good eats Archives -

Florida Keys

December 17, 2014 Drew

Beautiful, sunny, relaxed, good times… We’ve finally made it to the Florida Keys! We have had a really nice set of days here, and are definitely reluctant to move on.

A fellow RV’er we met further north suggested this campground because it is in an excellent location, has friendly people, and is a great value – he wasn’t lying, this place is awesome! We have a really nice, shaded spot. The ocean is only a few steps away, and the pool is even closer than that.

We spent a day in Key West; did a little sightseeing, and a lot of eating and drinking. We saw Fort Zachary Taylor, we had some $1 Yuengling drafts and ate some fish for lunch, we wandered Duval Street, we ate a lobster roll, we found the Southern Most Point in the continental US, we missed the Hemingway house by 5 minutes (oops), we ate some more fish for dinner and had an amazing slice of Key Lime pie, and finally capped everything off getting drunk while singing Karoke with a drag queen. I’m not sure what else we could have thrown in there to have a better time except maybe meeting Bill Murray on the street… because who doesn’t want to meet Bill Murray on the street.

We watched this chicken cross the road… Noelle wanted to ask him why, but he wasn’t having any of that.

After the adventures in Key West, we proceeded to sit on our butts for the next three days. It wasn’t all fun and games though – Noelle made me work at the pool – it’s a tough life.

I know this post is a bit happy-go-lucky, but we have really had a good time this week. We’ve been to a few places so far on our little journey, and plan to see a few more. I can only hope that we will have more weeks as blissful as this one!

So we’ve gone as far south (in the continental US) that we can… I guess we will just have to see how far north we can go too. Onward!

Florida, Road Trip

Walmart

December 2, 2014 Drew

We can officially cross “sleeping in a Walmart parking lot” off that big bucket full of lists we are carrying around with us – Success! We also ate a decent BBQ lunch at the Daytona Pig Stand – Yumm!

We’re headed further south into Florida, and in an attempt to keep the costs down a little, I’m trying out a strategy of dry camping (read: sleeping like a hobo) between campsite stays. Today, we headed for a Love’s truckstop down the road a bit, but found that it truly was a truckstop with overnight parking meant only for truckers or people who can’t hear very well. The noise of an entire parking lot of idling trucks was deafening, so we made the decision to head a little further down the road to Walmart.

It is fairly well known that Walmart has an unwritten rule that allows RV’rs to park overnight. Actually they had a written rule on the sign right outside the spot we picked that said in big letters “No Overnight Parking”. But screw that noise, we’re staying! A few more rigs joined us by the end of the evening – they parked right next to us too which was weird given the massive expanse of empty parking lot they had to work with.

When we first arrived, we naturally went in to do some shopping. There’s just… so many deals! We might have bought another boogie board, and some chips, and maybe even a deadbolt kit that I want to eventually install on the door… We went back an hour or so later. Noelle may have tried on some clothes including a t-shirt with wolves howling at a moon with Santa and his reindeer silhouetted like ET… We may have bought some Subway, and then returned a few hours later to buy some bread and some paper towels…

All in all, this “free” night at Wally World has cost us more than a night at a hotel! “It’s simple economics son; I don’t understand it at all, but… God I love it!”

Florida, Road Trip

Daytona Beach

November 24, 2014 Drew

We made it to the beach! Honestly, there is a part of me that thinks this whole plan to quit my job and travel around was just a big elaborate excuse to go to the beach – well today we have officially achieved that goal – success!

The weather is finally warming up a bit (although they say it will cool down again in a couple days). To get the most out of the fleeting warm temps, we spent two great days hanging out at Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach.

The beaches were really pretty nice – not to crowded, nice and sandy, decent surf. We spent the $5 and drove out onto the beach at Daytona to park. At Ormond Beach, we decided to park for free at the Andy Romano beachfront park – they had a decent food stand there too.

Noelle and I both love the water – I want to eventually try surfing, she wants to eventually try scuba diving. Well we started with buying this sweet boogie board. I’m obviously writing this post after the fact, but we had a great time attempting to ride the waves with that thing – granted it is also already broken into two pieces, but hey it still works!

