6-day, 1,100 mile RV Road Trip From Pennsylvania to Florida

written by Nancy Carter, Making My Own Lane

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Can we make it from Pennsylvania to Florida on a 6-day, 1,100 mile trip while battling a coolant leak and solar power struggles?

What else could possibly go wrong?

Thanks for joining me on the final leg of my big journey from Florida to Minnesota and back.

Day One - Pennsylvania to Delaware.

It’s the first time in over three weeks that I have not had people available to me. I mean, I'm staying at a Harvest Host tonight. There's people, but not people I know.

I'd been staying at my sister's house, and were a lot of people around, family and friends, for those 3 weeks, which took me a minute to get used to, after being alone on the road for five months. But day one of this trip I was really missing my family.

Sunday was a short hour and a half drive. I stayed at a farm in the Harvest Host network in Newark, Delaware. Most Harvest Hosts do not provide electricity, so I was hoping I have some sunshine on Monday for solar to charge my batteries. 

By 3:30 I was starting to eat into my battery power. The temperatures got down into the low 40s, so I did need the heat on. I went to bed early to stay warm under layers of quilts, and shut the door from the back of the RV to the front so I was only heating the bedroom area.

I’ve also been using thermal curtains between the cab and the living area, as well as putting one up over the door at night to stop any drafts. This has been working so well to help keep the warm in and the cold out.

I unplugged as much as possible, including the microwave and the TV, and I ran my refrigerator on propane to help conserve my battery power.

The other thing I did was to use my Ecoflow portable power bank. I have a power strip that runs everything in the back of the camper that I plugged in to my Ecoflow, instead.

The Ecoflow did also get down to about 65% but because of the highway noise, I did let the TV run all night just for ambient background noise. I also charged my phone with it last night.

Five days of traveling and the first three were boondocking with no hook ups, in cold weather.

Every day before I travel I check my antifreeze (which still has a leak), tighten up the straps on the tow Dolly, and check my tire pressure on the tires that I can reach.

Yes, my coolant was still leaking. Even after an expensive repair in Kentucky. 

I filled it up every morning. It was checked again in Pennsylvania. There's no oil in the coolant, which is a problem with the motor that I have, but that's not the case. I really think that possibly the coolant reservoir is leaking.

I don't know if the mechanic even checked the coolant reservoir in Kentucky, before he fixed the other things he thought it might be. The antifreeze level wasn't going down any more than an inch or two, and there it stays. That is one more thing that will need to be checked out when I get back to Florida.

Day Two - Delaware to Virginia

I stayed at another Harvest Hosts, this time at a vineyard outside of Richmond. The weather was beautiful. 71 degrees and 48 at night.

I wasn’t happy about traveling with an antifreeze leak, but no one can seem to diagnose the problem, and I wanted to get back to Florida.

Everything else went well. No tire or engine trouble. I definitely have some travel PTSD.

It was supposed to be a 3 1/2 hour ride, but it was closer to 5 hours. When you're on 95, you know that you're going to have traffic and you're going to have things happen. I did not have any bridges to conquer, but I did have a tunnel in Baltimore.

Driving through Baltimore and Washington, DC and I was able to see the Washington Monument.

My batteries charged back up to 100% and I was able to recharge my Ecoflow.

Day 3 - Virginia to North Carolina

I was able to travel on the eastern side of North Carolina and avoid the Asheville area.

In June when I came up, before Hurricane Helene, I was in Asheville at the Biltmore Estate.

I stayed in Green Mountain, went to Chimney Rock, and went to Grandfather Mountain. All the areas that were hit so hard with the hurricane.

Normally I would try to take more back roads, but I've done the back roads from Florida to New Jersey all up and down the coast of North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, but I wanted to get back to Florida and away from the cold weather quickly. I also didn’t want to be driving Thanksgiving week with all the traffic.

I tried to stay in Pennsylvania as long as I could without hitting snow or Thanksgiving traffic.

I stayed in North Carolina at another Harvest Host. This time it was a brewery. The temperature was in the 70s, and I found my mood improving as I left the colder temperatures behind.

It was a fairly uneventful day. About a 4 1/2 trip. I did stop for gas, and that always takes a extra time with a 50-gallon diesel tank. I don't drive as quickly as many of the other people on the road. 55 mph with the tow dolly; however, the traffic was fairly light and it was a nice day for a drive.

This place, much to Willie's happiness, had a dog park. I've never been to a Harvest Host with a dog park, so he was just thrilled that he could run around off leash and get some energy out.

I also enjoyed an adult beverage and play trivia, and was Taco Tuesday, complete with a delicious food truck. 

Day three, I would have to say, was a success, except …


The strangest thing happened around 8:00. All of a sudden my internet went out, and I quickly realized out that all my 120 volt plugs were not working, my inverter was not working, and my heater was not working. So everything just kind of went blank, and I didn't know what to do. I tried to reset a fuse, which I've done before if the 120s stop working, but I've never had the heater or AC stop working. I didn't overload it, as I had very little running.

So I reset the whole thing, which was scary because it literally put me in the dark for a minute or two. I reset the battery, and that didn't seem to do anything. I started the truck up and let that run for a little while and slowly everything seemed to come back online again. My internet and the 120-volt outlets started to work and my heater started to work, which was good because it was a little chilly that night at 59 degrees. That was my fun experience of the night

I was just hoping things will just continue to go smoothly. Three more days to get back to Florida.

