Well we went ahead and drove for ten hours and made it home Thursday evening on April 26th at about 6:00 pm. Then we had to unload the motorcycle put the 5th wheel in the garage and off load things we needed to take to the house. In Tennessee and Kentucky we were going up and down the mountains and I told Janet I sure would be glad once we get into Ohio and Indiana. I didn't know what I was asking for. The wind was terrible. It was so windy that we were following semi trucks and trailers where we could see the entire side of the trailer from behind it. The back of the trailer was a foot over compared to the truck and front of the trailer. The trucks were really struggling to stay on the road. While it bothered us to some degree believe it or not even in the wind our truck and 5th wheel and swivel wheel trailer handled pretty good. I wasn't having near the problems the semis were having staying on the road. The only thing that really suffered for us was the gas mileage. Pulling the 5th wheel we usually average 9 -12 mpg depending on the wind, the speed we are going, road conditions (flat versus mountains), how we are loaded and are we pulling the motorcycle behind the 5th wheel or not. I was going 67 mph for much of the way home through Ohio and Indiana into the wind and our mileage dropped to under 9 miles per gallon. That was less than we averaged in Tennessee and Kentucky even with going up and down the mountains. Going 67 mph versus say 62 mph also makes a big difference even though it's only 5 mph. It being so windy didn't help matters especially with our 5th wheel. As you may have noticed in some of our pictures there is nothing aerodynamic about our 5th wheel so your mileage really suffers when you are heading into a wind.
Being home again is very nice and kind of like a vacation from being in the 5th wheel. We plan on staying around the house for the next few weeks and then may take off and go out west somewhere or maybe even go down to Louisiana. We don't have any definite plans at this point; but we know it won't be New England since we did that last summer. As far as next winter goes we plan on leaving in October with reservations starting November 1st but we don't know for sure yet where we are going. On November 1, 2011 we made reservations for Gulf State Park in Alabama for November 1, 2012 through April 2013. If your planning on staying for the winter you need to make reservations a year in advance just to get into this park. We stayed there for a week in January of 2011 and really enjoyed the park and the area being right on the Gulf of Mexico. However, while in Florida we checked out several other RV parks and found one near the ocean and a really nice small town that we also really liked. According to their policy we were supposed to have heard if they had any openings on April 1st. Then the first part of April they said some of the current residents, who get first choice, haven't decided whether they are coming back or not and need a couple more weeks before deciding. We're about at the point of telling them we are not interested even if they do call. The main advantage of this park over Gulf State Park is it's normally around 10 degrees warmer. The downside is the traffic and the price compared to Gulf State Park. Also, I keep telling Janet "I'm too young to be this old (59) and too damn young for Florida during the winter. Oh well, we will see what happens.
We will start blogging again when we take off again later this summer. Hope you enjoyed learning about our travels. Email us at jdjl@comcast.net if you would like to contact us for any reason. We would be glad to hear from you. We know at various times there is a fairly diverse group of people reading the blog from countries all over the world so let us know if there is anything you don't understand or would like to know more about.
Have a great day,
Jack & Janet
A journal written about life, retirement and our journey throughout the United States in a 5th wheel, along with our two Shih Tzus, Tanner and Syndey. Written not for notoriety but for our sons, family and friends, so they know where we are at any given time. And particularly for ourselves. Finally, we get to slow down and smell the roses and we don't want to forget any of it. You are welcome to join us as we go 'Down the Road a Piece'.
