Our adventure begins…

After postponing our departure, we finally pulled out of the driveway on Thursday 1/9/2014.  However, as we were preparing to leave we discovered that our LP furnaces (one in the front of the coach and one in the bedroom) would only work for about an hour before cutting out and then never restarting.  It was tough to think about traveling with an intermittent heating system so we worked for a while with our coach dealer over the phone attempting to trouble-shoot our problem and eventually concluded that the LP regulator was faulty even though it seemingly supported the stove with no difficulties.  We also concluded that the LP flow requirements for the furnaces was more than the stove.  After spending the rest of the day at the coach dealer having the LP regulator replaced and the new one tested, it was then too late to depart for our 1^st day target of Fredericksburg, VA.  So we stayed overnight in the coach dealer’s parking lot while running both of the LP furnaces overnight to ensure they were working correctly with the new regulator.  Success on the heating front!

On Friday, 1/10/2014, we awoke to freezing rain and snow!  Thankfully both cleared shortly after 11:00AM and we pulled out of the coach dealer’s parking lot.  While we had rain all day, we quickly made it around Baltimore on I-695 and sailed easily thru Washington DC on 295/I-295/I-495.  However, shortly after rejoining I-95, the traffic came to a near standstill and crawl until about 5-miles from the Fredericksburg exit.  This entailed nearly 2.5 hours of a crawling stop-and-go.  While it rained all of this time, the rain let up substantially when we got off I-95 for the Fredericksburg KOA.  We managed to set-up for our overnight stop with only a very light mist.  We had a great site at this very well run KOA.  The host who greeted us said the locals never travel that stretch of I-95 on Fridays.   Lesson learned.

Saturday, 1/11/2014. As we had not de-winterized the coach due to the severe cold weather we had before and since our departure, we used the showers at the Fredericksburg KOA, broke camp and got back on I-95.  We hesitated some with our departure as the weather forecast was calling for severe weather (rain and very high winds) in southern VA and all along I-95 in NC.  Since we had already lost 3-days in our plans, we decided we couldn’t loose any more time without changing all plans/reservations leading up until 1/20/2014 and chose to pull-out.  While the rain was constant all day, early in the day thru southern VA, the winds were probably gusting to about 20 MPH.  Not good but we could still safely handle the coach.  After lunch when we passed into NC, the winds picked up substantially which drove the rain even harder.  We ended up pulling off the road into rest areas a couple of times to let the severe winds pass. 

Our dear friends, Bob and Jean (from our days together in the USAF in England & who we were going to visit in Clayton, NC), kept us up-to-date with the severe weather warnings along our travels in NC.  Only later did we learn that there were tornado warnings along I-95 with 80 MPH winds!  By 3:30PM, the winds had subsided somewhat and the rain had eased up.  We pulled into the Fayetteville RV Resort, in Wade NC around 4:00PM. 

On Sunday, 1/12/2014, we were able to de-winterize and have running water in the coach.  This was a major accomplishment!!  We spent 3-nights in Wade and thoroughly enjoyed our visits with Bob and Jean.  We also had a chance to meet with their daughter, who we had not seen in over 20 years, and to meet her son.  During our visit we managed to get in a couple of games of Aggravation at Bob and Jean’s home in Clayton and then we played some 5 Crowns on Monday, 1/13/2014, when Bob and Jean came down to Wade to spend some time with us in our coach.  The weather in Clayton and Wade was terrific on Sunday, 1/12/2014, and Monday, 1/13/2014, with sunny skies and temperatures in the low 60s.

On Tuesday, 1/14/2014, we awoke to more rain!  If it’s a driving day, we’re now starting to expect rain.  We broke camp at Wade and departed for Wilmington where we are now setup while visiting Bob’s Aunt Martha Kate in Jacksonville.  We’re here for 2 nights.