Hi Ho Silver Away
We had a whirlwind trip planned to go and pick up our new Airstream. The trip took us from Myrtle Beach, SC to Dover, Florida then back North to Lake City, Florida then to Hazlehurst, Georgia and then back to Myrtle Beach. A 1,200 mile trip over 4 nights.
Michael drove our ERA Sprinter down that we were trading in on the new Airstream and Kathy and I drove the truck, I was the navigator. On Tuesday, April 24 our trip started and we drove all the way to Dover where we got a hotel room for the night (what a story that is). Then Wednesday Morning we went to Tampa RV where we had an early appointment to sign papers and do an orientation on our new Classic Airstream. Our Technician was named "Mike" and he went over the Hi Ho from Top to Bottom and Outside and In. It was a lot to absorb and I'm sure we will have to refer back to the manual many times in the days and years ahead.
(Now Kathy is calling the Airstream the Hi Ho. But, she has also called it the Greyhound. Michael has mentioned La Maison D'Argent (The Silver Home) and I have suggested "Bobby's Man Cave". Michael kinda likes that name too and is supporting it for the official name. Kathy said "Bobby's Man Cave" was the room we stored the litterbox. So if any of you have any ideas send them this way because we haven't settled on an official name yet.)
Any who...we left Dover and headed for Lake City, Florida. We were making this stop so we could unload everything we had stored in the truck that was taken out of the ERA and put it in its new place in the Airstream. And, to get familiar with setting her up and most importantly to put in my new bathroom.
Kathy had gotten us reservations at Lake City Campground. We had a 30/50 amp paved site with cable tv. The campground was very nice with big shade trees and ducks walking around but the sites were extremely close to each other. We had very nice neighbors on each side. (RVers really are so friendly!) We had so much unpacking to do we didn't even stop to eat anything that evening. It was a long day.
In the morning Kathy cooked up some fried eggs, hash browns, sausage and made coffee. After breakfast Michael built my new bathroom (what Kathy is calling Bobby's Man Cave). One of the selling features of the "Classic" we bought was the storage compartment under the bed with locked outside access. I just knew it was going to be perfect for my own bathroom as it was away from things in the Airstream's basement. Michael did a great woodworking job on the bed to modify one of the storage drawers as my door to the basement. I ended up using that space a lot on this trip, even when I didn't even have to..."go". It makes a great little getaway spot for taking an afternoon nap.
After constructing my bathroom we got everything ready to head on up to Georgia. We were going to be able to stay in Georgia for a couple of days and we were looking forward to enjoying the "Hi Ho".
Kathy had made us reservations at Towns Bluff Park a county park in Hazlehurst, Georgia. This was a really nice park with a small RV campground. Our site was graveled, level, with 50 amp service but no cable or Wi-Fi.
Michael, got us setup and Kathy grilled us a couple of beautiful steaks we bought at Winn-Dixie in Lake City, Florida. This tiny living stuff isn't half bad.
The biggest challenge Thursday was figuring how to setup the Wally Satellite. While Airstream is known for their quality workmanship this is an area they could improve on. The model we bought came with a built in blu ray player. All the hardware for the Wally was located under the player. Michael ended up having to call an Airstream technician to find out where things were. We had been told in orientation all we had to do was hook in to the outside satellite connection but that wasn't the half of it. Talking to Airstream directly ended up helping a lot and late that evening we had our Dish network right there with us in Georgia.
Friday morning we had breakfast and then headed to the 41st Annual Vidalia Onion Festival. Most of the festival was happening Friday night and Saturday but Michael & Kathy went there to taste some onions and bring a few bags back.
Funny thing was the town onion vendors were only selling onions in these huge 20 pound bags. Kathy wanted to pick up a few 5 pound bags. So, she asked folks if there were any farms in Vidalia they could go to and buy some small bags. Guess what she was told... she was told to go to Walmart - that they had some small bags. Kathy said she could go to Myrtle Beach and buy small bags there and she wanted to get some where they were actually grown. They couldn't even tell her where an onion field was. Well good thing for the internet. Kathy looked it up on the internet and while she actually didn't find an onion farm in Vidalia she found several in Lyons, Ga. One was M&T Farms so off she and Michael went. Now, it didn't seem M&T was actually used to selling small bags to passerbyers but they were very friendly and were glad they stopped buy there instead of going to Walmart. They fixed Kathy up with some 5 pound bags and told her and Michael where they could see one of their fields.
The onions you get in the bags are dried a little and are sweeter than when they are green.
Click Here to read the history of the Vidalia Onion.
Friday afternoon Michael worked on some stuff and Kathy piddled on some stuff while having a few cocktails. Her "new" favorite cocktail is the Blood Orange Cosmo. She had made a batch up and brought it along on the trip. Sooooo Good she said.
Recipe
2 oz. Titos Vodka
1 oz. Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur
1 oz. Cranberry Juice
Splash of Lime
Splash of Sour
Splash of Triple Sec
That evening Kathy grilled pork chops and then we had some relaxation and family time.
The next morning we packed up and got road ready and left around 9 a.m. for Myrtle Beach. It took us until around 4:00 to reach the storage area we rented for the Hi Ho.
The storage area is brand new and we currently have the place to ourselves.
We got back to the Condo about 5 p.m. and now we need to get ready for our next trip which begins May 3 when we go to Hunting Island State Park, SC.