Category: Georgia

We left Mom & Dad’s today at 6:45AM EDT. We stopped for fuel at the Loves Travel Stop in Dayton, OH for fuel and a snack on granola bars. We made our second fuel stop at a Weigel’s in Clinton, TN and snacked on some Twizzlers that the Miller’s Grocery in LaGrange placed in a sale display right next to the cash register yesterday (obviously a sign from above). We ate on the road. The kids had Uncrustables and I had a homemade Eckrich bologna sandwich on one of Mom’s high dollar buns (yummy!).

We arrived at Leisure Time RV Park in Adairsville, GA at 6:00PM EDT. This campground is mostly permanent residents with two transient sites literally in the driveway beside the office building. No complaints here as we have full hookups and are just here to eat and sleep. We set the camper up and commenced nuking Hot Pockets for supper again. I’m definitely tuckered tonight.

Device	Download Mbps	Upload Mbps
Campground Wi-Fi	n/a	n/a
Starlink	207	27
AT&T Hotspot	n/a	n/a
US Mobile – Brian (AT&T)	984 (not a typo)	58
US Mobile – Beth (AT&T)	n/a	n/a

TV	Quality
Antenna	8 Channels – ION
Campground Cable	n/a
DISH Satellite	n/a

Today we left Camper’s RV Park in Columbia, TN at 9:15AM EDT and continued South on I-65. We picked up US-280 in Birmingham, AL and followed it Southeast for the rest of the day. We stopped for fuel at a RaceTrac gas station in Chelsea, AL. A Publix grocery store was located in the same parking lot, so we celebrated by pre-ordering two “Pub Subs” that Beth picked up when we were finished fueling. We both ate half a sub in the parking lot.

We arrived at Camp David RV Resort in Columbus, GA just after 3:30PM EDT. This campground is just outside the North end of Fort Benning. This is a nice quiet campground a couple of miles South of US-280. All sites have full hookups with 50Amp electrical connections. We are in one of the many long and very level pull through sites that don’t require disconnecting the tow vehicle from the camper. There is no shade in these sites so we’re glad our two air conditioners can handle the 95 degree heat. The campground WiFi signal was strong, but once connected we couldn’t get any access to the internet. Our AT&T hotspot is achieving 6/18 Mbps download/upload speeds. There is a clear view of the southern sky right out our door allowing our Dish satellite antenna to pickup all three satellites (61.5, 110, and 119) from our picnic table. We were also able to pickup 49 channels with our over the air antenna.

Today we started our summer trip up North. We left home at 8:30AM when our lawn service arrived. We left in a bit of a hurry to try and keep the cats from getting too agitated by the lawn service equipment (they were already uptight about being in the truck). At the last second I asked Beth if she was sure we had locked the front door. She went back and checked which accidentally triggered our alarm system. We were just getting out of the neighborhood when the alarm monitoring company called us (so glad we answered). Once we confirmed to them that we were the culprits, we called our neighbor Terry and he graciously went over and reset our alarm system.

We drove up to Beth’s allergy doctor’s office where I dropped her off and then went and parked the camper at the nearby Dollar General. I was able to successfully park at the loading dock where I sat with my cats and hoped a Dollar General truck didn’t arrive. We left there at 9:33AM EDT and arrived at Reed Bingham State Park at 2:40PM EDT. We stopped for lunch and fuel at the Loves Travel Stop just south of Lake City.

Last year we stayed in Site #35. This year we tried Site #14 to see if there might be fewer gnats in the less wooded area. The answer is “No”. However, this is a really nice site that is still quite shaded, but has a huge open area right outside our door (with no other campers in site). Unfortunately, there are still enough trees to prevent us from using our Dish Satellite. We knew that was a possibility and are relying on the campground cable. The campground cable is “OK” at best. The three local channels (ABC, NBC, and FOX) come full screen, but all of the regular cable channels come in very small and a number of them are not clear. The campground cable uses Dish Network (satellite) which completely lost reception during a heavy downpour that lasted a good chunk of the evening. We originally tried the antenna and picked up a number of channels, but only two locals. We are getting over 178Mbps download speeds with our AT&T 5G+ hot spot.

