The smallest church in America?

I am not religious really but who can resist stopping and checking out the smallest church in America?

Roadtrek and other RVs

 

I love checking out other RVs. It’s always fun seeing what others are enjoying.

This is a Roadtrek. It’s pretty cool. I’ve always liked them for their usability. They’re don't have any slides and are obviously narrow but… they still have all the features of a larger RV.

I like to check out the drivers too. The little old lady driving it looked like she was scared sh*tless. She just did not appear comfortable piloting it at all. Of course, I only have 1.2 seconds to make my assessment as I drive by and peer through the window. I could be wrong. 

 

This is an earlier View 23. It’s about a foot shorter than the 2008 and later View 24. The number after the model name almost always designates the length of any RV.

 

This is the “LeSharo” by Winnebago. It had a Renault 2.2 liter diesel in it (usually) and was the predecessor to the Rialta (our first RV).

 

Dinner last night. Pasta and meat & mushroom sauce. It was also lunch and dinner today and will be tomorrow as well. Left overs are great… if you eat them.

 

 

If you saw this off in the distance, wouldn’t you want to go climb it?

Today...

... we got lost (on purpose) off Rt 17 in and around South Newport Georgia. I pointed the RV toward the ocean and kept going until we couldn't go anymore.

We saw lots of neat things. It seems that a decade or so ago, some people hoped to get rich being "developers". These people bought chunks of land, spent a small fortunes turning the land into a budding "development" and then marketed the heck out of it, hoping the buyers would come.

Sadly, they didn't end up coming.

Exploring these developments today is interesting.  You can definitely see & almost feel the hopes of the developer and also feel their failure and utter dismay when the buyers didn't come.

This is the result of high expectations & no buyers. You can click for larger pics.

Exploring. Where's the pool and pavillion you ask?

There was one person who built a home in this development years ago.
I wonder if he's still waiting for the pool and pavillion to be built?

This place has been vacant so long that it's turned into a partying and camping spot for the locals.

Following the trail

Humans have been here

One of those big screened patio enclosures, a mattress, pillow and bedding left to rot after it's immediate need was fullfilled.

a perfectly good tent, blanket and pillow

Is that a bus in the swamp?

Yup, a bus. How the heck did this get here?!

Maybe it was on dry land and it was used for camping? Now, that the water is higher, it's in the swamp? Who knows. I wanted to see inside it but didn't feel like wading through the alligator riddled swamp.

Speaking of alligators... I saw my 1st one in the wild today. It was cool. More about that later.

Here's another failed development that I explored.

The owner of this one had some pretty cool tastes. He (or she) placed real gas street lamps throughout the development. They were probably $500 or more each and at least that much to have them installed.

I'm not gonna lie... I really wanted to rescue one of these cool gas lamps and bring it back to NY. They're just going to rot away in the swamp.

There was a rickety viewing platform that allowed a daring person to look at the swamp from a slightly different perspective.

I don't understand the fascination with living near the swamp. In all fairness, they call it the "marsh" here though. It's sort of like cheap waterfront property but it's not really on the water.

Alligators, tiny churches and other explorations in tomorrows blog post.

 Tune in manana, same bat time, same bat channel 

More New Sneakers

Ever since we purchased 6 new tires at Eagle Tire in Milton Fla. (an independent Goodyear shop), I've been wishing we just kept the old Continentals.

The tires they sold me were the correct size and load rating for the RV. They were "negotiators" made in China. The shop called them "off brand" but said they were as good as any other tire. They looked fine to me. Some things that are made in China are fine but evidently, these RV tires were not.

After getting Eagle tire to balance them twice (once when they installed them and then again 3 days later when I drove 100 miles back to their shop) I was still noticing annoying shimmying and shaking at almost all speeds.

I stopped at a Goodyear in Panama City and spoke with the manager there. I was hoping the problem was that the tires still weren't balanced properly. He said that he personally would NOT put THOSE tires on a TRAILER, nevermind a big, heavy RV. He couldn't check the tires balance until the next day. So, I continued east.

Having spent $852 on new tires and ending up with a WORSE riding RV was really pissing me off. The more I drove it, the madder I got.  Next, I stopped at a Goodyear in Jacksonville and asked them to check the balance on the front tires. They checked and found out they were in fact perfectly balanced. The shop manager said these tires were just junk and they would never feel "right" on the RV. They didn't charge me. I thanked them, tipped the mechanic $10 and left.

A few days later while on Jekyll Island (300 miles from where I bought the Negotiator tires) I got the idea to call Goodyears corporate customer service line and see if they could do anything. After going around and around with Barbara... she stuck to her guns, saying that since the tires were NOT MADE BY Goodyear & even though they were installed at a shop with a Goodyear sign,  there was nothing she could do.  She recommended driving back to Eagle tire ($240 in gas and 10 hours of driving) to have them deal with the issue.

A word to the wise, don't think that the big blue & yellow Goodyear sign on a tire shops facade means you're covered nationally by ANY Goodyear location in the event that the shops recommended products and/or labor fails. If you bought anything other than a Goodyear product at a Corporate store or an independent shop, the Goodyear customer service folks in Akron Ohio will basically tell you to pound sand.

To make a long story even longer... I call Barbara back about a week later and asked if she could call my nearest corporate Goodyear store and ask them to give me the very best price on 6 new tires. I just couldn't handle driving around on these Chinese tires anymore. She did just that. She told me the manager said he'd give me as close to "his cost" as possible but he wouldn't lose money.

