Sunday 16 March 2014 – Good bye, Yukon, FL
It took Janet and I about 2 hours to prepare the Mobile Suites for travel. Not that there was so much to do, it was more that we haven’t gone through the preparation in such a long time–and, being methodical, we stopped after nearly each step to consider whether we have omitted anything prior to that step. We, also, were chatting quite a bit as we worked. [As we’ve been advised by more experienced travelers, we will develop a written checklist for “departures” and another written checklist for “arrivals.”]
It was such a beautiful day, temperature in the mid-70s (F) and sunny with a few clouds–a stark contrast to the forecast of 60% chance of rain. The forecast for our planned travel route was much cooler temperatures and, almost certainly, rain. Our excitement to “hit the road” eliminated any thoughts that we should wait one more day!
Driving our Volvo, pulling the Mobile Suites, across I-10W(est) was so pleasant, I felt like I could have driven, at least, as far as Texas without a break. But, we turned North on I-75N(orth) and headed through Georgia. About the time we passed Valdosta–the sky had turned very dark and the cumulus clouds were very low–it started to storm (very heavy rain). Of course, soon after we entered the storm, we encountered I-75 road construction. [It seems to me that the stretch of I-75 between just North of Valdosta to somewhere around Macon has been under constructions for ten years or longer; of course, I could be wrong, but it sure seems that way to me.] Between the heavy raining and the roadway construction, traffic slowed and started to bunch together–it was NOT FUN driving; but, after a little more than an hour of driving, the rain started to subside–just raining, no storming.
But, just North of Macon, we entered bumper-to-bumper traffic; so, Janet, who was using the Android app Waze, suggested that we get off the Interstate and use a truck route, just several miles West of I-75. We arrived at the I-75 exit and headed West on US41 for about 12-15 miles before turning to the Northwest on US341. At Griffin, GA, Janet said that Waze indicated the traffic slow down on I-75N had cleared and that, since we hadn’t traveled too far, we should head back to I-75N. In fact, she said that the next traffic signal was the intersection of the GA SR16 truck route East to I-75. I had just swung the Volvo around the right-hand turn when I realized that the travel lane was blocked by two pickup trucks angle-parked, one on each side of the one-way travel lane–the Mobile Suites was still blocking the roadway from where we were turning (US341). I completely stopped our rig right where it was (blocking two roadways). Hmmm…I’ve heard of other folks that had similar situations, but didn’t expect our opportunity for such an “adventure” so soon into our journey.
Janet had just exited the Volvo to find whoever owned the pickups and to ask them to pull them all the way into the parking spaces, when a young man came out of the Verizon store and offered to completely relocate his pickup; then, a young woman came out and moved her car, which was parked next to the pickup; and, an elderly woman had been sitting in a car parked next to the young woman’s car. With those vehicles out of the way, I had plenty of space to maneuver our rig. Also, the young man in the pickup told Janet that the State had built a bypass a few years ago and the City had changed the current intersection for local traffic only (map updates?); however, he indicated that we could continue as we were headed–through a residential area–and would intersect GA SR16 in about one mile–no problems with overhanging limbs/wires/etc. and the roadway had been the truck route published in our map. We continued toward I-75.
Just before we intersected with I-75N, Waze indicated that I-75N was starting to slow. We proceeded anyway; and, the traffic was stop-n-go, averaging about 30 mph. We decided to take the I-285 West bypass around downtown Atlanta, amid very heavy traffic, to the northern intersection with I-75N (Exit 261). Back on I-75N, the traffic was, still, very heavy and moving very slowly, but picking up speed as we moved away from downtown Atlanta. Near Emerson, GA (near Exit 290), the traffic was back to speed limit driving and thinning traffic. We exited the Interstate at Adairsville (Exit 306) to spend the night at Harvest Moon RV Park, which is well layed-out for big-rigs, having some sites of 100 ft length.
It was a long day–nine hours on the road, but one hour spent in two rest areas, where folks were just naturally interested in talking to us about our Volvo used to pull our 5vr (fiver, or fifth wheel trailer), but especially about the smart car on the bed of the Volvo. One lady came to ask whether we might be a television personality, who presents travel related documentaries and who drives around the country pulling his 5vr with a Volvo…her husband wanted to know!
As many of our RV friends, who drive Heavy Haulers, know, the most asked question we receive from strangers relates to the smart on the bed of the Volvo, “How do you get that car up there?” Check out the Gallery, Prepare to Unload the smart.