Day 4 - North Carolina to South Carolina, and almost a huge mistake!

Wednesday night, day four of six on my travels. I made it into South Carolina. I took the Jeep off the tow dolly and went and looked around the area a little bit. I'd been at this campground before. 

The last time I was here I tried to see a church that was in the Forrest Gump movie. I did find a church on the corner, not realizing that you had to turn the corner and drive back another 100 feet to see the Forrest Gump church, so I wanted to do that. 

It had been driving me a little crazy ever since I realized my faux pas last year. So I went and found the Forrest Gump church. One more thing off my bucket list.

Wednesday was an uneventful drive through South Carolina. No offense, but once you get past South of the Border, it is the most boring drive. The roads up until that point were very smooth and easy to drive. In South Carolina the roads were very bumpy with a lot of construction.

When I first started my day, there was rain and fog, so everyone was driving a little slower. But once the fog lifted, everyone sped up, the roads got very rough, and things in the RV started to shake up and move around. Things that have never moved around before.

I was still having to put antifreeze in every day. It will be interesting to see what happens when I'm staying in one place for a few days. Will the level continue to go down more every day or will it continue to stop at the two-inches from the top mark? 

I still think the leak in my coolant reservoir. If I look underneath where the reservoir is, there's a little section that holds liquid and it looks like there's some antifreeze there. Also, I've been wiping the whole Reservoir down on the outside with a paper towel every morning, but I'm seeing residue the next day. I have a feeling that I may have finally found the problem.

It is probably not the best idea to continue to drive, but with only six hours of driving to go, no smoke or strange smells coming from the engine, and the coolant temperature staying where it’s supposed to, I pushed on and hoped for the best.

Two more driving days. Thursday is about four hours with another two hours or so on Friday.

Hopefully Friday will just be as good as the other days have been and we'll be back in Orlando for the winter.

Day 5 - South Carolina to Flagler Beach, Florida.

Back in Florida and staying at a Thousand Trails campground, which is “free” to me.

Today I avoided a terrible disaster.

I was in South Carolina getting ready to leave and I needed to get gas.

At the gas station, I went to put my card in the gas pump and noticed the pump said “must pay inside”. Such a pain in the neck, but I went inside to pay.

I explained to the attendant what pump I was at, and the woman was very clear with me, or tried to be very clear with me (I was a little dense) about the diesel pump being the middle pump. I said “Okay I got it”, but I didn't get it. Until I got outside and looked again.

The problem was that the handles at the pump at this gas station had green handles on the gas pumps. Usually green pumps mean diesel. So I came this close to putting regular gas in my diesel, which would have been disastrous.

I've seen people who've done it before. It can ruin your whole motorhome. It really scared me when I realized how close I had come to putting gas in my diesel tank.

Thank God there was a sign that I had to go inside and pay. I think it was the only pump with that message as the other gas pump front of me did not say that.

So just by a stroke of luck, I did not have a major disaster.

Everything else went well. The engine ran great. It didn't smell like coolant when I was driving. I wiped off the coolant reservoir and again it had a little trace of coolant, so I'm pretty sure that's where the problem is coming from. 

Thursday the drive was really good, about 4 ½ hours. Driving through Jacksonville is always a nightmare but I made it through.

I got to the RV park, pulled in, and the entrance signage was very unclear. It didn't say "check in this way" or anything. So I drove up around a building, figuring I could go around the building, only to find out that it dead ended at the pool. So I had to take the Jeep off the tow dolly, back up the tow dolly, and then go in through the other road, the unmarked “entrance”. I should have stopped and looked first.

When in doubt stop and look before you continue.

I cried when I reached Florida, just like I cried when I got to Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota. Tears of joy and happiness, or tears of relief that I made it somewhere without dying? Or are they both the same?

One more travel day. It seems like I left Pennsylvania just in time, because they had snow over the weekend, which is exactly what I was trying to avoid.

Day 6 - Flagler Beach to Orlando Florida.

Another gratefully uneventful travel day. I moved from the East Coast of Florida over to Central Florida, so down through Orlando on route 4, which can be a little crazy. The lanes tend to go from 4 to 6 to 5 to three, so you really have to pay attention and pick a lane and stay in it so that you will not have to move back and forth all the time.

It was 100 miles and about 2 hours of driving.

Overall, the six-day, 1,100 mile trip from Pennsylvania to Florida was a successful and uneventful trip. I really needed a good trip with no “surprises” to help make up for some of the other travel I’ve had this year.

And yes, I'm already thinking about where I’ll go next year!

There were times this year where I thought about calling it quits, but this full-time RV life is very addicting, and I have more adventures to live and places to see in 2025.

Thanks for joining me. Check out some of my other RV and lifestyle posts as I continue on my RV journey across the US.

For a limited time, you can save 30% of a Harvest Hosts membership here.  And 45% off Roadtrippers, my favorite planning app, here.

Hi there! I'm Nancy.

In 2023, I ditched my heels for hiking boots, sold my house, and decided to travel the US full time in my 2005 Lazy Daze Class C RV.

I love to share the places I travel to and what it's like to live in an RV full-time.

If you have ever thought about hitting the road and traveling in an RV, either in your free time or full time, you are in the right place!

Follow along for weekly blog posts about my adventures as I travel the US with my two dogs, Rufus and Willie, and my cat, Katie.