the entrance that is actually a "Moose Lodge." We had hoped to have dinner there but the sign on the door stated only card holding members allowed. That's not what it said on their web site!!!!!
We opted to have dinner in, so I cooked. We will be here for another night so will spend the day organizing and maybe go out to dinner tomorrow night.
It was good to settle in last night at the CG. Opening the slides made for a more comfortable environment. We all slept well and were refreshed this morning.
Ron was in no hurry to get back on the road so we took our time getting ready to leave. We finally left here around 11 am were hit again with another issue. The ABS light popped on and would not go out.
We went back to the garage and were told the tech could check it out for us. When Ron restarted the engine to drive to the tech garage the light went out. That figures. Anyway we did not have it placed on the code scanner because the tech said he wouldn't be able to fix it anyway. So off we went and the ABS light stayed off.
It was Noon by then so not a great start to the day.
Traffic was really heavy with a couple of accidents slowing travel once again.
This tractor trailer rolled over into the breakdown lane. Not too cool but no one was hurt.
It took us almost 6 hours to drive 216 miles. By 6 pm we were ready to call it a night. Ron is not crazy about driving in the dark anymore so we try to settle in at dusk if possible.
The Flying J was a mad house and there were no spots to park an RV. We ended up in a no parking space. RV's were driving in circles looking for a place to stay for the night!
We went into the Denny's to have breakfast and were lucky enough to get a seat right away. The restaurant was overwhelmed with customers and right after we were seated they were told there was a 30 minute wait.
Back outside we looked for a better place to park for the night and were lucky too find that the one marked RV spot was available. It was out of the way of truck traffic and located in a fairly quiet spot. Had our name written on it!!
It has been a hectic few days and we will be happy to get to a CG where we can sit for a couple of days. Are we having fun yet!! LOL
First thing this morning Ron started up the MH hoping that the check engine light was off. Nope! Since he is mechanically inclined he checked out what he thought might be causing the issue but didn't have the proper equipment to test everything.
He called the Camping World about 50 miles down the road. It is suppose to be a full service center. Not so much. They didn't have the required needed equipment. So much for a full service garage. They did recommend Excel Truck Group a little further down the road.
Ron called them and explained the problem with the MH and also that we were traveling to the Keys so needed to get in as soon as possible. We were told to bring it in and they would check it out for us.
We arrived at the Excel around 11 am and were taken in right away. So far so good! Not really. The tech put a scanner on and got the codes but then told us they couldn't work on our MH because it is a gas engine.
The tech called the Randy Marion Chevrolet dealer down the road. They have an RV tech that works on gas engines. We arrived there and Casey got us set up right way. We were directed to the waiting room with Jewel and 5 hours later we were told we were all set. Ron talked to the tech and was not 100% satisfied but the check engine light was out and we were able to get back on the road again.
We decided that it was too late (6:30 pm) to start driving so we secured a site at the local KOA. We hate setting up in the dark but there was no choice. Ron didn't get his usual picture of our site until the morning.
We lost a complete day of travel so were happy that we left home as early as we did. Losing the day did cut in to our plans to make a few stops along the way but all is well so no complaints.
We slept like rocks and woke around 6:30 am. After 11 hours of sleep we were refreshed and ready to get back on the road. It was 34 degrees but we were toasty in the MH.
The traffic was light through the morning but got considerable heavier as the day progressed. We had an early afternoon slow down due to an accident but were on our way fairly quickly for this one.
By the time we were at around mile 390, Ron was getting tired so we began looking for a CG. There were none to be found unless we wanted to take a 40 mile, out of the way, round trip to one. Instead we decided to stay at another Flying J.
Jewel has been completely irritated with the long ride and made sure we were aware of her displeasure. She was not happy that she wasn't allowed to get out of the MH while we were getting gas.
In all the years we have been traveling in the MH we have never seen so many RV's and cars on the road - any where! There was nowhere to park at the Flying J so we decided to go the additional 25 or so miles to the NC Welcome center.
HMMM - that didn't work out so well either. Just about 20 miles from our destination there were signs everywhere about an accident blocking all lanes and intense fog.
The fog was so thick at times that the taillights of the vehicle in front of you were not visible. It took 2.5 hours to travel 20 miles.
During this stressful part of our drive the check engine light went on and the MH started hesitating. Not now please! When we finally drove into the welcome center the MH felt like it was going to stall out before we fully entered the parking space. We limped in and because it was dark Ron was unable to do the checks he wanted to do . That would have to wait until morning.
We were really tired and last 25 miles were brutal. Poor Ron was ready to kill himself by the end of our 413.9 mile drive.
We decided to put the issue with the MH on the back burner until the morning. Not much we could do tonight anyway. Once again we were in bed by 7:30 pm. Jewel was happy we were finally stopped and was pretty tired as well.
Good night all!
Well today is the first time we have left for our Winter RV trip before December 29th. We had our Christmas celebration early (December 17th). Tom, Tiffanie & Adeline came down from Maine. Tanner, Steven, Brittny & her boyfriend as well as Ron's Mom were all part of the festivities.
It was a difficult decision to leave on Christmas day, but since we have early reservations in the Keys we thought it was best. Christmas eve day Ron watched the Pats game with Tanner while I prepared a Christmas eve dinner to share with Ron's Mom.
After having dinner with her we headed back home to finish preparing for our morning departure.
As usual we made a slow get away leaving at 9:30 am instead of 8 like we had planned. Can't seem to break the gravitational pull of our home very easily. LOL
The roads were pretty empty and the drive/ride fairly uneventful . We took a different route and steered away from NY city. Took the Tappan Zee instead of the GW and we were glad we did. The traffic had increased dramatically and we were in a few slow downs that surprised us.
Ron planned taking 81 to avoid NY, Baltimore & DC traffic. As bad as this traffic was we could only imagine the traffic in those areas. We still made good time (345 miles) staying the night in a Flying J in Fryetown, PA.
After a dinner of left over shepard's pie we settled in the for the night and were in bed by 7:30 pm.
This is a test... ⊿
first snow of winter....
r0n......
