We left home today at 9:15AM EDT. We experienced a significant delay of 30 to 45 minutes just North of Bruce B. Downs all the way to SR-56 near Wesley Chapel where they decided to repair some potholes by closing two of the three lanes of traffic. We stopped for fuel at the TA Travel Center in Wildwood, FL where apparently every car hauler stops for fuel. There were at least eight car haulers and none of them seemed to be fueling up even though they were at the pumps. We waited a good 20 to 30 minutes for the non-car haulers in front of us to finally fuel up and leave. We stopped at the Georgia Welcome Center long enough to stretch our legs and run the Equinox engine in order to lubricate the transmission. We made our second fuel stop at the Love’s Travel Stop in Yemassee, SC in a torrential storm. Even though we were under the canopy, the rear of the camper wasn’t and all of the water running off the roof and down the RV gutter came right to me where I stand to pump fuel. I got good and wet. To top it off, the high speed diesel pump didn’t seem to recognize when the tank was full and blew diesel fuel all over me. Fortunately, I had plenty of rain water to rinse it all off. The remaining 20 miles of our trip was slow going in the torrential rain with all the “do gooders” driving in the left lane with their emergency flashers on (since it’s illegal to drive with your flashers on anyway, couldn’t you at least get in the right lane if you think it’s sow bad you need your flashers?)
We arrived at New Green Acres RV Park in Walterboro, SC at 5:47PM EDT (not bad considering all of our delays). We traveled 413 miles today. We have stayed here three other times, but the most recent was in 2017 before we retired and started documenting our travels. It’s a handy place to stay just off of I-95 with huge pull through sites and very tall pine trees providing lots of shade. Even with all of the pine trees and rain, we were able to get decent enough Starlink reception to stream the Rays game.
This was our first trip towing the Equinox. Prior to towing the Equinox, our overall average on last summer’s 8,000 mile trip was 14.4MPG traveling at 71 to 72MPH. I assumed our mileage would drop today towing a 3,325LB Equinox, but since Chevrolet requires you to tow it at 65MPH or less (we chose 63MPH) we ended up increasing our fuel mileage (on this tank at least) to 15.4MPG.
We are still working out some kinks. Because the 2020 Equinox has electric power steering, you are required to provide 12V (i.e, leave it in “Accessory” mode) to keep the steering column from locking. Our tow setup installers ran a wire from the RV 7 pin connector to the battery to charge the battery while driving down the road. We stopped every couple of hours to run the Equinox engine in order to keep the transmission lubricated and it started just fine at a rest stop just two hours prior to our destination, but when we arrived at our campsite, our battery was too dead to start the engine. The good news is that our little lithium jump-starter had no problem starting the Equinox. We ended up letting it run for an hour at the campsite to recharge the battery. We will run it again in the morning while I do some troubleshooting with a voltmeter (hopefully the rain will have stopped by then). My wise father has always told me, “never go camping without a battery charger”. I even thought about that when I decided I didn’t need to bring a charger on this trip because I have so many options for getting the RV started (chassis battery, house batteries, solar panels, jumper cables, etc.) I never thought about needing to charge the Equinox battery. Dad’s right again!
We arrived at Cracker Barrel at 7:00PM EDT to a 78 degree temperature (over night low of 60). We arrived just in time to get setup before the Notre Dame vs Miami football game (YouTube TV over Starlink internet). We will have a nice breakfast at Cracker Barrel in the morning and over tip the waitress to compensate for our free lodging.
This is a very convenient campground. It’s about 1/2 mile off I-77, although we do seem to be in the Charlotte airport’s landing pattern, but that doesn’t bother us. We can walk to the nearby Publix (we have Pub Subs for the Bucs Monday Night Football game tonight). We chose a back-in site to save $12/night. Had we known that meant that we’d be backing up to a camper behind us (we’re about 3′ apart), we probably would have splurged for the pull thru, but it’s only two nights. We have full hookups, but quite a few trees limiting our Dish antenna to satellites 61.5 and 110. However, we seem to be receiving all of the channels that we care about. Our AT&T hotspot connection is receiving excellent connectivity at 242/20 Mbps download/upload speeds. Our TV antenna is picking up all local channels out of Charlotte, NC.
Fort Mill, SC KOA – Site #73Fort Mill, SC KOA – Site #73
Today we decided to see how far we felt like driving, so we didn’t make any campground reservations and figured we could stop at any of the plethora of Cracker Barrels along I-77. We left Candy Hill Campground at 10:30 AM EDT and stopped for $1.72/gallon diesel fuel at the Sam’s Club in Rock Hill, SC and decided we could survive another hour of driving. After fueling up we stopped at a Food Lion just down the road from the Sam’s Club for our final grocery stop.
