December 9, 2012. Made It

According to Lori, my GPS, Athens, Tennessee is a mere five hours from our destination in Alabama. She was right. We left Athens at 7am and arrived in Auburn at noon. Actually it was 11am due to the change from eastern to central time when crossing into Alabama.

When we turned onto Jess and Nolan's street there was Jessica outside with the dog, waiting for us. After a delicious lunch of homemade pizza (Nolan is an excellent cook) we went for a walk in a nearby park. Part of the park is a large dogs off leash fenced area which Jackie (the dog) thoroughly enjoyed. It was quite amusing to watch about 20 - 30 dogs playing.

It is great to be here!

December 8, 2012 Only 400 Trucks

A Saturday drive on the Interstate means fewer 18 wheelers on the highway than on a weekday. Today 40 truck per hour passed us as compared to at least double that on Tuesday. It was a very enjoyable although long drive today. The radio stations played lots of Christmas music, which helped to pass the time as we sang along. We both liked the scenery in Virginia and Tennessee. The rolling hills got greener the further we got down Interstate 81 as the temperatures got higher, reaching the high 60's by the time we passed Knoxville.

Tomorrow we will reach our destination. Here we come Auburn!

December 7, 2012 Progress

We were happy to see the state of New York in our rear view mirror. We spent the early part of the day on a state highway and enjoyed the ride. I particularly enjoyed seeing the coal mining towns in Pennsylvania.  I noticed  a town named Carbon with a main street named Coal. This area is supposed to have the largest deposits of coal in North America.

Leaving the scenic route and traveling the Interstate meant very little scenery and zillions of trucks. However, we wanted to make up for some of the time we lost while being stuck in New Windsor and so pushing Westy to do 55 - 60 helped us reach Woodstock, Virginia where we will spend the night.

December 6, 2012 Fixed

Westy has a new coolant hose and is ready to move on. The guy who owned the repair shop loved to talk politics and was only too happy to share his staunch very right of right wing, Republican views with us. In spite of this, he was a nice guy. We will leave here early tomorrow morning.

December 5, 2012, New Windsor, NY

We walked to the RV repair place this morning and found  Westy and its contents along with the bikes safe and sound. We met the shop owner who said that although he doesn't do RV repairs anymore and is into real estate now, he would fix it tomorrow as long as we didn't call him every few hours to see if it was ready yet. We put the bikes inside the shop, took the food out of the fridge  promised not to harass and walked back to the motel.

I spent a good part of the day on hold as the TracPhone folks tried to reactivate my cell phone. In the end, we walked to the local drug store and bought a new prepaid phone. There is not much to do in this town. However, the day was warm, the sun was shining and it felt good to walk around after sitting for two full days.

Hopefully Westy will be all better by the end of the day tomorrow and we will be on the road again by Friday.

I did take a picture of Westy on the tow truck bed but can't post it as it is on the phone that has yet to be reactivated.

December 4, Stuck in Fishkill Again

Last year when we traveled this route we were storm stayed in Fishkill, NY for two days. As we approached the town this year the temperature gauge rose to an alarming level and we made a quick exit and managed to park in a mall parking lot. Steam was rising from the rear of the vehicle and as we looked underneath we could see the coolant pouring out of a pipe. Luckily  I have a Good Sam roadside assistance program. With one phone call, on a borrowed phone (my US phone was having problems) I reached Good Sam, they located someone who would work on the Westy and a tow truck arrived to take us there.

 Unfortunately, it was after hours and we had to leave Westy in the yard of a repair shop. I am hoping that our belongings, especially the bikes, will be safe. The tow truck driver was kind enough to drop us off at a local motel. I spent over an hour both online and on the phone trying to get my US cell phone problem resolved. I ended up with a case # and a promise that it would be working within 24 hours. 

I will either sleep soundly due to exhaustion or fitfully with concern about Westy.

December 3, 2012 Heading South

It was easy to get up early this morning as the day had finally arrived when I could hum "Farewell to Nova Scotia" and know that the cold weather will be abandoned until April. 

Today's drive was uneventful. The roads were clear, the weather fine and for most of the ride we had the road to ourselves. We are spending the night in Waterville, Maine.