VE1BC Spud Roscoe


The 2011 Trip
Part 3 R Vacation RV Park, Selma, North Carolina
Today was another heavy day on the road. We were up early and had the trailer ready and departed Cherry Hill Park at 0852. The first thing we did was get twisted around and had to drive around until we managed to get on the 95 south. Heavy traffic as usual and most of the route was eight lanes, four in each direction with lots of bridges, overpasses and the like criss-crossing all over the place. We did our best to keep up with the traffic and at one point we passed a 55 mile per hour speed limit sign. I had two triple axle dump trucks (triple rear axles rather than the normal two) passing me and glanced down to see my speed. I was doing 70 miles per hour and these dump trucks passed as though we were parked. One wonders what they were using for power. You can bet it was no mouse on a tread mill. The weather was overcast and sunny most of the day but it still remains cool and feels cold. It may be that we were expecting to be in warmer weather by now. The temperature when we left this morning was 34 Fahrenheit and sunny. When we shut down this afternoon it was at the highest it managed all day at 46 Fahrenheit. Our first stop of the day was at 1017 at Garrisonville, Virginia. We pulled into four service stations for diesel until we found one we could use. One has to use a credit card on the diesel pumps in this area and one has to use an American Zip Code. We Canadians use a Postal Code that will not work. The fourth station had a lad who knew more than four English words and managed to get the pump going for me without a credit card. Wal-Mart sells groceries down here including fresh fruit. We picked up a few things at Wal-Mart; a couple of cases of water, a couple of loaves of bread, an orange juice, bananas and Joan got her U.S. Cell phone. The nineteen dollar special but it should do the job. We have not activated it so we do not have the number but will pass it along to those who want it. We managed to get some more U.S. Money from a local credit union and we departed Garrisonville at 1224. There were several large double clutching knee bending semi trailer trucks parked in the Wal-Mart yard. One was from Oregon but no one was around it. Since I have visited Oregon a couple of times lately I would have enjoyed a chat with the driver of that rig. Trucks are described in various ways and in different ways from one area to another. Out west years ago they were described as tandem tandem if the tractor had tandem rear wheels and the trailer had tandem wheels. This made for a total of 18 wheels and they were called 18-wheelers in Eastern Canada. They are still referred to as 18-wheelers in Eastern Canada but the majority today are actually 22-wheelers. Most of the trailers in Eastern Canada have three axles. I did get a bit homesick when a Bull Pen or Rag Top went by me today. The first one I have seen in years. In Western Canada it is a Bull Pen and a Rag Top in Eastern Canada. It is a flat trailer known as a highboy with sideboards and normally has a large canvas top that is supported by hoops mounted on the sideboards. We will leave it at that but the trucks down here are different from one area to another. It must have something to do with the legal aspect on whatever road they travel on. We took highway 295 around Richmond, Virginia, and we believe that helped to thin the traffic a little. The cities that have these highways that go around them use a code one has to keep an eye on. The even digit in the prefix of the three digit number takes one around the city and the odd digit in the prefix takes one into the downtown of the city. Once we came past Rocky Mount, North Carolina, old 95 petered out to two lanes. At times the highway is very smooth and nice driving but one does hit the odd rough section. We must be getting south because the trees are either getting taller or the electric poles are getting shorter. Maybe it is a bit of both. By 3 PM both Joan and I were tired. We must be getting old because we do not seem to have the snap in these trips we had years ago. Joan suggested we call it a day and she received no argument from me. At times it is hard to see her over there among her charts and publications. She soon suggested this the R Vacation RV Park off exit 98. She gave me the phone number and I gave the girl a quick call on On Star to see if they were open. They were open and are open year round so we pulled in as soon as we reached exit 98. It is a good thing we waited until we reached exit 98 because there any number of swamps, ponds, and what have you alongside old 95 in this area. It is a rather nice campground. A Good Sam campground that gave us a cut in the price as a Good Sam member but was still 36 dollars and change.
	There were around a hundred Canada Geese in the pond when we pulled in but by the time I set-up the trailer with water and electricity so Joan could do her thing they had flown off. At least most of them flew and this is all I managed to photograph with a few ducks. One of those white ducks was a sassy son of a gun and kept quacking. It was not at or for me but he had something to say to one of the other ducks. He could have been putting in a dinner order for all I know. The grassy part along the pond is not fit to step in from the mess of the geese. If I owned this park I would have a couple of golden retrievers trained to keep the geese moving elsewhere. The geese are a filthy thing to have around.
	With most campgrounds one receives a sketch of the sites and is shown where they are assigned and how to get there. A very poor way to do business. At Elm River someone will jump on a bicycle, golf cart, or something of that nature and you follow them right on your assigned site. They will stay with you to make certain everything is as it should be. You would not want to know some of the messes one can get in trying to locate their site in some of the older campgrounds. Joan and I wound up in the septic system of one in up state New York one time. Here at R Vacation we were assigned site D2 as in the second site in on row D. We had no trouble finding it and little trouble setting up from the chart the girl in the office gave us.
Our total mileage for today, December 3rd, 2010, was 502 kilometers for the day. Enough.

