December 19, 2018- January 7, 2019
For the second time in a month we stored the trailer in Florida
and drove straight through from Florida to our daughter's house in
Maryland. I choose not to share photos and names from our time back
home with family and friends. This blog is about our travels and open
to the public, so I try to respect the personal lives of those who
are not journeying with us. Our visits home are hectic, but so
important to our life on the road.
This time we celebrated our daughter's birthday and my mother's
90
th birthday! We attended our granddaughter's holiday
program, celebrated Christmas, dined with family and friends,
babysat, celebrated New Year's Eve with our three-year-old
granddaughter while watching the countdown at 8 pm on Netflix
children's programming. Her parents provided the bubbly (sparkling
apple juice) which we drank from wineglasses, while she wore her
handmade party hat and blew her noisemaker. Then she and her
grandfather both declared it bedtime and left grandma to welcome New
Year's on her own. We treasured the moment! The rest of the time we
caught up on doctor's appointments, truck maintenance, and shopping
while we prepared to head out to the Southwest for the rest of the
winter.
We said our goodbyes on January 3
rd and left once again
for Florida to retrieve the trailer and head west. We stayed
overnight again in Brunswick, stopped for a major resupply of
groceries at Publix, and hitched up the trailer one more time. Greg
had made reservations at A Stones Throw RV park along I-10 east of
Tallahassee so we could stop early and get organized again. Groceries
needed to be put away, clothes unpacked, and our mindsets adjusted
for life back on the road.
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| Just getting past the DC area traffic seems like half the trip! |
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| Stopping early to dewinterize the rig (flush antifreeze from plumbing) |
We were headed for San Antonio, Texas where we were scheduled on
January 16
th for major babysitting for a week. Daughter
and son-in-law, with our grand daughter, were flying out from
Maryland.. They were going to a convention while we were going to
have our granddaughter living with us in the trailer. We needed to
travel to San Antonio from Florida, but had some time to occupy
before then. Originally we planned to travel down the Texas Gulf
Coast, stay in some state parks, and visit some wildlife refuges,
with the idea that we might find one we liked for volunteering in
winter 2020. After discovering that the parks were still recovering
from last year's hurricanes, and the government shutdown started and
we wouldn't be able to speak with staff at the refuges about
volunteering, we looked at making reservations at state parks in
Texas Hill Country near Austin and San Antonio.
Saturday, January 5
th, we left A Stone's Throw and
eased into the traffic driving west on the interstate. We began to
see tree trimming crews blocking lanes and shoulders and realized
that they were still clearing the downed tress and debris from
Hurricane Michael that had blown through this area, far from the Gulf
Coast, three months before. The toppled and sheared-off trees
stretched along I-10 for probably 80 miles!
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| Shredded billboards |
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| Hurricane lawyers were a major industry |
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| Hurricane damaged pines |
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| I-10 cleanup |
We continued driving out of Florida, through Alabama until just
before Mobile when our tire pressure monitors for the trailer showed
us that we were losing pressure in a tire. Driving on the interstate through the
city made it impossible to stop until we were farther west. When we
were able to, we finally exited off and discovered that we did indeed
have a flat. While using our air compressor to pump it up, we called
around and tried in vain to find a tire shop or RV dealer open at 4
pm on a Saturday. With the tire refilled with air, we crossed our
fingers and got back on the interstate to cross into Mississippi. We
drove a short ways, stopped again, saw the tire needed air again, and
tried to refill it from our air compressor. It died, so we decided to
find the nearest campground and sit for the weekend until we found a
place open on Monday that could handle a trailer.
A short drive off the highway was Indian Point RV Resort. We
limped in and paid for two nights. It was a nice, quiet park with
cement pads to park on and full hook-ups. Greg started examining the
tire and found a huge nail in it. After calling to confirm that the
nearest Walmart had their tire shop open on Sunday, he managed to
remove the wheel from the trailer. Sunday morning, we drove it in the
truck to Walmart, got it patched and we were on the road again Monday
morning!
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| The concrete campsite was great for repairs! |
January 7
th we were back on I-10 eating up the miles.
We finished Mississippi, rolled across Louisiana, finally reached
the Texas border on the west bank of the Sabine River, and the
information center along its banks in Orange, Texas. Texas allows you
to overnight in its rest areas, and we had stayed here twice before,
so that was our plan for the night. As we walked into the visitor
center we noticed the area under the building on pilings was flooded.
There was also a large puddle in the parking lot, which turned out to
be the storm drain. The volunteer inside informed us that the Sabine
River was flooding and had yet to crest. The parking lot might flood
as the water backed up into the drains and the exit out would have to
be closed. There were no guarantees. We decided to get back on the
highway and drive another hour to the next rest area, where we spent
the night instead!
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| Crossing the Mississippi! |
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| The Texas Welcome Center |
