RVing Again!

The bus has been parked all winter. February came to an end. Larry's work travel was over. And finally it was time for us to hit the road.

RVing is still pretty new to us, so once again we pulled out the books, and got ready for some learnin'.

When we packed it up and tucked it in for winter, it meant I had to empty out all the foodstuffs from the inside. Larry had to empty out all the tanks and put anti-freeze in the pipes to protect them from the cold temperatures. Now it was time to reverse all those processes. For me, it was easy. Plan food, and get it in the bus.

For Larry it was a bit more detailed. And I, being the ever vigilant housewife, but not so involved with mechanics, have no idea what all that entailed. Except once in awhile I was called on to go 'turn on all the faucets and run the water until it comes clear'.

Him: "Is it clear?"
Her: "No. It's still pink.
    And a little later ...
"The pink is gone. Why is the water foamy?
Him: "WHAT? Wait a minute. Let me come look!! (exasperation.)
   And a little later...
"I'm sure its nothing. It's going away."
Me: Eyebrows raised. Thinking--"I'm not drinking that water!"

Finally, all was ready. Clothes in the closet. Food in the frig. Maps by my seat. It was time to hook up the Toad and get Frog on the road!

Day 1 through Atlanta in the rain wasn't the most fun we've had, but we took the outer loop and skipped the downtown madness. All in all, things went fine, and we were glad to pull into our first stop at a campground outside Valdosta, Georgia.

We put out the slides, plugged in the electric, set the Refrigerator to AC and turned on the hot water heater. Everything seemed fine except the Levelers wouldn't go down. It wasn't crucial because our site was level, but we knew we would need to have them looked at. Day 1 was in the books and we hadn't forgotten how to do anything. Good for us! (Oh, and the water ran clear, not foamy, and tasted fine....especially the ice cubes in the Gin and Tonic.)

Day 2 we thought should be easy. We had a straight shot down I-75 through Florida to Tampa.

So much for what we THOUGHT it should be like. Road construction had us frequently dodging orange barrels. 16-Wheelers set up trains on both sides of us, whenever they could and buffeted us between them. And then there was the wind. Head wind, side wind, constant wind.

My hero of a husband who can drive anything, was searching out rest areas just so he could flex and relax the hands that had been gripping the wheel, and sit back and close his eyes, shrug his shoulders, roll his neck....you get the idea. He was tense.

We made it to Tampa and our camp site at Lazy Days. I'm glad I wasn't driving, but all's well that ends well. I'm ready for a trip out west; Colorado, the Dakota's, Wyoming. Larry was ready for a beer.

We sat outside, in the sun, drink in hand and watched the news....It was snowing up north, again. Florida was a good place to be.