We drove a total of 448 miles today and stopped for the night at a Cracker Barrel in Columbia, SC at 7:00 PM EDT (Hash Brown Casserole for breakfast tomorrow!!!!). Beth cooked up some Perdue Short Cuts with a side of rice for dinner and we watched the Florida State vs Miami college football game.
Last year we decided that our 2004 motorhome was getting old enough that we should consider taking it to the customer service center for the Freightliner chassis in Gaffney, SC for our annual service. We tried to make an appointment to have the service done as we passed by on our way to upstate New York but quickly learned that the slots fill up quickly and you have to make your appointment months in advance. So we scheduled an appointment for 3/20/2020. We decided that I would go alone and Beth would stay home and enjoy her solitude and take care of the cats.
When we brought the RV home from the storage lot the day before departure the house batteries were dead. Charging the house batteries once they get too low is difficult because there’s no enough voltage available to start any of the electronics used to charge them (even when connected to shore power). I had to hook them up to an external battery charger to charge them up enough to get the onboard charger going. This also prevented us from starting the refrigerator early so we could get it cooled down enough to put food in it. After several hours we were able to get the onboard systems running and start the refrigerator. The next thing we discovered was that the air conditioner wasn’t working. The blower would run, but the compressors never started. I called around, but with it being March in Florida there was no chance of getting an appointment for a repair locally before I needed to leave for my appointment, so I decided I’d just live without air conditioning. It was hot in Florida, even for March, but it looked like once I got out of the state the temperatures would be more acceptable. So we packed up the RV and I planned to leave the next morning.
The next morning I went out to the RV and discovered that for some reason the refrigerator had shutoff overnight. I still have no idea why, but assume that it had something to do with the house battery voltage being so low when we brought the RV home. I started it back up and it ran fine the rest of the trip. The COVID-19 epidemic was quickly approaching shutdown, so we had packed all the food I would need for all meals on the trip. Fortunately, the refrigerator didn’t warm up enough to ruin any of the food we had packed. We threw a cooler in the camper and loaded it with ice in case the refrigerator acted up again and I hit the road.
Country Oaks Campground, Kingsland, GA – 3/17/2020
My first stop was at Country Oaks Campground in Kingsland, GA. We had stayed there last year on our way to upstate New York. They had one pull through site available (Site #5). The campground has a lot of trees, but this site was perfect for accessing the Dish Network satellites with the roof mount satellite antenna. The campground manager gave me the name of a mobile RV repairman and he was able to come investigate my air conditioning issue. I also had an issue with the rear slideout going out crooked when I arrived a the campground. He was not able to resolve the issue with the air conditioner and figured it was probably a capacitor which he did not have in stock. He also told me that I probably just had air in my hydraulic lines for the rear slide and that it should work itself out with usage. I later learned that he was completely wrong on both counts. On a positive note, it did rain quite a bit that evening which cooled things down enough to make sleeping comfortable without air conditioning.
Barnyard RV Park, Lexington, SC – 3/18/2020
On day two, when I stopped for fuel I discovered that the awning over the rear slideout had torn and was flapping in the wind. I didn’t have a ladder so I had to just let it flap. I stayed at Barnyard RV Park just outside of Columbia, SC. We had also stayed there last year on our way to upstate New York. I had left them a message the previous day asking for a reservation, but never heard back. I arrived just in time to get the last spot in the park because all of Canada was heading home due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Apparently they had been told they had to be back in their country by the end of the weekend. I passed one rest stop on I-95 that was so full the cars were being parked along the exit ramp.
Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the campground kept their office door locked and yelled to me through the glass to go park in my spot and then call them to make my payment. I stayed in Site #K9. All the sites there are pretty much the same (pull through with minimal trees to block satellite reception). The temperature was perfect and I sat outside and enjoyed a refreshing beverage until it got dark out.
Freightliner Customer Service Center, Gaffney, SC – 3/19/2020 – 3/20/2020
I arrived at the Freightliner Custom Chassis Customer Service Center in the early afternoon on the day prior to my service appointment. The facility has 20 spots for motorhome parking with 30 Amp electrical hookups in the parking lot and a dump dumpstation. After parking I went up to the office to register and the door was locked due to COVID-19. After I knocked on the door, one of the office workers slid a clipboard containing a COVID-19 form out the partially cracked front door. Once I confirmed in writing that I hadn’t been sick recently or traveled abroad they let me in the door and they had me detail the services I wanted them to perform on the motorhome.
