Trish's office

Unfortunately it isn't all play, well at least for Trish. This is a view of her office as she participates in conference calls.  Gotta pay for this adventure somehow!

loving this place

Dames Ferry SP is fantastic. Here are a few aerial pics.

Dames Ferry State Park

After a couple of fun days in Blairsville, we continued our journey south in search of warmer weather. As we drove through Atlanta the temps rose and as we arrived at our next stop it was 75 and sunny! We are in Juliette, Georgia camped at Dames Ferry State Park for 4 nights. This is probably the best campsite we have ever had. Waterfront, wooded, nobody else nearby.

Octoberfest with the Wagstaffs

With campsite secured we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Richard and Kathy at their mountain house. The next day after a leisurely brunch we joined them for a trip to an Octoberfest celebration in nearby Helen, Georgia. This town knows how to party!  Entire downtown is built in a Bavarian style and filled with German restaurants and stores.

What a great time we had!  Thank you Kathy and Richard!

Wagstaff Mountain

After three wonderful days in Asheville, we headed south into Georgia to visit our friends Richard and Kathy Wagstaff. Our original plan was to camp on their property, but it turned out differently. It seems that Richard and Kathy live quite a way up on a mountain. The way up was a long, single lane, switchback filled partly dirt (mud that day) road. We quickly realized that the Breeze wasn't going to make it up so we found a campsite only 5 miles away.

We had a nice wooded site, and the campground included a large stable (77 horses) and many beautiful farm roads to walk.

Biltmore visit

After touring the house we visited the grounds which include a huge area of vineyards, pastures, farm fields etc. After enjoying a lunch at an on grounds tavern, we did the wine tasting at the winery.

We really enjoyed today!

The Biltmore

The Biltmore is the largest house (179,000 square feet!) in the USA.  Built by George Vanderbilt in the late 1800's, it is an amazing place. We took the tour, plus a separate tour of the back areas where the workers lived. The history was very interesting and the house itself amazing. Well worth the visit.

Asheville

If you've never been to Asheville, consider a trip. It is a very nice, manageable sized city. The drive south from Virginia was beautiful.

We camped at the Asheville West KOA, not a bad spot, 20 minutes from downtown. Campground was acceptable, although nearby highway noise might bother some.

These kind of crowded campgrounds, located along the highways are a necessary part of travel, and well worth it if you aren't planning on hanging at the campsite. We were going to stay busy in Asheville, including a day at the Biltmore.

Virginia to North Carolina

Wow, hard to believe so much time has gone by since my last post. I suppose it is because we have been staying busy and enjoying the nice weather.

After leaving Harrisburg we drove 360 miles in one day to get to Wytheville, Virginia. Long drive that was notable due to a couple accidents on the highway, fortunately in the opposite lane. One of those accidents had traffic stopped, people hanging around outside their vehicles, for 17 miles! The highway was closed for 6 hours, so those folks had a long wait!

Checked into KOA in Wytheville for two nights.

A round of golf and drinks with a former work friend, and we were ready to head south, next stop Asheville, North Carolina.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Now that the Breeze was running right we lowered our stress and enjoyed a beautiful Saturday in Harrisburg. Lots to see, it is actually a pretty city.

Day 4 and 5 - Stress

Our 4th day out reminded us of the stressful parts of traveling. We left Northampton after a long night of heavy wind, rain and power outages. Early in our drive we ran into closed roads due to flooding or trees down, forcing us to adjust our route on the fly. Sounds easy, but driving a 40 foot coach with a car attached that is almost 13 feet high, limits what roads you can use. Tight turns, low bridges and bridge weight limits all are common in western Massachusetts.

Once we got to the Mass Turnpike we thought we were home free. But heavy rain continued, and the Breeze felt very sluggish, seeming unable to get up the long hills on the turnpike without slowing down as slow as 35 mph. By the time we had gotten into New York State it was getting worse and the last few miles before reaching our destination I drove in the breakdown lane, mostly at 25 to 35 mph.

I pulled into Post Jervis NY and stopped at a local small truck shop that was recommended by a nearby RV dealer. We then checked into a Hampton Inn for the night so the shop could get at the problems in the morning.

I spent the next day at the truck repair shop called Fullers that is run by an older man, know only as Grandfather, his son Jimmy (very much a biker type) and Jimmy's daughter Erin. They were the nicest people and were determined to solve our problem. I got to hang out, learned quite a lot about the Breeze and sit by the stove in the shop with the shop dogs Miley and Noname.

By 3 PM the problems solved we headed south again. Turned out that both the fuel filter and air filter were clogged. And I thought both had been replaced in May when I had the Breeze serviced. Obviously I was wrong.

Days 2 and 3 - Northampton, Mass

On Tuesday we had an uneventful drive from Woodsville to Northampton, Mass. Lots of beautiful foliage along the way. This is a view of Haverhill NH, just down the road from Sue's house.

Once in Northampton we walked around both Smith College and the UMass campuses. Perfect fall weather.

Day 1 - Woodsville NH

It's the end of our first week on the road and we finally have a strong wifi signal!  So now to get up to date.

Monday we drove from home to Woodsville, New Hampshire, where we had a nice dinner at my sister Sue's house. After a fun evening with Sue and Dave we camped at the Walmart parking lot, very quiet and comfy.

Sue and Dave's house from above.

Our Walmart campsite.

On the road again!

As Willie's song goes, we're on the road again. Leaving Carrabassett Valley on October 14th was with mixed feelings. The nights were getting cold, the leaves were starting to fall and Sugarloaf essentially goes into hibernation between end of golf season and the start of skiing. On the other hand, it was a very beautiful autumn that followed a great summer, so it was hard to leave.

But we packed up The Breeze and hit the road on Monday morning, October 14th.

Looking to fill in some of the blanks on our map of the USA!