February 4, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

First Wedding Anniversary on the Road

Today is our 26th wedding anniversary, but our first on the road. So if you will indulge me, I thought I would take a few minutes to write the story of us, and a love letter to my husband. I am truly grateful to have married this man and grateful for the life we have created together and I wanted to celebrate that.

Lee and I met when he was 14 and I was 16. We were both working at our first job as busboys in a nice restaurant on the west side of Columbus. I had started there a few weeks before Lee and was in the process of bending over a long table and removing a tablecloth when we were introduced. So the first thing he saw was my tush, which thankfully is one of my better features, and apparently it made an impression! I was a pretty awkward 16-year-old. I had a car (a 20-year-old yellow VW bug) so you know I thought I was cool, but I was really uncertain about everything in life. In walks this kid who was like no one I had ever met. He wore a trench coat and a fedora and was completely fascinated with everything British. He exuded a confidence well beyond his years and was funny and kind. I’ve seriously never met anyone like him then or since. His story is that he fell in love with me the moment he met me. For years I didn’t believe it, but the best man at our wedding many years later did verify that in school Lee had always said he had already met the girl he was going to marry and knew it the moment he saw her. I on the other hand took quite awhile to catch up. We were friends for years, even after we both left the job and he moved to a different part of Columbus and eventually I went off to college, but friends who rarely saw each other. I spent the next 4 years dating a series of not so great guys and Lee had a serious relationship and ultimately joined the Air Force right out of high school. A two-year age difference is a large one through the high school years and certainly through the college ones so the timing was never right for us.

Lee had always wanted to live in England, and had the opportunity in the Air Force to do a tour at RAF Chicksands, an Air Force base about an hour outside of London. I went to college, left college, got engaged, broke the engagement, and was generally aimless when Lee came back to the states. So now he is 20 and I am 22 and we reconnect with each other. Finally the timing was right and at a time when we were both looking for purpose we re-found each other. So we went on a real date…our first and it was to Red Lobster. Now, I know some people stick up their nose at Red Lobster, but I will forever love them because that’s the night I fell in love with Lee. Here we were, sitting across from each other, and it was awkward because we didn’t really know each other because we had been apart for so long, when Lee picked up the paper napkin wrap that hold the napkin and silverware together, and did 20 minutes on why the paper napkin rings were unnecessary. I had not laughed that hard ever…truly…tears were streaming down my face…and in that 20 minutes I fell in love. Ladies, take note. Looks fade, money gets spent, but the ability to make someone laugh lasts forever. So we slept together that night (and that was really good) and moved in together a week later. We’ve never been apart since.

I was ready to get going with my life and start my family. Lee was happy to be with me finally after all these years and was happy to go along with whatever I wanted. So we started to plan the wedding and ended up getting pregnant right away. Hence the February anniversary. These days people get married before, during, and after their first pregnancy but back then it still had a stigma (at least in small town Ohio) so we moved up the wedding so I could do it while I had a relatively small belly. It was a pretty stressful affair. Everyone was worried we were too young, everyone was sure it wouldn’t last (I heard later many folks gave us 6 months at the wedding), and it was complicated by the fact that my parents had just gotten a very messy divorce and their relationship was still pretty raw. But despite all that, I got the wedding that I had envisioned as a girl and if it wasn’t perfect I will never forget the look on his face as I walked down the aisle. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

Wedding Picture

So we had Kyrston, and then Katy. How can I talk about those early years? Well we had absolutely no idea what we were doing. But we loved each other and more importantly we were friends. There were many times the friendship saved the marriage, because I couldn’t walk away from my best friend in the whole world. I often tell young couples that years 1,3,7, and 10 were the toughest…after that things settled down and it really is true. Lee got a really great job in the production field he had always dreamed of working in, we rented a house on a farm from my father which was great for the girls, we had Kay, and eventually after years of struggling financially were able to buy our first home. It was not easy; Lee traveled a lot for work and it turned out I was not so good at being alone, but there were many wonderful moments in those years. I loved being a mother…I don’t know how good I was at it, but I felt fulfilled by the family I created and I fiercely protected it. Lee was always 100% committed. Thinking back on how I was all over the place during that time, I really appreciate the fact that he stayed. Lesser men might have walked away, but he loved me and our girls and he filled our life the best he could with that love and laughter. As serious as things got, he could always make me laugh and there were many times the laughter got me through.

So we were going along living our life and then things got interesting. I always worked, but at whatever job had good benefits and flexible hours so I never really felt fulfilled professionally. Then the company I worked for went through a major merger and a job opportunity presented itself. I was completely not qualified and it would require moving to the Northeast, but I applied …sure I wouldn’t get the job. Turns out because of the chaos in the company only 4 people applied and I actually got the business analyst position. When I went home to talk to Lee about it, I was sure he wouldn’t want to leave Columbus. Our family was there, our home (which he loved) was there, and he had a good position with a production company. What he did say will tell you everything about Lee you ever need to know. He looked at me and said, “I think you should take the job. I’ve had my chance and now it’s your turn.” I was and still am completely humbled by his generosity. His willingness to give up everything, so I could have a shot at a profession was amazing. So he gave up his job, we moved to New Hampshire and started a new life together. He became the primary care giver to our kids and I worked long hours and traveled all over the country. I have to say he was better at raising the kids than I ever was, but it was still tough as not many couples during this time period had reversed roles. This is pretty commonplace now and I firmly stand by the fact that overall it was great for the kids. They got to experience primary parenting by both of us for large chunks of their lives and hopefully it will make them more well-rounded individuals.

The next 13 years were really great. After some initial struggles, we really hit our stride. Lee started a non-profit television station from nothing, and I fulfilled my dream to get my bachelors and my master’s degree and saw multiple promotions at my job. The girls made their way through their teen years…and as any parent knows who has survived those years: it ain’t easy. But overall I think we did an OK job. One kid left, then another, and suddenly, with only one left in the house, we were looking at what life would look like without children. We were finally making some real money and wondering what things would look like in the future. So, that’s where the blog picks up..and I won’t repeat here what I have already said in those posts, but I will say if it wasn’t for Lee this wouldn’t be my life. I would never have had the vision or the courage to completely turn things upside down and start this adventure. He brings those things to our marriage and I am so incredibly grateful to him for it. Plus he can still kiss me in a way which makes me tingle which is a really good thing 🙂 And he makes me laugh…oh, how he makes me laugh…

Having an anniversary in February to this point has not been that fun. Not much you can do in the northeast during the winter time. So today we went to celebrate our first wedding anniversary in this new life by going down to the beach together. I can’t think of a thing I would rather do to reaffirm our life together. We weren’t going to eat dinner out, but decided to go to Crabby Bill’s, which was on my list of places to see and had a wonderful dinner for only $50 (including tip). Lee’s grouper was amazing!! They had a musician playing live and he was really terrific. We really enjoyed it.

