Jan 28 2025: Into Georgia, around Atlanta (294 miles)

(Steven) The mattress heating pad on the bed kept us both warm, maybe a little too warm for me. I will adjust its setting to something less. Vicki liked her warm setting. But we were grateful for the heating pad as the RV itself got very chilly. There was frost all around the campsite when I first got up, but the frost was gone by the time we left at 10am.

Lexi took me for another walk. Thanks to the All Trails app, I found that there was a trail on the Little Tennessee River that Lazy Acres overlooked. We did about 2.5 miles of walking, a great way to start the morning.

This was going to be a longer driving day than the previous two days. The ride was smooth through Tennessee and through Georgia until we came close to Atlanta. Even though we took the bypass, and even though we were traveling in the early afternoon, there were still congested areas.

Our first stop of the day was as the Georgia Welcome Center, a few miles south of the Tennessee/ Georgia border. This was our first experience of parking in the ‘truck’ area.

Our second stop was south of Atlanta where we needed to walk around, and get some gas. Not much to say there except I bought 52 gallons of gas. Tank holds 80 gallons.

We arrived at the Interstate RV campgrounds in Byron GA around 4:30 and set up the RV. Since we are not expecting any more freezing weather, I de-winterized the RV. An RV pulled into the spot next to us, and as the gentleman was checking out his set-up, I professed inexperience in de-winterizing and RV. He talked me through it, pointing out where the water heater was and where the anode needed to go. I am sure I would have figured it out, eventually. But it was much easier with an experienced person talking me through it. And now the RV is fully functional with working water (hot and cold) and toilet.

Dinner tonight was another prepared meal from our Cleveland grocery store. But the dishes were washed properly and easily afterwards.

Vicki-Hooray!!! Now I feel we are truly glamping – in-the-rig running water. Never took it for a luxury but it’s the game-changer. The late night bathroom trips are no problem now, instead of getting fully dressed and winter-coated to go outside to a rest room in below freezing temps in the middle of the night. Even doing the Atlanta bypass, the traffic is torture. On top of the usual heavy mid-day traffic, add to that the aftermath of a very serious car-truck accident and down the road a totally burned out semi cab. We were thankful for the above traffic view and the Jack Reacher audible book as we sat and inched our way along I-285.

Every day is a new learning adventure. We are thankful for this time together and the nice people we’re meeting along the way. Closed our evening with a game of Azul, then I was up til the wee hours reading.