The Usual Statistics

I like numbers...

Our total trip was 4275 miles.

We drove the speed limit when we could, average of around 65mph. 

We used 254 gallons of diesel fuel and averaged 16.8 mpg.  This is worse than last year by 0.8mpg. Our worst was 14.2 mpg on the first tank, but this includes the idling I did each month during the winter to exercise things, so it is not really fair to include this. If I take that fill up out it averages 17.2mpg. Still worse than last year, I can't explain it other than maybe we had a head wind or the computer program update done by Mercedes in Raleigh??  Anyway, it is not horrible but not even close to my Roadtrek which was always north of 20mpg.

The  average price of fuel was about $3 per gallon, with the northeast being the most expensive.

We try not to cover the same road twice, we did pretty good at it I think.

Here are the detailed stats for anyone the geeks out there.

Day 21 & 22 - Goodbyes, The Biltmore, and travel

Wednesday us northerners started to make our way north. Rich got off before anyone else around 8AM and around 10:30 Gabe, Cass, June and I got in the Serenity Falcon and headed north.

We dropped Gabe and Cass at ATL around 12:30 and continued north.  June and I decided to head towards Ashville, Tn, so we would have an opportunity to visit The Biltmore.

We were unsure if we were going to take the time or just sprint home, we arrived in Ashville around 5PM and decided to spend the night (at CB) and go check it out in the morning. It was my birthday so we splurged and had dinner at Applebee's...yahoo.

We had sticker shock when we went to Kennedy Space Center, we had double sticker shock at The Biltmore, $75 per person, at least kids under 16 are free.  We were there, so we thought we would take a few hours and be on our way.  We spent 4 hours, the place is captivating.  We hear everyday how the gap between the wealthy and the not so wealthy is widening, I don't buy it...The Biltmore is opulence over the top.

I took very few pictures of the interior mostly because it is something you really need to see in person to grasp, we were both awestruck. It is expensive, but it is a checklist item, one's imagination can't match the real wealth of the Vanderbilt family, it is just mind bending. The place was built on a 8000 acre estate, has 200+ rooms, with 43 bathrooms (rare in 1890s). The basement had the servant quarters, gyms, a pool and bowling ally.  Anyway, we stayed longer than we planned and enjoyed the tour.

After the inside tour, we walked the grounds, there are many gardens.

 Bass Pond, another creatation for the Vanderbilt's pleasure.


We walked and walked and saw only a small portion of the estate.

It is a place worth visiting, expensive but you will not forget it.  We got there at 9AM, it was not at all crowded, when we left the building about 11:30AM the buses were pulling in and it was filling up.  I asked a crossing guard how many visit in a day, he said 10K, I googled it, they get over 1M visitors a year. That is some serious cash, but after touring it, it would be hard to put a number on the expense to maintain the estate.

After touring the mansion we drove another 5 miles, all on the estate, to Antler Village. Your $75 admission includes a free tasting at the Biltmore Winery.  It was just a bit after 12N so why not.

Once we walked through that door, it seemed like a mile through tunnels before we arrived at the winery, I think the building used to be a dairy barn but I am not sure. We enjoyed the tasting and did buy a bottle of wine.









After we left the Winery, we pointed north and drove until about 8PM stopping in Winchester, Va, another CB. I woke up at 2:30AM and we were back on the road before 3AM, poor June could not sleep with with the rough roads, but she does a pretty good job of napping in the passenger seat.

We arrived home about 12N, it was a long day of driving but it is always nice to be home.  We lit a fire in the fireplace, and I promptly took a nap.

It was a good trip. We leave Monday for a week in Ireland, with June's 2 sisters and their husbands, no rest for the wicked.  We did not plan back to back vacations, but that is the way it worked out.

Day 20 - Tybee Island, Fort Pulaski

Tuesday was a laid back day, we partied pretty hard on Monday, but it was such fun..

We gathered for breakfast around 9AM at Huey's. It was a hearty breakfast.

I tried to get a group picture but had little cooperation from the tired, hungry, group.







After breakfast we loaded up and headed for Tybee Island.  June and I camped on Tybee Island in March of 2015 when Sam and Dom got married at the church on Tybee. It was a great trip and driving out there brought back great memories.

We drove to the beach even thought it was a bit windy and in the mid 60's.

We couldn't get a complete group photo because we were about the only ones on the beach, Sue was kind enough to be the photographer.











We dipped our toes in the ocean and headed back to the Serenity Falcon and onto Fort Pulaski.

I will not bore everyone with lots of pictures of Fort Pulaski, but I will say if you are in the area, you should visit the fort.

The first rifled cannons were used by the Union from Tybee Island to bombard FortPulaski. Previously it was felt that at that range (2.5 miles) cannons did not have the accuracy  to be effective.  Fort Pulaski was surrendered after 30 hours of Union bombardment when the outer wall was penetrated and the powder magazine exposed. The rifled cannon rendered masonry forts of that era indefensible.

The Fort still has many of the cannon holes in the walls and is fairly well restored.












We genuinely enjoyed Fort Pulaski, visit if you get the chance.

Cards were played but it was an early evening for everyone.

