Baby Alligator

Today was a very short drive. We have been averaging about 210 miles per day, but today we only travelled 78 miles.  When we got to our site, set up and had lunch, we still had time to go out for a bike ride. We are in Nokomis, just south of Sarasota and right next to Venice. Tomorrow we drive to Naples - what country are we in?

The old railroad tracks.

About 1/2 of a mile from the entrance to the RV park we came upon a bike trail so we took it. Part of the trail bordered a Florida State Park.  One of the neat things about the trail was this little section where they have left the old tracks. You can't see it in the picture, but the trail makes a jog around this short section of tracks (about 200 feet long).

Baby alligator?

We saw many of these little critters. 

Container Store

One of the great features of the Airstream is a huge closet/wardrobe. But it is just an open space and in order to utilize the space to the fullest we want to fit drawers and shelves in the space.  I originally got the idea of using Container Store products from the Airforums site.  Airforums is a place where you can ask questions of other Airstream owners and where people post their nifty ideas. One man posted pictures and details of how he used the Elfa system of drawers (from the Container Store) in one half of his wardrobe closet.  Before we left Massachusetts we had gone to the Container Store and  had ordered the same system to be sent to Kathryn's house so that we could pick it up when we brought the Airstream to Buffalo. That was one of the projects that Frederick did during the two days we were outfitting the Airstream before we left for Florida.  Unfortunately, the lower rack that we order was too deep and we were shipped the wrong size lower drawers so Frederick only installed the upper cabinet drawers.

Upper level drawer system.

A check on the internet confirmed that there were Container Stores in Florida, one located not too far from the RV park we are staying in, right outside Tampa. So this morning after breakfast we drove about 25 miles into Tampa to the store. We exchanged the lower frame that was too long for a shorter one and selected the right size baskets.  Then we thought, if we have drawers on one side of the wardrobe it would be nice to have shelves on the other side. So we purchased another frame and several narrow drawers that we will use like shelves.

I don't know how many of you have been to a Container Store, but for me it is better than the proverbial "candy store". The librarian in me, who loves organization, could not find a better store.  So after we selected the shelving systems it was off to find all manner of bins, boxes, bags and other storage containers.  We were there for almost four hours.

We brought the stuff back to the Airstream but we are going to wait until we get to Naples, the day after tomorrow, April 1st, before we bring it all in and start putting it to use. It's something to look forward to!

Lower section of the wardrobe waiting for its drawers.

Purchases from the Container Store,

The drawers for the wardrobe and other containers.

Devil's Millhopper

I think that I have mentioned to most of you that one of our ambitions during our travels is to use the book, 101 American Geo-Sites You've Gotta See, and visit the sites that are located in all 50 states, one or two each state. Florida has only one geo-site listed in the book and it happened to be located just 20 miles from where we stayed last night, 14 of those miles being on I-75 south, the route we are taking toward Naples. So, for a brief jog off the highway, we are able to check off Florida's geo-site.

Let me set the scene. Last night I mentioned that it was raining and it rained all night. In the morning, the Airstream was listing slightly because Florida's soil is very sandy and the water had washed out around our leveling jacks. And the rain was not over, except that this morning, lightning and thunder was added.  And not just a gentle rain, but a downpour! But we persevered and made our way to the Florida State Park in the northwest suburbs of Gainesville.

There was supposed to be a Ranger led tour at 10 am on Saturdays so we thought our timing was perfect but, of course, there was no tour because of the rain and lightning.  That didn't stop us, so off we hiked to the bottom of the sinkhole, which is what Florida's geo-site is. You may think of a Florida sinkhole as a big depression that swallows buildings, roads and cars.  But the Devil's Millhopper formed 10,000 to 15,000 years ago and since 1972 has been preserved as a National Registered Natural Landmark. This beautifully preserved circular and steep-sided sinkhole measures 120 feet deep by 500 feet in diameter and is easily explored by way of a stairway that descends to its cave-ridden bottom.The distinctive name derives from its unusual funnel-like shape that reminded early settlers of the devices farmers used at the mill to grind their grain.  The presence of preserved bones and teeth supposedly related to past devilish activities but in reality are fossil plant and animal remains.

Plaque at the start of the trail to the bottom.

Spock just peaking out of his raincoat.

At the bottom of the sinkhole. I think the water is so muddy because it is raining down the sides.

A view of the steps trail.

Water cascading down the sides of the sinkhole.

We are at the Quail Run RV Resort for two nights. Yeah! Tomorrow we are off, without Airstream, to find the local Container Store and a filter for our water hose.

Orange or grapefruit juice

We made it to Florida! After six days of travel we're here.

Right at the border.