We left the KOA in Fort Mill, SC this morning at 9:20AM EDT. We’re getting back into the land of good gas prices. We stopped at the Flying J in St George, SC for $3.14/gal gas and ate our lunch in the parking lot. We fueled up again at the Flying J at tonight’s campground exit for $2.92/gal. This was our first (and probably only) fuel purchase under $3/gal on this trip. On our last trip in 2021 we averaged less than $3/gal for diesel fuel (not gas).

We arrived at Southern Retreat RV Park in Brunswick, GA at 3PM EDT. We stayed in this same park in April and August of 2021 (the August stay was our last night in the motorhome). We didn’t make any reservations (which was very difficult for us). We got a pull thru 50Amp site which is very level, so we didn’t have to unhook the truck. We’re all setup to thoroughly flush our tanks in the morning and head home. The campground has a good selection of HD cable channels, so we didn’t bother setting up the DISH satellite. We will stream tonight’s Ray’s game on the ROKU. Our AT&T hotspot connection is receiving excellent connectivity at 172/55 Mbps download/upload speeds

Vet Visit and Lunch at Hawg Wild BBQ and Catfish House

None of our road trips would be complete without a trip the the veterinarian. Upon arrival here at the campground last Friday, Beth was carrying Mercury from the car to the camper and something freaked him out to the point that Beth could no longer hold him. When he hit the ground he ran under the first camper he saw (our neighbor’s) and climbed up their entry steps (he’s trained to seek the steps when he gets scared). When they didn’t open their door for him he went on to the next camper down. Fortunately he waited on their steps and let Beth pick him up and bring him back to the camper. In the process he ripped out one of his rear toenails completely. Of course, Nurse Beth has been treating it all week, but yesterday there were signs of infection so she found a local pet clinic that was able to see Mercury today (Thursday) at 11AM. Mercury was an excellent patient and the doctor was thoroughly impressed with Beth’s nursing skills. The doctor gave Mercury a shot with an antibiotic which will actively fight infection for two weeks. She now has cats registered in 3 separate vet clinics across the country (not counting FL). Hopefully that’s all I’ll have to say about that.

Today is a rainy day so we decided to go to town and try out Hawg Wild BBQ & Catfish House. We are very glad we did. The food was delicious. We tried out their smoked chicken wings with mild buffalo sauce for an appetizer. They were excellent and the “mild” buffalo sauce provided heat for several minutes after eating a wing. I’d hate to try their “hot”. Beth had ribs for lunch which were also excellent. They didn’t need BBQ sauce, but their sauce was so good you couldn’t resist dipping the ribs in it. I decided to try their smoked Italian sausage and it was incredible. I now know the first meal I’m going to smoke when I get back to Florida. The waitress convinced me to use their hot mustard BBQ sauce as a condiment and she was spot on. As with the ribs, the sausage needed no condiment, but it seemed a like a waste of the sauce not use it. The serving sizes were huge and we will be eating leftovers for days.

Steak Over the Fire

Today (Wednesday) was our coolest day (high = 80) here in Hiawassee so we spent the day outside and built a fire to cook two nice Filet Mignon that Beth purchased at the local Ingles Market. This was also the first opportunity to use our new grilling basket that Aunt Jo got us for Christmas. The steaks were incredible. The grilling basket allowed me to get them close to the fire for searing and then back them way off for a nice slow cook. After dinner I went back out to burn up our remaining firewood. While I was at it Beth had me grill two chicken breasts so she would have meat to put on her salad (and sneak to her varmints). She said the chicken also turned out great.

Chatuge Lake – “On the Pontoon“

We have friends, Eric and Sue, from Sun City Center who own property just across the state line in Hayesville, NC. I met Eric when I placed him in the storage lot. He had mentioned that Sue is a dental hygienist and we happened to be in search of a local dentist so I asked him if she likes the office where she works. He said, “definitely”. So I let Beth know and next thing you know we both had appointments at that office in Sun City Center and Sue cleaned our teeth. Whenever we’re getting our teeth cleaned we catch up on where each of us has camped or is planning to camp. Beth recently told Sue that we were headed for Hiawassee this summer and Sue got excited and mentioned that they have property nearby. Fortunately for us, our week coincided with time they were spending here and they invited us out for a boat ride on the beautiful lake. Not only did they take us for a very nice ride on the lake, but then we went back to their place and they grilled pork chops and vegetables. We had a great time.

