Trip Has Begun.............!!

Greetings from the Traveling Tearoom.........our journey began the day after Christmas, one day ahead of original schedule, in an attempt to avoid the snow storm that had NH in its sights.   Our plan to drive to New Milford, CT to Pam's brother's house for our 1st night was partly successful....we made it to New Milford but her brother, Greg's, unplowed road proved too much for the Mini Cooper.....so we met Greg in town for dinner and spent the night in a dog friendly motel.   Next day, the 27th, our goal of reaching Northern VA was nearly thwarted by a fatal accident on the NJ TPKE that slowed us to less than 20 miles in a 2 1/2 hour period (crossword puzzles on Pam's new Kindle and a CD recording of the NPR show Wait Wait....Don't Tell Me helped us to remain sane!!)....and later, by normal commuter traffic from DC into Northern VA.....imagine, there are thousands of people who tolerate this traffic EVERY day??!!   Our persistance despite the later hours prevailed and we did make it to Fredericksburg, VA for night #2......Longs, SC and the waiting motorhome were now within reach.   And sure enough, a much less hectic day 3 on the road put us at the Willowtree Camping Resort at 4pm....allowing us to unpack the Mini Cooper before dark.....yay!!    Willowtree is a wonderful campground.....albeit its internet connectivity is very much less than desireable.....hence the delay to starting our blog until today.  

The first item on the agenda in Longs, SC was to have a baseplate installed on the Mini.....thus allowing it to be towed behind the motorhome.  The install also included a wiring harness to link up the Mini's lights with those on the Traveling Tearoom.  We delivered the Mini to Tippy Toe Repo.....yup, that's right.....Tippy Toe Repo......an RV storage and sales and service facility, whose owner adopted the name from his days of repossessing campers in the middle of the night (you tippy toe to the camper to be repossesed so as not to be heard)......and he kept the name for as he says "which name are you going to remember.....tippy toe repo or Don's sales and service and storage???.....he does have a point!!   Here is a link to his website if, for no other reason, to prove we are not pulling your collective legs  http://tippytoerepo.com/ .   Seven hours later the install was complete, and our Willowtree Campground friends, Virginia and Chester, provided transport the 8 miles to Tippy Toe.    The baseplate install went well and here is a photo of the Mini getting ready to be trailed down the highways behind the Tuscany (the Motorhome is a 2009 Damon Tuscany....41 feet long, to give you a perspective when looking at the photo).   You can't really see it but there is a hitch from the motorhome to the Mini baseplate.....making us some 60 feet long going down the road.  (Anyone out there want to drive??).

 

With plans to depart Willow Tree and Longs on the first day of the New Year, we headed to the Willow Tree clubhouse for a New Year's Eve "bash".....if you can call it that when the average age of attendees is 60 something.   We sat with Chester and Virginia (from Washington State) and their friends Mike and Gail, from Lancaster County PA and Larry and Robin, also from PA; and enjoyed music from the DJ provided by the campground.   There were eats galore and lots of booze on the tables....but we teatotallers kept it to water.   With a next morning departure scheduled, we said our good nights and Happy New Years about 10:30pm and headed back to the camper.  We thoroughly enjoyed our abbreviated stay at the party.

 

Ali having been fed and walked next morning, we finished our own breakfast, unhooked the water and sewer and electric lines,  brought up the levelers, brought down the TV antenna, brought in the slide outs, started the motorhome and departed following the usual outside walkabout inspection to make sure nothing was forgotten  (one does NOT want to drive down the road with broken water hoses or electrical cords in tow or a TV antenna sticking up waiting for the first low lying branch on a Live Oak tree)!!!     Our only miscue on the 100 mile trip south to Charleston, SC was a dangling windshield wiper (on the driver's side, of course) when the wipers were turned on to displace a few drops of rain.   A 15 minute pullover later....which included a visit from a very nice SC State Trooper to check on our welfare.....seemed to solve that problem; and we were back on the road to Charleston.  About 3pm we pulled into the James Island County Park Campground just outside the city, where we will spend the next week enjoying such as the Charleston Tea Plantation (we are the Traveling Tearoom after all) as well as the historic downtown and some other area "must sees" that will be highlighted in future blog editions.

 

One last thing before closing our first blog.....some editions will include a "penguin corner"....a bit of fun we plan to have along our journey.....thanks to our good (and very talented) friend, Debbie Schultz of Landaff.....so STAY TUNED!!!!!!!!!!