Wow, the last time Vicki, Lexie and I were in the RV was over three months ago! All that time in Cleveland! Well, most of the time was in Cleveland. We did take a quick trip to Chicago to see grandkids, and a trip to Virginia Beach for New Years.
So the past three months consisted mainly of holidays with family, and enjoying some winter (i.e. cold and snowy) weather in Cleveland. But the time has come to ‘leave’ the winter behind! And winter didn’t want us to go. The weather the week before we left ranged from cold to very cold, mixed with light snow. Our featured image shows Winnie on our driveway a couple days before departure. There is a sense of deja vu because the picture looks very similar to the RV before our 2025 winter adventure.
Fortunately when we left Saturday the roads were clear. There were only a few snow flurries along our trip from Seven Hills to Cincinnati, and the temperature was in the teens. The picture on the left was taken on I-77 near Broadview Heights
We improved the shocks and added some stabilizers to the RV so travel in the RV was easier (smoother, not as much sway when being passed by trucks.) And the RV engine kept the driving section warm.
We stopped at a Holiday Inn in West Chester (outside of Cincinnati). The hotel accepted dogs, had space for the RV, and had a pool.
We invited Jordan Adams and family to join us in the pool, however they countered with a pizza party at their place. We took them up on that and had a great evening with Jordan, Emily, Matthew, Ben, Joseph, Judah and Mary Eleanor. They loved Lexie (and Lexie loved them). We got to watch Matthew and Joseph play volleyball in the basement, and then we all played NFL bingo, using the the team’s helmets as ‘numbers’.
We left West Chester on Sunday morning with the temperature trying to rise above 0. The water jugs in the RV had some ice on it, and the inside of the RV was very cold. We crossed the (mostly frozen) Ohio River on the I-75/I-71 bridge. I noticed that all the trucks crossed the bridge on the inside lanes, no one with that tall a vehicle wanted that good a look at the river.
Most of our travel on Sunday was spent with outside temperatures again in the teens. And snow-covered terrain until we were south of Knoxville, TN. South of Knoxville, we could see the tops of the grasses peeking through the snow and frozen waterfalls of water dripping down the hills. Picture was in TN.
We did stop at a Buc-ee’s in Richmond KY. The brisket sandwich is great and someday we will try some other food. But they don’t have any spots to park an RV (or truck)
Sunday night we stopped at a Baymont Motel in Athens, TN because the outside temperatures that night were dropping into the low teens. Too cold for us to camp in the RV. The area was fairly rural so Lexie liked going out for walks. We tried to get DoorDash to deliver Cracker Barrel dinners, but I got frustrated with the requirements from the app. So, we split a footlong Subway sandwich because Subway was within walking distance.
Travel on Monday was smooth. The morning temperature outside started in the low teens and stayed cold until we were south of Chattanooga (into Georgia).
I do like taking I-75 south in the winter since the mountains are low and shallow, unlike the mountains in West Virginia. Atlanta traffic was smooth today, we went through it around noon.
We made it to our first RV campsite at Lake Tobesofkee Recreational Area: Arrowhead Park near Macon, Georgia. Not the first Lake Tobesofkee camp area we stopped at: Claystone Campground. There was about a 20-minute delay in getting to our final campsite.
The weather at Lake Tobesofkee was moderate, definitely above freezing during the day. I did see some thin ice on the lake, but Lexie and I both enjoyed walking around the campgrounds. (https://laketobo.maconbibb.us/)
V: AS you can see in the pictures, state parks are generally beautiful spots for glamping. Trees, great nature views and clean facilities are standard. RV campgrounds can be parking lots or beautiful spots with lots of foliage. We’ve stayed at both types. The pictures don’t do this Lake justice. I imagine summers are really busy here with a beautiful beach, great access boat launch, playgrounds and easy to walk trails.
I de-winterized the RV, putting water with a little bleach into the onboard tank. Unfortunately, the water pump wasn’t working and started to pump the water into the RV instead of through the pipes. Something to fix in the near future, there will always be something to fix. But we had an enjoyable stay there (we used the water from the camp faucet, not the onboard tank.) And Steven took the opportunity to rinse off all the road salt from the Winnie, the Mini, and the bikes.
Vicki took the Mini into town to get groceries. We didn’t pack much in groceries because we were concerned that the cold temperatures would ruin the food and anything in glass jars would freeze, cans might pop. We had brought cheese, some salty food, and a couple of sealed/packaged bowls of pad thai. Dinner that night was sushi, a welcome relief from the road food we had been eating. And the pantry now has supplies. But a Costco trip is still in the future.
We were still finding stink bugs around the RV even in Georgia, reminders of our Finger Lakes adventure. They looked very dead, but were still disposed of in trash cans. We don’t need any more of them!