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Day 03: Are we there yet?

Having listened to several train horns at various times in the night, 6:30 arrived and I was up for my morning walk. Lightly showering but 11C so lighter clothing under the rain jacket.

Collegedale is a very car-centric community, or at least the area we stayed in is. Walking was a challenge as sidewalks were far and few between, the inclusion of them clearly being left to the developers should they have felt like it, most didn’t. This meant that I walked in the narrow shoulder facing traffic that was going well over the posted limit in damp conditions. Needless to say, I didn’t last long & hope to put in the remaining distance when we arrive at the state park this afternoon.

After breakfast in the van, we headed out at about 8:30 and travelled through Chattanooga on I-75 before picking up the I-59 towards the Georgia border, a few minutes later we crossed into Alabama where we entered the Central timezone, so it was 8:30 again. But we didn’t get too excited as we’ll lose that hour this coming weekend when the clocks change to daylight savings time.

Onto Birmingham, AL where we followed the I-465 around the city before heading South on the I-65 towards Montgomery, AL and then towards Pensacola, FL.

The driving today has been easy, lots of construction zones with reduced speeds and few to no workers to warrant the slowdowns, but stress free driving is always nice. The landscape changed a lot, from the mountains of Tennessee to the rolling hills of Northern Alabama to the mostly flat sandy pine tree covered dunes of Florida. Most of the hardwood trees were replaced with softwood varieties and the wild wisteria that hung blooming in many trees in Northern Alabama is not suited to the heat and humidity of the gulf coast.

As I write this it is overcast and showering in Pensacola but warm at 24C. We’re booked in to spend two nights at the Big Lagoon State Park here in Pensacola, FL and so will provide a review of our site, the park and what we get up to in the next couple of posts.

Stay tuned, be happy! Spring really is on the way.

Day 02: Provisioning day

Yep, all camping trips begin with provisioning, except this one. It’s day 2 and we’re yet to gather supplies. That changes today!

Had a great sleep parked at the Cracker Barrel in Winchester, VA. Highly recommended. Awake just before 7:00 and out for a 5.5km walk along mostly overly busy roads. Chilly at -1C but it should soon warm.

Back at the van, Barb has reorganized some things and is feeling much better about where and how our stuff is stored.

After a smallish breakfast at our hosts, we were back on I-81 South at 9:00am. I’m hoping for a shorter day (a little foreshadowing here).

Virginia is a beautiful state. The mountains, farms, forests and valleys all tell a tale of over two-hundred years of settlement. It really is easy to see why it became a popular settling destination.

Although it won’t feel like it to those of you that live north of the US/Canada border, Spring arrived early for us today. The grass here is greening up and in some-places could already be mowed (still on the lookout for that first operating mower). Many trees are budding and the flowering trees are in full bloom. We saw Cherry blossoms, flowering dogwoods (State flower of Virginia) and Eastern Redbud that actually flowers with a purple flower. Daffodils are also in bloom. Yep, Spring is here.

Arriving in Roanoke, VA we decided to visit Camping World and pick up a few bits and pieces for the van and get Propane. Bits and pieces were acquired but their propane system was out of order. They suggested the TSC store next door. Hmmm, I’m hoping they will know how to fill an RV tank.

We drive to the TSC and immediately prune one of their lovely trees with the roof of the van. Argh! Phew, no harm to the van thankfully, but the poor tree had a few branches less after greeting us. As for the Propane, all went well & the dude was quite skilled in filling RV tanks. Yay, provisioning has begun.

Next we acquired water for our tank, we can now flush and wash!!! This is a good thing. We do not drink the water from our tank and instead buy bottled water for safety reasons.

Leaving Virginia and entering Tennessee, I-81 turns Westward towards Knoxville. We arrived during afternoon rush hour… yay! This slowed our progress and resulted in our arriving in Chattanooga at 7:00pm. Not a shorter driving day.

Dinner courtesy of Arby’s, parkup courtesy of Walmart on Little Debbie Lane, Collegedale, TN. the home of the Little Debbie factory.

After the Propane and Water acquisitions of earlier, food provisions have been acquired from Walmart that should last us for a few days.

All for today. Tomorrow we cross into the Central timezone and should arrive in Florida!

Day 01: On the road again…

Welcome back to our travel blog! The long and snowy winters end approaches; however, not quickly enough for these intrepid explorers. And so this post finds us heading out in search of sunnier and warmer climes in the Southern US. Todays drive took us from the US/Canadian border, across the Blue Ridge mountains and into the state of Virginia.

It’s 6:00am and half of the house is awake for the day, it should be a busy one. No snow overnight so at least there’s none to brush off of the van before we can drive. Now, time to go for a walk and then the final loading to complete. 9:00am target departure. Wish us luck!

Ok, so 9:30am and we’re rolling out of town after dropping a package off at the post office. The roads are dry and it’s sunny, a good omen we believe.

