Driving - aka 🎶 On the Road Again 🎵

So, the first trip, from Oregon to Ukiah to San Diego to Grand Canyon, to Albuquerque and back to PA sounds like it was a real road trip. In many ways it was, but it wasn’t the kind of road trips that I want to consume my retirement.  Carl and I were on a mission... See the kids and get home.  All in three weeks. Getting miles under our belts was the goal.  This trip is different.  This is the first one where I am alone. This is the first one where The Beast is fully loaded with my stuff (lots of my stuff) and the first where the journey is almost as important as the destination.  The “destination” is Justin and Meredith’s for the birth of my first granddaughter (adding to two grandsons from Adam and Aniko).  So to me, this is the first real journey.

So I have to admit that in the post about leaving I lied.  Just a little.  I was anxious.  Pulling the BabyBeast was new to me.  I had only driven it home from the installation of all the hardware and Mark was with me for that journey.  Here, I had hooked it up myself and had to be sure it was ok.  PLUS, I had to pull 50+ feet out of my driveway.  I think that was the scariest part.  But it went ok.

People keep asking me how it is to drive The Beast.  It really is not bad.  It even borders on fun.  It is very easy once you are going.  You are sitting up higher than many trucks.  You have a commanding view of the road.  It is unbelievably quiet.  Really really quiet.  That’s because the engine is 40 feet behind you.  Very little road noise comes through and the only thing you really hear is the whirl of the air conditioner and some squeaks and groans from the whole coach as you go down the road.  I read that traveling in an RV is like subjecting your house to an ongoing earthquake... a big earthquake.  So if The Beast is constantly earthquaking we will allow him some grunts and groans.  Within reason.  I did move some stuff and add some more padding to get rid of some pot rattles, but other than that the packing was pretty effective.  

So I was on the road.  Stopped in traffic at the entrance to the PA Turnpike I was behind a truck.  I had to take a pic.  I thought it was a pretty cool view.  What do you think? 

So off I go.  One thing that I learned from both the gentleman who sold me the coach and from umpteen videos on YouTube is that you have to have your mirrors set right.  Top mirrors show you one mile down the road in the lanes on either side and the convex little mirrors show you up the side of the coach to eliminate your blind spot.  There is also a rear camera.  I kind of used that as a rear view “mirror” before but it was really too close.  Now I really understand that it is made for backing up and for watching you tow vehicle - affectionately referred by those in the know as a “toad” (towed...get it?).   So here I am driving down the first major road with the toad (oooh poetry), scanning my mirrors like a good driver, and I glance down and JUMP... wow that guy is tailgating me!!!   HAHA... it was the TOAD.  Eventually I got used to it but I have to admit that it got me a few more times on the trip.

Time seems to pass relatively well... I listened to tons of songs one day, NPR the next, TED talks on another.  The seat is super duper comfortable and I stop every couple hours to walk and stretch.  The first day I was worried about traffic through PA and Washington, DC., so I only expected to do about 250 miles that first day.  But I hit little traffic in PA. and I hit no traffic in DC... none. Who ever heard of that?  So I kept driving.  After five hours I still felt fine; so I kept driving.  About 7:00pm I stopped at a Walmart, having called ahead to get permission.  It was the perfect end to the day.  10.5 hours of driving but I felt totally fine.  432 miles under my belt and 9.5 average MPG.  Not too shabby considering the size of The Beast and the fact that we were pulling BabyBeast behind us.  I kind of figured that since we are two vehicles I can double the mileage... 19 MPG is not shabby at all.

I am not a particular fan of Walmart, but I have to say this was a particularly beautiful one.  The store itself was super clean and everyone was incredibly friendly... Darlin and Sugar are the endearing way all the women spoke to me; Sir always from the men.  Southern hospitality I guess.  And the nicest thing was that there was a little park and pond right in from of where I was parked.  Who’da thunk?

320 miles the next day took me to a Costco in Augusta Georgia.  I had to stop for prescriptions and decided that even though I could keep going, I didn’t have to.  I am retired.  I don’t have to rush.  Keep repeating that Steven... I am retired.  I don’t have to rush!  So with their kind permission I stayed in their parking lot that night.  Kind permission... “of course, Darlin, no problem... you have a wonderful evening Sugar!”  Haha... honestly.  That’s what she said.  Gotta love it!  No pond, but a nice green border to park against and it was lovely. 

Next day I was off to my first real stop... A gay campground in Georgia called Oz.  Total of 899.6 miles and the local driving took me down to 9.3, but that’s still ok.   More about the campground and gay camping in general in another post, but suffice it to say that it is beautiful, peaceful and relaxing.  Everything it is supposed to be! So far so good.