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Atlanta and Savannah

Nov 062011

Quote of the day from the host at the Macon I-16 Visitors Center: "Get fuel at Dublin if needed. Between Dublin and Savannah there's nothing but pine trees and police."

Got to Atlanta yesterday around noon to meet my old buddy Bob Rule. He'll love it that I said "old". Bob was the founder of BoLink RC Cars, one of the pioneers in the radio control car industry. We did a bunch of travelling in the 1990's scoring kart races using an electronic scoring system that he sold. We also scored kart races in Indianpolis that were televised and got to attend the first Brickyard race with awesome passes and seats from the TV production company. Great guy and it was great to visit with him again after many years.

The drive into Atlanta wasn't bad, but then it was a Saturday. The traffic was heavy but manageable. Once I got to Bob's house myself, Bob and his wife went to watch his grandson play hockey then went to a AA hockey game. Got back in time to watch most of the LSU / Bama football game. In the morning got up, had a good breakfast and hit the road.

Camping World Campground - Chattanooga TN

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Nov 042011

The trip today was only about 5 hours long so I slept in a bit and hit the road around 9:30AM. The drive went without a hitch but was interesting none the less. Fall colors is in full swing down here. As I got deeper into Kentucky and then into Tennessee it reminded me a bit of Michigan. A lot more enjoyable then the first le of the trip.

I also got a chance to give the Duramax a workout. While nothing like the mountains out west, there were a number of steeper hills that gave me an idea of how well the truck performs. I also wanted to see how much the scooter mounted on the front affected cooling. It passed with flying colors. I set the cruise at 62 and let the engine and transmission do its thing. There were a few climbs where the semis dropped to under 50 and I just buzzed by at 60 to 62 MPH. Then on the downhill they would buzz by me and we repeated this again on the climb. No problems with the engine getting hot, the water temp did get up to 220 deg on one 3 mile climb where the transmission downshifted into 4th gear. The cooling fan kicked on dropping it to 200 deg within a 1/2 mile or so. Otherwise it just cruised at 190 deg. I'm happy with the way the setup preformed.

Whispering Hills RV Park - Georgetown KY

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Nov 032011

I got on the road about 8:30 this morning. All it took was a quick stop for coffee and donuts to snack on, then I headed on south. The trip was pretty uneventful other then a couple of slowdowns near Dayton OH and the rain I had to slog through for the last 150 miles. The Covington Bridge on I-75 where it crosses the Ohio River is under construction and there are long delays so I took the I-275 bypass around Cincinnati to avoid it. I was planning on stopping just after I crossed the Kentucky border but I headed a little further south hoping the rain would stop. It didn't

I ended up stopping at Whispering Hills RV Park just north of Georgetown KY. It is about a 3 mile drive off the highway at exit 129. Early November is not the best way to enjoy an RV park and the rain didn't help any either. But looking around it appears to be a nice park. There is a fishing pond, a pavilion plus a pool on the property and the park store and a small selection of food and RV supplies. The Wifi signal was strong at my site and the connection was fairly fast. Verizon WiFi and data connection was good and it was easy to pull in all of the major OTA network channels even on my crappy Jensen antenna.

Yamaha Zuma 125 Scooter

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May 172011

It has been a long winding road to the purchase of my 2009 Yamaha Zuma 125 scooter. Last winter I took my mid 80's vintage Suzuki FA50 moped with me to Arizona. While I was great to use to get around the immediate area I was in, I found it had a number of short comings. The top speed of 27 MPH made driving on most roads hazardous and the skinny tires weren't the best on dirt roads much less loose sand. I knew I needed something more for my next trip.

Once I got back from AZ I started investigating scooters to find one that would be light weight, fast enough to keep up with secondary road traffic and be comfortable to ride on dirt roads. I also wanted a major brand since I would be using it on the road and wanted to be able to find parts or repair shops in case I needed it. While the price is attractive on the numerous Chinese scooters on the market I limited myself to Honda or Yamaha. For me their known quality and nationwide parts and service easily offset their higher prices.

Since I have never really ridden anything but the old FA50 that I have I needed to get some seat time to make a decision. I first looked toward the Honda Ruckus and Yamaha Zuma 50. Both of these are light weight, have 50cc engines and have designs that lend themselves to both on-road and off road. Bryan (my step-son) was able get me a ride on a used Zuma 50 at M&M Motorsports in Kalamazoo. While the Zuma 50 was spunky and drove nice, the foot room was a bit cramped and the top speed a bit under 40 MPH just wasn't going to get it. Since the Ruckus has about the same top speed I never searched one out to ride. 50cc was out of the question.

Arrived in Quartzsite Arizona

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Jan 042011

I arrived in Quartzsite today about 2pm. It was an easy 3 hour drive from Usery Mountain, the roads where good and the traffic was light. The only problem I had today was getting my slide closed. When I hit the close button it would only close an inch or so. But I knew what the problem was.

