Gaffney SC and Perry GA March 7-18, 2019

Home to Gaffney SC and Perry GA

Day 1 Thursday March 7, 2019 We have not used the motorhome in 6 months. Normally we take some short trips in the Fall but due to Hurricane Florence coming September 14, 2018 and causing tremendous flooding in our area we spent some of the last six months doing repairs for damage to our property and helped others in our area with their recovery.

We departed home this morning at 7:45AM to take the motorhome to Freightliner Service Center in Gaffney SC for its annual service. We took the new highway Toll 74 bypass about 30 miles from Charlotte that cuts off a lot of stop and go traffic but I didn't listen to our GPS when we got to the end of the bypass and still had to drive a few miles in stop and go traffic but we got back on track and still arrived on time. We set up in site 6 at the service center and I checked in at the service desk for our 8AM appointment.

Day 2 Friday March 8, 2019 We were ready at 8AM for the service tech to take the motorhome so after meeting with Ken, we drove to the Sunny Doughnut Shop in town that I found on the smartphone app YELP. They had a great variety of doughnuts and morning pastries. We narrowed it down to four different ones and then went to McDonald's for a Latte to enjoy the pastries. This McDonald's has the best seating of any McDonald's we have ever been to and today they had fresh cut flowers on every table.

Mural on building in downtown Gaffney SC

At McDonalds in Gaffney SC

Mural in Gaffney SC

We returned to the service center expecting them to be completed about 1PM but one of the service techs came out and told us there was a problem with the brakes that should be repaired. He asked was I hearing a popping noise when I pressed down hard on the brakes and having to push harder than normal. I told him I was and he said what they found was what was causing that. So we gave him permission to do the required repairs You need all brakes working when trying to stop 36,000 lbs. We finally got the motorhome back about 5:30PM. So we set back up in site 6. It has rained off and on about all day.

Day 3 Saturday March 9, 2019 We treated ourselves this morning with a nice breakfast at the local Cracker Barrel. My Wild Maine Blueberry Pancakes sure were good. Then we returned to the motorhome after a little shopping. It was cold, foggy and very overcast with misty rain all day. YuK!!

Day 4 Sunday March 10, 2019 It is still cold (42 degrees) with a little misty rain and very overcast this morning. We departed the service center at 8AM, stopped a few miles down the road for fuel and headed for Scenic Mountain RV Park outside of Milledgeville GA. We arrived at 1PM and set up in site 13. The temperature here is 20 degrees warmer than it was this morning in Gaffney. This is the same place we stayed last year on our way to the FMCA Rally in Perry GA. This is a nice RV Park and the old part of town is really nice. Refer to the 2018 BLOG for my comments from last year.

We have seen some unusual things in a campground but have never seen anyone walking around with a large parrot on their shoulder until today. The lady across the street from us came out of her camper with a large white parrot on her shoulder and walked down the street for a ways before returning to her camper.

Day 5 Monday March 11, 2019 It was nice to get up this morning to a much warmer temperature. We drove into Milledgeville to The Blackbird Cafe for our Latte fix and a couple of pastries for breakfast. This is a nice coffee shop/cafe and is quite busy in the morning with all the college kids coming is for their morning coffee fix before classes start. We had planned to walk through the Lockerly Arboretum that is just outside of town on our way back to the RV Park but it was raining so we passed it up. Later we tried sitting outside to read but a few rain showers keep popping up so we relaxed inside and read. The park is very quite today even thought lots of campers are here. The maintenance crew is working on putting out mulch and weed eating. They keep the park very clean and well landscaped.

Milledgeville GA

Backbird Cafe and Coffee Shop

Day 6 Tuesday March 12, 2019 We departed at 8:30AM for the final 60 miles to Perry GA where FMCA's 99 International Convention & RV EXPO is taking place at the Georgia National Fairgrounds. We arrived about 10AM and was quickly directed to our parking spot which was closer to a hugh generator that supplies power to the Rvs than I would have liked so we will get to hear the hum of it while we are here. The first year we came to this event we were parked right beside the generator and it was just a few feet from our bedroom slide so we didn't sleep very good. The generators are bigger than a large pickup truck but are fairly quite considering the size of them.

We had been told about a good sandwich cafe in Perry called Yoders Sandwiches, so we decided to try it for lunch. The food was really good.

I put out our name sign in front of the motorhome that says The Browns – Wallace NC on it. In a few minutes a man that was parked across from us walked over to introduce himself and to tell me they were from Wallace also.

We read for awhile and then took a walk up to the area where all the seminars will be held starting tomorrow.

Day 7 Wednesday March 13, 2019 This is the first day of the events at the rally. We attended several RV related seminars, checked out the vendors and then at 7:30PM attended the evening entertainment with Jim Pelly, a Humorist. He is also a n RV'r and had planned to drive his RV from Arizona but it broke down after driving it about 150miles from home so he had to fly here. He was very funny.

Day 8 Thursday March 14, 2019 We did about the same today with the addition of going to the morning doughnuts and coffee event. About noon we met a crew from MagnaShade at the motorhome so they could install our new windshield sunscreen. It will keep our motorhome much cooler when we are setting in the sun.

Some people just ignore the rules

After our last seminar we checked out the new Tiffin motorhomes out of curiosity. We like ours just fine so there will be no new motorhome for us.

We had to go to the local post office in the evening to mail something so we decided to stop at the local Cracker Barrel for supper. I had noticed very poor reviews on Yelp for this location and after waiting almost and hour for our meal and then it not being hot we can understand the low reviews. It seemed to us they were understaffed. Our waitress was having to handle most of the tables in our section by herself.

Day 9 Friday March 15, 2019 About the same routine today except we attended the entertainment tonight. The Coaster, Platters and Drifters performed their biggest hits from the 50''s and 60's. They did a great show. Most of the RV'ers here have a lot of grey in there hair so they could really relate to this era of music.

Day 10 Saturday March 16, 2019 It was much cooler this morning. Our first seminar was not until 10:30AM so we skipped the doughnuts had breakfast in the motorhome and relaxed for awhile. Our last seminar ended at 2PM so we made out way back to the motorhome and got a cup of hot mocha coffee to warm up. Even though we have ridden the provided trolleys and been picked up by a few golf carts we still have walked over 11 miles here since Tuesday according the Health App on our cellphones. There were over 2700 RV's here for the rally which is a lot but I think about a 1000 less than last year. Many departed this afternoon and we will depart for home in the morning.

Day 11 Sunday March 17, 2019 We departed at 8:30AM and drove for 4 hours before stopping at a Pilot/Flying J Truck Stop to fill up the motorhome with fuel and to eat lunch at their Denny's Restaurant. This is a rather large truck stop just off I-20 in Columbia SC and it was packed with parked 18 wheelers. It has 178 parking spots and since we have to pull into a parking spot we only found one parking spot we could pull into and then pull out of without unhooking the car. It took about an hour and half to get served in the restaurant they were so busy. But we needed to rest before continuing on anyway. We stopped for the night about 4:30PM near Dillon SC at Bass Lake Campground just off I-95.

Day 12 Monday March 18, 2019 We arrived home safe and sound about 11AM.