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The Last (Broken) Leg

While this trip had its fun moments, overall it was my least favorite trip so far. I blame it mainly on Covid response.

From Greenville I headed a couple hours east  again to Rock Hill. I was getting Synko’s wheel bearings repacked and the Morryde suspension installed. I’d waited an extra week for the parts to arrive after the factory went back to work after a Covid shutdown. While backing the rig into the service bay I had my head up my ass and busted out my back window on a too-tight turn. SonofaB! 😡

But I got really lucky as SafeLite in Charlotte had me fixed up by 10am. Those guys rock. When I left SafeLite and got on the highway a rock took a good chunk out of my windshield—right in my field of vision.  😤 By now the SafeLite guys were full for the day and advised me to get it replaced when I got home. Good enough; I could live with it.

Then when I was having lunch the RV service guys called and said the suspension parts hadn’t come in. So I waited around a week for nothing. Dammit. 😩

As I headed west I had to keep resetting my route because the bitch in the box (my navigation app) kept trying to send me through the hell-hole that is Atlanta. Plus, I wanted to stay off interstates and enjoy the scenery of north Georgia. Nearing my destination for the night I pulled in for fuel in a small station. And broke out my rear window reacting to an unseen obstacle. SONOFA&$#%€¥@!BITCH! 🤬

I overnighted in a crappy campsite at the Cartersville KOA—after screwing with my inverter which would not pass commercial power through. Took me an hour to figure out my surge protector was only passing one of the two legs of power. A couple G&Ts (ok, three) took the edge off. In the morning I dropped into Lowe’s and patched the rear window with yard sign material and painters & duck tape. Worked great!

The Final Respite

My drive from the north-of-Atlanta area took me through Georgia into Alabama and the small, pretty campground at Davis Lake off the Natchez Trace Parkway south of Tupelo. I’d been here two years ago and thought it was a cool place then. It still is, sitting on a small no-wake lake with nice water views. I stayed two nights. As I was puttering around a man came over to say hello. We had met each other two years ago here and he and his wife were back now for the first time since then. What are the odds? Anyway, I enjoyed chatting with Harry, especially since we share the same political and patriotic beliefs. It was a nice couple days!

 Into Texas

US-82 is a really good drive across Mississippi and Arkansas. Much much better than the interstate. I hit Texarkana early but was a little saddle sore so I stayed the night there. Sunday morning I joined 121 in worship online and then headed into DFW. It was a good trip in that no major issues arose but I missed out on a lot of what I’d hoped to see thanks to our Covid over-response. Stats for the trip, including Spring 2020 to Utah & Nevada:

  • Racked up a total of 7492 miles
  • Synko hung with me for 6419 miles (86%)
  • Drove a total of 181 hours
  • Traveled through 12 states
  • Stayed in 45 different campsites
  • Averaged 10.9 MPG in fuel consumption (I thin the drop in fuel efficiency is due to the air running all the time.
  • Repacked Synko’s wheel bearings.

I’m now back at the Vineyards in Grapevine for a month to get my license to carry and then I’m heading west into the Rockies. That’s where I belong.

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NWWIIM & USSA

Pulled into a campground in the woods between Gulf Shores, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida about 4pm after an easy 204 miles drive from New Orleans and a 3-hour visit to the USS Alabama in Mobile. But first, lemme recap the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.

What an awesome place! This is probably my favorite museum of all time. Dad would’ve loved it. It’s informative, creative, compelling. I learned a lot and gained even more respect  for the men & women who fought (and still fight)  for our nation’s values and freedom. I hope future generations continue to visit and soak up a core of what makes America great. I fear the leftist/snowflake/ineedmysafeplace generation we seem to be raising won’t care about museums like this some day. I fear it, but I pray I’m wrong. One  of the really cool things that bring the museum to life are the WWII veterans who share their stories, both on video and in real life. You can talk to them. Gain their insights. Appreciate them. I loved how Sgt. John  Emery, 16th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 1st Division, put it:

When you talk about combat leadership under fire on the beach at Normandy, I don’t see how the credit can go to anyone other than the company-grade officers and senior NCOs who led the way, It is good to be reminded that there are such men, that there always have been, and always will be. We sometimes forget, I think, that you can manufacture weapons, and you can purchase ammunition, but you can’t buy valor and you can’t pull heroes off an assembly line.

Amen, sir.

Today I turned off the highway at the east side of the Mobile tunnel and visited the USS Alabama battleship. Another very cool tour opp. Dang those things are big—and it’s a small boat by today’s standards! Walking through the decks and compartments you can just about feel the war going on around you. Definitely worth stopping in for a few hours if you’re in the neighborhood.

Now I’m hanging at the KOA until Monday, just chillaxing and watching the Masters tomorrow. Then headed to Savannah, probably in a one-day drive. My volunteer gig with Samaritan’s Purse  in Jacksonville, AL got cancelled since they finished up their work early. So maybe I get points for my heart being in the right place? LOL. It’s time to throw a steak on the grill…

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Countdown

SportTrek TrailerJust a couple days until I take off on my first long trip. I’ve been hanging at the Vineyards Campground in my home town of Grapevine, dialing things in on the trailer & truck. (By the way, I gotta give the Vineyards a well-earned plug; it’s a great campground run by Randy Sell and his staff.)

My loosely formed plan is to head south & east where I’ll travel through the wetlands of east Texas and on to New Orleans to visit the National World War II Museum. From there I’m headed up to Jacksonville, Alabama to join Samaritan’s Purse in their tornado recovery project there. It’ll be their last week in Jacksonville so by the end of the week I’ll turn east toward Savanna and the Atlantic coast.

And that’s all I know so far. A week-ish of planning is more than I wanna take on. You can get a snapshot of where I’m at on the Log Book pages; more detailed trip notes are right here where you are now.

Now I gotta go find the key to unlock my trailer hitch so I can get rollin’!