So here we were with a 1985 Dodge Van and a who knows what year camper hauling down the road for a 1400 mile trip. We were anxious, nervous, excited, happy, and sad all at once. John had never really hauled a camper before and the old van is relatively new to us so we weren't sure what to expect.
From Stockton Springs, Maine we took rte 1 into Belfast to connect with rte 3. Rte 1 was slow going but that was to be expected since it was only 5:30pm and there were a lot of people on the road. We were a little concerned about the upcoming hills on rte 3 though cause the van was not really liking the little hills on rte 1. Well, we were right to be concerned. The hills on rte 3 all but stopped us dead in our tracks. Some of them we were lucky to crest at 15mph. The van almost overheated 3 times. We were already starting to worry about such a long trip. All we could do was hope that once we hit highway it would haul better.
Rte 3 took a lot longer than we would have liked but we made it to I95 and kept heading on our course for warmer ground. As soon as we got onto I95 the van was thankful. It started working better with no more overheating issues and the camper was hauling just fine on the highway. It took a little while but John and I both began to relax after about an hour on the highway. Now we were hauling fine and making much better time.
Now the van itself actually gets pretty good gas mileage. Not sure what kind of mpg we get but I know it's good because we did a lot of running around in Maine on about a quarter of a tank of gas. However, with the camper on the mpg were not quite as good. We had filled up on Rte 1 in Searsport at the Irving. We had to fill up again at the first service station in Maine. We topped off again at the LAST service station in Maine just to be safe. Of course at this point we weren't able to judge very well because the gas gauge was not going all the way up to full even when the tank wouldn't take any more gas so we were being way over cautious.
My youngest son, Johnny who was 14, was very excited to see the states go by. We had been working on geography and learning where the states are. He is very good at it and can tell you what states are near what other states now and do a blank map with no problem but still this trip was to be a learning experience. It's very different looking at a map. Traveling through them gives you a much better idea of how big or small they are and really drives home the lessons.
New Hampshire went by in a flash and when I said "wave goodbye to New Hampshire" Johnny was suprised that we were already in Massachusettes. We stopped at some service station in Mass to fill up again and further down the road we went. At every state we waved goodbye to the one we were leaving. Johnny and Jessie, Jessie is my oldest son's girlfriend, stayed up for most of the first night of driving. They were very excited when we got to New York to see all the lights.
Now here is where I should mention that a very very good friend of ours let us use his gps system for the trip. I love the thing. It kept me busy, I felt usefull and it helped keep me awake. Not to mention that it helps when finding rest stops and distances. However, as nice as gps is, it is not always appropriate to follow it. Use your best judgement as I learned the hard way.
We were following I95 south. When we got to New York City the gps told us to get off the highway for a short period. It was my assumption, mistakenly, that the gps was trying to help us avoid the city traffic and all. I am not sure what the gps was trying to do. It took us off the highway onto some side streets. We ended up pulling our camper through an interesting part of the city. The gang we passed was quite obviously shocked to see a camper go by. Bright side is that maybe they were so amazed and shocked that they stopped whatever they were up to for the night to discuss the idiots from Maine. The kids found it all very amusing and interesting though. We got our picture taken but a completely unexpected red light that we had to run because we could not stop. And finally it took us back to the highway. Maybe the GPS thought I needed to wake up and it was trying to entertain me, or give me a heart attack. Anyway back on the highway and on our way once more.
Now I am from Maine. I was born and raised there. I have lived in Connecticut for a very short time as an adult and in Florida for a couple years as a kid but basically I'm a back country girl. With that in mind I want to say that city highways scare the crap out of me and I should have packed some valumes. Driving through the cities, even on the highway, is a scary situation.
Thankfully most of them we went through at the wee hours of the morning so the traffic was light. I was looking at the 6 lanes thinking what it must look like during the day and shuddering. However, though cities scare me a bit, the lights are beautiful and it doesn't take much more than some well lit up buildings and interesting billboards to entertain me and wake me up.
We came into Maryland at about 6am and John had been awake for more hours than I can count and driving for over 12 of them. I was tired and trying not to fall asleep so he would have company. The kids had all passed out hours before. John was barely awake. It was time to stop and rest. We had hoped to make it to Virginia in our first stint but this was just not going to happen.
When the kids woke up they were so good. Johnny came to the camper and got something to eat. He sat at the table and played with the cats. I woke up at about noon and couldn't sleep so I came out and he and I went to the restaurant area. The food was all terribly expensive but we sat and talked and had a soda. We found these neat little machines that would turn your pennies into souvenirs. So we got a few of those for ourselves and for a friend. Kyle and Jessie hung out in the van for a while and then walked up to look around. We all kind of just did nothing for a while. Then Johnny and I went in the camper and played cribbage. After our cribbage game I got very tired again so I went back to bed. Johnny was so good and quiet in the camper while I slept.
John and I woke up about 2:30pm and there was a rain storm moving in. We hoped to get moving and beat it, but no sooner did we get on the road then the rain started. It made driving interesting and then the traffic picked up and got kind of heavy. John was getting a little anxious so we found another rest stop and pulled in for a while. We all sat in the van and had some sandwiches. The rest stop had free wireless so I popped online to chat with my friends in Maine for a little while. Then at about 7pm we decided to haul out again.
Traffic had cleared up a bit and the rain was beginning to let up so driving was much less stressful for us both. By the time we reached Virginia we were out of the rain and feeling good again. So on we went. At this point we had about 750 miles to go and we were feeling good about getting to Georgia by late morning. Ok so we are a little over zealous.
