“…Don’t stop, thinkin’ about tomorrow, don’t stop, it’ll soon be here – it’ll be here, better than before – yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone…”

Today’s song is a nod to the late Christine McVie, who passed away earlier today. Fleetwood Mac was a powerhouse of a group. May her memory be for a blessing. And, the song lyrics are very good advice. We should never stop thinking about tomorrow.

We made it to Florida late this morning. There was a horrific storm tracking northeast – just as we were heading south. We missed it by a few miles. It was pure luck. We hit strong winds and fast moving clouds, but that was the extent. The palm trees (and Red State billboards!) welcomed us with open arms. It was in the high 70’s/low 80’s today – and it was quite a swing from the winter coat weather we left. And – we’ll take it.

For tonight, we are staying in Rockledge, Florida, at the Space Coast Encore RV Resorts. They sent me 5 email confirmations and 2 text messages in the past week regarding our reservation. I took that to mean that they were high tech. In comparison, the North Carolina RV Park doesn’t really take reservations – as they say they always have open spots. The Georgia RV Park will take a reservation, but it can only be paid upon arrival by cash or personal check. That’s weird in 2022. Here, they took my credit card with pleasure! But, they neglected to advertise that Cable is ONLY available if your stay is a month or more, and Wifi costs a fee. That wasn’t total truth in advertising – and that annoys me. So, I paid for Wifi, and we can get CBS, Decades, and another channel or 2 over our air antenna. It’s fine.

We were able to sit outside for awhile this afternoon and enjoy the weather. 99% of the other campers here are fulltime RVers. In other words, they live here. It was quite the same last night, and I know it will be in most of the other southern area RV parks. That’s just what people do. The people next to us have a rig that’s longer than our HOUSE in Monroe. We had a nice chat with Lonny – and survived our initial political encounter. We did well! This “RV Resort” has people packed in pretty tight. They are maximizing their space – as they minimize ours. Again, for 1 night – we’re fine.

We chatted today with all the kids and 3/5 of the grandkids. It’s a hoot when they video chat us. And, most often, they really want to talk to the dog. And, as expected, she’s not really interested in engaging with them over a screen.

Speaking of Roxy, tonight’s trivia question is all about her. As of today, how many states has Roxy been in since she came into our lives on Washington’s birthday, 2021? I will share the correct response tomorrow.

As for today’s trivia question and answer…..here’s Rich! Hi everyone!

On our 1,000+ mile treck to the Sunshine State several items angered me along the way. They were, in order of most enraging, as follows: The massive amount of trucks on the Interstate (#2)is not a bad thing in itself, but the heinously bad driving by those operating them is a hazard to all motorists and will lead to deaths. I can’t even count the number of times that a truck changed lanes in front of us with no regard for following distance or safety. If you have to slow down by 20 miles per hour to avoid rear ending a tractor trailer, or swerve to avoid being hit, they don’t deserve the licences they operate with.

Second on the list is the inequality in the price of gas (#3). Why is it that gas in NJ was $3.59, in Virginia $3.19, in South Carolina $2.79, Georgia $2.75 and Florida back up to $3.30? Are the state gas taxes that greatly varied? Where is the Federal government in regulating the price gouging that is clearly going on? I don’t care if you are Red or Blue! Maybe we should all be demanding an answer to this question from our favorite (or at least elected) politicians.

Third on the list is the Confederate Flag (#4). It is inconceivable to me that a symbol of hate and treason is displayed not just regularly, but proudly across much of the country! Yet another example of people warping rights and freedom to protect something that can only cause harm.

And fourth on the list, and probably on everyone’s list are stupid people (#1). People texting and driving? Stupid! People driving under the speed limit in the left lane? Stupid! People changing lanes without signaling? Stupid! People swerving across 4 highway lanes at 80+ miles per hour? Stupid! And so, the final correct answer is 2,3,4, 1. Ok, gotta get back to streaming Yellowstone.

Well, there ya have it folks! 2,3,4,1. So, it looks like…nobody got it right!! But I giggled so much at your responses and your commentary. And to those that didn’t follow directions and gave alternate reasons for anger – you’re not wrong!

Time to wrap it up for the night. Looking forward to parking the RV in one place tomorrow, and setting up our tiny house. When we travel to a new place every night, we literally shlep stuff from the front of the RV to the back bedroom, so we aren’t cramped. And then, when we get ready for bed, we shlep it back up front – only to shlep it back the next morning! It’s a process – but everything will find a place by tomorrow – or Friday at the latest. I am confident.

A srandom picture of a palm tree, and Roxy asleep is all I have from today.

Catch you tomorrow. As always, thanks for reading!

Marla, Rich and Roxy

Z3 Cross Country

I have loved palm trees since I first saw one, in 1973. They just captivate me.

Today’s travel was half of the last two days – and I think Roxy just crashed. She’s been excellent, but I think the travel has really stressed her out.