We hit up Joe’s Crab Shack for a really nice (and really expensive) seafood lunch – yumm!!!

One of the guys caught a huge fish right after I took this pic – his wife brought it up in a net, and he just smiled and walked the length of the jetty like a boss before putting it in his cooler – the other fisherpeople were so jealous.

At one point in the day, Noelle and I just looked at each other and said something like “Yep… this is what we are supposed to be doing.” We had a nice couple of days!

North Carolina

Linville Falls

October 28, 2014 Drew

We made it up to the mountains today! The scenery was beautiful, the Jeep performed without issues, and the weather was amazing. Definitely the makings of an excellent day!

The plan was to take highway 221 up to Linville Falls then hop on the Blue Ridge Parkway heading south – and that’s exactly what we did.

The Linville area was absolutely breathtaking. We got our first little bit of hiking experience for this trip at the falls as well. We were there around noon, and the weather was crystal clear and warm.

Seeing stuff like this is part of the reason why we are doing this whole adventure roadtrip thing – the world can be a beautiful place sometimes!

After an invigorating hike at Linville Falls, we headed down the Blue Ridge towards “Little Switzerland.” We had an amazing BBQ lunch, and then kept on going. The fall colors really are awesome. I was worried we might be a bit too late in the season, but the lower elevations were still so vibrant.

We tried as hard as we could to kill the car on the multiple snake turns of highway 80, but it kept going like a champ. We capped off a great day with some great burgers over coals at the campsite – living the life!

As I read over this post, it sounds way too cheery for my usual self. I guess some days things just work out, and this was definitely one of those days.

North Carolina

Shakedown Cruise: Day One

October 26, 2014 Drew

We finally did it, we’re on the road, headed out for our shakedown cruise! We didn’t quite leave by the morning, but as of this afternoon, we are now officially on the road.

The day began with the final loading of the camper and Jeep. I have been having trouble finding the right hitch setup, and today was no different. I can’t use a normal style and length mount because the ball sits too low and is right under the spare tire with no room for the camper tongue. I tried a hitch extender from Harbor Freight, but it was too long, and the chains and electrical didn’t reach. This morning, I tried just an extra long mount from Camping World, but it was still a bit too far for the electrical, and it still interfered with the spare tire – looks like I’m going to have to just take the tire off the back and go from there.

I also needed to calibrate the electronic brake controller. A quick Google search told me what I needed to do, and the trailer brakes seem to be working as intended.

With the hitch, and the brakes all figured out, we hit the road. We’re heading west to the Apalachian mountains – where I’m told beautiful fall colors abound!

As we drive through the some traffic before leaving the town, we start to hear a “squeak squeak squeak” coming from the front passenger wheel. It only happens when driving slow, but it’s definitely there. Nothing short of a total breakdown is stopping us now though! Noelle and I look at each other and agree; the wheel will literally need to fall off before we stop this damn car!

We soon made it out into the country. The North Carolina countryside is beautiful, and keeping off the insterstate is really going to help us connect with the places we drive though. I did make one bad decision to stop at St. James Lake State Park before we arrived at the campsite – it involved a long windy road up a steep hill – not a great decision on my part.

We made it back down, and eventually got to our first campsite – Success!

This is the first thing I notice when I get out of the car – the electrical connector from the trailer has fallen apart and is trailing on the ground – uh oh. It looks fixable though, and another quick Google confirms that I just need to get the wires reconnected to the right terminals. A little bit later, we have working taillights and turn signals – success again!

We’re staying at a Yogi Bear campsite close to Marion, NC. The campsite is decent – but honestly at almost $40 for a night (and that is the discounted price), I was expecting a little more. I think camping might be a bit more expensive than people make it sound!

The ducks were actually really loud – like unusually loud – is that normal??

As I’m writing this post in our cozy little camper, we’ve had a great first night. It might be bad sign that I had to pull the tool bag out first thing, but we’re still here, and we’re still on the road! Onwards to day 2!