By this time we had figured out that we could go between 150 and 200 miles on $60 worth of gas and that was usually about where we would fill up again. We were getting the hang of this traveling gig. Of course John didn't have the money, I did, so he didn't realize how low we were getting and how much we had spent. I was getting concerned about having enough to get there, pay for the campsite, and buy any supplies we may have forgotten, but I was paying attention to what we were spending and not allowing to much frivolous spending.
Somewhere in North Carolina we decided to do what the gps wanted us to and switch from I95 to I85. I was concerned because this was not the route that I had originally planned but I hoped the gps was smarter than I and was taking us on a better route. Turned out to be a good decision. I85 in North Carolina is a VERY good road and the speed limit is 70mph. I don't think I have ever seen a speed limit of 70 before. Now of course we never actually did 70 because we were after all hauling a camper but John had us at a steady 65 - 68 for quite some time and it was doing just fine.
Now like I said, I85 is a very good road but it is also a very very long road. At least 450 miles of our trip was on I85. When you think about it that's not really a lot considering that most of our trip was on I95, but I85 is mostly country and no pretty lights to keep me awake. No turns on the GPS to keep me navigating. Inevitably I fell asleep for about an hour. But when I felt the van turn off the highway I woke up. John was stopping for gas. I got some food and I guess my power nap did me some good because I managed to stay awake for the rest of this leg of the trip.
Yes, I said leg of the trip. We didn't get to Georgia in that drive. We did get through most of South Carolina and just before we got to Georgia, at about 3:30 in the morning, we stopped at a rest stop to get some real sleep. I swear the camper was still carrying the cold of Maine with it, so I started the propane oven and put a pot of water on a burner to boil and took the chill off inside. The kids were sound alseep in the van, so we left them sleeping and went inside a still chilly but not brutally cold camper to sleep ourselves. We talked for a while so that the oven could warm us up. We realized that we were going to have to get a new tongue jack for the camper because when we were hooking up the old one broke. We decided to deal with it when we reached Georgia. Then, after we warmed it a bit, I turned everything off and we went to bed at about 4am.
I awoke at about noon again, though this time that was a lot more sleep than last stop. It was very nice outside when I got up and I wanted to enjoy that a bit and walk around. I decided to just let John sleep a while. Johnny and I went up to the welcome center at the rest stop to look around and make a couple of calls from the payphone. I wanted to call the campground and let them know we were on the way and also see if they could recommend an RV supply store in the area. I called and nobody was in the office so I left a message that we were on the way and hoped for the best.
Something struck me to ask about RV centers in the area at the desk. I walked up and a very friendly woman came over to talk to me. I told her the part we were looking for and she knew right where to send me. She went and got the number for me and put me on the phone with them. They had the jack and said they would hold it for me at the service desk. It takes such little things to make me happy. The woman at the desk then gave me great directions to get there. I thanked her and excitedly went to wake John and tell him.
At this point it was around 2pm. I woke my sleeply husband and told him what I had done. He was amazed and very happy. He felt well rested and was ready to get on the road. We pulled out and just a few miles down the road we found Camper's World, where the part was. It was really easy to get to and to get back on the highway and on our way again. Now we were very excited 270 miles to go from Camper's World in South Carolina. We were going to be in Perry Georgia by 9 or 10pm.
Down the road again. We stopped at a little store just before leaving South Carolina to gas up and they had hot food. The kids went to get some stuff to eat and Johnny came over to tell me they had chili cheese fries. I was so excited, I think I regressed to about 12 years old myself. I ran right over and ordered some. I haven't had chili cheese fries in forever and I love them. We gassed up, all got food and then I remembered we needed cigarettes so I went and bought them too.
I didn't really pay attention to what I payed for them but further down the road I got to thinking and realized that it was well under $10 for 2 packs. That made me wonder what the price was. At the next store I forgot to look at the price again but I noticed a sign that said there was a 10 carton limit per customer per day for certain brand names. Again I didn't think much about it until we were on the road. Later I'll tell you what this is all leading to but it is important, at least to a smoker.
Anyway, as we got close to Perry we all got very excited. All of us started reading all the billboards to see what was around. We looked at all the stores along the highway and watched as our exit cot closer and closer. Finally we reached it. We pulled into the campground at 9:30pm. We found a site and pulled in for the night. We didn't hook anything except the power up and we all went to bed.
We woke up at 9am and drove everything up to the office to see if we needed to be on any certain site. Because we are long stayover campers we could only pick from certain sites. The man in the office gave me the map and paperwork to fill out after we got parked. He gave me directions to Wal-Mart to pick up some things we needed to set up and said he'd see me in a while.
We hauled to Wal-Mart and picked up our supplies. At the register, this time, I looked at the cigarette prices. I almost fainted. See now, I am from Maine. In Maine cigarettes are close to $6 a pack. Here, camel wides were $3.70 and Marlboro's were $3.30. I couldn't believe it. It was like 2 for the price of one. So I bought a couple of packs. And off we went to find us a site and set up.
We found a nice pull-through site. We got all set up. We cleaned the camper, which took a while. Then we settled down to watch some tv and relax. Johnny, however, spent the day with the campground map in hand and wandered all over the place. Just before dark he even got to see an owl up close. He came to get me, because my favorite animal is an owl, but it was gone by the time I got to where it was.
So we were there. We settled in. The plan was to stay here for January and February. Then we might be moving our home up to Tennessee to be with some good friends of ours who might be moving there. If they move there then we would, if not then we would stay here a bit longer.
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