“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign, blockin’ out the scenery breakin’ my mind. Do this, don’t do that – can’t you read the sign?”

I know I have used this lyric before – maybe even the last time we were in Georgia. This song- Signs, by Five Man Electrical Band, from 1970 – came to mind along our day long drive down I-95. So let’s start with the blog title. The amount of billboard signs from North Carolina to Georgia is insane. The topics vary, of course. There are many religious signs – and those send great, positive messages. They are in direct opposition to the Porn Stop signs. And there are a phenomenal amount of those, as well. South of the Border provides dozens of signs – and I found some of those in very poor cultural taste. However, the ones that struck me the most were the HUNDREDS of food signs. Here is my one sided dialogue, most of the way down south:

“Zaxby’s! I want fried pickles. Pralines! They’re so good. Dairy Queen! I want ice cream. Dunkin’ Donuts! I could eat a donut. Fudge! I could eat fudge. Hot pretzels! Mmmm. I’m so hungry. I’m so fat. I’ll just drink this Diet Coke, and pout.”

It was fun.

And so, here we are, in Darien, Georgia, in the Inland Harbor RV Park. It’s nice – but the name makes it sound MUCH nicer than it really is. I just wanted you all to know that. There are 68 cable channels on our flat screen – and yet, nothing to watch. There is NO wifi at all – so streaming is a challenge. And, after 8 hours on the road, we just want to chill.

Today was long, but a good day. After a very good night’s sleep (and I can’t say that often!), I was much better prepared than yesterday morning. The weather was chilly when we left Roanoke Rapids, but it was still bright and sunny. And, predictably, as we drove farther south, the weather grew warmer. (I’m smart about some things!) We stopped twice along the way to stretch our legs – all of our legs! –  and then ran into some construction congestion.  That accounted for the many, many hours driving. Thankfully, our park was convenient and easy to find, and set up was quick. And, once again, we had a dinner of leftovers – fajita chicken this time – and all we had to do was reheat the food.

During our drive, I was also able (between reading food billboards) to Zoom a class I take on Tuesday mornings. That was a unique experience. I’m glad that worked! Technology – what an invention!

Roxy was great – and not medicated – for today’s journey. She traveled well, she ate well – all is good. And when we were taking a walk this evening, we met a young dog lover. She engaged Roxy for awhile; the dog was so happy to see a face other than mine.

Today’s trivia question is very creative – please list, in order from most to least, how much the following items enrage Rich as he drives merrily along:

1. Stupid people
2. Trucks
3. Gas prices
4. Confederate Flags

Rich will make a guest blog appearance tomorrow to tell you the answer. Suffice it to say that those 4 items were discussed frequently. Remember, the first item on your list should cause the highest amount of rage; the 4^th item the least. Good luck y’all!

Yesterday’s trivia question was correctly answered by our friend Kira B. If one travels south from NJ on I-95, the route goes through the Fort McHenry tunnel. We travel with propane on board, and no propane laden vehicles can enter the tunnel (for pretty obvious reasons). But kudos to our friend Sharon for trying – and trying again!

We’ve been so focused on getting through our drives the last 2 days. We didn’t look to see if there was anything interesting or unexpected along the way that would make a great stop. Tomorrow, our drive is far, far shorter. Maybe we will take the opportunity to explore. Who knows?

I’m about out of steam, and need to call it a night. Sleep well, everyone. Enjoy the pics below. Catch ya tomorrow.

Marla, Rich and Roxy

Z3 Cross Country

Good morning from North Carolina.

I love the red rocking chairs on the office porch.

They get each other.

Love this.

Roxy at Stuckey’s in S. C.

Beautiful Vistas.

Palms in Georgia!

Spanish moss.

“Your world is cloudy, blue skies turned to gray, raindrops are fallin’, but why stop and call it a day? There’ll be no stormy weather, as long as you’re with me…”

The entire time we were on the road today I was trying to think of a song lyric for the title. And the lyrics above are the only ones that came to mind. What is the song? It’s (of course) “Umbrella Man” by David Cassidy and the Partridge Family (of course) – from 1971. 1971? How is it that my mind flies back fifty-one years to locate lyrics about a cloudy sky?? I often wonder what my brain is thinking!

After negative hours of sleep, I got up at 6:30 and tackled the last few items on my to-do list. Rich was already up, out, and had bought us breakfast and coffee. We left Monroe by 8:20. That in itself was a miracle. As dawn was breaking, the sun began to shine, it looked like the start of a nice day – and by 8:20 it looked like a tornado was blowing in! After a planned stop at a food store (to buy stuff we needed but had no room to keep!) we were on the road and on our way by 9. Not bad!