On the morning of the appointment, one of the service technicians wearing a full face gas mask with dual filters knocked on my door shortly after 8AM. We reviewed the services I wanted performed and he sent me up to the waiting room in the main office. The waiting room is setup nicely with five or six recliners, a large TV, and laptop stands for each recliner. There was also a break area with microwaves and vending machines.
After a couple of hours a service advisor presented the issues they had discovered and the estimated cost of repair. The air bags needed replacing. The front passenger hub seal was leaking and needed to be replaced. The radiator needed a good steam cleaning (I had told them we were experiencing high engine temperatures on grades on hot days). The air tank drain was leaking and needed replacing and the front track bar needed to be replaced as well. Once I recovered from the sticker shock I signed off on the repairs along with standard annual service on the engine and generator. This was a lot of work to complete in one day and they only allow you to be there one day in order to remain committed to their appointment schedule. Fortunately, it wasn’t a busy day and most of the other customers were only there for standard annual maintenance (they all had fancy new rigs), so by noon some of the other service technicians had finished working on the other customers’ rigs and jumped in on ours. At one point they said they had four people working on it. The work was completed around 4PM. They took it out for a test drive and then parked it back in my overnight spot and called me out to the motorhome (after they collected my money). The service technician reviewed all the work performed with me which included removing the torn rear slideout awning. He was very knowledgeable and professional. He also confirmed that I could spend another night there so I wouldn’t have to hit the road in the evening. Overall it was a great experience and makes me feel a lot more confident about heading West again this year with our 16 year old motorhome.
Freightliner Custom Chassis Service Center
Freightliner Custom Chassis Service Center
Lake Tobesofkee Recreation Area – Macon, GA – 3/21/2020
I decided to head home via Atlanta in order to hit some steeper grades to see if I experienced any increases in engine temperature after having the radiator cleaned. It was a cool morning so I can’t confirm the issue is resolved, but the engine did seem to run a couple of degrees cooler than it had been running and never budged off of that temperature (192 degrees).
I stopped at the Lake Tobesofkee Recreation Area Campground which is located just a couple miles West of I-475 in Macon, GA. This is not only a convenient place to stop, but it has full hookups at each site and great views of the lake. When I reserved the spot, I had intended to get there as early as possible and fire up the satellite dish so that I could spend the day watching March Madness. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 epidemic had cancelled March Madness and I was forced to lounge outside and enjoy the perfect weather. The only negative I could come up with at this campground was that the sewer connection on my site (#44) was on the passenger side. I think this was because the site, although level, was on the side of a fairly steep hill. If the sewer connection had been on the driver’s side, it would have been an uphill climb. Fortunately, I had just purchased an extra section of sewer hose and needed it.
The next morning as I was preparing for departure I moved both slideouts in and then went outside to disconnect at which point I discovered a large pool of hydraulic oil under the rear of the motorhome. I assumed it was related to the issue with the rear slideout I experienced on the first night of the trip and headed home.
I arrived home safely that Sunday afternoon. For those keeping track at home, we took the RV in to repair the air conditioner and awning over the rear slide. The air conditioner turned out to be due to a breaker located inside the panel attached to the air conditioning unit in the basement of the motorhome. I can’t believe the mobile repair technician I hired in Georgia didn’t figure that one out. It would have made my trip a bit more comfortable. I think it more than likely popped due to the issues with the house batteries being low when we picked up the camper from storage. It worked flawlessly all weekend on our next camping trip. The technician in Georgia was also wrong about the rear slideout. The reason the room had slid out crooked was because the hydraulic synchronizer had failed. Fortunately the manufacturer had it in stock so we didn’t have to wait for them to manufacture it. Regarding the awning over the rear slideout, since the camper is so old, we went ahead and had both awnings replaced over the two slideouts.
We departed this morning from Country Oaks Campground in Kingsland, GA around 9:30 AM. We had a good drive although I-95 started getting rough as soon as we crossed the South Carolina state line and I-26 was no better. We hit enough rough road that the audio on our TV wasn’t working when we parked. One of the wires attached to the switch that determines whether the stereo plays music from the car stereo or audio from the TV had disconnected.
We are staying at Barnyard RV Park in Lexington, SC. It’s a nice park that’s not far from I-77, I-26, or I-20. Our site (A-2) is a pull through site with full hookups that is 100′ long. The trees here are fairly young and we had no problem picking up the Dish Western Arc satellites from our roof mounted satellite antenna.
It was very hot today (mid to upper 90’s), but the nice, clean bathroom and shower facilities here are air conditioned, so our showers “took”.
Once again, Beth was excited because they have varmints. They have a private pond with ducks and turtles to feed. The ducks apparently weren’t hungry, but the turtles were happy to eat the 25 cent duck food.
