So Len is the mastermind behind this years trip, he did the research, he reserved the rig. There are 5 of us on this trip, Len's mom joined us. Go big or go home, may describe what he had in mind when reserving this thing. I'm typing this in the RV, the 32 foot Class A Storm by Fleetwood. Yes its a bus. And it drives, like a bus.
Credit goes to Len he did almost all of the driving on the way down, and will again on the way home. He cut his teeth driving it from General RV in Wixom to our house in Novi (5 miles maybe) on suburban streets. Then once we had it all packed up he drove for about 9 hours with stops on Saturday. He had to drive through some crazy construction zones where there was very little room on each side of the RV. And then some rather comfortable divided highways with little traffic.
We ended up in a small bare bones campground with RV hook ups just south of Charleston, West Virginia. A small adventure in the dark involved missing the turn off for the campground and ending up at a dead end at US Armory gate. So on his first day of driving this crazy bus, he had to back up the rig about 300 feet in the dark around a curve! Needless to say he earned his glass of wine, as soon as we had the rig set up!
Day two involved several 5% to 9% inclines and descents as we traversed portions of the Allegheny and Appalachian Mountains. This also included two tunnels through the mountains, where there was NO room for error!!!
I tried to give Len a break with the driving for about an hour on the second day. The divided highway is okay, you spend more time looking in your side view mirrors than forward to make sure you're staying within the lines. And then we ended up on an undivided one lane each way road, and that is nerve wracking! Len took over only to have to go through a round-about and then back to divided highway but more traffic.
On our way into Myrtle Beach we swung by the airport to pick up a rental car. Driving over the wide speed bumps we were just hoping we didn't bottom out the jacks! Alas we did not!
A few other notes:
Credit goes to Len he did almost all of the driving on the way down, and will again on the way home. He cut his teeth driving it from General RV in Wixom to our house in Novi (5 miles maybe) on suburban streets. Then once we had it all packed up he drove for about 9 hours with stops on Saturday. He had to drive through some crazy construction zones where there was very little room on each side of the RV. And then some rather comfortable divided highways with little traffic.
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| The Day 1 Navigator was none-other than Margaret Rogers outfitted with her hard copy map. |
We ended up in a small bare bones campground with RV hook ups just south of Charleston, West Virginia. A small adventure in the dark involved missing the turn off for the campground and ending up at a dead end at US Armory gate. So on his first day of driving this crazy bus, he had to back up the rig about 300 feet in the dark around a curve! Needless to say he earned his glass of wine, as soon as we had the rig set up!
Day two involved several 5% to 9% inclines and descents as we traversed portions of the Allegheny and Appalachian Mountains. This also included two tunnels through the mountains, where there was NO room for error!!!
I tried to give Len a break with the driving for about an hour on the second day. The divided highway is okay, you spend more time looking in your side view mirrors than forward to make sure you're staying within the lines. And then we ended up on an undivided one lane each way road, and that is nerve wracking! Len took over only to have to go through a round-about and then back to divided highway but more traffic.
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| Note Len's sense of ease - drinking his coffee |
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| Note my death grip on the steering wheel. |
On our way into Myrtle Beach we swung by the airport to pick up a rental car. Driving over the wide speed bumps we were just hoping we didn't bottom out the jacks! Alas we did not!
A few other notes:
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| The cup holders are made for regular coffee cups. |
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| You know you're up damn high when you can see right in the truck drivers window at equal height! |
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| The kids watching a movie in the back, seat belted in. This area becomes their bunk beds when parked. |
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| The passengers at the kitchen table en-route. |
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| Even with not having to sit in a traditional car the whole time, the kids (as were we) quite happy to stretch their legs along the way. |
Big smile at Marg with the hard copy map! Give it to me any day! (Is it an age thing??) :-)
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