We didn’t hit any traffic problems until about 2:30 in the afternoon. And so, for a “first day on the road” – it went pretty smoothly. The trip took about 7 hours start to finish – which is exactly what we expected. We stopped twice – once for Roxy, and once for gas and a leg stretch. I believe our route would have been faster if we went straight down I-95. However, we had to detour off to 301 and 50 for awhile, until we could get back to I-95. Why? Well…that’s YOUR trivia question for today! Assuming that there were no roadblocks, detours, accidents or more, why couldn’t Rich, Roxy and I just take I-95 straight from New Jersey to North Carolina? You can find the answer in tomorrow’s blog post.

Getting back to the reason for the song title – the sky was so strange. There were moments of bright blue and sunshine, and then, almost immediately the sky was bathed in grey and white clouds. The winds were a problem at times also. All in all – could have been better, could have been worse.

We decided to “dose” Roxy with half a Trazodone. We did a trial with this med last week, as suggested by the vet, and she was stoned to the point of paranoia! (You may ask: How do I know? I know!) Today she seemed much calmer, and she traveled very well for the entire trip. She was trembling at the very start – thankfully, that ended quickly. Roxy spent the trip in one of two positions. She was either sitting with her front half ON my lap in the front seat, or she was lying down next to me on the couch. Of course, I would prefer sitting alone in the passenger seat, with her lying down comfortably, right behind me on the couch. You’ve probably seen me write it before – I really wanted a lap dog. I just didn’t know she’d be 57 pounds. At the end of today’s post you can see Roxy on me – drool and all. But she was a very good dog for this long a trip. Thankfully, only tomorrow is an equally long travel day – until we come home.

We are staying at an RV Park called “The RV Resort at Carolina Crossroads”. It is less than 5 minutes off I-95 in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. This is an excellent RV Park to book if you are going one way or the other on I-95. It is flat, clean, safe – and pretty. Although the cable is limited, and the wifi could definitely be stronger – the convenience, price and setting is excellent. In the summer, the pool and hot tub are an excellent addition. With today’s weather, those amenities aren’t so important. We pulled in, checked in and set up within minutes. And we found the most important location in the park – the dog run! Enough said – it morphed into a great afternoon.

This past Saturday night, Rich made individual servings of cornbread topped turkey pot pies with the leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. So we packed them for the trip. All we had to do was throw one in the oven, and BOOM! – instant deliciousness! Having meals premade after a 7 hour drive – priceless. We must remember that for the future.

Okay, it’s time to close my eyes. Regular readers might notice that it is MUCH earlier than my normal posting times. Well, in the past 2 weeks I’ve slept about 5 days in total. And last night was an epic fail. So tonight will be an early one for sure. So have a great Monday night, thanks for reading, and I’ll catch you tomorrow. Enjoy some pics from the road from today.  There are no pictures of Rich or I, as I never put on my face today at all. I will try again tomorrow.

Cheers,

Marla, Rich and Roxy

Z3 Cross Country

Foreboding sky as we left.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

Scary, but not nearly as bad as the bridge AND tunnel.

Roxy loved looking out at the water.

Sitting ON me. Drool and all.

Beautiful autumn sky and leaves.

RV Resort at Carolina Crossroads. I LOVE this picture.

Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel!

Hi again! Happy…November! I have about 5 minutes to spare to quickly post a pre-trip thought or two. I honestly – HONESTLY -thought that this day before we leave would be different from alllll the other days before we left. Boy, was I wrong on that!

We were up at 6. Rich drove to get the RV in its home away from home, and picked up a few items at the store. I got up and continued to pack up the house. Clothes, food, books, Roxy stuff, toiletries, electronics, etc – the list goes on and on and on. After we organized as much as possible, we took approximately 100 trips into and back out of the RV. And, most of those trips were in the pouring rain. So that was a blast. We started this packing process earlier in the week – and I really thought today wouldn’t be a 24 hour day. Well, it’s 1 a.m., and I have about 2 hours of more stuff to do – so, that leaves 3 hours to sleep. Ah – a 21 hour day. So lovely! Rich just went to bed -and he’s the one driving all day tomorrow. I will be pounding the caffeine.

Roxy is very nervous that something is up – the big motorhome may have been her first clue! But, she will adjust – after 2 or 3 hours of pacing. She’s fun. Have I ever mentioned that?

This is a different trip from those in recent years. It’s the longest trip since our cross country journey in 2009, it’s the longest time ever that we are staying in one place, and it’s the only winter trip we have ever taken. More about our journey as we go, but, for right now, let’s just say I am feeling very excited and very nervous. This will be the closest we will come to feeling like full time RVers. Years ago, I told Rich I would love to try that lifestyle one day. Years ago Rich told me that I have too much crap to ever jam it all in a motorhome. Unfortunately, I think Rich is right. But just this time!

So, there’s no song title and no trivia question tonight. But, catch me tomorrow – when I wil have both. We have the longest drive of the trip tomorrow. I plan on blogging in order to block out the barking and yelling that will most probably ensue from a six to eight hour road trip! Be well – see ya on the road!!!

Marla (and Rich and Roxy)

Z3 Cross Country