Hurricanes, Internet, and Campgrounds

As RVers, we experience a lot.

Between having friends all over the country and traveling a lot, no wonder RVers experience so much. And when things happen anywhere in the country, there's a good chance it will affect us or someone we know.

Hurricane Idalia

Last week, hurricane Idalia hit Florida and the southeast coast. It hit Cedar Key, Florida, the hardest, and that's where I usually spend the winter months. I have several friends in that area who have homes and businesses that sustained a lot of water damage.

When saltwater gets two or three feet deep inside a home or business, it's going to do major damage and create a mess that's time-consuming and hard to clean up. That's what happened all over Cedar Key, Florida, last week.

Reliable Internet

As RVers, we are always concerned about having a reliable Internet connection. Surprisingly, during the five months I spent in Costa Rica, I got spoiled. The Internet was always fast and reliable. A few years ago, it would go out often, but for the last two years, it's been extremely reliable.

Having a fast and reliable Internet connection is not something RVers expect in most campgrounds. We've learned to be satisfied with so-so Internet speeds, and if it doesn't crash too many times a day or stay down for too long, we accept that as being part of the RV life—at least, I do. But I'm not trying to upload any videos to YouTube.

Campgrounds

I'm camped in Grandfather Campground, which is near the top of Grandfather Mountain between Boone, NC, and Banner Elk, NC. When I look out my windshield, I have a great view of Grandfather Mountain. The campground is busy all summer, and then after school starts and until the leaves start changing in early October, it's not crowded (except it was totally full over Labor Day weekend). During the winter months, starting in early November, it's not as busy.

The makeup of the RVers at campgrounds changes with the seasons. During the summer months, there are a lot of kids in the campground. The Weekend campers are different from the RVers, who are staying for longer periods of time. I find them all interesting.

Meeting and talking with a wide variety of RVers is one of the things I enjoy about staying in RV campgrounds. Different campgrounds have different personalities.

Bottom line: The picture at the top of the page showng ice on the mountain was taken two years ago from my campsite in Banner Elk, NC in early November. That picture explains why I leave in mid-October now and head to Florida.