Since we want to have our RV in Florida and Karissa and Adelaide had another week of school, Emerson and I were given the task of transporting the RV down south. Karissa and Adelaide will finish their school for the year and fly down to meet us. We did the same thing last year – though Adelaide was left at home this time around.
The plan was to mostly recreate that trip from last year. A big travel day on day 1 to get south enough to avoid freezing pipes. Then three leisurely days of driving (two overnights) before arriving at Lazydays in Tampa.
The plan was also to leave on Monday. That would allow me to see Adelaide’s winter dance recital. But snow in southern Illinois made leaving on Sunday the safer choice. We wanted to hit the road by 8am and got moving at 9:30. We were going to stay at the same place in Calvert City, Kentucky, but readjusted that plan at a fuel stop. If we drove another hour to make it just over the Tennessee border, it would be 10 degrees warmer overnight. So we pushed on. We hit a bit of snow around Champaign, Illinois. It got worse as we kept driving. At that aforementioned fuel stop, we experienced slippery, unsafe roads. The interstate was slowed down to 35mph for about a 30 miles stretch near Mount Vernon, Illinois. Once past that, Emerson was a great traveler. Day 1: 504 miles in 8hrs, 55min.
Meanwhile, back at home: Karissa and Adelaide had to get ready for the winter dance recital. Adelaide is quite the dancer and has been for a few years, but continues to come out of her shell. She refused to tell me about her performance – just that they went to my favorite Chinese buffet afterwards.
Our original plan on Day 2 was to get to Calhoun, Georgia. It’s somewhere between Chattanooga and Atlanta. But because we drove an extra hour the first day, getting closer to Atlanta wasn’t a big push. If you’ve ever towed an RV through city traffic, you’ll be able to relate. Heck, even driving a car through city traffic can be intense. So planning what time of day is best to travel through a city’s traffic is important. We could have stopped north of Atlanta for the night (as we planned) and then left late enough in the morning to miss rush hour. Or…we could keep pushing through Atlanta. As we were making the decision, we’d be hitting the heart of Atlanta around 3:30pm. Given that, we decided to drive past Atlanta. We actually wound up staying at the place where we spent our 2nd night ever in the RV back in December of 2017. We enjoyed the 70 degree evening by walking Lickity around the RV park and looking at all the different rigs. Day 2: 322 miles in 5hrs, 50min.
This is when things get interesting. The same weather pattern that brought that snow to southern Illinois was also set to bring some wicked weather to southern Georgia and northern Florida. We woke up to news of bad tornadoes in Louisiana and Mississippi. We’d planned a leisurely 2-3 hour drive to the Florida/Georgia border for the night. But getting there after such a short drive to end up sitting in the heart of a storm didn’t really make sense. So we had to decide whether to stay another night where we were – just south of Atlanta and well north of the storms. Or to drive far enough to get south of the storms…but that would mean driving through some rain and wind. Temperature was the deciding factor again. It was supposed to reach an overnight low of 38, so we said let’s push all the way to Lazydays!
It started out as a rainy day. Nothing out of the ordinary. As soon as we saw the Florida welcome sign, the deluge began. Hazards on. Speeds down to 35mph. Just keep staring at the white lines because you can’t see much else. We pulled off at the next exit to get fuel and let the downpour pass.
The rain seemed to slow, so we cautiously got back on the interstate. It was back to being just a normal, rainy day for a few hours. As we approached Gainesville, I was confident enough we’d make it there to call Lazydays and extend our reservation to include tonight.
A few miles later, the plastic fender over our RV wheels started flapping around. I watched it but kept driving. Then, another screw broke and it was flapping out into the other lane. That’s about when another Florida downpour hit. We pulled off to take a break and try to fix it enough to finish the last 90 minutes of the drive. The spot I chose to park was in the middle of a puddle. So I jumped out and got my feet soaked. Also, the hard-pouring rain meant I got instantly soaked to the bone. I zip-tied the fender cover in a few spots and jumped back into the truck dripping wet.
The rain slowed down enough to make driving safe again, so we got back on the road. Now determined to just get to Lazydays and relax after a long day of rainy, scary, hazard-light driving. The rain stopped as we got onto I-4 and Exit 10 to Lazydays. The temperature gauge showed 79 degrees. It was going to be a good night. We checked in with the after-hours guard. Saw our spot just across from the pool. As I put the truck in reverse to back it in, the rain started again. I got backed in without much issue and began the other set-up stuff like hooking up water, electric, and cable. I was still dripping wet, so not too big of a deal. Other than Emerson screaming in the truck ready to be out of his car seat after 3 long days of driving.
Anyhow, we made it down to Lazydays in record time – just 3 days of driving and 2 overnights.. The weather made it “eventful” at best.
Day 3: 414 miles in 7hrs, 13min.
I mentioned Lickity a few times. He’s Karissa’s parents’ dog. He was supposed to go to Florida with them, but they had car issues and wound up flying instead of driving. So he got to join us along with a bunch of their stuff they’d planned to transport. He’s a good traveler and space isn’t a big deal until there’s 4 of us living in the RV. So bringing Lickity and their stuff was really unintrusive. They drove up from Naples to meet us at Lazydays to get their stuff and Lickity. Emerson was beyond happy to see them. We loaded their stuff, had lunch, and then they were off.
Seemingly right as they left, the sun came out. That meant (to Emerson) that it was time to go to the pool. Never mind that it was just 60 degrees outside. The water was warm though and being in the pool on a cold day is pretty cool.
So for the next few days, Emerson and I have the tough task of holding down the fort. We’ll go out on the town a bit. Enjoy the pool. And just relax. But we are really excited for Mommy and Adelaide to join us in the sunshine!
Quick, impressive story: Emerson wanted to ride the carousel at the mall. After a few turns around, he looked up and saw the gear/shaft that goes around and makes the horses move up and down. His little engineer brain figured out what was happening. He proudly (and loudly) told me, “That’s lifting me up when it goes round and round, Daddy!”