Musician at Crabby Bill’s was amazing

Sitting on the patio at Crabby Bill’s

My sweetheart

Finally to honor our marriage I wanted to share some pictures of us on our new adventure. I can write that we are really, truly happy but the pictures really say it all.

Looking Glass Waterfall

Niagara Falls

Acadia National Park

Sullivan’s Island

Charleston

In Deb and Steve’s camper in Rock Hill

Tonight at Indian Rocks Beach

Our feet in the ocean together... The new Lee takes his shoes off and walks in the sand :)

Our feet in the ocean together… “On the Road” Lee takes his shoes off and walks in the sand 🙂

Recipes

Bisquick Oven Fried Chicken

Simple and absolutely delicious…one of my favorite new recipes I have tried so far

1 Tbl butter
2/3 cup Bisquick baking mix
2-3# chicken
1-1/2 tsp paprika
1-1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Melt butter in 13×9 pan in oven
Mix bisquick and spices
Rinse chicken
Coat chicken
Place skin side down in pan
Bake 35 minutes then turn bake an additional 15 minutes

Bisquick Chicken

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January 30, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

First Full-Timing Budget

One of the first questions people have who are interested in the Full Timing lifestyle is: “Can I afford it?”. (Yes, you can, but nothing else. – Lee) Most people know they would love it, but whether they can make it work financially is a major roadblock. What made me really believe this was possible was reading RV-Dreams and seeing Howard’s budgets, so I promised myself that if we were able able to do this I would carry his generosity forward as best as I could and post my own budget as well. Last month I had every intention of posting it but it was such a disaster I gave myself a break and decided to start in January. Between trailing costs from moving, Christmas gifts, and too many meals eaten out with family, we were pretty far off the rails. (I ate nothing but Ramen Noodles and bought nothing. I have no idea what she spent all our money on. Probably hookers and blow. – Lee) So we hunkered down in January and for better or worse, I’ll show you how we did, below. By the way, I am using a spreadsheet created by Howard from RV-Dreams that is pretty terrific. I highly recommend it as a starting point for those of you who are interested in tracking your costs. (You’ll think you can just make your own, but you can’t. Just buy Howard’s. It’s worth every penny, and you’ve got enough to worry about without making spreadsheets. Trust me. – Lee)

So how did we start? We looked at budgets online, talked to our friends who went on the road before us, and made some not-so-educated guesses. Consequently, we knew that we would need to adjust the budget after some time passed when we had more data. Some folks pick a dollar amount and then shoehorn their expenses into that amount, but I wasn’t comfortable with that approach. (I prefer the “spend everything and assign blame to others later” philosophy. It has worked really well so far. I have, or used to have, lots of cool stuff. Then Tracy made me get rid of all of it and live in a little box with no high speed internet. This is awesome! – Lee) Instead we did a bottom up approach, looking at our costs for each particular item, seeing what the total was, and then adjusting down, as needed, to make it doable. The big questions was: “Could we live with it?”. This is also the fifth version of the budget we have done. As we got more information things changed. (My original budget included new towels and socks every day, and free pie that magically fell from the sky. I got more information, and it changed. – Lee)

When you ask the questions on forums about how much it costs to live on the road people generally say “as much as you have”. There is an element of truth in that but ultimately I feel it is a cop-out because few people are willing to live at a subsistence level even if they have the most beautiful view in the world. Most people who decide to full-time have lived pretty comfortably for some time and are used to spending money, so a complete adjustment to never spending anything isn’t quite practical for most. I say all this to preface my budget. (Isn’t the suspense killing you? You could just scroll down, but then you would miss everything I had to say. Perish the thought. – Lee) Could you live on less? Sure. Could we live on less? (Nope. Meeting adjourned. Let’s go get Chinese food! – Lee) Yes if we had to, and some day maybe we will. Are there categories and expenses that you will spend far less on because you simply don’t care about them? Absolutely. I will say that a human being can only deal with so much change at once and some of these items are in place to allow us time to get used to our new life. It will change over time I am sure, but for right now this is where we are:

January Budget

Let me review some of the bigger ticket items.

Campground Fees – $750 was based on what several other people we know used. We definitely feel we can get this down over time as we do more boondocking and feel more comfortable with places other than private campgrounds, but for now with full hookups this is a realistic.

Groceries – This is what we were spending in our sticks and bricks. We have tried to reduce this some by not stocking items but those savings have been offset by spending more on natural, fresh foods. Again, over time I expect we will do better with this but for right now it’s not an area we are looking at too hard. For us this is definitely an item we didn’t want to mess with too much with so much other change. Plus we are eating out less so spending more in this category. (Also, pie ain’t cheap, baby. And two pies costs twice as much as one pie. Bam. Math. – Lee)

Dining Out / Entertainment – We have $350 dollars all told in these two categories and there was some intense discussion around this. We thought we had padded the number and we would never spend this much and then completely blew both these budgets in December. This month we did much better but we really had to work at it. Part of the cool thing about traveling is there is so much to see. Part of the difficulty is seeing things without spending tons of money. We had to say “No, we won’t spend $72 on the Big Cat Rescue (which was #1 on my things to do in Tampa list) and instead spend $8 on the Sunken Gardens. ” Lee also came up with this great plan for looking at food as fuel versus an experience. If it was just fuel we should pack a lunch (which we still are lousy at) or drive home to eat or get McDonald’s. If it was an experience then we would eat lunches versus dinners and make sure we made the most of it. (The most effective way to get the most out of eating out is to make the other person need to go the bathroom by making waterfall noises, and taking food off their plate while they’re gone. Also, stealing food from other patrons, but you have to be fast. People are all weird about that, but I say it’s all part of the experience. – Lee) Souvenirs are a hard trap to avoid as well. Not having much space for things helps, plus I try to get magnets at places, which are relatively cheap. My big weakness is T-Shirts which can be super expensive but do serve two purposes (souvenir and clothing). So sometimes I get a shirt but most of the time I don’t and I try to only get them when they are sale.

Truck Fuel – This was one of the hardest items to calculate. We have $150 for running around wherever we are staying, and $250 if we are moving from place to place. Have no idea if those numbers will hold up because I still have a company car and those costs are coming directly from my paycheck. It’s awesome that gas prices are so low, but going places still costs gas even if they are free so I expect these expenses to go up as we leave the Tampa area and start traveling around some more. (I have argued that if we always camp near pie outlets, we can keep the fuel costs waaaay down. We’re still discussing it. – Lee)

Cell Phones/TV/Internet – Originally we had cell phone, internet, and TV broken into multiple categories, but when we decided to get rid of dish and just stream television we upped our usage to 80GB a month and are paying $361. I know this seems like a ridiculous amount of money, but I also know we use every bit of that 80GB in a month. Will this change over time? I hope so as we get to more wide open spaces, but for right now this is where we are at. (You want to see her freak out? Tell her she can’t watch “Scandal” because we’ve used up all our internets. – Lee)

RV Loan Payment – We wanted to come on the road debt free, but at the end of the day we were not willing to delay another year to pay off the camper. It was our choice to go on the road with this $400 payment and we felt and still feel it’s manageable. (My theory is that if we just keep moving, and Bank of America doesn’t read this blog, they’ll never find us. We’re still discussing it. – Lee)

So how did we do?? Well, certainly not as bad as last month, but not as good as I would have liked.

