Day 42 - Savannah to Macon, Georgia

Today it rained a little.....and then it rained more than a little....and then it rained like someone had upended a lake and poured it on us as we motored in a westerly direction toward Macon, Georgia. I was really fearful a couple of times that the windshield wipers might not be up to the job of clearing the windshield and we'd have to stop.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Since it was raining as we broke camp this morning, we decided to take care of a problem that's been plaguing us since we left home in early March: the woefully inadequate internet facilities in virtually every park we have visited between Nevada and the east coast.

I have known for a long time that there existed a mobile internet connection that one could take along on vacations and one or more users could connect from the device (or d'vass if you prefer) wherever you could find a cell connection. I have, in fact, been linking with a single-user device periodically when I couldn't connect to a park's WiFi. This, of course, doesn't help Concetta because her IPad has no USB port in which to plug such a single-user device.

But two nights ago some fellow campers told us that they had just bought something called a "Jetpack" from the Verizon store and were very, very happy with it. Since we are already Verizon customers, this seemed like the most sensible solution to our problem, especially since we had actually seen a Verizon store just a few miles from our RV park.

So, since it was raining this morning, we decided to stop and see if we could acquire the necessary answer to our month-long problem. It took some time, but since we had no particular schedule to keep, we spent the necessary hour with a young "up-and-comer" named Steve, who was more than happy to get us set up.

By 9:30 a.m. we were back on the highway, sailing up Interstate 95, and looking to find a convenient rural route so we could put some considerable distance between us and the 18-wheelers who didn't seem to mind the torrential rain and didn't have any intention of slowing down. I wish we had had the ability to cover the rig with a coating of soap before we left this morning because the heavy trucks and their splashing water would have performed the rinse cycle for us as we drove.

Before long I spied an exit for Highway 16 west, which I remembered from the map, and quickly grabbed it in hopes of putting some distance between us and the rush hour traffic on the Interstate. At first the road looked fairly quiet, but soon I became aware that I was being closely followed by a guy hauling a truck-load of logs, one of those truckers who've done the route so many times that they don't think anything of doing sixty-five mph even if they're driving some skinny, two lane road.

After pulling over a few times to let the gear jamming speed demons get past me, I spotted a turnoff for Highway 80 west, which I also remembered from the map as going right to Macon, Georgia. This road, though initially somewhat crowded, eventually turned into the quiet, scenic route we had been seeking and we spent the rest of the day just cruising and listening to our current murder mystery.

About noon we did stop at our favorite shopping emporium to stock up on groceries, and, since we were there about noon, we made it our lunch stop at as well. Naturally, this gave us a good excuse to try out our newest toy, and we are pleased to announce that no longer will we be at the mercy of any RV park WiFi. WE ARE CONNECTED, both of us simultaneously! Oh happy day!

I had hoped, as we approached Macon, that we would stumble over tonight's camping spot quite by accident and save us the trouble of researching. But alas, no luck in that department. When we arrived at the city limits and had not enjoyed such serendipity, we pulled over to consult our camp guides. After coming to an agreement on the nicest-sounding park, we plugged the address into the GPS and set out for what would prove to be the improbably-named, "Safe Haven" camp.

I began to worry as soon as we were encouraged to pull off Interstate 75 where it had sent us initially, and we started climbing residential hills on streets too narrow for two cars to effectively pass on a good day. Finally, as we crested the top of the hill where the park was promised to be, the GPS announced that we were arriving at the appropriate address for our intended destination. However only forlorn and neglected 1920s bungalows met our gaze.

To say that I was irate is decidedly an understatement. I had Concetta zero the device and redo the address. But again the GPS attempted to send us right back to the same narrow street.

"okay," I said. "Let's plug in the next camp on the list and forget this one."

This Concetta did. But it was soon apparent that the GPS, now incensed that we had doubted its veracity, intended to send us in ever widening circles until nightfall and we ended up camping beside the road somewhere.

Now, doing my impression of Mr tightjaw, I abandoned the search for camp number two and plunged back onto Interstate 75 north. I knew there was a KOA just 30 miles or so in the direction of Atlanta. I intended to ignore the pleadings of the GPS, though it was loudly refusing to believe I was intentionally ignoring its instructions, and continued to insist that I get back on course.

It was at this point that Concetta noticed that camp number two was listed with two distinctly different addresses in the Good Sam guide. Plugging address number two into the GPS seemed to suddenly bring the device to its senses. Though it was with some trepidation, I nevertheless exited the Interstate and decided to give it one more try.

I'm sure glad we did. As you can see from the photographs, camp choice number two, Lake Tobesofkee, turned out to be nothing short of magnificent (even if you couldn't pronounce it). We are perched on a bluff at the edge of a lake with nothing but beautiful vistas on every side. Amazingly, the camp cost a very thrifty twenty-five dollars. I suspect that the Davis luck had, at the very last moment, kicked in and not only brought us to the nicest camp in the area, but snagged one of the only two sites they had left today. Amazing!

Anyway, our new WiFi device has already allowed Concetta to do Facetime with baby Vivian tonight and, though the temperature here is considerably cooler due to what the park clerk called a sudden cold front, everything is just darn right with the world. Tomorrow I'm not sure whether we're exploring Macon or moving on to Atlanta, but whatever happens I know it will be great fun.