Routes
STN Hop 3: Savannah GA to Hamer SC (South of the Border)
225 miles, on I-516, GA 21 and I-95, with 10 extra miles due to my screwup. Cumulative distance: 714 miles. This was supposed to be easy. But I misread the map and took a wrong turn onto I-516 in Savannah and ended up on the local streets. Some 10 miles and almost 30 minutes later … Continue reading
STN Hop 2: Citra FL to Savannah GA
224 miles on US 301, I-10, I-295 (around Jacksonville) and I-95. Cumulative miles: 475. The weather was less than ideal – intermittent showers the entire 4-hour trip – and much of the trip was on I-95, which we have traveled several times already. So the interesting part of the trip was the 67 miles on … Continue reading
STS Hop 12: Bushnell FL to North Fort Myers FL
167 miles, almost entirely on I-75. This would have been a simple, uneventful trip in sunny weather had it not been for the idiot young woman who cut us off north of Tampa and who damn near caused a catastrophic accident. I guess she was missing her exit, so, at 70 mph, she swerved in … Continue reading
STS Hop 11: Cecil GA to Bushnell FL
198 miles, almost all on I-75. It doesn’t get much simpler than this: get on I-75 at the exit from Cecil Bay RV Park and just keep going until exit 309 in Florida, then travel 1.5 miles on county 673 to our destination. It was a flat, pleasant trip in 90-degree sunshine. I-75 has traffic, … Continue reading
STS Hop 10: Madison GA to Cecil GA
190 miles, mostly via US 129 and I-75. There was no epic GPS/Google battle on this one; it was a pretty simple trip down US 129 to Macon where we hooked up with I-75. The geography was mostly gently rolling hills and the weather, though overcast most of the way, didn’t produce much rain. Just … Continue reading
STS Hop 9: Charleston SC to Madison GA
270 miles via I-26, SC 6, SC 178, I-20 and US 441. This was supposed to be a 256 mile hop, but we got embroiled in a battle between Google and our Rand McNally GPS. Usually when I plan a route with Google the GPS agrees with it, more or less. Not this time. When … Continue reading
STS Hop 8: Myrtle Beach SC to Charleston SC
94 miles via mostly US 17. The only thing difficult about this trip was ignoring the GPS when it told us to make a U-turn. I don’t know what is going on with our (relatively) new Rand-McNally GPS, but on the last two hops it has insisted that we make a U-turn when none was … Continue reading
STS Hop 7: Stony Creek VA to Myrtle Beach SC
302 miles via I-95, US 117, I-795 (through Goldsboro NC), I-40 and US 17, with a refueling stop near Sharpsburg NC. It is true: the night is darkest before the dawn. The plan was to do a 20-mile test drive, hauling the RV, around 8am. If the check engine light came on we would book … Continue reading
STS Hop 6: Petersburg VA to Stony Creek VA
27 miles via I-85 and I-95. Well, you guys obviously did not wish hard enough. We made it just over 10 miles into our planned 300-mile trip before the “check engine” light reappeared. We limped (which turns out to be exactly the right word – more on that later) to a truck stop just north … Continue reading
STS Hop 5: Lorton VA to Petersburg VA
128 miles, mostly via I-95. This was not the hop that was planned. We had to abort about 100 miles short of our intended destination (Wilson NC) when the “check engine” light came on just north of Petersburg VA. Accompanying the light was an alarming loss of power: I had difficulty maintaining 45 mph going … Continue reading