We had a budget of $3465 and we spent $4167 or roughly 20% over budget. So where did it go? Well, let’s talk about the red. (See how reasonable she sounds? Then BAM. No pie. You have to watch her. She’s good at business. – Lee) The biggest overage was Home Improvement. We only have $50 in the budget (which is probably too low) and I bought a $200 grill and Lee spent the rest at the Tampa RV show and on various other miscellaneous house items. (Every single one of them absolutely necessary and mission critical. – Lee) This is similar to having a new house…it’s hard not to buy stuff for it, but we definitely need to get this category under control. (See? Everyone agrees. Meeting adjourned. – Lee) The next largest overage was cigarettes. We used to spend $600 a month on cigarettes, but before we came on the road we started rolling our own which took the budget down to $200. Yes, smoking is bad, and we would like to quit, but in the interim it’s a part of our budget. We were thrown a major curveball though, when we got to Florida and we couldn’t find cigarette tobacco anywhere. Apparently they changed the taxes on cigarette tobacco, so everyone is smoking pipe tobacco which doesn’t roll well. Long story short, after an exhaustive search, Lee found a place an hour away that sells it so he bought 7 pounds of tobacco. This overage will even out during the next couple of months and if you’re not a smoker you won’t have to worry about this in your budget anyway, which is a good thing for multiple reasons. Membership fees were high (joined Escapees and Passport America), laundry went over because our washing machine was broken, and personal care was high because we both got haircuts. We may need to make that budget item higher. (I vote for no more haircuts. I want to look like Sean Cassidy. If Sean Cassidy was almost 50, and about 50 pounds over his ideal weight. If he was 7 feet tall.-Lee)

So what was the good news? We were $4 under budget in dining out…hooray..and thanks Eileen and Gene for buying me dinner that one night! (So sorry about your budget, Eileen and Gene, but it’s dog eat dog out there. – Lee) Entertainment we were under by $104, Fantastic!! And since we didn’t relocate this month we got $250 back on fuel. So there were some positives and I can definitely see that the things we focused on, we did well on. Overall I don’t feel that horrible about it. I think the big takeaway here is that you can set a budget in advance and then try to make that budget work, but until you get out there and live the life you really don’t know what it is going to cost. After talking to Lee about the results, we are going to start meeting every week to see how we are doing. (More meetings! Yay! – Lee) I don’t think he would have been willing to do that a month ago. We are evolving, and in this as in all other aspects of this life we need to be flexible and patient with each other. (Qpwsoedfsglkjldfgjlgkjdg. Sorry, I can’t type, I’m laughing because she said I’m “evolving” and “patient”-Lee)

On another note (although a large medical expense would definitely impact the budget) I had promised I would provide some followup on my Aspen Dental experience and since I had my appointment this Friday I thought I would share it here. I have been concerned about finding dental care on the road since the very beginning. As I have mentioned before I have always taken good care of my teeth and absolutely believe that clean and healthy teeth are necessary to maintain an overall healthy lifestyle. I thought there was no “Urgent Care” type company with a national network of dental offices and then my friend Cori mentioned Aspen Dental. Although they are not everywhere, they are growing and I loved the idea of being able to have my records on file in their national network. The office I went to just opened on Thursday and was absolutely beautiful. Every dental chair has a television attached to it (super nice feature) and everything was spotless. I knew I would have to get a full set of x-rays (despite having pictures of the x-rays from my June), but I was resigned to that since they stated they would not charge me if the insurance company didn’t pay for them. They did the full set which took awhile and then I was put into an exam room. Someone then came in and measured my gums and that’s when things got unpleasant. She recommended a two step cleaning process with an irrigation. I was taken aback since my teeth are in really good shape. When I pushed back she got very defensive and brought in the dentist. He proceeded to tell me that I had two potential cavities and a third cavity and they could take care of it the same day. He tried to show me with the mirror but I saw nothing and then he pressed hard on the tooth but I felt nothing. I may very well have the beginnings of a cavity, but at that point they had totally lost credibility with me so I stated I just wanted my cleaning. Then it got really bad. I went with the office manager into a room where we could talk about treatment course. This is standard procedure in this office and I was picturing my husband or someone else who always takes doctor recommendations being taken for a ride. I said I just wanted a cleaning and eventually she typed it up and handed me a paper that had the cleaning and the irrigation which my out of pocket would be $64. I have nothing against paying for a service I need but I was very clear. At this point I was livid. I told her I wanted only what my insurance would cover and nothing more and I was about two seconds away from asking to speak to their area manager. She finally backed down and printed out the service I requested AFTER I signed a release form stating I understood what they recommended and was refusing it.

They did have an immediate opening so I took a deep breath and went back with the hygienist who seemed very nice. We were about to start when the supervisor pulled her from the room and when she came back in her attitude was completely different. As my teeth were cleaned I got a nice lecture on gum problems. She then proceeded to use the pick to clean my teeth acting as if this was an unusual procedure. She even said that she felt she had to do it because it was the right thing to do for the patient. At this point I looked at her and said, “My hygienist always does this. It’s part of the standard cleaning .” She hemmed and hawed a bit and then changed the subject. So my teeth are clean which is the important thing but it was a thoroughly unpleasant experience. Here’s the thing. A medical person has implied authority by virtue of their training that makes it more likely you will say yes to whatever they recommend. So I believe strongly that anyone in that position has a higher level of responsibility to provide the patient with their options. Does this always happen? Of course not, but when you’re in a sticks and bricks you hopefully have time to shop around and develop a level of trust and relationship with your provider. Losing these established relationships with my doctor and dentist is a major downside to the nomad life and forces me into a position of being extra vigilant in any medical situation. So will I go back? I’m not sure what other choice I have. It’s either fly back to New Hampshire twice a year for cleanings, find a new dentist every six months wherever we go, or use this chain and at least avoid the new patient experience. They did say that they do x-rays every year (instead of the standard 2) so honestly I am not sure if it will be worth it. I will give them one more shot in 6 months and see how much of a hassle that is. (After reading this, I have opted to stop going to the dentist. I have always hated it anyway. Plus, I want to look like Sean Cassidy, if he were almost 50, a little chunky, and toothless. – Lee)

So that’s the week, budgets and dentists. It wasn’t that bad…at least there was no snow and we had several absolutly beautiful days unlike our friends in the northern states. Tomorrow we are going to vist our friends in Ft. Meyers and next week Cori and Greg get into town. Really really looking forward to popping in at the boondocking rally and seeing everyone!

