Off again - to Florida

Today was a settle in day - laundry, Vacuum, Publix and Tractor Supply where Bill found himself a "whanger" or demolition tool - a cousin to Jim Leonard's tool that was a huge help in taking the porch apart! Tonight we are going over to the main clubhouse for dinner with the Grizillos and Paynes. There are new managers there and the word is out that the food is good.

We left Big Canoe on Wednesday for the trip down - got off around 10 am and had slow going through the suburbs south of Atlanta and a 15 mile back up between Tifton and Valdosta. Fortunately the Paynes were traveling ahead of us and we were able to jump off and take US 41 until the congestion had ended. We caught up with the Paynes at Lee's campground which about 1/2 mile east of I-75 and one exit above I-10. They had a great parking area in a field where we could just "pull through" and not even unhook.

Thursday we got rolling around 8:30 and pulled in here at Fawn Ridge around 12:40. We had a number of friends hanging out at the office so a great welcome committee was there for the four of us. We did have a fun time trying to find the new road that opened last Spring just as we were leaving that runs parallel to US 27 but we could not remember the route number of this new toll road. We could have accessed it from the Turnpike but again we had hopped off because of a traffic tie up and headed east on US 50. The GPS had us turning right - but we saw it too late so ended up circling through a gas station with our rig and with the Paynes right behind! Must have made a funny picture. The route is 429 and is still very empty - a big change and a welcome relief from US 27. As we arrived here we had lots of new construction just north of us - a new Target, Staples, Dick's and who knows what else will be opening this spring between our location and I-4.

Smokey was a pretty good traveler - never actually freaked out but did lots of "singing". Both days we gave him half of a tranquilizing pill so we didn't stress him out too much. He never slept on Wednesday but yesterday he went to sleep. He might just get used to this and hopefully will travel well without his pill.

We are in shorts and tee shirts - hope this weather continues but know it won't.