Mountains Ho!

With Max prepped for the big spring/summer travel season, we drove away from Raleigh with Michigan as our target. This was one of our biggest treks yet and with our first "real" mountain experience en-route.  We decided to follow the 2-2-2-2 travel guideline that we have learned from RVers with much more experience than ourselves -- drive about 200 miles, get there by 2pm, stay at least 2 nights, and (for those who enjoy adult beverages) have 2 glasses of wine after you arrive and get set up.

Since Jeffrey is the only driver of Max (I've been trained, but he is calmer driving a big rig), 200 miles is a comfortable amount. We don't usually go as fast as the posted speed limit (60-62 is good for us when the limit is 70). We build in extra time for fuel stops plus any state Welcome Centers we can find. Even if we are just stopping over in a small town, the 2-night guideline gives us a day to explore the area and it is rare we haven't found even the smallest place worth this extra day.  But the biggest advantage of the 2-night plan is having a weather buffer.  More than once we have opted to shift our driving plan a day one way or the other in order to avoid storms. If we aim to get there by 2pm we don't have to get up early and we still beat rush hour traffic and avoid any chance of driving in the dark.  Though we've never had a breakdown, we have time built in to deal with an issue if something comes up.  No logistical advantage to the 2 adult beverages once we arrive!

That all said, our first driving segment put us on the east side of the Appalachian mountain range in Max Meadows, VA. This was a neat area and we wish we had more than a day to explore it as there were several wineries plus some very interesting historical areas, including a monument to the birthplace of Stephen F. Austin ("Father of Texas").  Our next segment was the big mountain push and, while it wasn't horribly steep or curvy anywhere, it was a lot of extra work for Jeffrey as he constantly had to work the engine brake and manual transmission shifting on downhills, with a rare but occasional foot brake action.  We played an interesting game with the truckers as we could go faster uphill (probably because we are lighter) but they would go faster downhill (they are braver and have more experience).  We breathed a sigh of relief when we finally arrived at Milton, WV.

In addition to the somewhat cheesy but surprisingly large Milton Flea Market, Milton is the home of the famous Blenko Glass factory. They had a fantastic showroom of historical glass blown specimins as well as a huge store where you could buy their amazing creations in every color under the rainbow.  The best part was the viewing area where you could watch the guys (didn't any ladies) make item after item perfectly. Jeffrey almost had to drag me away or I would have stayed there watching them for the whole day.

Craftsman working a glass vase at the Blenko Glass Factory

 

The Blenko store

Our next driving day landed us in Marengo, Ohio. Originally we had thought this was where we would spend Memorial Day weekend, but thank goodness this plan changed. Turns out it was an RV park in combo with a gigantic trap shooting range.  There wasn't much to do in the area and thankfully the shooting wasn't too close to us to be disturbing, but we could tell they were ramping up for some major event over the holiday weekend so we were glad to depart ahead of it.

Our final "get to Michigan" driving day got us to New Hudson, MI, just outside of Detroit. We are wrapping it up now and will drive to our next MI park tomorrow, but we thoroughly enjoyed exploring the area during our 5 nights here.  One day was spent at "The Henry Ford" museum and its adjacent Greenfield Village. In addition to highlighting Ford's many accomplishments, the museum and village cover 300 years of American life and key inventions. Thankfully an RV friend advised us to spend an entire day here and even then we didn't get to everything there was to see.

1929 recreation of Thomas Edison's Lab at Greenfield Village

Weiner Mobile at The Henry Ford Museum

 Day 2 found us in nearby Yspilanti to see the town and enjoy a picnic while attending their annual outdoor symphony performance.  After deciding to avoid the heavy holiday traffic in Detroit, Day 3 was instead a trip to the St Marys Annual Polish Country Festival in Orchard Lake.

Maren's yummy polish lunch of stuffed cabbage and Perogis

Day 4 was an 8.7 mile bike trip in a loop around a local lake. Luckily we picked up a fantastic magazine at the MI Welcome Center that covers all of the bike trails in the state -- and WOW, there are an endless supply.  We have decided to leave the bikes in the car for the next few weeks so we can whip them out wherever the mood strikes us!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you aren't notified by email when we post new blog updates but would like to be in the future, please click this link:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Nfel34nwmpCGfpXeJxCqZoy6_uJOCru7KTk01pDMicI/viewform

Lovely April and early May

I am very happy to report that we made the right decision to stay in Florida through March this year before we started our trek northbound.  Last year we found Raleigh to be chillier than we expected when we arrived in late February (and it was apparently even colder this year), but aside from the pollen clouds, being here in April and May is fantastic. We have enjoyed lovely temperatures and great visits with our local family and friends.

We also took a week in late April (via airplane) to meet my Dad and Sheila in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico for a nice week of visiting, walks on the resort/beach, and dinners outdoors with lovely sunsets. We have several Mexico locations we can use with this resort company we have a timeshare with and this is now one of our favorites. We didn't even venture off the resort the whole time other than to pick up groceries the local Walmart, so it was definitely a lazy week.

The four of us enjoying dinner out

A picture from the balcony of our room looking at the resort

Once we got back to Raleigh we threw ourselves into getting Max ready for the next travel segment that commences in a week -- our trip over the mountains through Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio toward our month-long touring destination of Michigan and its upper peninsula.  As it was about time for some regular "outside" maintenance, Max got a bath, sun protectant on all of his exposed plastic/rubber parts, awning seams sealed, and some roof edge sealant replaced.  Needless to say, we now both have sore muscles and a headfull of pollen exposure.  All that is left is to put silicon the rubber seals inside all of the basement doors which keeps them supple, but this is easier to do when the "slides" are in so we don't knock our heads as much.

Jeffrey washing Max's roof

For those of you interested in some of the challenges of a mobile lifestyle, we have continued to expand the level of "services" that this area of the country can provide us when we pass through.  We connected with the area's Freightliner service center so we could get some replacement clips for our front week hubcaps.  We have learned that they seem to have a lifespan of 2-3 years before failure but are super-cheap and easy to swap out.  The alternative is to buy a new not-cheap hubcap.

We also needed some vinyl seam sealer and met up with a local craftsman who does all sorts of awning and upholstery work.  Thankfully we don't need his services there yet, just his connections to the distributor of the seam sealer product.  He knows a guy who has an RV mobile repair business which, while we hope never to need it, it is nice to have this contact "just in case".

Max's needs aside, the biggest personal "wins" were that we established a dentist who can do our mid-year cleanings as well as a great local place to do shoe work.  For those of you that don't know, I have a leg length discrepancy that requires me to get all of my right shoe soles "lifted" half an inch. It can be hard to find a place that does it right so it will last... and for the right price too.  As a result, I don't buy new shoes often, but when an old important pair fails, I don't want to have to wait to get back to Austin TX or Boynton Beach FL (my other two shoe service centers) to replace them.

Well, cross your fingers that we make it over our first mountain range with no issues (other than a sore foot from me using my non-existent passenger brake pedal)!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you aren't notified by email when we post new blog updates but would like to be in the future, please click this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Nfel34nwmpCGfpXeJxCqZoy6_uJOCru7KTk01pDMicI/viewform