Friday, Dec 3, we left our wonderful friends Diane & Joe and Dataw Island and headed North to Sumter, SC to visit Kate & Chase Halsey. Kate is the daughter of our dear friends and next door neighbors, Kathy & Don Schulz. Kate and Chase are the proud parents of their new daughter Piper Isabelle, 1 month and McKenzie, age 3 yr. We had a wonderful visit and great dinner. We were late to their house as I had decided (PANIC) that we needed to use the air compressor to blow out the water in the trailer's pipes so they would not freeze ("Its goin down to freezin tonight"). So Friday afternoon we did our first noobie high pressure compressor evacuation of water from the pipes and emptied the water heater as well. (Panic subsides...). We returned home after a nice visit with Kate and Chase sometime after midnight.
We awoke around 8 AM Saturday morning and after a quick breakfast were on the road heading North towards Charlotte, NC and Staunton, Virginia. By Charlotte, the skies were very grey and ominous. Within 20 miles North of Charlotte we drove into an ice storm. Roads were covered with ice and traffic slowed down quickly. We continued to drive north towards Staunton and noticed that we were increasing in elevation as we progressed (Welcome to the Blue Ridge Mountains!). The ice changed to snow as we continued to drive which was totally ignored by the truck drivers barreling Northward. About 2:30 in the afternoon, our new GMC truck advised that we were low on exhaust fluid additive required for the catalytic converter and that we had 200 miles to fill it up or the truck would slow down to 20 mph and then finally stop (this message will disintegrate in 20 seconds...). (Panic begins creeping up when we realize that the dealers are closed on Saturday afternoon). We call ONSTAR and they tell us that The GMC Manual advises that 5 gallon DEF tank should remain filled to FULL at all times....of course...Thank You). Finally found an auto parts shop that sold Diesel Exhaust Fluid and filled the truck with 4 gallons. (Now know its 1 gallon for each 1000 miles of use). With the help of a retired truck driver we were able to back up the 52 feet of The Wild Thing so we could extricate ourselves from the tight parking lot. Thank you kind Sir!
We continued our white knuckle drive Northward with hopes that we would make Staunton by 6PM. By this time, my concerns for the trailer water pipes exploding began dancing in my head...did I get all the water out?? We drove by a Camping World store and I pulled in to buy more antifreeze as well as a hand pump to introduce the fluid into the pipes. (Panic subsides...). Back on the road, we drove higher and higher (2400" elevation) the snow became worse and salt trucks were not to be seen. Apart from the crazy trucks speeding by us at 60 MPH, the truck and trailer performed fine as we headed Northward through the Blue Ridge Mountains. The driver (Me) was a little white knuckled as we continued to go higher and higher in elevation as traffic slowed down to 35 - 45 MPH. About 7:30 PM we stopped for fuel. The trailer had been transformed into a Polar Express - totally covered with ice like a phamtom-like silver aberration in the night. We finally made it to our camping site in Staunton, VA at 9:30 PM. Of course, no one was there to greet us...just a packet welcoming us to the North Pole and site #64 (no water .... pipes have been turned off). After setting up, I spent about 30 minutes pumping 2 gallons of antifreeze into the city water outlet and opening the faucets, toilet and shower consecutively to conpletely fill the system with antifreeze (panic subsides). Now to find the bathrooms in the dark.. the camp grounds are over 200 acres with only a few trailers at the site. With flashlight and map we found our way through 3 inches of new snow to the bathrooms and back.
This morning, the air was clear and the skies were blue but very cold (26F). We packed up after a quick breakfast and headed Northward to Harrisburg, PA 250 miles away. We paralleled the Blue Ridge Mountain range as we progressed Northward and out of the snow past beautiful farmlands full of herds of cattle and picturesque barns. We arrived safely at 3:30 PM.
Tonight is night 26th in the trailer and our last until next April or May. Tomorrow we head The Wild Thing across the Delaware into New Jersey and to home.
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