01

It's time to get the van ready. In addition to clothing, personal articles, a briefcase filled with maps and reference material, my routing book, and computer gear there is a standard supply list that I load for every trip:

Eggs	English Muffins	Strawberry preserves
Raspberry preserves	Orange marmalade	Grape jelly
Orange juice	Coffee (coarse ground)	Vitamin pills
Sugar	Hazelnut syrup	Peanut butter
Loaf of white bread	Whipped butter
Six pack of Coke or Sprite	Bottles of tonic or bitter lemon	Lime juice
Adult beverages
Ritz crackers	Cheddar cheese	Other cocktail hour yummies
Hamburger patties	Hamburger rolls	Ketchup
All-beef frankfurters	Hot dog rolls	Mustard
Assorted cans of soup
Salt and pepper	Cooking oil/spray	Worcester sauce
OFF mosquito coils	Indoor bug spray	Outdoor bug spray
Paper towels	Kleenex	Bio-degradeable toilet paper
Windex window cleaner	Floor cleaner	Lysol cleaner
Bottled water (2 jugs)	Bio-degradeable soap	First-aid kit
Trash bags	Laundry detergent (for 2 loads)	Charcoal

A most unusual day, really not how one would like to start a camping trip. Woke up about 5 AM, all excited to get going. Walked the poodles around the lake, and - of course - those little monsters knew that something was up, they had watched me load the van yesterday. Wherever I went they were right behind me, giving me those accusing looks, making me feel guilty. Kept working off my guilt by giving them yummies and telling them that their dearly beloved Mommy would be back from Europe in the afternoon. They more I talked, the more they gave me that accusing look, the more yummies they got, they more accusingly they looked at me. Bottom line, I was half an hour late taking off, and they got more yummies than they would normally get in a week.

At departure, the temperature was 19 degrees, too cold to fill the water tank and test how the system had survived the winter. Filled up the gas tank (35 gal capacity) and paid $.889 per gallon.

Next came the highlight of the day. After an uneventful drive down I-287 to the NJ Turnpike, NJ Turnpike to the Delaware Memorial Bridge and to I-95 Exit 4A, I followed the superb directions that Jim and Elaine (click to visit their website - it's definitely worth the digression) had e-mailed and went to visit them. They are just absolutely the friendliest and warmest people you could hope to meet. Read about them on their website - it's incredibly romantic how they met and how they share an outlook on life. Enviable.

Here is a photo of Jim and Elaine, in front of the cabin that Jim built. You can't imagine a more beautiful setting -- try to get an invitation, definitely worth a detour.

After that pleasant interlude, things went downhill in a hurry. By the time I hit Baltimore, it was snowing hard and the radio reported that Washington was shutting down. So much for my efforts to avoid the usual DC rush hour traffic jams. The inner beltway was a total mess.

More than three hours to get from north of the city to south. The snow, heavy at times, stayed with me all the way to Richmond, and then turned to rain.

Rain might not be much of a problem if you're camping in a class A, but for those of us who have to get to the back via the outdoors, water coming down in buckets, and with a temperature of 33 degrees, it is no fun. And since I had not filled my fresh water tank this morning, I had to find a place to hook up. At about 9 PM I got to Skippers, VA and saw a sign for the Cattail Creek Campground - about 3 miles west off I-95. Went there, the place was deserted, the bathhouse closed for the winter. After putting $16.50 in the envelope, picked a site and hooked up water. Didn't bother with the electric hook up, wasn't going to use the breadbox/microwave anyway. But got drenched just filling the water tank.

A very pleasant surprise was the furnace. I had been afraid that the pop-up roof with the canvas siding would not keep the cold out. But as I write this it's a toasty 75 degrees in the cabin and the furnace kicks in only about every 20 minutes. Outside temperature is 33 degrees - the high for the day.

I traveled 440 miles and was on the road from 9:30 AM to 9:15 PM, with an hour's break at Jim's and Elaine's. It's just past midnight as I get ready to convert the van into a bedroom.

During the night, the temperature dropped to 32 degrees. Climbed to 34 degrees when I got ready to hit the road. Sun started to come out mid-day. By the time I reached the FL state line, it was a balmy 70 degrees and there wasn't a cloud to be seen.

Woke up around 5 AM, but not really awake yet. Just turned up the thermostat from 55 degrees to 75 and went back to sleep. Woke up very rested at 6:45 AM. Washed up, the water and the water heater worked fine. Fixed a comfortable breakfast of coffee, orange juice, 2 toasted (!) English muffins. Was on the road by 8:30 AM. No more rain, just lots of clouds.

When I'm not in a hurry on my way to Florida I usually alternate between I-95, US-301, and US-17, simply because I-95 wins my first prize for the most boring interstate I've ever driven. There is some scenic beauty in VA and GA, but the Carolinas have a lot more state troopers on that road than beautification efforts.

Stopped to get gas, $.859 per gallon for regular. Got 16.6 mpg yesterday, despite the stop-and-go mess in DC. Stopped at a SC rest area to fix a quick lunch (peanut butter and jelly sandwich, coke - surprised?)

Once the sun started to warm things up, my mood improved a lot, despite the I-95 boredom. Listen to some classical music CDs I brought along, had my moral improvement targets raised by Dr. Laura, and Rush Limbaugh did his best to make me wonder where this country is coming from and going to.