An update on our
past few months living fulltime in Florida.
We are now into
our 8th month, living fulltime in our Holiday Rambler motorhome! Woo Hoo!
We had gotten such a late start out of New Jersey and not knowing when
we would arrive in Florida, we were unable to make reservations at our intended
campground, by the time we were close to Florida it was too late and all of the
site were booked until after April. So the search began to find a place to
stay. After searching for a few days and reading reviews on many of the
campgrounds, we decided on "Seasons in The Sun" a beautiful RV resort
in Mims Fl. It was a bit more costly than we had anticipated on paying but
since this was our first spot we were going to spend an extended time at, we
thought we would live it up a little.
February:
The weather here has
been delightful in more ways than one. The biggest and best part was that we
were in T-shirts in 60-70 degree weather, this was a first for us after living
years in an area that is usually hit hard and most of your spare time is spent
shoveling snow, and again this year was no exception. We picked the right year
to head south as it was one of the worst winters on record for the North East,
where we were from.
We have made a lot of new
friends since we've been here. There are many planned activities held at the
campground and clubhouse each month that we've been attending.
The first was a Valentines Day dance.
It was nice to see all the
lovebirds, including Margie and I, out on the dance floor.
We had a great time with some of our new friends,
Ben & Carol (bottom left), Ralph & Ilse (top left).
There was a great
potluck last week, with so many different kinds of food that as usual, my eyes
were bigger than my stomach, yum! Then there's the Sunday night movie with free
popcorn and Dunkin Donuts!
At night when most of the others are off for bed,
Margie and I head over
to the lounge area and sharpen up our pool playing skills.
There is also the water aerobics three times a week that Margie talked
me into going to,
and I have to admit I
enjoy, as it's as much fun as it is work.
This is where Margie
spends most of her time. There is a lap pool, hot tub, and kidney shaped pool,
all heated!
Now that we've
been in this beautiful weather for a while, we've been riding our bicycles a
lot more, and it feels good to hear Margie tell me how much she really loves
her new bike! Our longest ride so far has been about 10 miles! To the bird
sanctuary in Mims.
MARCH:
Well it was time to move on, we planned to start heading south as Margie had plans
on attending her nieces baby shower towards the end of the month.
We searched for a place to stay along the way, but weren't finding very
many that had good ratings or with spots open for the month. We even took a
ride to Wickham park in Melbourne,about an hour away, our original destination, it seemed like a
good spot and there were a few openings but when we compared prices it just
made more sense to stay where we were until we needed to be south and decided we would just do one long driving day to our destination in Ft Lauderdale, besides SITS is hard to beat with all of
its amenities and all the great friends we had made. So we booked our stay
until the end of March.
We kicked back for another month and enjoyed the warming weather. We
spent a few days at the beach which was only a short ride away.
Then there was St. Patrick's day dance at the clubhouse. What better day
to do the electric slide and YMCA!
One day we took a ride over to the Manatee Watch area wear they come
right up and watch the people! They're pretty big and cool looking! Sorry for
the picture of my finger, lol.
There was nice car show we went to with free parking,
admission, and
food, It doesn't get any better than that!
I just realized I've never mentioned that our only other means of
transportation is my
Suzuki Burgman 650 scooter.
April:
By the middle of April most all of the "snowbirds" had left
the campground, headed back to their homes up north, and there were only a few
of us regulars here. The place was mostly empty except for a few transients
that were passing through. What a difference from the busy months before when
there were lots of people walking around, swimming in the pools, and having
socials at each others campsites all day and night. It was now kind of "ghost
town" eerie with almost everyone gone.
Well I had been telling a few friends up north about how nice the
weather has been since we've been in Florida then a few days later it change
for the worst. We had a bad storm that came through the campground like a
tornado with 60+mph winds! Just as Margie and I walked up to the front window
to look out at the rain and wind whipping around the buildings, a large branch,
about 8 inches in diameter, came down on the roof and windshield of the
motorhome, it scared the you know what out of us as it crashed through the windshield right in front of us
and boy was it loud! It was still raining hard when I had to go out and get a
tarp to cover the broken window to keep the rain out that was now coming in.
When the weather finally let up we went out to access the damage, it turned out
to be worse than I though it would be. There was a good size hole in the
fiberglass cap and a few cracks several inches long, plus the broken window.
All of our friends at the campground came by to see if we were ok. Thanks to
our friends Loren & Elke for lending us a tarp to keep the rain out! I
spent the next four hours vacuuming glass up from inside the coach, being
thankful we were alive, and for that someone who was looking out for us from
above.
The following Monday morning we called the insurance company and started
with the repair process. Margie was very upset that she now would not be able
to attend her niece's baby shower where we had planned our next stop, and
called her with the regrettable news. I spent the rest of the week worrying
about how and if it was repairable, or even if I would be able to get a
replacement windshield. I must say that the insurance company (think Flo)
claims agent Jeremy, was horrible to deal with in that I could not get in touch
with him after his initial call, and never once returned any of my calls. So
while I waited with a gaping hole in the windshield for almost a week for the
adjuster to come to the campground to take a look at it, as there was a lot of
damage in the area from the storm, I started calling around for a windshield
and luckily located one within an hour or so. When the adjuster did show up
(John), fortunately he was very knowledgeable, he found a local repair shop
that would squeeze us into their busy schedule, then he took care of all of the
paperwork and the arrangements.
We spent the following week in the repair shop of "Eagles
Pride" in Titusville, Fl. hanging outside in the day, while they worked on
it, then sleeping in the motorhome in the shop at night. I highly recommend
them for any repair work, they were very professional, friendly, and Mike the
owner was appreciative of our business even as busy as they were. They have a
very talented guy in the autobody shop who did a great job of repairing the
damage, then matching the paint and even the thin pinstripes! Wow and only four
days start to finish! Looks better than new!
We then headed back to the campground to stay for a few days while I
gave her a bath and polish, but this time we were out from under the trees!
May:
We spent a few days there then headed off in search of a new place to
stay while we figured out what we would be doing. We ended up at Manatee
Hammock campground about a half hour away.
The monthly rate was about half of
what we were paying, and was in a real nice location with the back of the
campground right on the water. This is were we will be spending the month of
May.
We met a great couple Jerry & Marie here at the campground and
Margie & I hit it off with them, even Max our dog enjoyed them and their
dogs!
Jerry and I having a few cold ones, he makes some good "bloody marys",just ask Margie!
We were glad they extended their stay for another week and even got to spend Mothers Day with them and their family. They made us some awesome burgers, nothing like a real barbeque briquet grill! We got to enjoy the company of their kids and grandkids who camped out for the weekend. These are some of the special friendships we have made along our way.
We put a work wanted add on one of the work camping sites on the
internet and had quite a few offers, but after thinking about it, I've decided
that I would look for a regular job where I can make more money while we are
here and save up so we can continue to travel.
We'll see how it goes.
We're still enjoying the fulltiming life, living in our motorhome and
have found one of the best things so far, are the amazing friends we have made that have the same love of the RVing lifestyle as we do!
But one of the more difficult things that we have learned about this
lifestyle is, we do miss our old friends back home, and also the friends you have made, will eventually be
moving on, or that it will be your time to move on. Another thing I have
learned from others that do this, is that you don't say goodbye, you say your
“until next time", but it's still difficult after sharing many laughs
and good conversations. We have traded contact information and hope to keep in
touch with as many friends as possible until we meet up again.
Thanks to all our followers, I hope you
have enjoyed the read, I am keeping it as real as it is, sharing the good and
the bad, for those who may be considering this lifestyle too. I'll try to keep
it short and post more often from now on.
Thanks for stopping by!
