It’s just a week before Christmas Day. Is your shopping done? I would like to thank those of you using my Amazon link to shop Amazon. I appreciate the help sponsoring Jagger, Myself and the Retired Vagabond website.

Travel Journal – December 17, 2015

I haven’t done any decorations outside my Coach, however I bought a Christmas tree for inside my Coach this year. It’s about two feet high and perfect for Jagger, I and an occasional visitor. It fits on the my dining table/desk. Since I don’t have a whole lot of storage space, I have to keep the “extras” down. Maybe one of my adult children living nearby will store them for me. I would like to do some decorations on the outside too.

The Decorating Project

After I finished decorating our little tree, I plugged in the lights and nothing! I checked the plug with a tester I have and it showed there was an open neutral. I seldom use this plug, but I have been having problems occasionally with it. When I first bought the Coach it stopped working. I had Orangewood RV test it and it was working again. Frustrating. I am not an electrician, but I opened the electrical box. All the wires appeared to be connected correctly. After watching a video on Youtube, I learned it could be another plug upstream that is working, but not connected correctly. That’s not much help as I don’t know the wiring diagram for my Coach. Do I need to open every electrical box to find it? I guess I will save it for a time when I have a technician working on my Coach next time.

Christmas Shopping

On last Monday I had the wonderful experience Christmas shopping with my Daughter-in-law before lunch and my Daughter that evening. I think this is the latest I have ever started my Christmas Shopping. Of course I don’t buy as much anymore. Thanks to them, I have all but one gift purchased. Now I just have to wrap them up. Today Jagger and I will go over to Walmart and pick up some boxes and wrapping paper for the task.

Last Summer Continued

This last Summer was so full of new experiences. My first trip to the Southeastern part of the United States. My first walk on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean and many other points of interest. There didn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to post all of my experiences, but I did take notes along the way. As I promised in my last posting, here is more of my journal from Clarks Hill Lake in Georgia.

Travel Journal – July 28, 2015

Reflection: Georgia – Clarks Hill

Petersburg Camp

Jagger and I wake early on another beautiful day at Petersburg Campground. It’s time to say goodbye to a few friends we have met and a wonderful camp.

We prepare the Coach for travel. Jagger hides his special chew toys and I put other items away securely. Today not only are we moving, but doing laundry and having some maintenance done on our home. Our final destination will be back at Modoc Campground which is actually in South Carolina, but on the same lake. When on the South Carolina side they call the lake; J Strom Thurmond Lake, whatever. This is an ongoing feud between the two states.

After slowly backing up to the hitch, I complete the secure connection to the Coach and carefully pull away from a full 14 day stay at a wonderful Army Corp of Engineers park. Jagger and I have a lot of memories here and it’s a harder camp to leave. Even though we will be close by at Modoc for another 8 days.

Pulling away, we move to the Dumping station to empty our tanks after the two week stay. There the routine continues for moving down the road, but several visitors come by to say goodbye, including the friendly Host on his golf cart and Dale on his bicycle. I complete the less than enjoyable task, close up the basement doors, lockdown and off we go.

Maintenance

Since we are on a somewhat permanent trip, some of the maintenance on both the Coach and the Workhorse, needs to happen as we travel. This is another huge change for me. All my life when I found a good auto repair shop, plumber, electrician, etc. I stayed with them. I hated to change a vendor when I had found a good one. Now I am constantly looking for new facilities. When my traveling days are done I will have a string of mostly good facilities and people all across the USA. One of the good ones is Augusta RV.

We pulled out of Petersburg Campground onto State Highway 221 heading once again east. Our first stop will be Augusta RV in Appling, Ga. There Jagger and I will leave our Coach for the day to have the Wheel Bearings repacked and our Brakes inspected. Also I chose to have them service our Air Conditioner. It has been working really hard the past year. Here in the Southeast has been no exception.

Leaving the Coach, we head to the laundromat to kill some time. Not my favorite past time, but since we don’t have a house to go to, it seemed like a good way to spend the time and get some work out of the way. After finishing up all of the laundry, Jagger and I go to lunch and then back to Augusta RV to hang out until the Coach was completed.

Only an hour at the most and they informed me that we were ready to go. Again we hitched up the Coach and pulled away in contemplation of arriving shortly at Modoc Campground a little early.

Arriving at Modoc Campground – J Strom Thurmond Lake, South Carolina

When we arrive, pulling up to a typical park entrance. I stop the Workhorse at the window and I am greeted by a sign stating no one monitors the gate on Tuesday’s. It’s the hosting team’s day off.  The husband and wife team are the only ones working this camp as it is pretty small, maybe a hundred or so campsites. The sign also states if I already have a reservation, go to my site and check in tomorrow. So we did. Site #11 was waiting for us and since I camped at site #7 only two weeks ago, I knew where to go and how I would best approach the site to park our Coach.

There is no one here Jagger! That was a literal statement for the finger of land jutting out into the lake. Jagger and I were the only ones. That proved to be nice for the day, however at night it was a little eerie.

After our camp was all set up, Jagger and I took a walk to the point. We walked here often when camping several weeks ago. Hmm, no one is around and this point is very small for herding Jagger. Maybe I will let him “off-leash“. I know, I know it’s against the rules, but there was absolutely nobody around and the water looked so refreshing for a little Jagger play. I unclip the leash, he looks at me like saying “are you sure”, here? I tell him “free” and there he goes, running freely in the breeze along and in the cool, clear lake water. I love watching him run freely, he looks like he is supposed to, free and enjoying nature.

The Point near Campsite

Speaking of nature, come Jagger…Jagger COME. Oh boy, I don’t know if it was the freedom he was experiencing or the deer and squirrels nearby, but Jagger could just not bring himself to recall to his come command. In fact after trying to “round him up” he dodge more fiercely. I think to myself, this is not going to end well. The next thing I know Jagger is behind me and running down the road towards the main campground. I was, to say the least overwhelmed. He has never acted like this before and if I ever get a hold of him it would be his last romp!

I see his little stub of a tail wagging fiercely as his disappears first down the shoreline, then down the road, I think to myself the worst. I pull myself together and go back to my Coach. As I walk, I have a feeling of grief, not knowing what to do or what Jagger would do. He has never been away from me or acted like this before.

When I arrive back at the camp I go around the Workhorse to the front of the Coach and guess who is sitting at the step like nothing is wrong…yep Jagger.  I approach him with mixed feelings, one of anger that he did such a bonehead thing and the other of relief that he is okay and returned home. He bows his head, knowing he is in trouble. I scold him briefly and give him a big hug. We go in the Coach and prepare for the first night at our new camp.

Well I have gotten carried away, there is so much to share with you. So I promise next time I will finish our stay here at Modoc.  We have a lot of ground to cover and the winter here in Arizona is half over. I will be leaving in two months on more adventures.

Until next time, Safe Travels…Gary

More Photos: Modoc Campground, Petersburg Campground

SPONSOR:

[alert-note][/alert-note]