Carolina Guroos FMCA Rally

Wow! I thought getting away when we had the motor home parked right outside the house was an ordeal. Little did I know! Our RV is now stored an hour and a half away from our home in a HOT warehouse. We spent Saturday packing, cooking, and doing other last-minute things. We packed my car and the plan was to go to church and then drive to Kinston, pick up the RV and be back at the state park near our home by 2:30 or so and spend the night there ready for an early Monday morning departure. Well, the plan worked until we got to the warehouse only to discover that one, the house batteries were dead and two, the back exit was blocked by a trailer!

Jerry took pictures of the four connected batteries so he would be able to correctly replace them and off we went to try to locate them. Our first stop was a nearby Advance Auto where we purchased two of the four batteries. That was all they had but assured us that another store in the city had two more. Instead of going to Advance though we decided to try Auto Zone and lo and behold, they not only had two but they were $40 cheaper. Oh, if only we had known! That would have been an $80 savings! Back to the increasingly hotter warehouse, Jerry took out his iPhone and constantly referring to the pictures, he got the batteries correctly installed and voila – we had light in the coach.

Now we had to navigate around the trailer parked in the middle of the exit. Jerry tested the ground and found it not too muddy. Really? Of course, I was nervous about him going around the trailer but he did it with literally only inches to spare from the trailer. If had been standing beside it I would have been squished for sure! Another problem solved.

We finally got on the road, Jerry driving the RV and me following in the car. We arrived at Goose Creek State Park a little after 4:00 and very quickly set up and got the things out of the car. Decision time: do we go home, eat dinner and then return with the refrigerated foods and possibly spend the night or do we go home, get the foods, take them to the RV and then go home for dinner and the night? After the hot ordeal in the warehouse, Jerry decided that he wanted to sleep in his own bed at home so off we went to the house, grabbed a snack, packed up the refrigerator contents, and returned to the park. The gate at the park closes at 8:00 so we were dealing with some time constraints.

We got everything done at the park and then “headed to the house”! Dinner had never tasted so good! It had been a long pretty exhausting day but at least we were prepared for the trip – I think!

Up Monday morning a little later than we had planned but we were trying to time our arrival around the Raleigh morning traffic. We pulled out of the park a bit before 9:00 so by the time we hit Raleigh we missed the majority of commuters. Thankfully it was an uneventful ride with only two stops, one for gas at a Flying J/Pilot and then at a rest stop for a quick lunch in the coach.

We arrived at Bear Creek RV around 4:00 and were immediately greeted by our co-host wagon masters, Sandie and Rick. I had already messaged Sandie about grilling burgers so with our dinner plans set we visited for a while and then sat outside for a delicious dinner.

Usually, during a rally, we go out to eat one of two times but because of COVID, we decided to have our dinners at the campground in their very large rec room. We had no trouble social distancing. Evenings were spent sitting outside visiting, chatting, telling travel stories, and of course, solving the world’s problems.

We ended our weekend with breakfast and devotion given by Sandie. Until we meet again Carolina Guroos, safe travel and stay well!

We pulled out of the campground around 11:00 headed to Clemmons and Tanglewood Campground where we will spend the week helping our 3rd-grade grandson with remote learning. Thankfully, it was another easy travel day once we got down Black Mountain. In fact, the drive appeared so easy that I almost offered to drive -almost! By 1:30 we were settled in at the campground ready for a week with our grands.

When I was getting my teacher certification I had planned to teach 3rd grade but instead ended up in technology and then as a technology facilitator for my entire career. Well, guess I am finally getting my chance to teach 3rd grade!

Finally Getting Ready for a Trip!

We have pretty much been “safer at home” for the last few months except for a brief trip to pick up the RV in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Quite frankly, if we had to be nestled down, our home on the Pamlico River has been a perfect place but we are both getting “hitch itch”.

The FMCA chapter that we belong to has an upcoming meeting/rally this month so we decided to bite the bullet and attend. Getting the RV ready has been a challenge since it is stored an hour and a half away from us. We toyed with the idea of going to the storage warehouse a day early and spending the night at the local campground however we learned this week that the campground is flooded. On to Plan B: stay with our son the night before leaving in order to make the trip a bit shorter. Alas, they are not going to be at home. Plan C: Wait, there is a state park not far from our house so the plan now is to get the RV on Sunday afternoon, take it to the state park, set it up, i.e. get the AC and fridge going, stock it with groceries, pack our clothes and then be ready to take off early Monday morning. Now if it just works out!