Picking up the Stinger "B" and Heading West

January 21, 2017

After 6 nights in the delivery area at Lazyday's RV in Seffner, FL we headed north on I-75 on January 19th and officially turned west onto Interstate 10 around 3:00PM. After 191 miles we parked at the Walmart in Live Oaks, FL for our first night on the road in the Stinger B. We made our first stop for fuel in the morning and continued west.

The plan for Friday was to travel as far as Pensacola. When we stopped for lunch we checked the weather ahead and the forecast did not look good. They were calling for thunderstorms, some severe, through Sunday afternoon. Plus, damaging winds, hail, and possible tornadoes ahead of us. We decided, as anxious as we are to put some miles behind us, there is no place we need to be that badly so after 151 miles we called it a day. We are presently parked at the Hitchin Post Corral and Campgrounds in Cottondale, FL just off I-10 and will be here until Monday morning. The predicted Thunderstorms, so far, have not been too bad but we have had some pretty heavy rain. The owners of this campground mentioned all the major storms this year have missed them, so far, and we hope their luck continues. (Not just while we are here but in the future.) They are a very nice couple who had been full time RVing and decided they wanted to own a campgrounds. It is a work in progress but one you can tell they are proud of and should be. They are very welcoming and she even went so far as to put down a carpet at the bottom of our steps after directing us perfectly into our site. This campground is definitely on our list of places to stay if we are in this area again. It is close to I-10 and easily accessed for an overnight stop.

So even though we are stopped for a few days we are officially heading west and we are both smiling.

Backing up in time:

We left Michigan the morning of January 11th  after spending 21 days, 7 days longer then we had originally planned. It was nice spending time with our kids and grandkids but we were ready to be back to our home on wheels. We miss them terribly but we love being out on the road, seeing new places, and meeting new people.

Heading west on I-94 then we
turned south on I-75.

As you can see in the picture above there is no snow. After battling a blizzard the week before traveling from the UP today it was really windy and cold but the road was clear.
About two hours into our trip the rain started and continued most of the day sometimes making it almost impossible to see ahead. We had hoped to make it to North Carolina but the heavy rain did slow us up somewhat and we ended up spending the night in Ripley, WV. Having just traveled this route in October we knew there were some pretty steep climbs and downgrades ahead of us. The beauty of being retired is we could say, we have time lets not do this in the dark and rain.

January 12, 2017

We woke up in the morning and it was a wonderful 61 degrees with no rain and though it was still dark when we started out it looked like we would see the sun.

Even though the temperature was in the 60's there was ice along the rock walls.
(I took this out the side window so it is blurry.)
We are on I-77.

The sun trying to make its way through the clouds.
(A few rain drops on the front windshield.)

Snow ahead in West Virginia.
This is a ski resort and I am guessing they make the snow.

Another blurry side window shot this time of snow in Virginia.

Remnants of a snow bank near Mt. Airy, NC

Pilot Mountain ahead and we have sun and blue skies
in between beautiful white clouds.

Our goal for today besides traveling south was to stop and visit with Mary Beth, a lifelong friend, and Peter for a few hours this afternoon. Not only did we have a lovely visit but Peter also served us a delicious lunch. Mary Beth set a beautiful table with a cactus center piece in honor of our plans to be west by the end of the month. (I wish I would remember, just once, to take a picture.)

A picture to commemorate our visit.
(Mary Beth always remembers.)
Thank you guys for a wonderful afternoon. 

All too soon we were on our way. Our goal was to reach I-95 and we eventually did stopping in Manning SC for the night. There were some delays on I-95 so Hazel, Google Maps, routed us through quite a few back roads with the promise we would save time. (If I remember correctly the promise was about an hour.)


January 13, 2017

We awoke to slightly cooler temperatures, only 52 degrees, then the day before. As we were riding down the Interstate I could see a full moon off to the right. When the sun came up we had blue skies and from what it was showing on Maps we would have clear sailing for the next 462 miles. (Hazel did route us around Orlando because of a traffic backup.)

We have crossed into Florida. First stop the welcome center for our sip of
Orange Juice. 

We arrived at Lazyday's around 4:30 PM. Tired but happy to see the motor home parked and ready for us to take occupancy. Now the fun of getting our home on wheels organized and ready to roll starts.

Pretty sure they buy quite a few of those
red bows. 

January 14, through January 18, 2017

We were busy organizing the inside and basement of our home. During this time Lazyday's was busy getting us acquainted with our motor home and ready to roll down the road. While we were gone they had replaced the front windshield, two front tires, and the convection microwave. At our walk through the young man who was showing us the ins and outs of our motor home found a few things that needed to be taken care of and they were promptly taken care of. Our delivery advisor, Marroe, did a wonderful job of making sure everything was taken care of and scheduling what needed to be done. We spent one of our days at the Driving School, they offer, and had the opportunity to drive a motor home. It was nice to have the opportunity to put into practice what was talked about in the morning class. This class was very informative and definitely worth the time. (Tom talked to a gentleman who was purchasing his third motor home. He had taken the class just before us and said he learned something new.)  Lastly, they got our Jeep ready to be towed and showed us how to hook it up to the Stinger B.

We had a wonderful experience purchasing from Lazyday's. Everyone we came in contact with,starting with our salesperson, Jerry, the woman who went through the paperwork to finalize our purchase, the insurance woman we worked with, our mechanic, Jose, George, the RV instructor, the driving instructor, the tech who set up our tow package, the young woman who went through the benefits with us, and ending with Marroe, our delivery advisor were helpful. We feel they all took excellent care of us. The day we took the driving class they took it into a service bay to work on it and when we got back later that day the slides were out, the air was on, and the tanks had been dumped. At least once each day our salesperson stopped by to make sure we were being taken care of. The RV Instructor did a thorough walk through taking the time to answer numerous question and then came back to make sure what he had recommended be taken care of was. The mechanic took extra time to answer all the questions we had and to make sure we understood what he was talking about. The gentleman who set up our towing package explained everything in detail, and like everyone else we came in contact with, was very helpful and spent time giving us helpful hints about the whole hook up process. Our delivery advisor kept us informed every step of the way as to what was going on with our coach including while we where home in Michigan. She really worked for us making sure everything about our coach was in working order. Even now, we are out on the road and our pump has quit working, after Tom talked with a tech person the conclusion was we need a new pump so she called with several solutions. We have opted to stop at Lazyday's in Tucson where it will be replaced. Our whole experience was pretty stress free and it was because of the people we came in contact with at Lazyday's.


So we will be here, at this campgrounds, one more day enjoying some quiet time. Correction: The Packers are playing, if he can get a signal, Tom will be watching football not sure how quiet it will be. Then Monday, if everything comes together as planned, we will point the Stinger B's nose west and put some more miles behind us. If not, well, we will make a new plan.

"Make every interaction count, even the small ones.

They are all relevant."

~Shep Hyken