Rain on our roof woke us up this morning. I wasn't prepared for the sound of rain on our aluminum skin, but I guess I should have been. It's quite pleasant. We hitched up in the rain and headed out on I-75 in the rain. Paul's friends who have a GM Motorhome and are returning from Florida said they saw us traveling on I-75 going in the opposite direction.  Airstreams are quite identifiable on the road, at least to us.  Every day we have seen at least one traveling in the opposite direction and there was one in the campground where we stayed last night.

It is raining right now, but we are also learning how to use our air conditioners - there are two, one in the bedroom and one in the galley. Today while I was driving, Frederick read, out loud, all about controlling moisture in the Airstream.  Apparently lots of moisture can cause problems.  We are going to experiment with the air conditioners, and the various fans and vents that we have.

Counter where cups of orange or grapefruit juice are offered. We had orange juice before lunch and grapefruit juice after we had our lunch.

Kennedy Space Center calls.

Azaleas are blooming in the campground.

More flowering trees.  Notice the palm tree (palm bush?) next to the picnic table.

Stroll in the park

Finally! We had dinner this evening with our screen door open. Perry, GA, is mild, 72 degrees, and low humidity.  Today's drive was beautiful with lots of flowering trees and a quick drive through Atlanta.  One of the things we liked about the drive through Atlanta is that trucks are prohibited from driving on I - 75 through the city. So for a few miles we was able to relax and enjoy seeing the beautiful City without trucks barreling around us.  We only drive 55 mph and the trucks do 70 on the Interstate.

After supper Frederick and I went for a walk around the little lake in the Fair Harbor RV Park. It was then I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures today to include in the blog. So here is was I managed on our walk.

I wonder how they chose 17 mph for the speed limit driving through the park?

The Airstream un-hitched from the Mercedes for the first time since Buffalo. (Notice the cute little light over the door.)

When we got to the park we un-hitched from the Airstream and drove into Perry to the local Kroger supermarket for food and diesel fuel. Now we won't have to drag the Airstream through a gas station tomorrow. It's the little details that cheer our heart!  

Tomorrow night we will be in Florida.

What a difference a day makes

Okay, I guess I got carried away yesterday. But today dawned bright and sunny and stayed that way all day.  I think it is the first sunny day we have had in over 10 days.

Where we stayed last night was just a few miles from the Tennessee boarder and when we crossed the boarder we tried to stop at the Tennessee Welcome Center, but there was no parking for our extended vehicles so we just drove through without stopping.  I did want to include a picture from Tennessee so we stopped at a rest stop, I think there was only one on our drive through the state, and took the following picture.

See the clear, blue sky!

Because we park with the trucks, we enter through the back door, and not the pretty front.

The further we drove south, the more flowering trees we saw. I think spring is truly on the way.

A red one and lots of white flowering trees.

Late this afternoon we left Tennessee and crossed over into Georgia. Once again we wanted to stop at the Welcome Center and this time we were successful. 

Spock and friend in the Georgia Welcome Center.

It will take us all day to drive through Georgia tomorrow.  But the day after we will be in Florida!

The Scenic Drive

We finished one of our two 30 lb. containers of propane last night.  We had been running the furnace three nights so any liquids in the Airstream didn't freeze and, even though we set the thermostat at 45 degrees, furnaces use a lot of propane. So this morning, before we left the Olive Branch we filled up on propane. It is supposed to be down in the teens this evening but we will be warm and cozy.

Today we drove through Cincinnati and Lexington. Then on the route I-75 scenic route at a higher elevation to Corbin, KY. I can say, without a doubt, that it was our worst driving experience ever.

Going, going ....

gone.

The road wasn't slippery, like it would be in New England,but the visibility was awful.  I think there was a good deal of fog.

Tomorrow we're headed south in our continuing search for warmer weather.

Much better than a tent

Our first night in the Airstream!

At the Olive Branch Campground; an interesting name. After filling our fresh water tank (more about that later) we were ready to move to our site. All of our things that we have been hauling around in the car for our stays in the hotels had to be moved into the Airstream. But then, we were ready for our first meal and overnight.

Our first dinner - black bean soup and salad.

After dinner we watched a little Downton Abby - season 4. 

Frederick modeling the famous recliners.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

A journey of many thousand miles begins with hitching up the Airstream! We now have over two hundred miles under our tires and are staying in a hotel in Independence, Ohio. (There are no campgrounds open in this area.)

We woke up this morning and it was snowing - in Buffalo, of all places. But by 9am it had stopped and the sun tried to come out. We said good-bye to Kathryn without whose help this venture would have been a lot harder to launch.  She gave up a good part of her house to store our Airstream items.

