Roadtrek Travels: NORTH CAROLINA ADVENTURE, SEPT 30 to OCT 14, 2020

Travel in the time of COVID, Chaper 2. In Chapter 1 we went northwest, through Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and into Washington state. In Chapter 2, we will head east to the great state of North Carolina. Originally we were going to go to Pennsylvania and visit Greg’s Mom and other relatives. BUT, the COVID restrictions at Garden Spot Village are still pretty strict and, while Texas is not currently on Pennsylvania’s “must quarantine list", numbers are beginning to climb again and chances are that by the time we got there we’d be back on the list. SOoooo….on to plan B. We’ll avoid the Smokies, which are bound to be overrun, particularly at this time of year, and try some roads less traveled. Looking for waterfalls, fall foliage, and lighthouses on the coast.

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

We are leaving a rather pleasant (not to mention unusual) cool spell here in Texas, so it is only 58 degrees when we head out at about 7:30 this morning. The sky is cloudless and the sun bright as we head northeast to Texarkana, a town that is half in Texas and half in Arkansas. Northeast Texas is a mix of farmland and wooded rolling hills. These first two days will be lots of driving.

We hang a right at Texarkana, across I30, then I40, past Hope, Bill Clinton's hometown, Hot Springs and Little Rock. Our first stop is at the Mike Freeze Wildlife Management area about an hour past Little Rock. We’ve stopped here before – just a nice open area in the woods, quiet and not too far from the freeway.

But ooops! When we stop about 4:00 and get setup, the coach battery is showing nearly drained! It should be fully charged after nearly 400 miles of driving! If the battery is drained, the fridge won’t work, not to mention lights and water pump, and we’ll have other problems. Puzzled, we google an auto parts store and find one about ten minutes away in the tiny town of Hazen. I call to make sure they carry batteries, thinking we may need a new one. Parts World of Hazen is in an old wooden store on what I suppose used to be main street. There are a few shops and a few vacant buildings. Greg opens the battery compartment and pulls the battery out, only to find that corrosion has destroyed one of the connections at the post. Two men from the store come out and help clean it up and test the battery, which is fine. One of the men installs a new connector (easy when you have the part and the tools!) and voila! we are back in business. We try to tip the man, but he insists that $2 will cover the connector and a few nuts and bolts.

Back at the site, we go for a short walk and talk briefly with a man at the archery range down the road, then fix an easy hot dog dinner. A quiet night with comfortable cool temps!

Thursday, October 1, 2020

54 degrees as we depart with a pretty sunrise. We cross the Mississippi about 9:00 and wind our way through Memphis, past St. Jude’s Hospital and lots of things named after Danny Thomas. Lots of truck traffic which leads us to a discussion of the new driverless trucks that are being tested with their myriad sensors and cameras. We are wondering when/if we might share the road with one of them! As prone to error as man is, I think we agree that we'd prefer an intelligent, thinking driver maneuvering these monsters across the country. But probably one out of every 10 trucks has a sign on the back of it advertising for drivers needed. Lots of FedX, Amazon and Postal trucks.

The pictures above make me doubly glad that Greg enjoys driving!

We change to Eastern time zone as we leave the freeway behind and approach Rhea Springs, a nice, free campground run by the Tennessee Valley Authority. It closes for the season in a few days, so we are happy to have found it through a recommendation on one of the RV facebook groups we follow. Nice hot showers, too!

We sign in with Leo, the acting Camp Host, and take a quick walking tour. There are only a few empty sites, some of which are on a small adjacent island in the huge lake formed by the springs. There is a 14 day limit on stays and several people look as though they’ve been here for at least that long. There is a mix of folks with jury-rigged tents (possibly homeless?), car campers, and nice rv’s and tents. Fishing is apparently popular and we see one brave (?) soul swimming. Beth talks briefly with an older woman with a small tent who says it has always been her dream to travel around and camp. She has been taking care of her mother, but now her mother is in a home and she hasn’t been able to see her since March because of COVID. Her sister told her to take off and follow her dream, and here she is. I hope she enjoys every minute!