TN4 Hop 2
364 miles via I-75, FL 326, US 301, FL 228, I-295 (around Jacksonville), I-95, US 17 and some local roads to the destination, with a refueling/lunch stop in Brunswick GA. Truck miles: 373. Cumulative tow miles: 603. Cumulative truck miles: 615.
This was one of the longest hops we have ever experienced. It was over 6 hours door-to-door. The weather was good and the traffic was moderate. The route was mostly one we have taken several times before, so no surprises there. However, the FL 228 segment was new. It was a route suggested by the GPS and I took it because it bypassed the nasty US 301/I-10 interchange which often is backed up for a half-mile or more. FL 228 had some lights, but was 4 lanes almost all the way, so I think it was a good choice.
The only nasty part of the trip occurred on I-75 just south of FL 326. An 18-wheel car carrier passed me on the right, then cut me off pulling into my lane. And when I say “cut me off” I mean that we would have collided had I not slammed on the brakes. Idiot. Obviously in a hurry, traveling well over the 70 mph limit. So I couldn’t catch him to give him the one-finger salute.
Brassy bird
We normally try to keep the hops to a single tank of fuel, which is about 240 miles. But on this trip we were tightly constrained by time: we wanted to get to VA by Friday May 18 to pick up Rusty and have a weekend with family. And we don’t like to do back-to-back one-night stops. So the only alternative was to have two long hops separated by 2 nights somewhere. That somewhere was Charleston, which we love and where we can get some first-rate fried green tomatoes.
We had lunch at our refueling stop in Brunswick GA. We were visited there by some of the brassiest birds we have ever encountered. Obviously they were accustomed to people feeding them. If we hadn’t closed our windows I think they may very well have flown right into the cab and taken the sandwiches from our hands. They perched on our side view mirrors and stared in at us as we were eating. Shades of The Birds!
Our home for the 2 nights is the Campground at James Island, a county park just south of downtown Charleston. We stayed here once before several years ago. It is a superb campground with huge sites, lots of visual separation from neighbors, very friendly staff and first-rate walking and biking trails. It also has the finest dog park we have ever seen, with two beaches. Of course we didn’t have Rusty with us. But he isn’t a swimmer so mostly this stop is nostalgic as we remember the joy Grace had frolicking in the water.
It also has an “outdoor activity center” which includes a disc golf course (tough – narrow fairways and LOTS of trees) and climbing towers. The disc golf was free, but I had to register to play. The course goes deep into the woods and I can imagine people getting lost in there, so they probably want to know whether they need to send out a search party. Or have a name to attach to a body if I was attacked by a bear. I don’t know, but it was certainly a first in my disc golf experience.
I also met a gentleman who organizes national disc golf tournaments. He had a trunk full of discs and he gave me a couple, so not only was the disc golf free, but I ended up plus-2 on my disc count. Pretty nice.
Climbing tower
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