The View is now wearing 6 spiffy, new Wrangler HT's and it drives wonderfully.

These guys were super professional. They put plastic covers on the steering wheel and seat as well as a paper mat on the floor. The mechanic (Mike) was great.

It was warm out so Tigger and I hung outside. I read my book and he laid in the shade.

After the job is done, the service manager comes out and checks the torque on all the lug nuts. It's probably not necessary since the mechanics are so thorough. It made me feel like they cared about their customers and the job they did. 

I called Fedex from the Goodyear store and set up the shipping of the 6 Negotiator tires back to Milton Florida. I'll have to eat the shipping cost but in the end, if Eagle Tire refunds the $852 in full (like they said they would) it'll be worth it.

6 near new Negotiator tires awaiting the FedEx truck

Total cost was $1134... About $300 more than the cheap tires cost. Checking the internet... I found these same Wrangler HT tires for $168 each. (168 x 6 = 1008) So, the price I got isn't anywhere near the Goodyear shops "actual cost" (like the manager told Barbara & I he would strive for) but it's still an OK deal.

And, Barbara is sending 6 $20 rebate coupons (1 for each tire). We'll get $120 rebate at some point in the future. That will help offset the shipping cost of the Negotiators back to Eagle Tire.

The dreaded knock on the door

It's almost 9pm. I'm sitting here in the completely empty Great Dunes parking lot, with the TV antenna only part way up, the slide in and just one small light on.

I think I'm being fairly stealthy. But then again, I'm in a 24.5 foot long, 10.5 foot tall, shiny white (just washed), RV... in an e-m-p-t-y parking lot.

Then I hear it... the dreaded knock on the door. The knock was so out of the blue that Tigger didn't even bark?!!! He barks at almost everything that moves around the RV yet he didn't bark during the entire visit.

I yell HELLO and flip the porch light on.

The knocker identifies himself at the Georgia state police so I open the door. He was a very nice guy. He mentioned that he saw me overnighting in the park at the other end of the island 2 nights ago but didn't say anything.

I guess 3 nights is the limit here. Pushing it to a 4th night got me the dreaded knock on the door. I deserve it.

The state owns the entire island and the one camping area on it. It goes without saying that they want ALL RVers to stay in the camping area. They get more of our money that way.

After running me through the police system and finding out I have no warrants... He said he'll let me stay here for the night. But, if I don't want to stay in the campground after tonight, I should find another place to vacation.

Fair enough.

Man, it was chilly last night !

The wind was blowing like mad last night here on Jekyll Island. A couple times I thought the RV would tip over. It got down to below freezing and let me tell ya, RV’s aren’t the best insulated things on earth. Both Tigger & I can attest to that.

It stays a lot colder by the floor so I gave Tigger a blanket. He liked that !

Luckily, I was backed in to a spot next to a hot 110V outlet. That allowed me to have my Seabreeze heater running all night instead of the loud propane RV furnace. If you own an RV and use it when it gets cold out, I highly recommend buying one of these little heaters. They’re small, quiet and they work great. I use this one at home in the bathroom too. They will heat an entire room.

Yup, that little white thing easily keeps this 24.5 foot View nice and toasty in 32 degree weather.

Today was an errands day. We were running out of lots of things and decided to leave the island for the 1st time in 4 days. That meant that we had to pay another $5 to come back on to the island. The $5 pass is good for as long as you STAY ON THE ISLAND. If you leave and come back, it’s going to cost you another $5. That’s cheap considering all this place has to offer.

The bridge over to Brunswick Ga.




Fitness nuts park on one side of this bridge, walk over it, turn around and walk back over it to their car. Looking at where they have to walk (in the breakdown lane) I think they’re crazy to be walking here. People are walking mere feet from traffic. I’m kind of surprised the police allow any foot traffic on this bridge at all. My guess is… a walker will get killed, the state will get sued for not having proper walking areas and then they’ll be no more walking on this bridge.

    

I went to my first Winn Dixie today and boy, was it ever expensive! I couldn’t believe how much more everything cost compared to Wal-Mart or other places I’ve shopped. I spent $56 for next to nothing and got the heck outta there. I won’t set foot in a Winn Dixie again.

I think this should say… “Winn Dixie, getting more expensive all the time.”



One of the things on “the to do list” was an RV wash. It was way over due. The wait was 45 minutes. Normally, I wouldn’t have waited but for some reason, I did.  I read while I waited. It’s a truck wash and the truckers evidently love this place. They line up waiting an hour or more without a second thought.

I finally pulled in to the bay and 6 little Mexicans (is that racist?) with pressure washer hoses start spraying the View in unison. It’s worth the $28 to watch these guys work. They know what they’re doing.




10 minutes later and the RV is clean as a whistle and all the decals are still in place. The pics below are of the RV in front of me. I stayed in the View while they washed. This is the first time they wanted me to stay in the RV. I guess it’s because they’re really fast and they want to keep the long line moving. They did NOT get on a rolling stairway and wash the roof like other RV washers have done. I asked but he said they don’t do that. I thought that was kind of cheesy. Especially, for $28 + a $5 tip.

 


A sunset from a couple days ago.


Tigger fell asleep playing with his “baby”.