Day 1 Thursday March 8, 2018 We started our camping season the earliest we ever have. We departed home at 7:30AM, stopped in Wallace for a quick breakfast and headed for our annual motorhome service at Freightliner Service Center in Gaffney SC. Just as we exited I-495 onto I-85 outside of Charlotte we ran into heavy snow flurries for about 3 minutes. I had been watching some clouds that I thought to myself that they sure looked like snow clouds.
We arrive at the service center about 1:30PM and setup in site 6 and then I checked in at the office for our appointment tomorrow at 8AM.
Day 2 Friday March 9, 2018 We turned the motor home over to the service tech about 8:15AM and went into town for breakfast at McDonalds. This site was being remodeled last year when we were here. Now it is one of the nicest McDonalds we have ever visited. They have a variety of seating and almost all the seating is padded. After Lena did some shopping we returned to the service center and waited in the waiting room until they got our motor home ready about 2PM.
We had planned to stay here until Sunday morning but after checking the weather forecast we decided to depart tomorrow since rain was predicted for all day Sunday along our route.
Day 3 Saturday March 10, 2018 We departed at 8AM, stopped about two miles down the road to get fuel and then headed for Scenic Mountain RV Park and Campground just outside Milledgeville, GA. We arrived about 1:45PM and setup in site 4. This is a nice campground. It sits on the side of a nice hill with good views. All sites are full hookup with paved streets and gravel sites.
After we setup and checked in we drove the Jeep back to Milledgeville to check out the town a little and try some of the Brick Oven Pizza at The Brick. It sure was good as we were both very hungry. The town was the state capital until after the Civil War and there are some really pretty big houses and public buildings in town. Almost all the building in town are occupied with a variety of businesses. They have put a lot of spit and polish on the main street and several of the side streets to make the town look really nice. Several of the old buildings including the old capital building are used by Georgia College.
Day 4 Sunday March 11, 2018 As predicted it rained almost all day so we stayed in and read and relaxed all day. We were glad we made the decision to travel here yesterday rather than today. Yesterday's drive was pleasant but if we had of driven here today it would have been kind of miserable.
Day 5 Monday March 12, 2018 We drove into Milledgeville to the Blackbird Coffee Shop to try their coffee and sweet rolls. Both were very good. It was a busy place since it about a block from the local Georgia College campus. Then we made a run to the local Walmart to restock on a few items before returning to the campground. It is really windy today and rather cool.
Day 6 Tuesday March 13, 2018 We headed for Perry about 8:30AM. Lena followed me in the Jeep because we are supposed to arrive at the FMCA Rally site with the “toad” disconnected so we will not delay the check in process. We only had about 60 miles to drive so we arrived before 10AM and was directed to a site after a little confusion, partly by me and partly by the FMCA Volunteer staff. We were the first to be parked in lot L1 so it worked out OK as we got a spot very close t the free tram that will take us to the events. We got set up and watched lots and lots of RVs coming in by the dozens. Then decided to drive out to Cracker Barrel for lunch.
Day 7 Wednesday March 14, 2018 Tom from Satellite Electronics Installation came to our coach at 9AM to install a new sound receiver. The DVD player on our old one had quit working and the sound controls were always troublesome. Tom ran all new wires to the TV from the receiver and also connected our over the air antenna to our satellite receiver so we can scan the local TV channels into the program guide. We were very pleased with the new setup.
After lunch we took the tram down to the area where all the seminars will be held starting tomorrow.
Day 8 Thursday March 15, 2018 The seminars started today so we attended select ones that interested us on various RV related topics, plus some on current electronic technology that can be put to use while traveling. The vendor areas open at 1PM so we checked out some of those also. At 6:30PM we went to the arena for the evening entertainment. There were two different bands playing music.
Day 9 Friday March 16, 2018 We got out a little earlier than normal and joined hundreds of others for the morning coffee and doughnuts before the seminars started again at 9AM. After we took in the last seminar we wanted to see we walked over to the area where all the new motor homes are on display from several different manufacturers. Later we went to a meet and greet for Tiffin Motorhome owners but the room was so packed that we could hardly get off the elevator to get in the room so we left and went back to the motorhome to wait until the entertainment started. After getting comfortable in the motorhome we decided to skip the entertainment.
Day 10 Saturday March 17, 2018 We joined the doughnut and coffee crowd again this morning before going to some of the seminars. The weather is warming up a little bit so it is pleasant outside during the day. We skipped the entertainment again tonight.
Day 11 Sunday March 18, 2018 The final day of the Rally and the final day to pig out on Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and coffee before going to a couple of seminars and doing our last shopping with all the vendors of RV products. We planned to go to the entertainment tonight to see Jeanne Robinson, a humorist. We saw here 4 years ago when we came to the rally and she is so funny with her stories. Lena was not feeling good so we skipped the entertainment again.
Day 12 Monday March 19, 2018 It rained a fair amount last night but had stopped by the time we departed the rally ground at 8AM. I'm not sure if this is acurrant but we heard there were around 3,700 RvsRVs at the rally. We stopped for the night just off I-95 at the SC/NC line at South of the Border's Camp Pedro Campground for the night. We checked in and setup in pull through site 174. This campground has a few things going for it but the management needs to fix several mud holes on the back row where we were.
Day 13 Tuesday March 20, 2018 We departed at 9AM for our final leg on this trip before getting home. We arrived home about 12 noon after a fuel stop in Wallace. It was a good trip, no mechanical issues and we arrived home safe.
