When we left Hampton, Virginia hurricane Matthew was just moving in on South Florida and we knew it's basic predicted track.
Decide that heading down I-95 wasn't a good idea. We decided to go down I-85 instead. The original plan was to spend the first night in Santee State Park in South Carolina. That wasn't going to happen so we made reservations at a campground in Gaffney, S.C., we also had reservations at the KOA Campground in Port Orange, FL. The place in Port Orange was about two blocks from my brothers house.
When we got to the campground in Gaffney the hurricane was romping all over Peter and Gracie and my brother's in Daytona. Watched the news and prayed that everything would be ok. As soon as it looked like it was past Port Orange we tried calling the KOA. No answer.
The original plan was to stay in Gaffney overnight and proceed down I-85 thru Atlanta and cut over via I-10 and down to Orlando then over I-4 to Daytona. Ended up staying in Gaffney for three days as hurricane Matthew crapped all over the east coast. I-95 was closed in several places due to flooding when we left Gaffney.
Meanwhile, as the generator in the motorhome wasn't working, I was depending on the newly repaired dash a/c to keep me cool while driving. I forgot to mention that Tori was following us in Doree's car (more on Doree's car later). Everytime I turned on the dash a/c the fan belt would squeal. Eventually it would stop but, it was obviously getting worse. Well somewhere in between Gaffney, SC and Altlanta the belt finally broke. Of course it was the only thing I hadn't replaced while repairing the a/c. Dooooh! That'll have to be fixed later. Luckily the only thing that the belt served was the A/C. Everything else still worked. We proceeded down the road.
Still trying to find someplace reasonably close to Daytona to stay. Still calling the KOA with no answer. Finally ended up at a $65 a night campgound in Kissimmee, FL near Disney World. Still couldn't find anyplace in the Daytona area. Hell, couldn't even get anyone to answer the phone. Stayed three days in Kissimmee. Finally found a place on Nova Road in Port Orange. Owned by the same company that had the Kissimmee campground. We ended up staying there for four days. The first three days at $45 a night. The last night at $85 because it was the first day of biketoberfest. The third biggest biker gathering behind Sturgest and Daytona Bike Week during the summer. Who knew.
After visiting my brother and family in Daytona it was off to Palm Bay to visit Tori's mother and brothers. One night in her driveway and then it was a short 3 hour drive to Deerfield Beach. My brother in law met us at the house and we frantically unloaded the motorhome. By the HOA rules we couldn't leave it in front if the house overnight even though we're on the end of the road and wouldn't have bothered anyone. Needless to say it's now in storage and I have been so busy that I haven't even had a chance to check it since we got here. Luckily you can see it from the main drag and I know it's ok.
Well we're here and the move is complete although, I still have many, many boxes to unpack. The week between Christmas and New Year's day is already spoken for. I'm changing the breaker panel in the laundry room as it no longer meets code and you can't
buy new breakers for it. After that I'm installing an on demand water heater. The existing
tank heater has a bad element and takes forever to recover. As it's probably 25 years old, it's time to replace it.
I could spend another ten paragraphs telling you everything that I've fixed or replaced since we got here but, I don't want to bore you any further. Suffice it to say, I've been busy!
Glad to be back here and will really try to check in more often. Sorry if I worried you all. Just know that I love you all and think of you often. Semi, I haven't forgotten the small water heater just haven't gotten that far down the list.
Later all.