Lessons Learned

Being a new patient at a dentist involves two visits and most will not do the cleaning the same day as the initial consultation
You have to be your own advocate when you do not have an established relationship with the medical provider.
You can set a budget in advance and then try to make that budget work, but until you get out there and live the life you really don’t know what it is going to cost

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January 25, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

First Time in Tarpon Springs

Well this week was much better…although trying to establish new residency is a major pain in the tush…and on Saturday we decided to visit Tarpon Springs. Several people have said it’s a “can’t miss” place and since I like sponges as much as the next person and the weather was too overcast for a nature park we decided to check it out. We took our time driving there along the coast and it was really pretty with the wind causing huge white wave caps along the beaches. It did take more time that way though, and I decided to stop at a Greek restaurant right outside of the dock area instead of waiting until we got into the sponge dock area. Two reasons, I thought it would be easier to get in and out of, and cheaper. The Original Mama Maria’s was easy to get into and the prices were very reasonable. $9.95 for lunch which included one of 6 entrees, a salad or soup or fries and a drink. Lee absolutely loved his grouper sandwich and I had a gyro which was very good but as usual messy. I swear I can never eat one of those without dropping some of it on me, but it’s worth it!! Plus I loved the story. In 1959, John came to America as a sponge diver from Greece. In 1978 he had to stop sponge diving because of “the bends” which is a crippling affliction which happens to many divers. His wife Maria stepped in to support the family and opened the restaurant which is still in operation today. Go girl power!!!

The Original Mama Maria’s Greek Restaurant

My yummy Gyro

Fortified with lunch (which I counted as an experience not just fuel so $26 including tip was a reasonable price) we drove down to the wharf. We found a place to park for $3 and then walked into the Sponge Factory. Let me say there are many great Greek owned sponge places along the wharf but this one was in my estimation by far the best. The gentleman who ran it was so sweet. He gave me the 10% off coupon that was in the local map (even though I had no idea there was a coupon) and even though I didn’t quite spend $50 he gave me a free gift. I was super excited about the sponges. My friend Deb has a plant in her bathroom on the shower seat and I have been wanting something in that spot ever since I saw hers. A large sponge seemed perfect since we wouldn’t have to actually remove it when we took a shower, but I couldn’t figure out which sponge to buy. I seriously spent at least 20 minutes looking at every large sponge in the place and finally my very creative husband stepped in and helped me put together this arrangement. He even added a dried seahorse which was so perfect. It was a little pricey for all of it, but it really makes me happy so I am counting it towards our entertainment budget for January which we haven’t spent hardly any of!!

Yes I’m goofy but couldn’t resist

Really cool wind chimes in the store

The store was really cool with tons of shells, coral, and sponges

My free gift 🙂

My new shower decoration

Lee added the white finger sponges and the seahorse

After depositing my sponge safely in the car we walked down into the main part of the wharf. Unfortunately the meal and sponge factory were my favorite parts of the day as I found the rest of experience pretty touristy. Neither of us liked the hawkers who seemed to be everywhere and tried to get us on this boat or that one. Occasionally we saw something neat but mainly it was a ton of touristy shops. I did enjoy seeing the sponge boats though and recommend if you go traveling down the side streets as those shops were still owned by Greeks and seemed more authentic. I do recommend a visit to the Spice and Tea Exchange. They have numerous homemade spice blends and tea blends and I saw combinations I have never seen before. Their prices were too steep for us but if you’re a spice junkie this is definitely the place for you.

I loved this real sponge boat with a Greek captain

His sponge catch

All the boats had women’s names

Great statue commemorating the sponge divers

Really great spice shop. Super expensive but the spices were VERY strong and fresh

Sunday was absolutely gorgeous. Not a cloud in the sky and cool enough to make a walk pleasant. We decided to visit Boyd’s Nature Preserve because it opens at 9am on Sundays (unlike the other parks which open at 12pm on Sundays. The preserve was absolutely terrific. It costs $3 to get in (well worth the fee just for the educational area and raptor cages, and they allow bikes on their trails and have a $2 tram ride at designated times. We chose to walk (although if we went back I would take a bike) and took the 1-1/4 mile main loop around the preserve. The signage was great, paths were clear, and there were multiple ecosystems including a swamp, and a small island you could walk across to. Plus we saw tons of birds very close up as they seemed to have no fear. Early on we were on a wooden bridge and I was taking a picture of an Ahinga when it flew straight at me. I backed up into Lee and it perched less than 3 feet away on the corner of the railing and posed for me…amazing!! By the way we see birds almost everywhere we go. I am constantly adding them at the top of the bird sighting page, but today I will also put them in the blog because the sighting was so very cool. Anything is a cage doesn’t count for bird sighting purposes but we were so close to the injured raptors below I had to add a couple of pics.

Full sized skeleton of an American Alligator in the learning center…huge

They have a raptor area where you can get very close to birds they have rescued

Immature eagle that fell from a nest that they have raised for educational purposes

Ahinga which flew up and landed so close to me then allowed me to take its picture

The walking paths were absolutely beautiful, in particular we enjoyed the island and the boardwalk that was over marsh area. All of these paths are wheel chair accessible btw and not that far from the main building.

Throughout the park they had a some art works that were really well done.

Crane made of metal in the lake

Giant armadillo

The most exciting moment though was when we saw a large bird and tracked it to a tree. We used the stand (shown below) to get some great shots of what turned out to be an osprey. It was very exciting and close enough we could see it well with the naked eye. They are very fluffy. Of all the birds shots we’ve gotten so far this was definitely the most challenging.

a blind near the water that you can take pictures from. WE got some shots of the Osprey from here

We were so excited when we got close enough to this osprey to get some pictures

Lee loves the Spanish moss

It truly was a wonderful morning and I soaked up some sun in the afternoon since I am heading up to New Jersey for a training class next week. Excited about the class in change management. Not so much about having to get my winter coat out 😦

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January 20, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

Feeling Closed in

If you enjoy the adventure part of the posts more than the day to day stuff please feel free to scroll down to the picture of the sunset and start there. Don’t worry you won’t hurt my feelings 🙂

