Nothing is ready!!! I had sold the cabin and now rented out my house for 1 year, which meant moving 30+ years of "collections" out of my house to the storage unit, the RV, or the trash. I really thought I had cleaned out via the yard sale, 20 bags of stuff to any charity that called my house, and trying to give away to friends and relatives (who came to avoid my calls and texts of pictures of what I was trying to give away now!). So night before I was to leave on our journey, I had planned to get a good night's sleep and be well-rested for the terror of driving the big bus out of Atlanta. Scratch that plan - instead, trying to get this blog started (thanks for the help, Lynn!), trying to figure out a good campground for the first night, still a few more things to shop for, needed to take another load to RV, needed to shampoo mom's outdoor carpet before I left (despite her protests - some things you just can't let go!), needed to drop off my car to live somewhere while I'm gone (thanks Jen and Ken for offering to keep it - did I tell you it started to make some very bad noises 2 days ago, but I haven't had time to deal with that yet?!), and THEN needed to get home and finish cleaning the house and refrigerator...before getting that good night's sleep!! So by 3am I am fully into cleaning the refrig - carried out 2 loads of trash, used my own and neighbor's Herbies, before I came to the freezer and heard bells when I discovered a bottle of Limoncello frozen since 2009 (thanks to Ken and Sharon's last Italy trip) -well, what was I to do with that special treat?! So, it was so refreshing and slushy, icy that I was soon working faster and more efficiently than a team of 10 - or so I thought! Anyway, got the job done by 4:20 am and slept soundly til 8am, then up and trying to get last loads of laundry done and pack the last loads of RV supplies and storage unit leftovers into Lynn's car, along with Linda, and faithful dog, Sara! Lynn gave us a few parting tips on how to use the Bluetooth (still not getting it!) and how to turn on the TV's, and then closed the door on us as tho she was shutting the door to the space shuttle! And we were off to Alaska at the early departure time of 12:45 pm!!! (I've never been an early morning type). Copilot/Navigator Linda is at the helm being in charge of phones, GPS, satellite radio, and general research! Sara is perched in her bed between the 2 captain chairs, with her head in my lap, shaking and wondering if this is a really bad idea for a trip! Note that severe thunderstorms were predicted starting at 1pm in Atlanta, so we had gone no more than a mile when the rain started, but I was able to locate lights and windshield wipers in good order - except drove nearly 200 miles before I figured how to turn wipers OFF again. I'm sorry to that guy in the little black car that I nearly ran off of I-285, didn't realize my lane ran out, but that was the only incident with life threatening implications. However, I had the revelation in Dalton, than I had never turned on the propane tanks, therefore refrigeration was not working, so had to pull over and do that - which did NOT ignite the refrigeration as promised! So manuals out, researching causes...get back to driving and try to get it fixed tomorrow at Camping World, Nashville! Turns out, I was thinking correctly that it might be a little air in the line and it just needed to pass through, which did seem to occur by morning - so refrigerator working again, Phew!! On the way, Linda and I realize that Nashville is where good friend Hilda lives, so we'll see what she's doing today - miracle, she is home alone (kids and husband away) and agrees to come meet us at the RV park for our first night on the road! Turns out, she spots us on the freeway around Nashville, trying to get our attention, but of course, I am focused on the route, not noticing the little Outback going in front of me and on both sides - finally she calls on the phone to tell us she is following along - almost like having a genuine police escort into town! Once again, the skies turned black and the rain/lightening began just as we started our hookup process at the campgrounds. But the skies cleared again in 30 minutes and we witnessed the most gorgeous double rainbow I've ever seen! We're taking it as an omen, a good luck sign! After a great dinner with Hilda, who clued us into listening to Podcasts (Cindy also suggested this to battle driver boredom), we have added another task to the Copilot position! And then, finally, it was time to spend the first night in the RV - that's when we realized the campground was on the edge of a train system with many trains whistling through - we still had the best night's sleep ever on our memory foam padded RV beds!


QUOTE OF THE DAY: waiter at O'Charley's, "sorry we're out of all ribs and sweet potatoe fries", our 2 favorite things on earth!! So I order Bayou Shrimp Linguini, sorry "out of that, too" ... At least the company was good!