Back on the Road

 Thursday, June 3, 2021

Today is day one of our five-week adventure.  We are starting out just stopping at Wilderness for a few days.  On Sunday we will head on down to Natural Bridge, VA, and stay in that area for about a week.  Then on down south to the Ashville, NC area.  

Getting out of Silver Spring went pretty smoothly.  We have been packing and prepping for over a week so we were not overwhelmed with chores. We did have a little bit of an issue with Cali.  She gets very nervous when we are preparing to leave.  In fact, we had a devil of a time finding her.  She was hiding under the guestroom bed among the items we have stored there.  With heavy winter gloves on and some acrobatic moves, I managed to drag her out with no bloodshed.  She is fine once we are on the road.

We have also started to hook up the truck down on Hale Street.  There is less traffic and the road is a bit wider.  Our only true problem is the inside brake for the truck is giving us trouble.  We are having a hard time keeping it stabilized but, we think we know what needs to be done.  

We arrived at our site and got set up with no problem.  It is like riding a bike.

Glen 5, Site 239

We decided to run up to Costco to get beer and oh boy, what a mistake.  There was a tractor-trailer accident on the westbound side of Route 3 that had traffic backed up quite a distance.  It looked pretty serious so we were concerned about how we would get back to the campground.  While discussing ways to skirt the accident, we saw smoke or steam up ahead.  It turned out to be the fire department spraying water from a ladder truck down on a burning vehicle loaded with hay.  Traffic is now stopped eastbound on Route 3.  We were at our turn for Costco so we got gas and beer.  Fredericksburg is a maze of shopping centers and residential areas that all dead end because of Interstate 95.  We found the only little road out of the area that did not lead to Route 3.  So did all the locals.  We crept along for what seemed like an eternity but finally got to Salem Church Road where we could go south.  Once we got out of the area I was able to recognize some backcountry roads and we got back to Wilderness by going south, then west and finally east.  This was such a trying journey we decided to get some subs for dinner.  Of course, while stopping for them we got hit with a massive thunderstorm.

Got back to the rig and noticed water running down the side.  Hot water!  Our 16-year-old water plug gave up the ghost.  Fortunately, Bruce was able to bypass the water heater and we had cold running water for the night.  Guess what's going to be the #1 job tomorrow.

It only lasted 16 years.