The Quick Trip North (QTN) won’t be quite as quick at the Quick Trip South (QTS).  We are doing it in 3 weeks instead of the 2 that got us to Florida last November.  But we are taking a longer route – Florida to Massachusetts via Mississippi – and there will be some very long travel days.

Case in point: Hop 1.  The first weekend took us from Fort Myers to Biloxi, a surprisingly long trip of 674 miles.  Florida is a BIG state! This involved two very long days of travel, but over very good (and mostly flat) roads.

Getting ready for the trip required some time and money.  We had some difficulty finding a repair guy who was ready, willing and able to take on our repair work: replacing two slide cables (I think that makes 6 in total that we have had replaced), replacing the kitchen faucet (because Jett wanted one with a wand) and, most importantly, repairing the damage done by the Jacksonville blowout.  That blowout ripped out Patience’s underbelly in the vicinity of the refrigerator, leaving electric wires and plywood exposed to the elements.  My concern (which turned out to be well-founded) was that we would encounter some wet roads and the tires would throw the water up onto the plywood, further damaging the kitchen floor.  At the very least the wires had to be tacked up and some kind of waterproofing applied.

We started the search before I left for MA in January.  Our first choice was Quality Matters RV Repair, a company that is run by a couple who live at the Seminole Campground in the winter and which came highly recommended by the staff. The were very prompt in coming by to view the work and promised to give us an estimate in a few days. Well, a few days turned into two months. Despite repeated phone calls from Jett, we never did get an estimate. They kept saying that they were waiting for pricing on parts, an excuse that puzzled us as we already had all of the parts. I can only assume that they just weren’t interested in doing the work and were not professional enough to be straight with us.

We had another company come by and, for a $95 fee, promptly produced a ridiculously high estimate for us – one that included $750 in parts. Again, puzzling as no significant parts were required other than the material that would protect the underbelly – something that $20 worth of plastic from Home Depot would accomplish just fine.

Vacant Site 60

We finally went with Mark from LaBrie’s Mobile RV Repair. His estimate was $770 – about half of what the other arrogant bastard had estimated. They made us a little nervous when they couldn’t fit us into the schedule until the Monday of our last week in Fort Myers. And even more nervous when then had to postpone until Tuesday. But they did arrive on Tuesday and completed the work by 5pm. That included drilling a new hole in the countertop for the new faucet (which was of the center-hole variety) and doing a bang-up job on the underbelly (it looks like it was never damaged!). So all the the worry and aggravation was worth it in the end. We were very happy to pay the $770 because we could leave Fort Myers with an improved and ready-to-roll fifth wheel.

The work on my part was mostly cleaning the rig (a LOT of leaves had accumulated on the roof and the toppers in the four months), checking tire pressures and packing the truck. I acquired a new tool box that was a bit smaller than the old one and which fit very snugly into the backside of the hitch – space that had been previously wasted. I also discovered that (1) the tripod fits nicely broadside behind the hitch and (2) the shelves on the propane grill fold under the cover which makes it much easier to pack. All of which goes to show that I am still learning how to do this right after almost 19 months of practice. Slow learner, I guess.

Anyway, after saying goodby to our neighbors, including most notably Dale (of puzzle fame) and Linda, we got on our way at 9:45 on the morning of Saturday, March 15. Well, *tried* to get on our way. We had to stop at the office on the way out to pay our final electric bill and were surprised to discover – again, slow learners – that the office did not open until 10am. So we had to cool our heels for 15 minutes. That gave me a chance to return to the empty site and look for anything we may have left behind. I found one NylaBone that Rusty had left there. I didn’t bother to look for all of the treats that he had buried in the gravel – I will leave those as treasures to be discovered by a future canine resident of the site. Or maybe the squirrels who will now have to survive without a daily fix of roasted peanuts.

In case you are wondering… yes, we are bringing the Yaris north with us. Actually, it is already there, waiting for us. We flew Jett’s brother Ray down and he drove it back to MA, with a stop in SC to check out a potential vacation spot. So we will have a second car for the spring/summer/fall. I will have to get it registered in MA, a task that I don’t look forward to, but it needs to be done shortly after we arrive. At least before May when our 6-month FL insurance coverage is up for renewal.

QTN Hop 1, Day 1: Fort Myers, FL, to Perry, FL

307 miles via I-75 and US 98.

