Driving to fun is absolutely no fun.

Sarah and I have spent some real time exploring Florida.  We've seen quite a few state parks and have been to a ton of beaches.  I've enjoyed some underwater caves and the surrounding country.  This is one of the reasons we decided to get out of the state of Florida for our trip.

Unfortunately, Florida is a BIG state.  It took everything I had to drive the RV to our first big stop in Baton Rouge, and we wound up spending a few hours here and there taking a nap at loud rest stops along the way.  This was exhausting.

No pictures please...too tired!!!

We finally arrived at our first official stop in Baton Rouge, LA.  This wasn't our original first stop.  Our original first stop was Baytown, TX - basically just inside the border of Texas.  We didn't make it.  It was just too far.

Driving an RV is pretty easy if you're not on the interstate.  By the time we departed the Orlando area, I'd had plenty of experience driving it.  I was used to accelerating, braking, turning, how much it swayed and bounced over bumps.  I was pretty comfortable with the entire experience.  I think Sarah was too.

It's a different ballgame on the interstate.  First of all, there's basically no way our little RV can keep up with the larger RVs and semi trucks, let alone cars.  It's got a 454 Chevy engine in it, which is great and very powerful.  (the acceleration is surprising)  The problem is that the RV is really tall and somewhat short.  It gets beat up pretty badly by cross winds and semi trucks.  As a truck passes, you have to grip the wheel pretty tight, lean into the semi at just the right moment, then as it passes, lean away so the suction doesn't pull you into the other lane after the truck passes.  It's quite the experience.

Some trucks are different too.  Some pass by and seem to almost throw the RV off the road.  Others have very little effect.  I've tried to understand it it has to do with relative speed, distance from the truck, shape (dictating how the wind flows off the truck) or trailer type.  I can't seem to figure it out.  I suspect it has to do with the shape - if the air goes above the truck or to the sides makes a huge difference.

Our Baton Rouge KOA campsite, post-Tornado Warnings

Running into both lots of truckers and a stiff cross-wind makes for a really tough drive.  We had to stop every couple of hours so I could recover from the adrenalin rush from almost getting thrown off the road.  I think it might be better if the RV were shorter, had a lower center of gravity, or was just plain heavier.  The air springs help, and keeping the water tanks pretty full helps too.

At this point, I think we're limited to 4-5 hours of driving a day.  That's pretty ok.  I have time.  Coming to this conclusion really helps - pushing for days on end to make 12-18 hours of driving (like Sarah and I can do in a car) just isn't how it's going to work.

I was really happy to arrive in Baton Rouge and stop for the night.  I was really thankful to have a relaxing night after the exhausting day.  I just wish we didn't roll into Tornado Warnings as we rolled into Baton Rouge.  NOT RELAXING.

Making Vacuum Press Coffee

Sarah updating her Blog in Baton Rouge

The next morning we had intentions of getting up and jamming down the road.  Just didn't happen.  Too tired.  Instead we putzed around and wound up visiting a few local establishments - including on of the largest outdoor world stores I've ever seen.  Their fish tank was really impressive, and the entire store was themed as if you were in the swamp.  Very neat.

Fried Pickles at Hooters

Fish tank at Outdoor World