Mad rush to Mother’s Day…and a gas shortage?

April/May 2021

As I rolled up to the 50 and over RV park after my K sister trip, with no a/c in my truck, I began to look forward into the future.

I had booked a weeklong stay in North Carolina to spend Mom’s day with my son…I was so looking forward to seeing my kiddo!!

Now I just had to drive there! And hope for weather that would not need a/c!

I left the campground the end of April, and headed east!

I drove to Tifton Georgia and stayed for one night at the KOA there. It was a cute little campground! It was about $50 per night with full hookups.

And because my a/c was out, I tied the pets into the truck and left the window down while I checked in. They were quite popular to those walking by seeing these cats on leashes looking out the window of the truck. So awesome!

It was only about 65 degrees out but still; I worry about it being too hot for them after our horrible no a/c drive in 2020 through Nevada in 120-degree weather…I have nightmares about it to this day!

I kept the truck hooked up to the trailer while there so it would be less work in the morning to leave.

They had free breakfast at the check in office every morning! I walked over and had my free pancakes before leaving that morning…not as good as our family’s beer pancakes, but they were good!

Early the next morning I was on the road again and heading to Bliss Farms in Claxton Georgia! This would be a return stay! Love it there! Cost is about $40 per night for full hookups on Hipcamp!

Mike and Karen greeted me as I parked in my old spot above the lake!! They were working on quite a few projects since I had been there last. They were putting in an outdoor bath and shower, so cool, and they put many birdfeeders out around the property! The birds are so cute!! They also made the shower in the cabin a walk in.

Parley loved being there again! And Ava remembered us!!! She and Parley had so much fun running around the property and playing.

I stayed for three glorious nights, and on the last night, everyone came out to the fire pit by my trailer to say goodbye! We had a lot of fun!

And since Murray changed my a/c unit in the trailer from Fahrenheit to Celsius, and I couldn’t figure out how to change it back, I decided to put something over the control buttons. Plus, they also turned it off when I wasn’t in the trailer with them. With it getting warmer I wanted them to NOT do that. So, I placed a plastic bin over the control buttons and secured it with some bungee cords…we will see if I’m smarter than the cats…we will see.

We left the next morning, early, and headed to Myrtle Beach, SC! Still no air conditioning in the truck, but we were able to have our windows down, so that was good!

We arrived at the Myrtle Beach KOA in SC in the early afternoon. We would be here for two nights. We got a deluxe site! It was fancy. But it was also $85 per night, ouch.

I’ve noticed that if you book a short stay, they put you in really nice sites…well, not all campgrounds, but the majority of them. Probably because they want you to come back. Plus, the costs go down if you arrive on a weekday; weekend and holiday rates are always much higher.

I decided not to unhook the truck at this campground, even though I would have loved to explore Myrtle Beach. But I figured I could add it to my list of places to come back to.

After two nights of this campground, we headed north to Jacksonville NC! Sneads Ferry NC to be exact! I had AirBnB’d a house for the week! And it had a huge front yard so I could park my trailer there. Yes, I did back that trailer up without any help in between those two trees. Some say I’m an expert backer upper…I can confirm that.

As soon as I arrived at the house Quentin (my kiddo) came over and picked me up so we could go get some Mexican food! It was very good!!!

I had also made an appointment at a local mechanic shop so they could fix my air conditioning in the truck…they would have the truck for most of the week. Fine by me as long as I had it back before I left!!

The house I rented had a hot tub on the back deck, and an amazing arcade game! They had asteroids, pacman and my all-time fav game…frogger! It was so fun to play!

And the pets loved the new house. Plenty of room to run around and play. Plus a fully fenced back yard for Parley, he loved it! It took them a day or two to realize that they didn’t all need to lay on the same cushion of the same couch.

Quentin and I spent most of our time sightseeing in the area! Plenty to see! Lots of amazing beaches! And the weather was beautiful!

And do you know that house that’s in that movie, Nights at Rodanthe??? This is the house, that actual house!! They had moved it from the beach to the Outer Banks! It was so cool to see! Love that house! And for a price you can rent it!!

Plenty of dinners and drinking were also consumed! They even have a Red Robin here…score!!

On Mother’s Day we resumed our usual mom’s day tradition…Quentin made me breakfast in bed, then it was out for lunch and drinks! We had a really good time! We drank at a place called Pour in Wilmington NC where you use a bracelet to pour as much or as little of about 100 different beers, ciders or wine! It was awesome!!!

And obviously all of these pictures weren’t all on Mom’s day…this is a compilation, a photo montage of sorts!

What was nice about this stay, besides spending time with my son, was that I could clean the inside of the trailer and organize and get rid of more stuff!! It was nice to also have a washer and dryer to wash my bedding, etc. It’s not talked enough by full time RV’ers. Having the space and time to deep clean your RV/trailer and to spread out a little in a house is priceless!! Especially for your pets.

I also was able to get my first vaccine for COVID, and I was on schedule to get the second one before going to my aunt and uncles house in Ohio in June! I just didn’t know yet which state I would be in when it was time to get the second dose, but I would figure it out!

While we were at the grocery store where I got the shot, we kept hearing people talking about a gas shortage. We weren’t really sure what they were talking about…until we saw the lines at the gas stations in the area. WTF was going on!!

Do you all remember the gas shortage of 2021? Yep, I was on the road the day after it started!

I was driving back down to Savanah GA where another friend was flying in to so that she could travel with me for about a week, and I would need gas to get there! I was a little concerned.

As I drove back to Myrtle beach, SC I kept looking for a gas station that had gas as my gas needle continued to get closer to E! I finally found one…and it was a cluster fuck of a scene!!! They had the gas station clerks out in force! They blocked off all entrances but one. People still tried to get in on the other side to get to the pumps. I waited in line for over 45 minutes in the turn lane on the road in front of the gas station. I was very concerned because most gas stations didn’t accommodate me and my trailer. But the attendants were awesome and waved me right over to one of the pumps when it was my turn.

I could hear them updating each other on how much gas they had left in their reserves. When I was pumping my gas, they said they were down to about 200 gallons…eeek! I just kept looking at the other vehicles filling up next to me hoping that I could get my gas first! Yep, selfish chick right here!!

I didn’t see anyone with a kiddie pool or garbage bags filling up at this station, but I did see it at other ones for sure! There were also people at some of the stations with their guns out. It was crazy town!!! Crazy. Town. I was so relieved when I had a full tank of gas and was heading back on the road.

We zoomed back to the Myrtle Beach SC KOA, but this time the rate was $90 for the night…not sure why. After one night there, and then driving by many, and I mean almost all, gas stations with no gas we made it to the Charleston SC KOA. That one was $56 per night. Rates were always so weird for all campsites, etc. All depended on location, weekday, weekend and time of year…crap shoot.

After leaving Charlston, SC I needed gas again. And it was a miracle…in Georgia I saw an actual gas truck filling the tanks…halleluiah!! I stopped and filled up the truck’s gas tank. Crisis averted!!

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