This week started a little rough. I really like where we are staying. We are in Rainbow Village, Largo a 55 plus community and it was by far the best of the choices we had. The people are very friendly, the facilities are spotless, and I feel completely safe. But I definitely miss my view and it’s much less fun working from the RV when you can’t step outside for a moment and look at something pretty. We aren’t within walking distance of anything and it would be a stretch to drive to the beach on my lunch break so I am feeling a bit stuck here. Lee is going to school everyday and getting out, but to be honest I am feeling a bit stir crazy. Then, to prove things can get worse, the site next to ours (which has been empty most of the time we’ve been here) was filled by a huge motor home. For some reason, their main slide-out with their dinette is facing our awning area and now I am staring right into their kitchen window. I am trying not to, but I don’t really have anyplace else to look, I mean it is really right in front of us. Can’t be much fun for them either since their windows open to us and now we can hear each others conversations. Geez. (They’ve got the better end of the deal, our conversations are much more interesting than theirs.-Lee)

So I know we need to start getting away from our site more, but just like in a sticks and bricks it’s tough to come home from work, make dinner, then have time to do anything. It’s odd really that here we are doing this crazy adventure and I am ending up being a more “traditional” wife than I have been in years. To be completely clear, I have tremendous respect for anyone who fills that role in a marriage, that was just not who I was in our marriage…mainly because I worked farther away, traveled quite a bit, and wasn’t nearly as good at it as Lee was. (Further evidence that I rock. She rocks in her own special way. – Lee) But things are different now, and as our life is evolving our roles and interactions with each other need to evolve as well.

I know we are both experiencing situations where behaviors we have been totally fine with for years are no longer OK. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. This gives us an opportunity to “reset” as a couple and figure out not only who we want to be individually but as a couple. (I want to be Benedict Cumberbatch. – Lee) One of the things you tend to do as a long-term couple with kids is divide and conquer. So we are just not that used to doing this together. I can count on one hand for example when we went to the grocery store together and now we are doing it every week. That might seem like a simple thing going to the grocery store, but when you have $150 for the week and two different opinions on where to go and what to buy, something that was previously very simple suddenly becomes a conversation and in some cases a negotiation. Everyone says communicate, communicate, communicate to deal with the transitions of the full-timing lifestyle and conventional wisdom is absolutely correct, but what they don’t say is all that communicating is exhausting. You’re working out “muscles” that you haven’t needed to use in a long time and sometimes it can be painful. (She’s right. Communicating with her is exhausting. I am more of a ray of light and joy in an otherwise grim world. – Lee)

So what does that all have to do with where we are staying? Well, the amazing views, moving about, and seeing cool new stuff for us makes those conversations briefer. They still happen but you’re trying to get through it as quickly as possible so that you can go see the cool things. When you sit for awhile and are living more of a “regular” life those conversations happen more frequently and take longer. Plus you are having them in a relatively small space and in our case we really need to be careful about how we have them. You can’t go to separate corners, raising your voice is a bad idea since it’s really loud in your tin box, and arguing outside isn’t an option because you have tons of neighbors. So you not only have to talk about issues that have been resolved for years you may also need to do it in new ways. You don’t have to do any of this of course. You could transplant your old roles into this new life but I wouldn’t recommend it. I truly believe that all of this communication is a VERY good thing. (She drinks. You should keep that in mind while reading her stuff.) Relationships can get stale and if nothing else this life is forcing us to reevaluate who we are with each other. I would however recommend that you do all that with a really pretty view. (I don’t know what she’s talking about. I always have the prettiest view there is. – Lee)

I know I am a bit all over the place with this post, but all of these feelings seem to go hand in hand. Frankly it’s too tough to be able to separate what’s a symptom and what’s the source at this point so I am working through all of them simultaneously the best I can. Not the best scenario. I also find myself missing having a dog. Not Molly (the cavalier we gave to a friend before coming on the road) but just a dog in general. (I have offered to lick her face to simulate having a dog, she seems uninterested. – Lee) Molly would have hated this lifestyle…she traveled terribly even short distances, but she was just one of many dogs I have owned in my life. Plus ALL of our friends have at least one dog and even though we get the occaional envious comment about the freedom a “no-dog” life offers, they all seem pretty happy with their choice despite any limitations the dog might cause. Cori/Greg and Gene/Eileen both have the same kind of dog (cavachon) and we love both of these dogs. They are small, smart, active, and cute as a button. I mean seriously look at these pictures…how can you resist these dogs faces.

Hobi “The Wonder Dog”

Max “The Cutie Patooty”

I know getting a dog is a long term commitment and should not be done on a whim. I also know that our concerns regarding us living with a dog in this lifestyle have not changed. But I really miss puppy kisses….don’t know what else to say. (The offer still stands.) So I went on my lunch break to a nearby puppy store to check them out. Let me say for all of my New England friends, I do know puppy stores are not the best place to get a dog. People feel so strongly about it there that I think I only saw one puppy store in the 13 years I lived there. But in other parts of the country they are pretty common and if you’re not in a circumstance to locate a local breeder or adopt through the local humane society they are an option. On a side note, my stepfather, who is 65, wanted to adopt a dog from the Columbus Human Society and because of his age they would only let him adopt a dog that was 8 years or older. Seriously not cool. People are living a lot longer and as much as I love dogs I definitely fall into the “they are animals and not people” group. Anyway, there is a puppy store right around the corner that I have been dying to go into, so I I took a quick trip on my lunch break on Wednesday. The place was very clean and they had tons of puppies…so lots and lots of puppy kisses and the staff was very nice and helpful. They didn’t have any cavachons but the trip certainly brightened my day. After the visit I spent some time researching the cavachon breed and am more convinced than ever that when we do eventually get a dog again, this is a great breed (by temperament) for this lifestyle. So I did some research and found a private home breeder in Sarasota and they had a white male puppy who was exactly what I was looking for. Lee and I had a serious conversation about it, but in the end his common sense won out over my puppy fever. We really don’t know what our life will look like (being here in Largo for 10 weeks is not an accurate representation) so the responsible thing to do is wait and see. I hate being a responsible grownup.

Walt the puppy I found at a local breeder was perfect but the timing was not

So in order to combat the “closed in” feelings and “no puppy” sadness, I have planned a nature day for us on Saturday. There are several wildlife parks/gardens in the area that are free or near free and I want to get out there with my camera and immerse myself in some wildlife. Plus, my good friend Jo (who seems to have a sixth sense for these things) sent me a text and asked me to come down and visit her and Ben, Gene and Eileen, and Kelly and Bill on Martin Luther King day. I totally forgot I have that day off and replied back with a huge enthusiastic YES!!! Lee has school that day so I will go down on my own and it’s great to have friends where being half a couple if not an issue at all. So this weekend is covered and I need to find something to do during the evenings and maybe on the occasional lunch to break up the day.

