(authored by Steve)
We woke up to a very cold Florence KY with the temperature below 20. We were warm in the hotel, but the RV was cold, around 25. Our water bottles didn’t freeze so it couldn’t have been too cold for too long. One advantage of staying at the Best Western: Steve got a waffle for breakfast. Vicki had the healthier breakfast of eggs, bacon and cheesy hash browns. Lexie got to wait for dinner.
We drove south for 45 minutes and stopped at a Love’s in Sadieville, KY for gas. We had used almost half a tank, so I filled it up with 42 gallons. I am guessing my gas mileage may be at 7mpg (Rick, I finally own a vehicle with worse gas mileage than you!). And I have been traveling close to 65mph (Jeanne and Bob, you don’t want to be behind me!) for economy and just making sure that I have control of the RV. I can feel a little push on the RV whenever a semi is passing me, and it is still a beast to drive. I was tired after driving yesterday and my thumbs were cramping up.
Anyways, Love’s Travel Stop is great! I have been worrying about the air pressure in the tires, especially on the outside rear tires. The rear tires are ‘dualies’, an inside and outside pair on each side. The outside tire has the valve stem pointing inwards, and I couldn’t access it to put air into it. But the Sadieville Love’s has a truck shop in the back, and the mechanic there came out to help me with my tires. He had a simple solution of a small valve extender, and it worked great. I am feeling much more confident about traveling now that I know I can check and fill all the tires.
Our next stop was another Love’s Travel Stop at Corbin KY. We did grab some fast food. We did not go to see the Col. Sanders/KFC museum, though it was tempting (my fave old school fast food -Vicki).
The final stop for the day was at Lazy Acres RV Park in Lenoir City, Tennessee. On the way we crossed the Tennessee river and saw a huge dam. No pictures, it happened so fast. And we were ready to stop at our campsite.
But the view from the RV is remarkable. We are looking deeper and farther along the sides at the rivers and ravines. And we can see what is happening in traffic up ahead. And we can see how the highway is splitting to pick our lane. I do remember being one of the little people in my Prius, but a part of me is enjoying being on the higher side of the view.
We found our site in the campground. The site was level, so I put down the jacks just to provide additional stability. The slide-out slid out. Electric power was connected. Then Vicki started to clean up the bed from all the last minute items we had thrown on it before leaving Cleveland. Lexie took Steve for a walk around the campground.
We ‘made’ dinner in our RV too! Actually, we warmed up some cabbage rolls and mashed potatoes we had bought at our local Heinens grocery store. Microwaves are great camping tools. And we toasted our dinner with some (pre-made chi-chi) margarita’s.
The weather tonight is supposed to be below freezing. We watched ‘Princess Bride’ on our DVD player, covered in blankets. We will definitely be testing our mattress warmer.
(Vicki)-We had gorgeous views through Tennessee. I was busy with navigation on my phone and couldn’t get to the camera quick enough. We’re following Steven’s brother Greg and his wife Barb’s trip through New Zealand right now and enjoying their great pictures. Need to catch some pictures of our spectacular views while on the road. The Little Tennessee River was WAY bigger than the Tennessee river and as Steven said, seeing these things from a better elevation provides stunning views. Driving through the edge of the Smokies, over so many beautiful waterways, enjoying a landscape not totally white – we’re learning to relax and enjoy the journey without racing the clock to get there.
The night sky was so clear with no light pollution and the stars put on a brilliant show. We both think one especially bright star looked red and must be Mars! We might check out a star gazing app as we’re hoping we’ll have a lot more star gazing nights on this adventure. Apps do help and we’re finding they are great tools. Steven found a driving weather app that shows weather along your whole route for the specific day and time you want to travel.
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