~Monday, May 3, 2021~
Day 323 (Travel Day)
Not the best day to be leaving. Bluesy weather with pouring rain (I guess it’s fitting for leaving one of our favorite places….Asheville, NC) while breaking down the trailer and having to visit the dump station. The forecast calls for hard rain the whole 8-hour drive we have ahead of us. So instead of 60 mph, we’ll be slowing it down to 55 mph. Better to get there safe, than fast. So maybe it’s more like a 9-hour drive.
Thank goodness for my 9 hours of sleep and my Zinc or I’d be feeling like crap right now. Happy to see that we still had power (with the overcast days and the shady campsite, we haven’t been pulling in the amps like we’d prefer). We only had 11% with no gain insight with those dark clouds looming overhead. I put on a few candles and started my morning routine of brewing my coffee, making Jeff a hot chocolate and making bagel sandwiches for the road. Hesitant to use any power, I turned on the stove fan and needed the water pump. By the time we were ready to hit the road, we had 5% power left, just enough to bring in the slides and the awnings. We’ve never had to do it, but I’m sure there is a way to manually bring in those devices without power. And if absolutely necessary, we’d either connect the truck power to the trailer (like we do when we tow) or rev up the generator, though I don’t know how the generator would have been today with all of the rain.
After a few hours of Jeff driving in some pretty gnarly weather, I took on the job of what was probably my longest yet….6-½ hrs. AND backing into our site. I have to admit, this was not the hardest campsite to back into, but took about 4 tries before I had it in. Need more practice. When we arrived at what looks like a fairly new campground at Goose Creek State Park in Washington, NC. The reason we selected this was for its proximity between Brevard and the Outer Banks. Trying to get to the Outer Banks from Brevard would have been too far of a drive in one day. The first thing it reminded us of with the Bald Cypress Trees, was our campground at Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park.
The campsites are more open, but it doesn’t matter with our backdrop of beautiful forest and tall grass. Sadie is really enjoying it, as you can imagine. It will be the perfect place to chill, reboot and get a few projects done.
Trying to enjoy the lovely evening outside didn't quite work in our favor. Looks like we’re back to fly swatters, mosquito repellant and long pants….that is if you want to enjoy those beautiful, warm evenings. May and June are the worst for mosquitos. I can’t imagine what The Everglades must be like right now. I found a new repellant for us, without DEET, but apparently just as effective. It’s a Cedarwood Essential Oil (Amazon) called Cedarcide Original. You can even use it on your pets, which sold me on it. Poor Sadie also falls victim when we’re outside. It also repels fleas and ticks. We’ll let you know how we like it since North Carolina will be a good test.