Heading South
I spent a good part of the first few weeks of January getting my car ready to tow behind the motorhome. I ended up doing all the work myself, which is kind of scary since I’ve never been real mechanical. I did have some frustrating problems with the wiring kit for the lights, including something that flared up on the morning I was leaving, but I ended up getting everything working in the end. I didn’t get out of Wilmington before the cold weather hit, but I did manage to drive south without having to go through any bad weather. My first stop was at Greg Scheu’s in Raleigh. Greg was a high school friend of mine and I hadn’t seen him since around the time I got married. It was great to see him again, and to see his wife, Kim, and meet his two kids. I only got to spend a night, but it was real nice catching up.
My next stop was St. Augustine where I caught up with some RV friends, Doug and Liane, and their dog Max. The state park they were staying at was supposed to be full, but thanks to some clandestine work by Liane I got a spot for the night. Their campground neighbors left a day early but never told anyone so the spot was never filled. So they called me and gave me the combination to the gate and I had a free spot for the night. I left early the next morning, turned around and got in line to come back in when the gates were opened at 8AM. It pays to have RV friends! I’ll have to return the favor someday. Abbey was getting restless from all the driving, and quite frankly I was getting tired, so I decided to stay an extra day to rest up and get to the Keys a day late. Since we weren’t starting to work that day anyways, and I was far south enough not to have to worry about winter weather any more it didn’t really make any difference. Abbey and I took a long walk on the beach, and then I took a long nap. I woke up with plenty of time to get ready for dinner with Doug and Liane. Except for the long drives, it felt good to be back on the road, though I do notice the difference with the car behind me. At least, when I’m starting up or driving over bumpy roads. I kept looking in the mirror to make sure I could see the shadow of the car on the road since I couldn’t see the car itself. I was still paranoid on the 3rd day of driving, but I was getting more used to it. I’m hoping the day will never come that I get stuck trying to turn around on a narrow street because you can’t back up when you’re towing a car.
I made it into the Habitat yard on Big Pine Key around 4:30 on Monday only to find out there was a van parked in my spot. One of the other volunteers told me not to worry because they usually leave the keys in them. Then he said, as he jumped in the driver’s seat, “Let’s hope this one starts.” I soon realized that is true with a lot of the trucks, vans, tools, etc. around here. They have a lot of equipment but not all of it works. This is different from the other Habitat builds I have been on in that it isn’t a scheduled build. In other words, people come and go at all different times so it will be interesting to see how it works. More on that next time.
First campsite with the car