Off we go!!!

It was still dark when we began our full time journey on January 16th at 6:30 AM. We had made most of our disconnections the evening before so it was mainly getting the dogs shifted to the Volvo, ensuring we were ready for the road, and then heading out. Dan realized he’d never driven the RV in the dark before so that was something new to tick off the list. We headed into/around Atlanta hoping that we’d still left in time to miss the last of what hopefully would be our last rush hour for awhile. We had our trusty walkie talkies to connect as we progressed, ensuring we stayed together (Dan drove Lola while Jill followed in the Volvo with the dogs – the Volvo is a great SUV, fully paid for, but not towable so we’ve decided to have Jill as the chase car for the near term versus buying and towing a new car). Once we reached I-285 we were on our way at highway speeds.

Dawn broke as we were heading down I-85 and it was time for a stop to fuel up Lola. Our first stop at a big truck stop on the road. $147 later and we were loaded up and ready to go. That was in Newnan and the sun was finally coming up, burning off a little of the frost and chill in the air. From there, we moved to I-185 towards Columbus and points south to Florida. Dan discovered that Lola has some sort of air leak in the dash that ensures he gets a nice flow of fresh outdoor air on his right leg and foot. Can’t figure out where the air is coming in but needless to say, even with the heat on full, he needed to wear his heaviest coat over his leg to keep that area of his body from freezing!

Finally, around 2 PM we pulled into our first stop – Carrabelle Beach RV Resort (see separate post where we review this campground). We were in site 52 which was on the 2nd row and ensured a view of the bay across the street.

We had a pretty laid back visit in Carabelle which included several walks on the beach, bike rides, a visit to two lighthouses and a trip to Apalachicola. Weather was good most of the time although a front did come thru and bring heavy wind and rain for a few hours. A few of the highlights:

• Discovering a very wide clean beach across the road at Carabelle Beach. Adele loved the beach and romped and cavorted about like a crazy puppy.

• Lighthouses

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• Beautiful skies

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We also saw a small part of the devastation that this area of the panhandled experienced from hurricane Michael last October. Although not anything like what was experienced to the west, we did see washed out roads, trees on homes, tarps over roofs, and many places where complete homes had been washed away. During a morning walk on the beach a reminder of the tragedy that had come to so many along this beautiful coast.

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This was a nice place to transition into full time. Next stop is Crestview, FL which is more of a business trip as we will set up domicile, insurance, licenses, tags, etc. and officially become Floridians.