Gloomy days are good for recuperating...

Hello again... We made it all the way to our destination in Advance, NC on Monday as we had hoped and planned. We were all so happy to de-winterize the camper and take showers, stretch our legs, and have full heat (gotta love electric heaters!). The weather is mild, but damp and raw. We found the campground to be mostly void of life, although most of the sites have seasonal rigs set up. The campground has fairly large and somewhat level sites with a gravel base to set the camper on. It looks like this would be a fun place to be when the weather is warmer. We are all resting and getting accustomed to our new small space. Lots of small maintenance projects for mike, lots of cleaning for me, lots of Netflix and napping for Callie. Life is quiet, but good. We have an outing planned for tomorrow. Friday we move on to our next destination.

STATES CROSSED MONDAY: 4 -- DE, MD, VA, NC

Four Things Val has learned this week...

1. When driving, there are long white dashed lines and short white dashed lines in between the lanes. I know, right!? Who knew? I had never even noticed there were two kinds of lines. When towing a camper, we want to remain in the farthest lane to the right (because, well, we're driving slow... 60 mph max), but that lane needs to have the long dashes on our left (not the short dashes). Short dashes indicate an "exit only" lane, and will take us off course. Interesting fact.

2. Parkways... Never, never, EVER tow a camper on a Parkway! Back story... We were headed to our first night at Walmart, and Google told us to take a right at the fork onto Wilbur Cross Parkway. Everyone was very tired. We didn't notice we were headed towards a parkway. Google didn't call it a parkway when it was leading us towards the ramp. At the very last second, Mike saw the sign that said "Passenger cars only, 10 foot max".... AHHHH!!!! F@#%! Quick! He slammed on the brakes before we passed the end of the ramp.... He did great... he navigated us back onto the highway (merging into 80 mile an hour traffic, none of whom could have cared less if we were able to get back into line, by the way). Later, the next day, we knew we had an option to take the Garden State Parkway or another road. The DOT's website said towing was fine, then as we approached, we saw the tell tale signs ("Passenger cars only") and knew we shouldn't even try it. So... DON'T tow on Parkways, but it IS still okay to park on driveways...

3. Mom, I can now read a map! I don't have much more to say about that, but my parents are undoubtedly proud. For those of you who don't know... I was born without an internal compass. I need GPS to get to Portland. I can't return home from somewhere by retracing my path because I can't remember where I came from. It's bad. But, it's me. Mike told me I am improving and I have been a big help co-piloting, reading maps and signs. Maybe there is hope for me yet.

4. The 95 corridor.... We all know you take 95 South to head towards Boston, and most of us get off at 495 to go around the city and towards Worchester. We take 95 North to Portland and take 295 to go around the city or into South Portland. Well... I learned a new thing. If the number before "95" (insert your favorite major highway number) is even (ie 295, 495 etc), it means you can take that exit, avoid the major city, and drive without worry that you will eventually merge back onto 95. This is a good thing to know for someone directionally challenged. If, however, you see an odd number before the "95", you will not return to 95. You are not just making a loop around the city, you are going somewhere else entirely. Important facts to know. Maybe you already did. But, like I said, I have no internal compass...

I know you all had snow yesterday... we were pretty glad we didn't have to deal with that. However... it is forecasted to snow here tomorrow. 1 to 3 inches, and the meteorologist is freaking out on the news. The people are literally loosing their sh#t. They said on the news the towns may have to take the plows out for the first time this year. Snow-a-gedon!! (I know, right!! Omagosh!! A Blizzard! 3 inches!! Pfffft...) So it seems the snow is following us. Great... We're still going on our outing tomorrow, snow or no snow.

My next update will include "Mike and Val's trip to the Food Lion" for groceries.... It seems everything is going to be an adventure! Stay safe and stay tuned....