The St. Lawrence river is open water signaling that Spring is near. The border crossing is very smooth with just a few cursory questions concluding with the agent saying a rather abrupt “Goodbye”. Several hundred yards later at the bridge toll booth we were held up slightly as a trucker maneuvered his/her 11’6” wide load through a series of bollards signed at being 11’6” clear. Some of the item wrapping brushed against the bollards but otherwise no damage done. Nice driving.

The drive across US37 towards Watertown, NY was easy and a nice way to ease into what would be a long day.

We picked up I-81 and headed South towards Syracuse and onto Whitney Point where we stopped at the visitor center and had a ham & cheese wrap for lunch.

Frost capped trees near Whitney Point, NY

Binghamton, Scranton and Wilkes Barre soon followed as the interstate took us further South with each passing mile. By this point in the journey almost all of the snow on the ground was gone and the temperature was steadily above zero Celsius. By the time we cross out of Pennsylvania and into Maryland the temperature is a steady 8C, that’s 15C above this mornings temperature at home!

Driving through West Virginia the sun sets and the nighttime truck traffic is taking over the interstate, time to find a park up. Like Mr & Mrs Milddogs last year, we decided to stop at the Cracker Barrel in Winchester, VA. where we enjoyed a chicken dinner before settling down for the night. I was even carded when requesting a beer with my dinner! 59 and still looking under 25! I’ll take it.

It was a very long day of driving which saw us arrive at 7:15pm, almost 10 hours after leaving home. Tomorrow should be shorter and will see us head towards Chattanooga, TN. Stay tuned for how we make out.

Before signing off for the night, let’s address a few questions you, our readers, might have.
1. How are you handling the colder temperatures? Are you not afraid of the piping freezing while driving through states with temperatures below freezing point?
– We left home with the van still ‘winterized’ with plumbing antifreeze in the piping and plan on leaving it that way until the ambient temperatures support ‘dewinterizing’.
2. Have you made any changes or improvements to the van over the winter?
– We were generally very happy with the van when we last used it in 2022. We have added a small shelving system under the sink to better organize baskets that we keep there containing various items used in the galley.
3. Was any specific maintenance performed before travelling this year?
– As the van currently has only 15000kms on it, only an oil change and service was performed by the Ford dealer last Fall. Other than this, only the typical pre-trip checks of fluids, tyre pressures, etc. were performed. We are expecting to have to perform a little more maintenance upon our return.

July 21, 2022 – Recap and Statistics

Three weeks, yes it’s been that long since we arrived home after our 42 day cross-continent tour. A few friends have asked for some specifics about the trip and so we provide the following for your consideration.

The first question tends to be about where we stayed each night. Did we find suitable camping locations? So, here are the stats for that.

13 nights moochdocking (family laneways). Thank you all.
3 nights at Indianapolis Motor Speedway camping field (no services).
7 nights at Harvest Host locations
3 nights in Walmart parking lots
6 nights at KOA campgrounds (serviced).
3 nights at US state park (Fort Stevens)
2 nights at Canadian National Parks
4 nights at Ontario Provincial Parks

As you can see we mixed it up a bit and tried a variety of places. Favorites?

Harvest Host: Shiloh Winery & Vineyard, Kansas. Quiet solitude on the plains.
KOA: Central City, Colorado.
Parks Canada: Jasper, Whistlers Campground, Alberta.
Ontario Provincial Park: Macleod, Geraldton, Ontario.
Family laneway: Yeah, we’re not picking a favorite as we love you all.

The next obvious question is about where exactly did we go? Here’s a map that shows you the route West from Ontario, across the US Midwest, up to British Columbia and the back across the Canadian prairies.

Lastly, given the current price of fuel, folks have asked how much fuel we used and what it cost. So, here it is all laid out in a table for you to review.

So there you have it, a few statistics about the trip. Hoping you find them interesting.

Day 23: June 11 – Lynden, WA to Abbotsford, BC

Knowing we only have about 20km to drive for our stay tonight, we got to sleep-in and take our time getting ready today. The campground here is very picturesque; however, the neighbors didn’t seem to have volume control of their voices and so that spoiled the site a little. We spent last evening at in the van (it was raining) watching Netflix and therefore didn’t have to listen to their entire conversation.

We left at about 11:30 and went into town to get our last fill-up of fuel in the US before heading to the border crossing. A quick stop at the duty-free shop and onto Canada customs. 3 minutes later and we were wished well on the remainder of our trip. This was by far the quietest and easiest border crossing we’ve ever experienced.

We drive into Abbotsford looking for a place to have lunch and settled on the Field House Brewing Co. on West Railway St. We each enjoyed one of their beers as well as a plate of bruschetta and an order of chicken tacos. Yummy, we highly recommend.

Acre upon acre of raspberry bushes growing adjacent to the Abbotsford airport.

That night we were staying at Campbell’s Gold Honey Farm and Meadery just outside of Aldergrove. They have a wonderful shop where they sell their wares and also locally made crafts. A quiet and secure location where we slept exceedingly well.