Today is pick-up day for the RV. I woke up bright and early and left with Bubba to grab a Starbucks while the rest of our crew awoke and readied themselves. It’s a nearly-three-hour drive to Tampa where we’ll be dropping off the rental, picking up the RV, and leaving our friend’s pickup at the airport so that he’s got a ride when he flies back later in the week. From there… it’s straight on until Biloxi, Mississippi. Bubba wants to hit the casinos there before the evening’s out, if possible!
For my part… it’s mostly the logistics of the trip that are worrying me today. A lot of things have to go right, in the right order, so that we can keep things moving. As we got coffee and headed back to the house… I thought again about forgetting my phone. No more of that business on this trip, I hope! We left Albert’s house, Bubba and Aaron in one car and Albert and I in the other, and began the trek.
It was good to get some time alone with Albert, he’s been an online friend for a good period of time and I probably make too much fun of him from time to time. This time… it was three hours of catching up, sharing life stories, becoming better friends. As we approached the airport (stop #1), we waited for the other two to drop off the car, then picked them up and headed towards the RV rental. Along the way… we stopped for some of the best Korean BBQ I have ever had. I also might’ve had some soju… but I thought the meal was delicious before I had a few vacation lunch drinks… I swear! (Hey don’t judge… I have no driving responsibilities this trip what-so-ever!)
We successfully picked up the RV, and immediately realized that the last driver of the vehicle obviously clipped something on the left side of the body. The rental place acknowledged this… but also let us know the propane wasn’t full and the refrigerator wouldn’t work until we got it filled… which once complete set us back some time… as did the inevitable discovery that the fridge doesn’t work even when it does have propane. You’ll hear more about this in the coming days, but the RV doesn’t smell great, it’s extremely noisy over 70MPH, the brake boosters seem to be failing or the lines need to be bled, and the passenger seat is so tight that it’s… erm… hard to be a man and co-chair the vehicle (to put it mildly). All that aside, though, we were out and on the road again.
We stopped for gas a few times along the trip, and the rain came and went in waves. We headed mostly North and slightly West for most of the day, topping it all off with food from gas stations as we snacked our way through Northern Florida. I capped off last night with a hot dog from Love’s, a popular gas station chain down here, and after learning of its mediocre nature the guy’s interjected with “Well Brad… you don’t go to Love’s for the wiener”. It pretty much summed up the day!
Well, it almost did, anyway, until our final quickly-made plan fell apart. The RV has beds, but no bedding. No pillows, no sheets, just faux-leather cushions. We were planning on stopping in Biloxi for bedding. But as I looked at the location at 10:45 that night… I realized the hours listed online showed that the store closed at 11pm… and we weren’t going to make it. We dove off the highway for the closest Wal-Mart… only to learn it was a Neighborhood Market that sells groceries… not pillows. And so… one quick phone call to a Marriott later… I’d gotten us some rooms for the night on hotel points. Seems silly to have an RV and sleep in a hotel, but hey you’re not the one without pillows… so you don’t get a vote! We drove a bit past Biloxi to Gulfport, and after a bit of maneuvering and negotiating we were in for the night.
All in all… the day was very productive. We’ve now driven 30% of the way back to Colorado. We’ll start tomorrow going back into Biloxi, might hit a casino (we never did make it…), and we’ll go from there. Tomorrow will also include stops in New Orleans, a place I have always wanted to visit. More to come!
