Today we met a very nice couple next to us that are from Vero Beach, Florida. The man was a 36 year veteran of the police force and she worked in the attorney general's office in Florida as a victims advocate. They unloaded their house and put their things into storage units. They are around 57 years old and just recently retired. Two months ago they bought a 2002 41' Newmar Dutch Star and are now fulltime rvers. Up until a few days ago they have been in one rv park close to where their house was in Vero Beach. Then they started traveling north a few days ago.
The woman has Lupus and has under gone many months of chemo that changed her body significantly. She normally weighed in the 150-160lb. range and she got up to 300lbs due to the drugs to fight the Lupus. Today she is back to around her normal weight. She confided in Janet that she is dying and is traveling with her husband in the motorhome as kind of her last farewell. Janet's cousin Sherry died from Lupus so Janet has more of an understanding than most of what this lady is going through.
They pulled into this mountain top rv park last night at 10:00 pm. Since I know what it was like to drive up the mountain on the gravel road in the daylight I thought what the hell was he thinking. I looked out to see if they needed help but the rv park employee was over there helping him back in. When talking to the couple today we learned they discovered they were in the wrong rv park but didn't realize it until they pulled in last night. After the drive up the mountain when the man heard they were in the wrong park he told the rv park employee he can't drive the motorhome anymore and they will just get their important pictures out of the motorhome and take the car and go to a motel. He said the rv park employee (Jason) can do what he wanted to with the motorhome. Jason told them to relax he has a spot for them.
We also learned today that they came from Savannah, GA yesterday which should have taken them about four hours to get here. Due to some issues with their GPS the trip took over eleven hours, The man said he has never been on so many back roads in all his life. I told him he needed to check his GPS settings. It may be set by the previous owners to no interstate highways. They have never rved before and are learning some very hard lessons. I used to do our routes three different ways. Once using a paper map, one on Google Map, and then one on either the Garmin or Rand McNally GPS. Today I still review Google map the night before we leave and then usually rely on the Rand McNally GPS. It is much more trustworthy than our Garmin was. It is programmed specifically for rv's.
I told them they can't continue to stay in these private rv parks that charge $45-$50 per night because it is too expensive. They also can't be moving every two - three days due to the stress involved in traveling at least in the begining. Let alone the cost of diesel fuel. I advised them that we hardly ever travel more than four hours per day let alone eleven hours in one day. The cop who was the best officer in his city five years in a row agreed that the stress would kill him if he tried to continue doing this every two or three days. We then gave them some advice on where to go and what parks to stay in where they could stay for around $400-$500 per month including full hook ups. These tend to be state parks and usually not private parks although you can find reasonable private parks for extended stays but you have to do the research first. They generally bill electricity separately and you have to watch because sometimes they charge you more per kwh than they pay so they are making money off of the electricity also.
Huli took our business cards over to the couple later in the day and told them to email or call us anytime if they needed help. Whenever you think you have problems or issues to deal with all you have to do is look around to realize how well off you are.
Sorry Gabe no pictures again today. Maybe tomorrow I will take a picture of the Freightliner Service and Training Center in Gaffney, SC. Or of the fine accommodations we will have in the parking lot.
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'.
