Hitched and Rolling

After leaving the beachside rv park (from which our mystery smell adventure led us to the fire station the night before) we drove almost the entire day, landing us in Florida for the evening. We found a host on iOverlander which turned out to be just a couple that hosted people in their back yard. Len, the husband, told us that they used to live in Mexico and host people there, and that they had continued the habit since moving back to the states. We weren’t really sure what to expect but it was honestly a great place to camp.

When we got there and stopped running the vehicle, however, the smell that had been a nuisance and curiosity the night before had now blossomed into something totally unbearable. The smell of burning rubber and rotten eggs was quite thick in the van, such that one instinctively knew that it should not be inhaled.

We were able to open all the doors (including the full back hatch) and deploy their screens, and also run the AC’s fan at full blast, such that the sleeping area was ventilated and did not smell, but anywhere near the driving area was totally untenable, respirationally. 

We spent the before-bed minutes searching for auto repair shops with a newly acquired sense of determination and urgency, and went to bed having prepared a list of options for the morning. 

In the morning the smell was substantially better but we had been through this song and dance before and our sole priority was getting to an auto body shop. Something was wrong. After a quick round of fetch with the duker we were off to the shop.

After the first shop turned out to be a dud we went to the second closest place who could see us immediately. This second shop, which was located in Ocala, Florida, was phenomenal. The guy who checked us in went out to smell the van himself, and within 10 minutes they had diagnosed the issue definitively. The battery was “very very badly sulphated”. Not good. Toxic! 

I was relieved to know the issue so definitively, a clear answer to our mystery. But I also thought “how could I have missed that?”. After all, I had been trying to diagnose this issue for the better part of 2 days. I was invested in this solution, personally. I had ruled out the battery because there was no smell coming from in the hood. The hood was scentless, the smell was inside the cabin. This was my mistake – this specific van, the 2023 pro master – has the battery under the drivers seat. That had never occurred to me (or Claude, my chatGPT-analogue of choice, apparently, in our thorough discussions about diagnosis). I always assumed batteries lived in hoods. Wrong. Lesson learned.

The shop was amazing. They ordered the specific battery that we needed from another shop in town that could deliver it in less than 30 minutes. The entire stop for us was less than an hour and a half. Not very long, but long enough for Bre and I to set up a laptop command center in the waiting room, where we synced our laptops and headphones to watch a concert together on YouTube. As a fun aside, the only other person in the waiting room was admiring Duke, and we struck up a conversation. Believe it or not she raises and shows dogs, and her dog won best of breed at Westminster dog show. We love Best in Show (the movie) so we bonded over that. 

Once the van was fixed and we were back on the road we headed south to St. Pete where we met up with and spent the afternoon and evening with Parth, my buddy from college. Parth is building a website right now and he taught me a lot about Google SEO and helped me index my website which was very helpful and much appreciated. In the evening we went and saw some live music downtown and explored St. Pete which seems like a really cool town. We parked the van in Parth’s driveway and enjoyed the nice calm breeze off the water as we slept. 

In the morning after a quick fetch session we continued south to Bre’s aunt and uncle’s house in Fort Myers. Bre’s aunt and uncle, Jill and Mike, recently retired to Florida from Wisconsin. They are as sweet as can be with “you-betcha” kind of wholesomeness. Bre’s cousins Paul and Chris were there too and it was great to meet them and celebrate Christmas with everyone. My new in-laws!

I really enjoyed spending time with Bre’s family. Her uncle Mike is a retired light engineer (fixtures and such) and knows a lot about a lot, which makes for a ton of interesting conversation. Paul, who has a radio show down in Texas, and I discussed the Monty Hall problem. Chris saw an alligator and Bre’s Aunt Jill is as sweet as they come.

On Christmas Day we hit the road (after watching the commanders lose to the cowboys) and decided to meet up with Ashley (DayDream from the AT) and her boyfriend Beau who just happened to be in Florida. Beau had spent the last three days rollerblading from coast to coast in Florida, with Ashley nearby as bicycle/RV support. It was a Christmas miracle of sorts that the stars aligned for us to meet Christmas night. We found a last minute campsite a that was between us geographically and met there not long after dark. Ashley and Beau have an RV of their own and we toured each others rigs and hung out.

Bre made some fajitas and we enjoyed the mild evening surrounded by palm trees and chatting under the stars. In the morning we parted ways and Bre and I headed east towards St Augustine where we would meet up with Bre’s friend Allison and her husband Tyson the following day.

We were driving relatively aimlessly because we didn’t have to be in Saint Augustine until the next day when we saw signs along the highway for the Navy seal Museum. I was curious so we decided to stop in and take a look. The museum was not very large, but was pretty interesting. We toured the exhibits and learned about the history of the Navy Seals. Toward the end of the museum, they even had a section where you could learn about knots and Bre and I perfected our bowline knots.

As we headed up the coast we made a special delivery of a secret Santa present for my buddy Charlie and had dinner on the beach. We used our newfound bowline knot ability to tie Duke to our chairs at dinner and enjoyed the surf.

As night rolled in we stopped at an American Legion that was listed on our RV camping app. I wasn’t really sure what to expect but as soon as I mentioned the app the bartender told us to park around back and come in if we wanted a bite to eat. We did! We had some tall PBRs and some bar snacks before retiring to the trusty van. Between the American Legion and the Seals museum it was probably our most military-involved day. Thank you to our armed forces!

In the morning we got close to St Augustine and met up with Allison and Tyson. I know Bre’s friend Allison from when we stayed at her house in Staunton while we were hiking the AT. Allison and Tyson live in Korea because Tyson is in the army and stationed there. It was fun to hear stories about life on a military base and get a sense of their perspective on the two countries. Both Allison and Tyson seem to be quite fond of Korea, specifically how safe it is. They invited us to visit them sometime (neither Bre nor I have been) and honestly I would love to do that. We walked around Flagler Beach and got an ice cream cone after lunch, and enjoyed the beach for a while. Duke played with his water toy, and his love of fetch survived a direct hit by a wave that was a couple feet tall – he got clobbered but he got right up, his resolve to retrieve was totally unshaken. Bre took a full dunk. I did not.

In the afternoon we headed up the coast through St Augustine (which is very cool and very old) to Savannah, Georgia, the next stop on the Hitched and Rolling Tour