Day 1: Pisgah Forest to Hurricane Mills, TN

Details:             7.5 hours travel time; 389 miles                   Total miles: 389

Here's hoping the rest of the trip goes as smoothly as this first day!  We'd planned to leave home by 8 AM but the last-minute chores required to get the house ready took longer than anticipated. We got underway at 9:15.

I made three wishes for light traffic, good weather and low gas prices--and got all of them today.  We didn't encounter congestion or delays, even around Knoxville or Nashville, found gas for 15 cents less/gallon than in Brevard and had no rain or tornadoes.

The day's 'cherry on top' was getting an RV site able to accommodate the length of the motor home with the Jeep attached.  Eliminating that hitching-up step will save us time and frustration  tomorrow morning.

After extending the slide-outs and hooking up the utilities, we strolled around the campground, ate a simple dinner, took our showers in the bath-house and settled in for the night.

No excitement today (except for finally beginning the adventure we've looked forward to for so long) but that's a good thing.

Fred and our rig at the

Hurricane Mills KOA

April 25, 2011

The Journey to the Journey's Start

Sunday, April 24th

It feels as though we've been in preparation-mode for months.  Looking back, I guess we have.  We made innumerable to-do lists, checklists, shopping lists and have completed all but the 'last minute' list which can't be tackled until tomorrow morning.  Everything (that is, everything we've thought of) has been packed, stowed, cleaned, gotten rid of, mowed, painted, gassed up or otherwise attended to. 

The house is ready!  The RV is ready!  The Jeep is ready!  Not sure I'm ready, though   I'm excited  about being in Utah but apprehensive about getting to Utah--tornadoes and flooding in the midwest, snow and freezing night-time temperatures in Bryce and the price of fuel all present elements of uncertainty and concern.

The plan is to leave  tomorrow at 8 AM and spend the night west of Nashville, TN, about 390 miles for the day.  We have our fingers crossed for calm weather and light traffic.