Florida 2023 - Day 1

Home to Fort Valley, GA

Feb 01, 2023

Tuesday, 31 Jan 2023

Greetings Oliver’s Travels fans!

Frieda, Maddie, Skipper and I are on our first of several planned trips in 2023. The purpose of this one is a friend’s wedding in St. Augustine this Friday evening, then we plan to push on to Davie, Florida to visit with Frieda’s mom for a few days.

As we left our home in Harriman, Tennessee yesterday morning, it was raining pretty hard. Fortunately, we were smart enough to load up and hitch up the day before when it was at least dry.

Our first stop was Buc-ee’s in Adairsville, Georgia. They are building them all over our area of the country and we’re big fans. Besides being very easy to get in and out of with a trailer, you have to admire how they take care of their employees. $16/hr minimum and as much as $225K for general managers. I’m sure they work the heck out of those GMs, but what an opportunity for someone who wants to work hard.

Our trip today was just over 300 miles and right about where we like to keep our maximum for a day, especially when the weather and or traffic (Atlanta!) is less than ideal. Toward the end I started getting sleepy, so Frieda took over and I had a chance to get some selfies.

Our destination for the night is Lane Southern Orchards in Fort Valley, Georgia. We found them through Harvest Hosts — a wonderful network of farms, wineries, breweries, museums and other interesting places willing to give RVers a place to stay for free for the night in exchange for some business.

Upon our arrival, Frieda and I each enjoyed a peach cobbler a la mode from the cafe (forgot to get a picture). Needless to say, it was decadent and delicious.