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Today was another heavy day on the road. We were up early and had the trailer ready and departed Cherry Hill Park at 0852. The first thing we did was get twisted around and had to drive around until we managed to get on the 95 south. Heavy traffic as usual and most of the route was eight lanes, four in each direction with lots of bridges, overpasses and the like criss-crossing all over the place. We did our best to keep up with the traffic and at one point we passed a 55 mile per hour speed limit sign. I had two triple axle dump trucks (triple rear axles rather than the normal two) passing me and glanced down to see my speed. I was doing 70 miles per hour and these dump trucks passed as though we were parked. One wonders what they were using for power. You can bet it was no mouse on a tread mill.

The weather was overcast and sunny most of the day but it still remains cool and feels cold. It may be that we were expecting to be in warmer weather by now. The temperature when we left this morning was 34 Fahrenheit and sunny. When we shut down this afternoon it was at the highest it managed all day at 46 Fahrenheit.

Our first stop of the day was at 1017 at Garrisonville, Virginia. We pulled into four service stations for diesel until we found one we could use. One has to use a credit card on the diesel pumps in this area and one has to use an American Zip Code. We Canadians use a Postal Code that will not work. The fourth station had a lad who knew more than four English words and managed to get the pump going for me without a credit card.

Wal-Mart sells groceries down here including fresh fruit. We picked up a few things at Wal-Mart; a couple of cases of water, a couple of loaves of bread, an orange juice, bananas and Joan got her U.S. Cell phone. The nineteen dollar special but it should do the job. We have not activated it so we do not have the number but will pass it along to those who want it. We managed to get some more U.S. Money from a local credit union and we departed Garrisonville at 1224. There were several large double clutching knee bending semi trailer trucks parked in the Wal-Mart yard. One was from Oregon but no one was around it. Since I have visited Oregon a couple of times lately I would have enjoyed a chat with the driver of that rig.

Trucks are described in various ways and in different ways from one area to another. Out west years ago they were described as tandem tandem if the tractor had tandem rear wheels and the trailer had tandem wheels. This made for a total of 18 wheels and they were called 18-wheelers in Eastern Canada. They are still referred to as 18-wheelers in Eastern Canada but the majority today are actually 22-wheelers. Most of the trailers in Eastern Canada have three axles. I did get a bit homesick when a Bull Pen or Rag Top went by me today. The first one I have seen in years. In Western Canada it is a Bull Pen and a Rag Top in Eastern Canada. It is a flat trailer known as a highboy with sideboards and normally has a large canvas top that is supported by hoops mounted on the sideboards. We will leave it at that but the trucks down here are different from one area to another. It must have something to do with the legal aspect on whatever road they travel on.

We took highway 295 around Richmond, Virginia, and we believe that helped to thin the traffic a little. The cities that have these highways that go around them use a code one has to keep an eye on. The even digit in the prefix of the three digit number takes one around the city and the odd digit in the prefix takes one into the downtown of the city. Once we came past Rocky Mount, North Carolina, old 95 petered out to two lanes. At times the highway is very smooth and nice driving but one does hit the odd rough section.

We must be getting south because the trees are either getting taller or the electric poles are getting shorter. Maybe it is a bit of both.

By 3 PM both Joan and I were tired. We must be getting old because we do not seem to have the snap in these trips we had years ago. Joan suggested we call it a day and she received no argument from me. At times it is hard to see her over there among her charts and publications. She soon suggested this the R Vacation RV Park off exit 98. She gave me the phone number and I gave the girl a quick call on On Star to see if they were open. They were open and are open year round so we pulled in as soon as we reached exit 98. It is a good thing we waited until we reached exit 98 because there any number of swamps, ponds, and what have you alongside old 95 in this area.

It is a rather nice campground. A Good Sam campground that gave us a cut in the price as a Good Sam member but was still 36 dollars and change.