For the third consecutive year, we departed New England in January for a trip south to Florida. Here are a few highlights/lowlights of the drive south:

Highlight: After leaving Vermont, our first stop was Landry’s Bicycles in Norwood, MA, our local bike shop, for bike tune-ups. We’ve purchased our gravel and mountain bikes from Landry’s. Besides getting great purchasing advice, bike maintenance, and fitting services, we also really like simply sharing bike- and travel-related stories with their team. Once again, they were able to efficiently tune up our gravel bikes for our upcoming rides in Florida and beyond. It was amazing to see how busy this bike store was on a Friday in January – the pandemic has really sparked a rise in both RV and bike sales – but we were still able to find time to share stories with a few of their team.

Lowlight: Van maintenance is tricky now that we no longer have a permanent home base. Since we were going to be staying a few days on Cape Cod, I scheduled a service appointment with a new-to-us RAM dealership in Hyannis. Prior to scheduling at a RAM dealership, I always do three things: (1) check their website to ensure they sell RAM Promaster 3500 vans similar to ours, (2) confirm they are a “RAM BusinessLink” dealer who routinely service commercial vans, and (3) call and talk to their service department to check if they have capabilities to lift our nearly five-ton upfitted van. Since this dealership fulfilled these criteria, I made an appointment for a routine servicing – oil change, tire rotation, brake check, state inspection, and completion of a recall item.

After removing our “toys” from the exterior of our van (see post here describing the toys we have with us) and arriving for my 8 AM appointment, the service team looked at our van and said “we can’t lift your van, it’s too tall for our service bays.” I wanted to scream – why didn’t you tell me this on the phone six weeks ago when I scheduled this service and described my vehicle to you – but took to pleading with them to merely complete the recall item, which could be done without lifting the van. They agreed to do that, and I went to the waiting room to scramble to figure out how to get the other van maintenance items done. Ultimately, we were able to get the key services done elsewhere, but this is one of the issues we face no longer having a permanent base and mechanic we return to repeatedly.

Highlight: Instead of simply hauling down I-95 to Florida, we decided to meander a little and take the Cape May to Lewes Ferry off the southern tip of New Jersey so we could visit Cape Henlopen State Park (and also meet up with a Travato friend and mentor). Because we would be too late for the last ferry departure of the day, we called the ferry company and asked if we could park overnight (i.e., sleep in our van) at the terminal prior to boarding the 7 AM ferry. They said yes.

We arrived at the terminal around 11:30 PM, parked, and prepared to climb into bed. But then we heard a four-wheeler circle the van, its bright headlights shining on us. I hopped out, saw the “Ferry Security” branding on the four-wheeler, and explained we had received permission to park overnight. “No problem,” the gentleman responded, “we simply want to lead you through the toll booth so you’re parked in a secure location.” Wow, this was great. After he lead me to our new spot, I thanked him. He remarked that they watched us drive in on their video camera system and wondered where we were headed with the kayaks, since it clearly was too cold to kayak nearby. I quickly answered “Cape Henlopen”, immediately realized how dumb I was to state the obvious since the ferry sails to Cape Henlopen, and then recovered to tell him we were headed to Florida and the Everglades. After a few more minutes talking about our van, he pointed out his office door and said if we needed rest rooms to come on in. We both slept well in the van that night after this late-night encounter.  

Lowlight: On travel days, we still try to find a nice location for a walk. I used the AllTrails app to locate a highly recommended paved trail along the Tar River in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. After a ten-minute detour off I-95, we pulled into a nearly empty trailhead parking lot and took off on our walk. The problem was that at the same time we departed, a sketchy beat-up station wagon pulled into the parking lot and parked directly adjacent to our van. Both Betsy and I immediately felt suspicious, what’s up with that character? We hiked down the trail for a few minutes, and then double-backed – we both wanted to see the van to figure out if he was scoping it out. Seeing no nefarious activity, we continued the walk, but the uneasiness of our parking situation lingered. And while the path along the river was nice, the river was really muddy, surroundings were primarily brown (Betsy remarked that winter in New England has lots of gray tones, but here in North Carolina there were primarily brown tones) and the sky was overcast. We ultimately achieved our goal, we walked about 2.5 miles and the van was fine, but I’m not sure if we will give this location a second try in the future. (Note: we do have multiple locks and cables securing the bikes to their racks; the kayaks on top of the van are not locked, but if someone wants to try and steal them, I wish them luck…)

Highlight: Our meander down the Atlantic Coast included multi-day stops at three state parks: Cape Henlopen in Delaware, Skidaway Island in Georgia, and Fort Clinch in Florida. Each park has a nice trail system to explore, and we spent a few hours wandering through Fort Clinch, initially constructed in 1847 and overlooking the mouth of St. Mary’s River. We also walked the beach at Fort Clinch multiple times to view colorful sunrises and sunsets. The beach at Fort Clinch was littered with cannonball jellyfish. We learned that currents will sometimes push a bloom (or group) of jellyfish ashore and they become stranded and die as the tide flows out. Betsy did her best trying to save some, using soccer skills last utilized in backyard scrums when our twins were young, but ultimately merely soaked her shoes and socks. (Betsy here interrupting. Rob, I did manage to see several begin to gracefully flutter to life, alas there were just too many.) We know we will return to each of the parks again for future stays.

Overall, it was a fun travel south. About 2,050 miles driven since we left Vermont, over about 14 days, including four days on Cape Cod. Longest day driving was 539 miles across southern Virginia and the Carolinas. We continue to follow the practices we developed last year to deal with the ongoing pandemic (see this post) and are staying healthy. Why won’t more people wear masks?

We’re now in Florida for about four weeks (with Sanibel and the Everglades as two upcoming highlights) before heading west to Tucson, Moab, and other locations to be determined. Follow “Geomeandering” on Instagram and Facebook for up-to-date photos of our travels. We are two geologists, one campervan, zero deadlines, looking for new vistas.