While I am talking about going to see Jo and Ben in Fort Meyers I wanted to mention the differences in weather. Even though they are only 2 hours south there is a 10-15 degree swing when you travel there. I think because Largo is in between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico and surrounded by water on three sides it is cooler. I don’t mind the cooler temps…I’ll take 50-60 over 10-12 degrees any day, but it is cloudy here. Not the Florida I am used to where it rains a bit in the morning and then is sunny the rest of the day, but overcast most days until early afternoon and then a little bit of sunshine. Again, waaay better than up north, but I could use some more sun as I think it would help improve my overall mood. So excited about seeing the gang, not just for the company, but for a little dose of warmer weather. It reminds me a bit of New Hampshire in that we could drive two hours into the Green Mountains in Vermont and get totally different weather.

This week we also spent some time dealing with some rig repair issues. When we originally got our rig they did not have a Splendide and gave us another washer/dryer combo. This never worked at all from the first day, so we made the dealer replace it with the Splendide we had ordered originally. Four months into use the Splendide just stopped working and locked tight with clothes and water inside it. When we called our warranty folks they said it was still covered under the Splendide warranty and Lee then had to call them and they told him to call a local RV tech to do the work and they would pay for it. The first tech he called refused to do anything but replace it (which Splendide would not accept) so Splendide provided the name of another tech. It took several days for the guy to call us back, another week to get on his schedule, and after waiting all day Monday for a no show he finally came on Tuesday. The tech was very nice and I was grateful I finally got my clothes out of the washer, but he said the board was fried and would need a part. We spent the rest of the week trying to get Flagg RV to send us some sort of paperwork that we could send to Splendide to prove it was under warranty. Meanwhile, doing some research on the Open Range site I also discovered that there was a recall on our slideout switches. Open Range Technical Service Bulletin 07092014 from Highland Ridge RV on July 09/2014: “Highland Ridge RV has identified a potential issue regarding the function of the slide-out systems with the Open Range products. Models affected are new unsold models and models that currently under the limited 2 year warranty…Highland Ridge RV has determined that the slide-out in/out switches that were installed may not produce enough electric amps for the system to function correctly. Due to this there is a chance of slide-out motors, gears boxes and/or drive shafts failing.” Other people on the forum stated they called their dealer and they either sent them new switches or scheduled a service visit. Our dealer (who has gone through four Service Managers in a one year period) didn’t notify me about the recall. I asked them if they could just send the switches and we could replace them. This was really a good thing, because we noticed the motor was making a funny noise the last time we put the slideout out and hopefully this explains it. I generally avoid the more technical discussions in the forum, but I have to say I am glad I stumbled across this as we could have had a much more serious problem down the road.

So enough of all of that not-fun stuff. Friday’s weather was absolutely beautiful, so Lee and I drove to Indian Rocks Beach (about 15 minutes away) to watch the sunset. Lee has gone a couple of times, but it was always too cold for me, but tonight was just perfect and we took the most beautiful pictures. We also got to listen to taps being played when the sun goes down. An older vet comes every night and plays his bugle as the sun falls beneath the waves. Absolutely lovely moment and a very nice man.

Sunset at Indian Rocks Beach in Largo Florida

Gentleman who plays taps every night at Sunset beach

On Saturday we got up early and decided to check out one of the four local parks. Pinellas County has a large park about 15 minutes away called The Florida Botanical Gardens. We went there first because it’s so close to the house I could go on a lunch break and hang out. We ended up spending several hours there because it was so amazing. It is totally free and it is divided into multiple sections so we took a while to walk around. They have the east and west gardens, a tropical section, wedding area, herb garden, butterfly garden, alligator area, and a wonderful historical village with over 25 buildings. The buildings were largely left to the historical society in wills with enough funds to completely transport the building. Then other members of the historical society fill it with antiques. Very, very cool, completely free, and totally unexpected. The historical area also has volunteers in several of the buildings who explain about the time period and the particular building they are in. I spent quite some time talking to a woman about how quilting is done today versus how it was done in the 1800’s. Really neat.

Camellia

I had no idea bananas had a large flower at the bottom. Reminded me a bit of the flower from Little Shop of Horrors

My first alligator. The duck swimming close by didn’t interest him at all

Turtles sunning themselves on the bank pretty near the gator but they seemed unconcerned

Center of the historical village

One of the volunteers was in the Grocery Store

Village Garage

The garage was very cool

After such a great time at the gardens I really didn’t want to go anywhere else, so we will save those for another day. We went back to the RV for lunch and then we puttered until 5pm when the RV Resort was having a pig roast. Lee wasn’t terribly thrilled about going, but I thought it would be good to at least put in a short appearance, plus free food, so we walked down at 5pm.

On Sunday Lee went to a study session held by one of his fellow students who is a retired Air Force Colonel and a whiz at all things electrical, so I decided to go and visit the Sunken Garden. After the great experience on Saturday, I almost didn’t go because I didn’t want to be disappointed, but the weather was beautiful so I drove the 20 minutes to St. Pete. Sunken Garden’s claim to fame is that it is a 100-year-old garden and I really wanted to see plants that were that old. The $8 admission threw me off though. Not because $8 is a lot of money but because I have found the free or near free attractions are often better. I was pleasantly surprised however and definitely felt I got my money’s worth. Although it was a bit crowded (there was a line when it opened at noon on Sunday) and not as big as I would have liked (only took me 45 minutes to walk through), it was jam-packed with huge beautiful plants and there were many more flowers in bloom than I would have expected in January. Also the gardens boast many plants from tropical regions around the world, so I got to see plants and flowers I had never seen before. Definitely worth a trip, but I would recommend going during a weekday if you can manage it.

The growth was huge and dense which makes the relatively small place feel bigger

Beautiful paths are cut at multiple levels so you could be very close to someone and not see them.

I have never seen flowering vines this high in my life. They were like two stories tall and hanging from the tops of giant trees

The limestone was excavated when the gardens were originally built

You sit on it and feel peace and serenity. IT was a really cool, smooth rock

This was the view across from the growing stone which did make me feel peaceful

Beautiful beautiful flowers

Never seen one of these before

I’ve never seen this flower either. Wish DeDe was with me she would have loved it.

Monday was a holiday for me and it was great because when living in New England I thought it was a waste to have a holiday in January (no disrespect to Martin Luther King just wish it would be a different day), but down here it was amazing. The day was absolutely gorgeous with temps in the high 70’s and sunny skies. Lee had school unfortunately , but I was free so got up early and drove down to Fort Meyers to see my friends Jo and Ben, Kelly and Bill, and Eileen and Gene. I had an absolutely wonderful time talking with my friends and we had a nice dinner (thank you so much Gene and Eileen for treating me…that was incredibly sweet) and I reluctantly left at 7:30pm to start the two-hour drive home. It was a long day but absolutely what I needed to brush the last of those “closed in feelings” away. I know I’ve said it before, but I absolutely love these people and they are the best support system in the world. No matter how you are feeling, they are there for you and although the experience does vary from person to person, we are all absolutely committed to supporting each other as we transition to the full timing lifestyle. There was lots of laughter, great advice, and some commiseration which is all a wonderful thing. And most importantly it reaffirmed that I am not alone in this. So thank you all so much for the wonderful day and I can’t wait until we are all together again.