Bell Mountain

We visited Bell Mountain which overlooks the town of Hiawassee and Chatuge Lake. You can drive to the top of the mountain and the road is paved, but it is very narrow and very steep. We had to backup to very small pullouts twice on the ascent to let oncoming traffic pass and considered turning around, but when we reached the top we were glad we stuck it out. The view is incredible. They allow graffiti and seem to even promote it provided that it is not vulgar. It detracts from the natural beauty for me, but that’s probably why I’m not an accomplished artist.

Appalachian Trail – Dick’s Creek Gap

The Appalachian Trail passes fairly close to the campground so we decided to visit the nearest crossing which is about 7.5 miles East of our campground. We didn’t go there intending to hike, but we thought while we were there we ought to hop on the trail for a bit. We went about one tenth of a mile, but it was pretty rugged hiking that was rough on the knees and hips. We don’t think we’ll be doing any thru hikes form Georgia to Maine.

Riverbend Campground

Today we traveled to the North Georgia mountains and are now staying at Riverbend Campground in Hiawassee, GA for a week. We left Reed Bingham State Park at 9:00AM EDT and arrived at River Bend Campground at 4:30PM EDT (we might have made a wrong turn along the way). In order to avoid getting hung up in Atlanta traffic we took US-129 in Macon, GA to US-441 in Eatonton, GA. We stopped for gas and lunch at the Ingles grocery and gas station in Eatonton, GA. The trip was our new longest ride (7 1/2 hours) with this camper. The Expedition had no issues dragging the camper up the grades we encountered, although we did slow down on one long grade on a four lane highway because our transmission temperature was rising in the Georgia heat (low 90’s). This was the kind of grade where all of the truckers have their emergency flashers on and hang out in the right lane. We just tucked in behind one of them.

This is a very nice campground with 50Amp electrical connections, water, and sewer hookups. We are in Site #H3 which is right along the Hiawassee River. Apparently the campground previously had cable and then the cable companies decided they were no longer interested in providing service to the campground. So the owners managed to implement internet connectivity at each camp site using the old cable infrastructure. Each site has its own individual Wi-Fi connection. Our first and only speed test was 290Mbps download and 30Mbps upload. That’s faster than we get at home. Therefore, we are not setting up our Dish Satellite antenna. We will just stream what we can with our ROKU. We haven’t enabled our Dish service and don’t want to until we need to due to the cost. The only local channel we get on antenna is PBS.

July 26, 2023 – Hike

This morning we hiked the Little River and Birdwalk Trails. These were very nice, wide, well maintained trails. The Little River Trail had the longest boardwalk system we have ever experienced (as best we recall). The park brochure stated that the Little River Trail was 1.1 miles and the Birdwalk Trail was 0.8 miles for a total of 1.9 miles. Our hiking apps showed that we ended up walking 2.4 miles which got a little tough at the end in the 91 degree heat, but we survived and lounged guilt free in the camper the remainder of the day.

At 5PM when the gnats died down, we took the cats out for play time. They thoroughly enjoyed it and after Mercury and Kirby declared that they were ready to go back in, we let Phoebe roam free. She conformed to her “free roaming rules” like a good girl and when she was done she climbed up the front steps of the camper (where she came out) and waited like a good little girl for Beth to let her back in.

July 25, 2023 – Arrival

Today we started our summer trip up North. We left home at 9:30AM EDT and arrived at Reed Bingham State Park at 3:00PM EDT. It was the longest ride (5 1/2 hours) that we have taken with the new camper and we weren’t sure how well the cats would take it (they’ve gotten a bit uptight in this setup on some of our shorter trips). Beth bought them a tent to hang out in while in the Expedition and that seems to have made a big difference. They all seemed pretty calm today, even while we were setting up the camper.

We stopped for lunch at the Rest Area at mile marker 413 just south of Lake City and ate the remaining halves of our Pub Subs (Publix). Then we drove 16 miles north to the Exxon station on US-90 in Lake City to refuel. From there we drove the remaining 82 miles directly to the campground at Reed Bingham State Park in Adele, Ga which is just 6 miles west of I-75.

