Start of the Journey

We are from Southwestern Indiana, in a city named Evansville.  Because of my work, we decided to leave right after the extended deadline for tax returns.  We left town on Monday, October 16, 2017.  Because it was fall, we had to be careful about going places with warmer weather.  Our RV is not equipped to handle freezing temperatures (which is fine with me!!!).  We decided to head East along the Atlantic coast.  We settled on the Outer Banks area of North Carolina as our first extended stay.  Hauling a RV is taxing on the driver, so we are trying to keep those trips to a 4-5 hour maximum drive.  Once settled, we will drive around unhitched to see the sights and explore.  So much easier to get around without the box behind us!  Because of that, driving from Evansville straight to North Carolina was out the question.  A few GoogleMap searches later and we had a plan.  Seriously, how did anyone get anywhere before the invention of the internet and GoogleMaps?  Seriously, how?!?  Anyway, here is the breakdown:

• 284 miles to Argillite, KY to stay at Ashland/Huntington West KOA for one night
• 306 miles to Greenwood, VA to stay at Misty Mountain Camp Resort for one night
• 291 miles to Waves, NC to stay at Ocean Waves Resort for one week

Each leg was around 4-5 hours with the longest being from VA to NC, which was a little over 5 hours.  These are Google times and traveling with a RV usually takes longer that what GoogleMaps says.  For safety reasons, we cannot travel more than 65 MPH and many interstates have a higher speed limit.  Also, traveling with dogs and itty-bitty bladders, we had to stop somewhat frequently for bathroom breaks.

Three straight days of several hours of driving took its toll.  We were ready to bed down for a bit by time we got to NC.  During our travels to NC, a cold front had settled in and at night the temperatures were getting down into the lower 40s, high 30s. We learned quickly that the propane heat in the RV worked well!

The drive from Evansville to Kentucky was uneventful. Because we were so close to the WV border, we did go out that night and found Virginia Point Park.  Not sure why it is called that because the park is in West Virginia and you can see Ohio and Kentucky from the park.  I think it should be called “Three States Park” or even “West Virginia Point Park”, either one would make more sense to me.  Unfortunately, it was rundown and dark when we arrived.  It was not scenic spot which was disappointing.  Nothing spectacular about the Ohio side or the Kentucky side.  Average MPG for the towing trip from Evansville to KY was 12.

The drive from KY to VA was more scenic for sure, but that made it incredibly stressful.  Gorgeous mountainous roads, but enormous amounts of semi-trucks and curves.  A combination, I personally do not like at all! While driving in WV, a deer came out in the road as well.  Thankfully traffic was at a minimum, so we could slowly stop and let him decide to turn around and leave.  Hauling a RV makes it much more difficult to execute quick maneuvers, so we were lucky to have the opportunity to just slow down and not do any sudden jolts.  Average MPG for the towing trip from KY to WV was 11.1.  Almost a full 1 MPG lower due to the mountains and it was a bit windy that day as well.

The drive from VA to NC was LONG!!!!  After you get to the outer banks area it took FOREVER to get to our campground.  It is one of those oh we only have 30 miles left, but it takes 1.5 hours to drive it.  This is due to traffic, slower speed limits and stoplights.  We were staying a little more south and as we found out, it is about 30 minutes between each town with nothing but sand and dunes around you.  It looks like you are in the middle of nowhere and then suddenly you come up on a town. That is how it is all the way down the Outer Banks.  There was some bridge construction going on as well which always makes for a fun ride when towing. But, we finally made it!  Now time to relax and explore!  Average MPG for the towing trip from WV to NC was 13.4!  I think the truck liked the lower speeds and no mountains this time.

Now it was time to relax and enjoy our week in Waves, NC!