Location: 35.558, -75.462
Well that was something ! ! !
We had known we were in for a bit of a challenge with the weather that had been upcoming in NJ. ( temps were going as low as 3F )
So we dragged the lines early, dropped all our water and had a small space heater in a cargo bay to distribute heat through while we endured the arctic blast. We held well between the shrubs during our last stay, Nebbie was able to kick consistent vibes at approx 50F and that was with two electric heaters at 2200 watts.
~ Due to limited electricity throughput from the line ( 20A ) ~
[ We would have rocked propane, but after 2+ months of usage we were pretty much beat ]
This essentially set the tone for our disembark,
J and I were both a little slow to get back into the groove, but we made due and pressed on. Leaving went pretty smoothly and we were greeted with driving head on with what was described as "gale winds"... (shrugs) you honestly can't make it up. But it was such a great test for all the work we had done, this old gal, prior to our renovation would have been ramblin' back and forth like she was busting a move. :D
Our initial heading had us arriving in ( 35.558, -75.462 ) by Sunday afternoon, so we decided to split the trip into two days, somewhere around 266mi the first day, and 220 the next.
We got to our first layover without any other excitement, we were lucky to have some really beautiful sunset views over farmlands in MD as we parked, plugged electric only and settled in for the night.
The second day was really when all the excitement happened, we had to plan a spot to fuel our propane before landing, and after having called the campground we were essentially told we were beat for a Sunday fill. So we hunted around... or more like, J hunted around, and after five or six different spots we were able to narrow it down to an Ace hardware, believe it or not.
(added to the list of places to stop)
I jumped up front and went to start Nebbie, but when I turned the key.... ( click, click sppzpzp cacsfma lfnskj ) was actually exactly how it sounded. Now I remembered what that one thing was I still had to do... replace the battery. No worries though, we've jumped before and today was no different. So after getting Nebbie started we hooked the smart car and rolled out to our first stop, the gas station!
The first one was not set up well for us, so we had to cross the highway and pulled through another.
So this might have come easier to someone else, but not to me that day, because I tell ya what I confidently turned that engine off thinking we would be swell, and guess what. We weren't! lol so I had to unhook the smart car, turn it back on, jump the RV and then re-situate on the opposite side of the gas station to rehook.
(just a good ol regular fill up in RV life)
We were only forty minutes to the ace hardware, and on the way we decided to get smart. I asked J to research about the (emergency start) switch on the dash and how it operated and how we might be able to use it. So after a quick youtubing we felt confident that it would be straight forward.
We pulled into the Ace lot which thankfully was pretty abandoned and did a whole two loops before arriving correctly at the side of the propane fill up area. The worker there had seen us driving and met me there at the side, he was super nice and we discussed camping, and the type of camper he had as well.
After I hopped back into the driver's seat, anxious and ready to DRIVE! I look at J and asked her "No but really, one whole minute", she responded "One minute", my eyes flipped around in my head while I pushed the button (emergency start) looking between J and the wheel, waiting for the go ahead.
At juuuuust about one minute I turned the key, ( du du duuuu ) no dice. After sitting for a second, and pushing the button again, this time for thirty seconds, we tried again before Nebbie roared to life!
We were in some kinda luck!
With a full tank of gas, and propane we made our way further south, taking in the ocean views from Virginia bridges to Virginia Beach, driving all along the sand bar by Kitty Hawk and through towards Rodanthe.
First trip back on the road in the books, we're parked about 200 feet away from the ocean and the sunrises and sunsets have been BEAUTIFUL, the next week days here are going to be so relaxing!