Current Location: Beaver Lake Campground, Quincy, Florida

Last night, after posting our blog, we were looking at the weather forecast (for the 50th time) to get an idea of what the wind situation was looking like. We were heading south to our RV dealer to get our awning replaced and a couple other things taken care of.

As it turns out, the wind advisories for both ends of the trip were calling for the wind to die down after midnight, but pick back up mid-morning (10:00 or so). We decided to possibly head out early in the morning and make the 3 hour trip to the dealer, trying to beat the wind. That actually turned out to be a great plan.

We left around 7:30 am and headed down US 331 towards the dealer. This is a mostly 2-lane, 55 mph highway with lots of trees on both sides of the road, which provided a great wind block. It ended up being a generally uneventful trip and we arrived at the dealer before around 10:45 am for our 1:00 pm appointment. We checked in, dropped off our bikes (that we carry inside the trailer) in an empty office at the dealer and unhooked the truck.

We drove down the interstate to Crestview, Florida to grab some lunch at Cracker Barrel and filled up the truck with diesel (trip average right at 10 mpg). We headed back to the dealer and spent some time walking through various fifth wheel travel trailers and a couple of very nice Class A motor homes. We decided that we still love our trailer better than anything we looked at, and we looked at some really nice and expensive motor homes and travel trailers.

The dealer had our trailer fixed up (awning replaced, drawer slides replaced, kitchen slide adjusted and failed stove igniter restored) by about 3:00. They also noted that the drawer they fixed had a damaged front and that they would order a new one for us. To be honest, we can’t find what they are talking about. Our dealer really seems to go above and beyond. If you are ever in the market for an RV, consider shopping at Dixie RV in either Defuniak Springs, Florida or Hammond, Louisiana. They’re great folks.

We hit the road east, originally planning on stopping overnight in the Tallahassee area. The wind was coming at us from behind as we traveled east along I-10. That fact was reflected in the ease in which the truck was cruising along. Mileage should be better on the next fill-up.

As we were driving, Malcolm noted that we should really have our Passport America book in the truck to look for inexpensive campgrounds when we need a place to just do an overnight stop. Val found that they had an iPhone/iPad app and downloaded it. We found a park a little bit west of Tallahassee and decided to check it out.

We ended up here at Beaver Lake Campground (I haven’t seen a lake anywhere nearby) for the night. It definitely is not much and, even at the $20 (total with tax) price, is a bit over-priced. But, it works for an overnight. We need to dump the gray and black tanks in the morning, so we’ll take advantage of their full hookups. We didn’t empty tanks when we left this morning to save time and to add some “ballast” during our windy travels.

Tomorrow, we’re heading generally towards I-75 and then north to somewhere between Atlanta and Chattanooga for the night. There is a Passport America park near the interstate about halfway between Atlanta and Chattanooga in Adairsville. Maybe we’ll stop there and save some more money. Looks like we’ll be under budget this month on campground fees. (We’re over on a few other categories. More on that after the first of the month).