We made it to our RV and Lazydays after 3 days of driving. Just shy of 23 hours. Just shy of 1,250 miles. We averaged 16.6 mpg and burned 75.2 gallons of diesel. At about $3.00/gallon, it cost us $225 in fuel. Another $150 for hotels and $100 for food. So for $375 we got our family of four down to Florida. Not too bad!
We got a later start than I’d hoped – but on-time with my more realisitc goal. I wanted to leave at 9:00am but figured 11:00am was more realistic. We got in the truck at 10:57am. After a fuel stop and drive-through lunch, we started moving south. We made it all the way to Calvert City, Kentucky. Karissa found a cheap hotel and we booked it. It was $52 for the night. We grabbed Subway and some Yuengling (a sure sign of being east of the Mississippi) and ate in the room. The rooms were fine enough, but the exterior of the place and some of the loud and shady folks made for a less than comfortable night. When you hear the door that adjoins your room to another room shaking at various times during the night and loud, drunk voices outside you don’t get the best night of sleep. But we made it and got started again around 8:00am to continue south.
The next day, we drove through Nashville, Tennessee, around 10:00am. Stopped somewhere north of Atlanta to have lunch at the only viable option for kids – a McDonald’s with a PlayPlace. After burning some energy, we got through Atlanta, Georgia, in the early afternoon. And pushed ourselves all of the way to Valdosta, Georgia – just 20 miles from the Florida border. This time, we chose a more expensive (and safer-feeling) hotel. The kids and Karissa swam in the pool while I walked over to pick up some food nearby. We decided the next morning that paying an extra $20-25 is absolutely worth it to feel safer. Even if it’s just a perceived safety, not reality. We got a bit of a late start the next day, but a great night of sleep. With just 3 hours left, we were beyond excited to meet up with our RV and get “home” to Lazydays!
We got to our RV around 1:30pm. It looked much cleaner than we’d feared after sitting in the Florida weather for 5 months. The inside showed no signs of critters or bugs. The only issue was a dead battery. Ugg…
The battery must have been too low to charge when I hooked it up to my truck – or we lacked patience. Also, when we got our landing gear motor replaced, they didn’t line up the manual override with the hole for the tool, so I couldn’t use manual power to raise the gear and get hooked up. So off to WalMart for a new battery. $80 (and 20 minutes) later and we had power. We got hooked up and made the uneventful 3 mile drive to Lazydays.
We barely got unhooked before heading to the pool. The kids deserved it after such a long time in the car. There’s lots of organizing and stuff ahead, but it’ll get done soon. But for now, we’re “home” at Lazydays.
FOOTNOTE: We don’t know what makes this place feel so much like home. Or why we like it so much. There’s nothing particularly special about it on paper. It’s not a great location, necessarily. The sites aren’t necessarily large. Or natural. The pool is great, but nothing wildly awesome. There aren’t enough showers for the number of sites. And they’re all in one place, not spread around like other resorts. But despite all of this, there’s a magic here. We think it’s because there aren’t any people living here. So it’s nobody’s true home. Everybody is happy. There aren’t really any rules. And it works. It’s our favorite place to stay in the RV. If you have an RV and are in the area, we can’t recommend it enough!