QTN Hop 1, Day 1

This was a long day of driving, made longer by 3 little problems:

1. The sewer hose came loose from its bindings in the bed of the truck and started waving around like an angry snake.  I had to stop on the side of I-75 to re-secure it.  Note to self: buy more bungees.
2. A plastic flap near the site of the underbelly repair started flapping in the breeze.  I had to stop on the side of I-75 to remove it.
3. We were delayed for about 20 minutes near Sarasota by what I assumed was a big accident.  Turned out to be a single State Police vehicle assisting a broken-down taxi.  The big backup occurred due to Florida’s “move over” law which requires traffic to move to the left lane when there is an emergency vehicle on the side of the road.  I can’t argue with the intent of the law, which is to make troopers less likely to be hit by traffic.  But other states have a “move over or slow down” version which has less traffic impact.  I think that version makes more sense.

I was amused to see that the southbound traffic was also snagged for several miles due simply to oncoming drivers slowing to see what was causing the big traffic jam northbound.  Come on, drivers!  Just keep moving!  There is truly nothing to see here.

Due to the length of the trip we had to make a refueling stop, which I chose to do after just 166 miles, in an area that we had scoped out on our trip to Spring Hill in December.  But the place I picked had just recently converted its diesel pumps into ethanol-free pumps (due, presumably to a larger profit margin).  So we had to find another gas station.  That wasn’t too difficult, but getting back onto US 98 north required a little detour.  Detours always make me nervous because I hadn’t fully researched the route for low bridges and other impediments to big rigs.  But this one wasn’t too bad.

Once we got onto US 98 north we breezed along to Perry.  I think this is my favorite road in the US: 4 lanes almost the entire way, very few traffic lights and very little traffic in general.  Flat, smooth and empty.  My kind of road.  The fact that the speed limit was 60 or 65 (versus 70 on I-75) didn’t matter to me as I cruise at 62 even on 70 mph interstates.

Our destination for the night was the Perry KOA, a nice little campground just south of Perry. We were just there overnight and it was cool, so we didn’t use many of the facilities, but the office was nice, the pool looked inviting and they had a free mini-golf course that looked like it would be a lot of fun. They also had a dog run that wasn’t large but the dogs seemed to enjoy a lot.

Dog run at Perry KIA

I ran out and got dinner at Mama’s Family Italian Restaurant while Jett napped. Unfortunately, I forgot the piece of paper that had her dinner selection on it, so I had to call and wake her to get it. Strike one. I also forgot our paltry pile of winning FL lottery tickets that I wanted to turn in while still in FL, so I had to go back and get them, disturbing her again. Strike two. Then when I was on the way back with the meals I realized that I had forgotten to ask for angel hair pasta with her chicken parm. They gave her ziti by default. Jett hates ziti. Strike three. The evening in Perry, which was already chilly, got even chillier when I returned to the RV.

My meal – lasagna – was ok, but had to be consumed in silence.

Pool

Playground

Patience in Perry

QTN Hop 1, Day 2: Perry, FL, to Biloxi, MS

367 miles via I-10 and I-110.

QTN Hop 1, Day 2

Gully washer

This felt like our longest day ever, but I had to check.  Yep, we bested(?) the previous longest day (Branson, MO, to Benton, IL, on the QTE) by 20 miles.  It would have been a long day even in perfect weather, but the weather was far from perfect.  We started the day knowing that nearly the entire I-10 segment would be traveled under a tornado watch and would very likely encounter some heavy rain.

Well, the weathermen were accurate in this instance.  About 40 miles before our scheduled fuel stop we encountered a downpour.  A real gully washer that overwhelmed our wipers.  We got off the road and waited out the storm in a vacant parking lot. There was a lot of lightning and thunder and some gusty winds but, thankfully, not a single tornado. Still, Grace hated it. Rusty slept.

The storm delayed us by about half an hour. And we had to travel for several hours for heavy rain, making me very glad that we had done the underbelly repairs. Fortunately, Biloxi is in the central time zone, so we had an extra hour and arrived by 4:30pm – a trip of about 7 hours. Very long, very tiring. We were both asleep by 9pm.

Other than the storm, the trip was uneventful. I-10 in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, is pretty flat, but does have some gently rolling hills, some long bridges and even a tunnel under downtown Mobile. We don’t like tunnels, but this one was large, so no worries.

We did have one more case of the sewer hose working free, but were able to deal with that at a rest area rather than on the road.

Our destination was the Cajun RV Park on the beach in Biloxi. We will be here for 6 nights. I will report more fully on the park when we are closer to leaving. I will also report on how we do at Biloxi’s 9 casinos.

Wish us luck.