Search This Blog


Sunday, May 28, 2017

Slowing Down

Almost.  We did only 359 miles today, compared to yesterday's travel.  Good on my part, trying to "brake" the PDD driving style.  Kudos to Sherry for catching my pun in yesterday's post.

We most o often travel in a "get to the destination" posture, not stopping to sightsee along the way.  That is why we often overnight in Walmarts or Flying J truck stops.  For the short time we're staying, it doesn't pay us to hit a campground for $40-$50 bucks for a few hours.

We are Passport America members and sometimes will use them if, and only if they are nearby our route.  It doesn't save us any money to stay at a PPA campground if they are more than ten miles from our route.  With diesel fuel costing an average of $2.50/gallon and the Journey using a gallon about every 7 miles, going too far adds up and can cancel the savings of the campground.

Of course some of the ones we have used over the years have been interesting, to say the least.  One place was no more than a field with an old shed that had a box on the door to leave your money at.  Good thing we were self contained because there were no amenities.  However, one really surprised us, the  French Quarter RV Resort in New Orleans.  PPA was good for one night, then the following stays were at their regular rate of $72/night.  We stayed two nights and had a good time (excellent hot tub on premises).

Anyway, I digress, last night at the Walmart we stayed at was hit with some really heavy weather.  After driving in it part of the day, I was glad we were not rolling.  Except with the winds and beating rain, the Journey was really rocking, reminding me of  storms at sea I experienced while on Coast Guard cutters.

To play it safe, I put down the leveling jacks to stabilize the Journey.  I don't use the jacks when blacktop boondocking to prevent any damage to the pavement, but this time it was the right thing to do,  Found out later there was tornadic activity near the area.  Since I'm writing this post you can surmise tornadoes missed us...

Since we are not in a rush to get to California, we enjoyed a leisurely morning before rolling out at 10:30.  Kind of nice for a change.

We noticed the dash air conditioning was blowing warm so at tonight's Walmart stop (I always give back) I picked up a recharging kit.  I used this a couple of years ago for the same issue and it worked well until now.


A few minutes work and we're back to blowing cold air.  I know there must be a tiny leak in the a/c system on the Journey, but until using these recharge kits every couple of years won't work, then I'll delve into the long hoses and parts of the a/c system to fix it properly.

Hope we have a clear night tonight, I don't have any sea sick pills available.  ;c)

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.


5 comments:

  1. I was concerned about the terrible storms there in the Midwest where it appeared you were going. Glad you are safe. 359 miles is definitely PDD but even I might do it to get through the Midwest this year. Safe travels!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad to see you both back out on the road! Your short driving day is still a long one in our books but nice to see that you are trying to slow it down. Too bad about the weather though, good thing that you stopped when you did, it isn't fun trying to drive in weather like that nor is it safe. Hoping your weather improves and that you have time to smell some roses along the way. ;-)

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are slowing down if you're not hitting the road until nearly noon! I guess the time though depends on what coast you're on. I agree with Walmart and Flying J type overnight places. Sometimes it's just easier to pull off the road without even hooking up. Safe journey.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We usually do that too as you know, but we're planning on Good Sam parks on the way to Texas. Way too hot to not be hooked up!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice to see you slow down a bit and relax. They flying j"s and Walmarts work perfect for us as well if it's just an overnight stop.

    ReplyDelete