From back left
Tracy, Ben, Kelly, Bill, Jo, Gene, and Eileen

Lessons Learned

When you are feeling closed in get out and do something. See friends, visit a nature park, go see an attraction.
You can fill an entire weekend without spending much money (I spent $8 this weekend).
Be careful of making any big decisions when your feeling antsy or closed in. Give it some time to pass.

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January 12, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

Football and Friends

It was a very busy week here in Largo, Florida and it was very interesting from a “what will our life look like?” perspective. Lee started RV Tech school this week and I worked every day from the camper. It was nice getting a break from each other all day and we also worked to get into some sort of a routine. I should probably explain the break part. As I have said before we have been married 25 years, have known each other since we were 14 and 16, and truly are best friends. That being said I don’t think we have ever actually spent this much time together…certainly not in 400 square feet…and it’s a bit of an adjustment. I keep running into feelings of being unsettled in my environment (mainly because everything hasn’t found its permanent home yet) and working through that is easier when it’s just me in the space. So the break was good from that perspective and I actually had the chance to organize my side of the desk and get some housekeeping items done.

I also cooked every day this week and it’s been years since I cooked this much. Lee had a great hot lunch every day (he said the other students were pretty jealous) and I found a couple more winners for my recipe list. Really you can’t go wrong with cooking. It’s cheaper, with two people there are plenty of leftovers for lunches, and it is fun when something you try for the first time goes completely right. Don’t get me wrong I am not cooking every night forever, but I have tons of recipes I collected when we were waiting for the house to sell that I am dying to try. Plus while Lee’s in school it’s good if he is eating well. If you’re curious, when meal planning I like to mix simple with the more complicated and new versus old recipes. Here’s an example with next week’s menu plan although it may change without notice.

Saturday – Chili
Sunday – Sirloin Tips and Noodles, green beans, corn on the cob
Monday – Kentucky Fried Chicken, Cole Slaw, and Zippy Fries
Tuesday – Southern Fried Chicken Salad (using leftover chicken from Monday and making egg salad made for Lee’s lunch on Weds)
Weds – Pork Chops w/ Potato Casserole, baked beans
Thursday – Catfish, Stuffing, and frozen mixed vegetables

I also made a dentist appointment this week at Aspen Dental. I am pretty crazy about clean teeth. No matter how broke we were when I was a kid my mother always made sure I went to the dentist and as a consequence I have had zero adult cavities. Plus, they have linked teeth problems to other issues such as cardiac problems later in life, so to me it is VERY important to get regular cleanings. Bacteria can build up in your gums and it is a very short step to getting into your blood stream. So when we decided to go on the road I was concerned about going to a dentist. In the RV Dreams rally I asked the question, but no one really had a good answer and it has remained a concern of mine that is unresolved. I tried going to my sister’s dentist in Rock Hill, but they wanted a first patient appt first and I realized I would have to get a first patient appointment every 6 month as I would always be in a different place. Obviously that won’t work so my friend Cori asked if I had considered a national dental chain. The cool thing about routine health care is even if you don’t have a local doctor you can go to an urgent care almost anywhere but there isn’t anything like that for dental. Aspen Dental isn’t everywhere but they are a national chain and their computer systems are networked. Their reps have said I would not need to get a new patient exam every time with them, just the first time so I am going to give them a shot while here in Largo. I won’t really know how it works out until the second 6 months, but I am hoping they live up to the promise as this would be the perfect solution for those of us who travel a lot. My prescription is working just fine btw. My doctor promised to prescribe for 2 years before I needed to come back to her and Walgreen’s has a great online app that allows me to order the prescription wherever I am. So far no issues at all with that!!

So that’s what the week was like…work, school, errands…which is good. Because this isn’t vacation, it is real life and those things all still need to be done. A nice suprise early in the day is for the first time someone from RVillage reached out to me. RVillage is a relatively new website that allows you to “check in” at your campsite and see if any other RVillagers are there. David and Kris reached out when they saw we had an Open Range because they are interested in buying one and wanted to hear about our experience. We love our open range and were happy to invite them over and give a little tour. It also showed me that RVillage can work and it’s worth the time to keep checking into our sites. As another surprise on Friday I got a call from a work friend of mine that she was in Tampa for work. It was also Deb’s birthday and she invited me to meet two other work friends of ours and go out. Lee was great about the last minute change in plans…I believe he was pleased with having some alone time in the rig…and I jumped in my car and went to Tampa. We ended up meeting at this little pub called Mulligans Irish Pub and it was so great to see my friends in person. Deb, Julie, and I worked a ton together up in New England two summers ago but Julie lives in Tampa and Deb in Fort Worth so we rarely get to see each other in person. We had a great time talking and catching up although Deb has been reading my blog and knew much of what was happening. They seemed really interested in the life and I had a great time talking about why it meant so much to me and what a great time I was having. Also, the beer was great and they had a singer who was very good and was kind enough to sing Happy birthday for Deb. Julie’s husband was so funny. I loved talking to him and because he worked in a video store his family owned for 8 years he is a walking movie encyclopedia. Name any movie and he can tell you the year it was released, who starred in it, and the director. I tested him with Fast Times at Ridgemont High and he completely got it right. It was like a walking talking IMDB app!! It was a really great night and when these serendipitous events happen I am truly grateful for what we are doing because there is a lot more chance running into people than I ever thought would happen.

Julie, me, Deb, and Denise

I watched the Patriots game on Saturday (wow what a nail biter) and then Lee and I watched some Doctor Who in the evening. Lee and I have this deal going where we trade a Buffy the Vampire Slayer for a Doctor Who. I want him to watch Buffy and he’s trying to get me into Who. Since I was watching so much football I declared it a Buffy free weekend and we watched a two-part Doctor Who instead. You think you will be out running around all the time and never watch TV, but it does get dark pretty early and more importantly all that running around is tiring and sometimes you just want to sit and watch some TV. I was starting to feel like a bit of a couch potato though and thankfully we had made lunch plans with our good Dreamer friends Gene and Eileen who are staying about 1 hour south in Bradenton. Gene and Eileen were having a terrific time on the road (take a look at their blog Newhallin) and took a break to rent a condo and have Gene’s mother come and stay with them for a few months. I decided on lunch because I like to eat out as much as the next person, but lunch is 30%-50% cheaper than a dinner so you get the experience without the sticker shock.