Wednesday we will start our way home. I hope spring has arrived at home.

Day 19 - Oh Savannah

Monday celebrated Randy and Sue's anniversary in style. Congratulations to them for 31 years of bliss!!

We all got in the LTV Falcon and traveled to Savannah to spend the day.  It is just under 3 hours to Savannah from Randy and Sue's, a straight shot down I16.

We arrived just about 12N and got a prime valet parking right in front of the Cotton Sails Hotel.

Rich and Joe got the room with the river view.

After check in we went for a stroll on the town. The weather was perfect and we took in the sights, so many cool squares with statues of historic confederate soldiers.

We stopped at 'Six Pence' for lunch.

We were able to get right in and had a nice lunch.

We resumed our walk and made it all the way to Forsyth Park. The squares are beautiful, we even visited the cemetery that has been there since the early 1700s.

We stopped by the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, a Roman Catholic Church, it is beautiful inside and out.

It was also a good place to rest our feet a bit.

After walking the historic district we decided to do the river walk, and hit a few shops.

It was such a nice day.

Just for the fun of it we took the water taxi for a spin, it is free and runs all day between the hotels on the river.

Everyone enjoyed the ride and the sights.

We spread our money in a few pubs along the River.

We watched in awe as one of the large container ships made its way up the river to port.

We were hungry so we set out for City Market for a bite to eat, it reminds me much of Church Street in Burlington, VT in the summer. We had live music and a great atmosphere.

 June and nephew Joe were clearly having a good time.

As we left city square, the girls were having fun.

We ended a fun day at the roof top pub at our hotel with beautiful views of the river.















We had a fun day.  Tuesday we will have breakfast in town and then make our way back to Bonaire.

Day 18 - More Wood and perfect weather

Sunday is a day of rest...for most.

The morning was spent cutting and splitting wood. The splitting was done the way we used to do it when we were kids, no hydraulics.

The ladies also engaged by moving brush to the burn pile, which was still burning from the night before, and stacking the blocks.  Everyone helped...but me but I took pictures.










After the wood job, most of us took a nap since we all had a late night Saturday.

When you visit brother Randy, it is traditional that one visit the range at least once. Since we had nothing on the agenda, Randy, Joe, Gabe, Fred, Rich and Cass did just that.

Randy was a flight instructor in the Air Force and he immediately goes into instructor mode when he hits the range.  Cass got some first class instructions.

She caught on pretty quickly.

Randy has an M1, standard issue for US soldiers in WWII, it is considered lightweight, I am not so sure.











The session was ended with "Softball" which is a game where you race softballs up a hill by shooting them with a pistol.  Joe won on a technicality, Gabe exhausted his entire ammo supply.  Brother Randy thought he brought plenty of ammo, he underestimated how much fun everyone was having and what terrible marksmen everyone was.  Randy loads nearly all his own ammo, he has some serious reloading ahead of him.

We returned back to the house where Sue and June had the dinner table all set and we had a very nice steak dinner.

It was a good day.

Monday we are going to Savannah to spend the night.

Day 16 & 17 - More wood, Fried Green Tomatoes and Perfect Weather.

Friday after our group walk of about 2 miles, we decided to work on Randy's fallen oak for a bit.

In this picture Rich and Randy are discussing how to best get the saw stuck in the tree....they did a good job.

We found some big critters in that tree, cockroaches the size of quarters and a big bug that looked like an over sized Junebug.











We did a short excursion to visit the Lane Peach Factory for Peach Cobbler.  This is one of our mandatory visits when in Georgia, the Pecans and Peaches are awesome.

We planned to visit the cafe where Fried Green Tomatoes was filmed so we all had to watch the movie to refresh our memories.

Some of us actually stayed awake through the entire movie.

On Saturday we wanted to walk but not in the neighborhood, so we all piled into the Falcon and headed about an hour north to High Falls State Park for a hike along the Towaliga River.












The Falls start from a man made damn and then cascade down rocks that are like large stairs.

The gang....the weather was perfect, sunny and 70s.

It was a nice hike, we even saw some large turtles lounging in the sun.

There are many places for good photos and you will find couples just sitting in the rocks enjoying the river.











After the hike we toured the campground looking for the dump station...in a RV you never pass up the opportunity. It is pretty nice for a state park, we then headed for the Whistle Stop Cafe for lunch.

We made a tactical error not realizing it was Saturday and it would be crowded with tourists. We put our name on a wait list and toured the area for over an hour and we were still #17 on the list...so we did not eat fried green tomatoes.  We did enjoy the town and did another hike about 1.5 miles round trip to the church and back...we had to see Ruth and Idgie's grave.






After the Whistle Stop we were all very hungry so sprinted home picked up Joe and head for Ran and Sue's favorite Mexican restaurant, La Cabana's. It was excellent.

It was kind of Lunch/Dinner and we left La Cabana's about 5PM and went back to the homestead for our daily game of Croquet.

Warning....Randy and Sue are pretty cut throat when it comes to Croquet...I visited the Ga-azaleas on more than one occasion.

After the yard games, we had a small fire.

The fire went well into the night and next day.









Sunday is going to be a slow day...I think....we will see.