Thank you for your help, Kathryn. We are grateful!

We then went to the campground and did our first hitch unsupervised; it only took us an hour. But, after stowing inside items for travel, we were on our way. We kept our speed to 55 mph and despite frequent snow squalls, sometimes producing white-out conditions, we made steady progress.

Hanging out with the "big boys" at the Pennsylvania Welcome Center.

Making an Airstream a home

I think that we will be able to travel with the second row of seats up!  I had thought that we would not have enough room in the Airstream for all the stuff we wanted to take and that we would have to store some of it in the Mercedes. But we have put away everything and the bins under the bed are empty and most of the storage in the bathroom is not being used.

Cleaning the adhesive from the warning labels that were plastered everywhere.

After putting all the stuff away we made a run to the store to buy a mattress pad, goo-gone, work gloves, and various other essentials. 

The Airstream came with some decor, a bedspread  and 8 pillows. Since we are using our own duvet we have packed away the pillows and bedspread for a later time.

Bedroom with Airstream decor.

Tomorrow we hit the road!

NO SHOEHORN NEEDED

What a relief!  I thought we would have to really pare down what we were planning to take with us "on the road". But, after spending a good part of the day arranging the kitchen/galley everything has a home with room to spare. I was planning on taking a picture of us loading the Airstream, but I forgot.  So in order to have a picture in this post, I'll revisit some from the past six weeks.

The First Public Library in the United States

When we were staying at the Residence Inn in Franklin, MA, there were pictures in our room of the Franklin Public Library which claims to be the "oldest public library in the U.S." We went inside for a visit.  I don't think this is the actual original building of the oldest library, at least it was not the one in our room picture. I think this building opened in 1904. 

A charming, very large, picture in the front entryway. The dog looked like Prince.

Some folks enjoying the Reading Room. 

Spring in Canada

Snow and arctic blasts! It's cold in Canada on the first day of spring!!

It turns out that Frederick is a superb trailer backer upper.  We had the opportunity to practice backing up today with Kirk Thomson, Andy's brother. When I was at the wheel and Frederick was giving directions, I backed the trailer right next to the cones and when Frederick was at the wheel, piece of cake! We feel so much better. We will keep practicing, but no more sleepless nights.

Practicing backing up at a vacant Ford plant parking lot.

We are now back at Kathryn's house. We drove our car back from London and our trailer was imported by Kirk. We met up at an RV park 5 miles from Kathryn's house.  It is still cold and snowy. Tomorrow we will move our stuff into the trailer. We are not staying in the trailer because it is still winterized, but we will have electricity and heat.

Kirk and Spock at the RV park.

Beauty and the Beast

It was an intense day of orientation, well, half a day. We got to the dealership shortly after 9am and were told that our beautiful Airstream was being cleaned. So we settled down in the customer waiting area to drink hot chocolate (Frederick) and figure out how to add pictures to this blog. Another customer, Dave Topley, was waiting for his 5th wheel to be readied. He and his wife are going full time and continuing to work out of their RV. He has a software company that provides personnel scheduling programs. They emigrated from England in 2007.  He gave us lots of camping/RVing tips.

Phil #2 (Phil #1 was our car mechanic in yesterday's pictures) began our in-depth orientation shortly before noon.  We got most of the way through the syllabus when we had to stop to fill out paperwork for exporting the trailer. Tomorrow, Kirk Thomson, brother of Andy, will tow our Airstream to a campground in North Tonawanda, just next door to Amherst, NY, where Kathryn lives. They have experience in exporting trailers across the border into the U.S. We will meet him at the campground.

About 5pm, Andy took us out for our first tow. And yes, it was raining. (Hey, it wasn't snow!)

Andy preparing to take us on our first tow.

First a little towing around the neighborhood streets of a suburb outside of London, then onto the freeway where I had to catch myself and back down from accelerating to 70 miles per hour.  We want to travel 55 - 60 mph when we are towing. Finally, gasp, we returned to the dealership where I backed up the trailer. The first time went remarkably well, not so much the second try. So tomorrow before we leave for the U.S. we will both practice some more.  

First Day

9am - Can-Am, London, Ontario, to meet John Watterton, our salesman, and our Airstream for the first time. Met Andy Thomson - the towing guru - the owner of Can-Am. Our car was whisked away to begin the installation of the Hensley hitch.

John gave us a brief orientation to the outside - propane, levelers, bike rack, awnings, sewer, water, electricity, etc. - in the morning and an interior orientation in the afternoon.

Phil will provide a more in-depth orientation tomorrow plus we will get some towing training.
We have been given a briefcase full of manuals (and a briefcase) to review this evening. I don't know how far I'll get - I'm exhausted.