There is a nylon ramp that the slide rides up on when it closes. The screw holes holding the nylon piece in place are wallowed out letting it slip a bit out of position. If I extend the slide all the way out, the edge of the slide hits the bottom of the nylon ramp instead of riding on top of it. I never really fixed it because I just stop the slide an inch or so from fully extended so it would drop off the slide. I guess this time I extended it too far and it was hitting the bottom lip of the ramp.

K to Q: Abilene, TX to Van Horn, TX

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Dec 242010

Kalamazoo to Quartzsite 2010/2011 Day 5: It thunderstormed last night in Abilene and was still raining in the morning. It's not the most fun thing to break camp in the rain but they haven't had any rain in northern Texas for over 45 days so I won't complain. I was going to delay leaving for a bit but seen the rain would be ending in a couple of hours and figured I'd drive out of it within an hour.

I hit the road about 8:15am and sure enough, the rain pretty much stopped an hour down the road. Once the rain stopped the wind picked up and of course it was coming out of the NW which meant I now had to put up with a 20-30MPH headwind. My next stop in Van Horn is also 4500' high elevation. The triple whammy of rain, headwinds and uphill meant my fuel mileage was in the crapper for this leg. I averaged 7MPG for this leg.... ouch!

K to Q: Mt. Pleasant, TX to Abilene, TX

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Dec 232010

Kalamazoo to Quartzsite 2010/2011 Day 4: I've been setting my alarm for 7:00am and that works out well to get me on the road by 8:30am. I was planning on a short driving day today, all I wanted to do was make it through DFW in once piece as I took I-30 straight through. I entered the Dallas area around 10am and popped out the other side of Fort Worth about 11am without any issues. Traffic was fairly light and there was only one place that slowed to 40MPH or so.

The drive to Buck Creek RV Park was uneventful. Buck Creek is located a few miles east of Abilene. Roads were good, traffic was light and even had wind at my back to get a few more miles out of my tank. The short drive got me here about 2pm which has given me some time to relax a bit. The park is pretty nice for being in west Texas. The lots are large and long, there are a few trees between sites, the WiFi is strong and fast plus I can get the 4 major networks on TV. The park is about half full with what appears to be long term residents.

K to Q: West Memphis, AR to Mt. Pleasant, TX

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Dec 222010

Kalamazoo to Quartzsite 2010/2011 Day 3: Sometimes you never know what a new day brings. The morning started out fine and I got on the road about 8:30am. About a half hour on the road, even though I went to the bathroom before I left, I had that urge that told me I shouldn't wait much longer. Not a big deal. I looked for a suitable exit and as getting on the exit ramp I seen a sign for a truck & RV wash. Cool I thought, it's about time to wash the Michigan off the trailer.

I did my thing and drove over to the wash bay. There was a truck in the bay and one waiting to go in. No biggie, I've been to the Blue Beacon washes before and it only takes them a half hour max to do a truck. Figured I'd just have a cup of Jo and a cookie while I waited, and I waited and waited. During this time two more trucks pulled in behind me.

Finally after a half hour the first truck in line was done and the second one pulled in. OK, if it takes them a half hours to do this one, I might as well wait. Needless to say, it was over an hour before they got that one done. I couldn't back out before that because of the trucks behind me. While waiting I talked to the two truckers behind me and once the front truck left the bay, all three of us just pulled through and left.

K to Q: Shepherdsville, KY to West Memphis, AR

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Dec 212010

Kalamazoo to Quartzsite 2010/2011 Day 2: Got around to leaving Grandma's RV Park around 8:30am and headed to Tom Sawyer's Waterfront RV Park. Looks like I am skirting the weather issues as it is suppose to snow in this area on the 24th. Gotta love leaving in the winter as you never know what storms can pop up.... just have to remember to be flexable.

No problems driving again. It was 35 and raining when I left so there wasn't a problem with ice or snow. Only 50 miles south and the temperature were already up to 50. By the time I arrived at Tom Sawyer's Waterfront RV park to was in the upper 60's. Sweet!

With the time change I got here about 2:30 so I figured I might as well dewinterize the trailer. Took about a half hour to clear all the lines of antifreeze. I put a bit of water into the fresh water tank and then filled the black and gray water tanks and then drained them to give them a good flush.

Kalamazoo to Quartzsite - Day 1

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Dec 202010

I headed out from home this morning about 8:15am. There was no snow falling but it was cloudy and 15 degrees. I am bringing my Moped with me and have it mounted on the front of the truck on a carrier. I did run it around the neighborhood to make it worked OK and everything was secure. What I didn't anticipate was that once I got on the highway and up to speed, the seat wanted to detach itself. It's not a whole bunch of fun being on the side of I-94 in 15 degree temperature as trucks are whizzing by trying to bungie cord the seat down. I did get it tied down and was on my way.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. Roads were clear and dry, traffic was relatively light and it warmed up to the mid 30's by the time I made it to Grandma's RV Park in Shepherdsville, KY. I was able to try out the SPOT Communicator and it worked fine, tracking my route every 15 minutes. Was even to send update messages when I left, stopped for gas and food then arriving for the evening. So far it's pretty cool. See the map here.