2011 Trip across the US
2012 Trip across the US
2014 Trip across the US
2015 Trip to Alaska
2015-16 Southwest Trip
2016 New England Trip
2016 - 17 Southwest Trip
Sunday, March 11, 2018 - Gunter Hill Campground, Montgomery, AL - 135.3 Miles, 6,359.1 Towing Miles For the Trip
Lots of rain overnight. It never stopped until morning, but went from light to downpour. My site was partially flooded by morning - I had to wade to unhook the water connection. While I've had a few cases where I needed the 4 wheel drive capability of the RAV4 when towing the 17, this was the first time it was necessary with the 21. Without the front wheels engaged, I wasn't getting the trailer out of the site.
I was in no rush to leave since I planned to stop at one of the few remaining Radio Shacks in the country at Marion, AL. I hit the road at 9:00 (Daylight Savings Time remembered), but since it was a Sunday, the Radio Shack was closed. I'm looking for a couple of single pole, double throw switches to let me built a three way switch for my radio. I'm tired of crawling across the bed to turn the radio off in the morning. The current single pole switch is near the head of the bed, making it easy to turn it off at night when I go to sleep. I'll look for a supplier here in Montgomery.
Somehow, I managed to put the wrong coordinates into my GPS for the Gunter Hill campground. I should have realized it when it told me it was 240 miles from Moundville, but I just thought "that is more than I expected", and shrugged. Once I hit Montgomery & it still told me I had 115 miles to go I knew something was wrong. I reentered the coordinates, and found it was 15 miles away, of course, back the way I came. Anyhow, I made it. I wonder where I would have ended up if I kept going? Even then, the GPS didn't know how to get into the campground. I had to follow the signs rather than Matilda! Even after saving the location of my site, the GPS can't find it.
It rained most of the way to the campground, and is still dribbling a bit at 4:30. I'm in site 47 for the entire week, including next Sunday. It is a full hookup site with a almost level concrete pad for $13.00 per night (with the 1/2 off using the Senior Pass). The bathrooms are 3 sites away, and I'm almost at the end of the Catoma Campground. There is both AT&T & Verizon service. AT&T is -109dBm without the amp, and -99dBm with. Verizon is interesting - 103 dBm without the amplifier, but when the Jetpack is placed in the amplifier, the entire connection goes away, and a "Roaming" notification pops up on the Jetpack. A bit strange, but since my AT&T is unlimited, I'll use that unless there are speed problems.
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| A Very Wet Site 47 |
After setting up the trailer I headed to the nearest large grocery store, a Winn -Dixie in Prattville. I thought I'd be paying full non sale prices since I don't have a Winn-Dixie card, but discovered that for some reason, my Oswego Rite Aid card works for Winn-Dixie. Of course I went with a list for 5 items, and bought a full cart load, including some good fried chicken legs, thighs and greens for dinner. The "Big Find" for the visit was Entenmann's Crumb Cake Little Bites. They make a bunch of varieties, but the crumb cake version is the only one I like. For some reason, once I crosses the Mississippi heading west, the crumb cake version disappeared. This was the first place I found them, and to top it off, they were buy one, get one free.
Back at the campground, I put everything away, ate an early dinner, and started to put today's page together. On the way back the Tacoma informed me that it needed it's 35000 mile service, so I have projects for tomorrow. Along with the Tacoma, I need a haircut, and the switches for the radio.
Until Tomorrow -
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Last Update:
March 12, 2018