This is a very nice campground with 50Amp electrical connections, water, and sewer hookups. We are in Site #35 which is very shaded. The shade is a huge bonus in this 92 degree heat, but it does prevent us from even attempting to use our satellite dish. The internet connectivity makes up for the lack of satellite reception. We are getting over 50Mbps download speeds with our Spectrum phones (which ride the Verizon network) and close to 150Mbps download speeds with our AT&T 5G+ hot spot.

The 92 degree temperature doesn’t feel too bad due to the amount of shade in this campsite. There were a lot of annoying gnats while we were setting up camp between 3PM-4PM, but they seemed to have calmed down after 6PM.

We slept in today and then went for a nice walk after breakfast. We departed shortly after 11AM EDT hoping to hit Atlanta in the early afternoon to avoid rush hour traffic. Apparently rush hour in Atlanta no longer ends and it took us quite a while to get through. Now I know why my parents take US-82 out of Tifton, GA over to US-280 and catch I-65 near Birmingham, AL. My wife assures me that we will try that in the future.

We are spending the night at the Cracker Barrel in Ringgold, GA (just south of Chattanooga, TN). Since we always eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel, we decided to give supper a try. The restaurant was packed and we had a short wait before being seated. Beth ordered the Chicken Pot Pie and I tried the new Hand Battered Fried Chicken Tenders with my usual order of Hash-brown Casserole. The kitchen was so busy they ran out of Chicken Pot Pie and without notifying our waitress they decided to make one by hand. Beth had already taken her insulin and 45 minutes later we still didn’t have our food. I thought sure I was going to get to test out the emergency insulin pen. Fortunately, I was able to get our waitress to bring us some orange juice. The food came shortly after but we all know how scorching hot a chicken pot pie is when it arrives. Beth’s tongue should heal in a week or so. Other than that, it was a good meal.

Today we departed on our 2021 Road Trip. We are heading to Denver to watch the grandchildren (and grand-puppy) while Aaron & Alysa get married in a private ceremony. Beth had a medical appointment this morning at 10AM in Tampa, so the cats and I departed shortly after she did and waited for her at the Rest Area just north of the I-75/I-275 interchange. Beth stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts and picked up two Turkey Sausage Egg and Cheese breakfast sandwiches (where have these been all my life) which we consumed before departing the Rest Area.

We are spending the night at the I75 RV Park in Tifton, GA. This is a no frills RV Park (13 sites) setup next to the interstate for travelers to spend the night. Considering that, it’s still pretty nice with full hookups and a laundry facility. In fact, the owner mentioned to Beth at check-in that he didn’t mind if we washed our RV which is good to know considering that this time of year we often come out of Florida covered in love bugs. He also mentioned that there is no checkout time which also works well for us since we are in no hurry tomorrow to depart (spending tomorrow night at a Cracker Barrel and don’t want to arrive too early).

The Wi-Fi here in the park is decent (3 to 4 Mbps download) and we need it because neither my Tracfone data connection nor Beth’s Visible data connection is worth a darn which is surprising since we are right next to I-75.

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We started our day with a delicious breakfast at Cracker Barrel. They now offer an upgrade to “Loaded” Hashbrown Casserole (basically throw bacon and cheese on the original casserole). I took one on the chin for the team and tested out this new upgrade and am happy to report that it is definitely worth whatever it cost (if you have to know the price, you can’t afford it).

After breakfast we departed at 9:00 AM EDT and drove directly to Country Oaks RV Park & Campground in Kingsland, GA arriving at 1:30 PM EDT. We drove 270 miles today. We stayed in this same campground at the start of our road trip last year and I stayed here again on my way to Gaffney, SC for service at the Freightliner Customer Service Center this year. On this visit we stayed in Site #4 and were able to pickup all three Dish Eastern Arc satellites by placing our portable satellite antenna (R2D2) in front of our camper. The rain started shortly after we arrived and continued with a slow drizzle throughout the afternoon and evening. We had hoped to arrive in time to watch some NFL football, but ran into several “technical” issues that prevented us from watching the Bucs vs Broncos game, but we did manage to catch Sunday Night Football (Packers vs Saints).