We met at a cool place right on the beach called Gulf Drive Cafe. Amazing location it really is right on the beach and the menu was great with breakfast, lunch, and dinner items. Eileen did the sweetest thing and gave us a present she had bought for all of our friends. We were the last ones she had seen and I really appreciated the gift as it does more than one thing!! We had a wonderful time catching up since we hadn’t seen each other since Pennsylvania and the conversation was easy and comfortable. The only down side was the service in the restaurant. Gene warned us the service wasn’t that great in this particular place but the view was amazing so people put up with it. He was right the service was absolutely terrible and as a former server and restaurant manager it is very difficult for me to not say something in those situations. But when your with friends you don’t want to make a fuss, but it was distracting to me and I found myself not enjoying the experience as much as I should have. Lee says I just need to get over this and I know he’s right, but when the waitress brought Lee a cup of coffee with no sugar or cream and had an attitude when he asked for some that was the last straw for me. So I did something I rarely do and left a 10% tip along with a note on the check. It said, “I routinely tip 25% but in this case I could not do that. A beautiful view does not make up for a job poorly done.” Those who have worked in the restaurant industry will probably cheer the act and those who have not will deplore it, but as I stated I rarely tip less than 20% and if I was her I would have wanted to know why. For the record it wasn’t that they were busy or disorganized it was that she never picked up the pace to compensate. Made me nuts. After the lunch though we walked right out onto the beach and it was beautiful then we went back to Eileen and Gene’s condo and got caught up with each other. It was a wonderful visit and I loved every minute of it…bad service aside.

Gulf Drive Cafe in Bradenton Beach

Eileen and Gene

Fishing line strung over the tables to stop seagulls from dive bombing the restaurant and stealing food

Gift from Eileen …it’s does way more than one thing

Gene and Lee ignoring the beautiful view to compare phone apps…geez

We got home in time to watch the Denver/Colts game (not nearly as good as I expected) and the the Golden Globes. It was a very full week, but I am looking forward to checking some things off our Tampa list next Saturday.

Tomatoes Vinaigrette

This was delicious. Even Lee who is not a huge tomato fan liked them

Italian Salad Dressing (I use Good Seasons)
4 very thick tomato slices
Minced onion (instant, chopped red or yellow)
Parsley flakes

Slice tomatoes and arrange in square pan
Cover with salad dressing
Sprinkle with onion and parsley
Cover and refrigerate 3 hours basting occasionally (don’t go much beyond the 3 hours or tomatoes will be over ripe)
Serve

Tomatoes Viniagrette

Tracy’s Sirloin Tips and Noodles

2 # of any grilling steak (london broil to ribeye it all works)
1/4 -1/2 cup butter
1 12oz package wide egg noodles
garlic salt
1 large can mushrooms

Broil, grill, or pan fry steak to rare temperature
Cut into bite size pieces and set aside
Boil egg noodles using package description the drain and set aside
Place mushrooms and 1/4 cup butter in pan, sprinkler with garlic salt, and cook on medium low heat until mushrooms are browned
Place steak with browned mushrooms, add additional butter and garlic salt as desired. Cook until steak is desired doneness
Combine noodles, steak, mushrooms and butter sauce in a pot and heat for a few minutes on medium low until all ingredients are hot
Serve

Easy Peasy Green Beans

2 cans french cut green beans
Butter
Garlic Salt

Drain Green Beans from Can
Place in skillet with 1/4 cup butter
Sprinkler with garlic salt to taste
Cook on medium heat stirring occasionally 15-20 minutes
Serve

Sirloin Tips and Noodles with Easy Peasy Green Beans

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January 5, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

First Time in Clearwater

I have been to Florida many times in my life including several summers spent on Singer Island, but I have never lived in Florida before. I have to say, I finally get why people are snowbirds. The weather is absolutely wonderful. It’s been in the low 80’s almost every day and although it does rain frequently, it is usually those quick showers that are over in no time. It’s also very breezy and I am enjoying very much the sun on my face especially when I see that New Hampshire is experiencing ice storms and weather in the teens. I know, I am sorry, I certainly don’t mean to rub it in, but part of me is wondering why I didn’t do this a long time ago. Yes, I am sure I would find the summers miserable, but I won’t be here in the summer, and for right now this weather is absolutely amazing. (I have no such qualms. New England weather sucks in the winter, even people who have lived there their entire lives think so. – Lee)

It’s been a busy week…as you know my grandmother passed away, and I spent Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wednesday with my mother, grandfather, and aunts and uncle in North Palm. I’d like to talk about what I did on the other days though. When we pulled into the site, we were a little taken aback that our site number had been changed at the last minute. I made these reservations months ago, but I have to say I am glad our site changed. We are staying for 10 weeks (while Lee goes to RV Tech school) at the Rainbow Village Largo 55+ RV community. Yes, I know we are not 55+, but they are allowed a certain amount of guests who are under that age and we got an exemption which cracks me up. (Trace is so close to 55 as to make no difference, but we’re calling it an “exception.” I’m considerably younger, but since we’re married they had to let me in as well. – Lee) We had pretty low expectations coming in. Just a reasonable place to stay close to the school, but I really like it. Our new site was pretty tough to get into, but once there, we are in a nice spot. So far no one is in the site we face so it’s like being on a double lot. We are also surrounded by a group of French Canadians and it’s nice hearing them speak in French all the time. Adds to the atmosphere. (In addition, there’s something really nice about not being able to understand conversations that you can’t help but overhear. It just turns into background noise. At our previous seasonal site in Swanzey, people were so loud, it was almost impossible not to just start participating. Sometimes I did, quietly enough so they couldn’t hear me, which is a shame, in retrospect. I often had compelling things to add. Also, everyone here thinks I’m Canadian, and they keep speaking to me in French. I keep apologizing for not being Canadian, but that seems to just reinforce their idea that I’m Canadian. It’s a vicious circle, with no end in sight. C’est une honte. – Lee)

So far people are friendly but have largely left us alone which is nice and if we do want to get to know folks there are plenty of opportunities with a daily calendar that has 3-5 free activities a day. It’s clean, neat, and I feel completely safe as we are gated in and surrounded by our own security force of older people who are paying attention to what’s going on!! Plus 65% of the structures are permanent so it feels like a little community more than a trailer park which was a concern of mine.

Right outside our camper in Rainbow Village, Largo Fl

Even though we aren’t on the water or really near anything cool there are many things to see and do within a half hour drive. The beach is 15-20 minutes away (depending on traffic) and Tampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, and Tarpon Springs are all within easy driving distance. It’s quite a bit cooler here than even two hours south, and since we are still getting acclimated to the weather appreciate that. Lee really wanted to see the sun set on the ocean since he hadn’t had the opportunity since the mid-90’s, so on New Years Day we went to Clearwater Beach which is considered one of the best beaches in the US. The beach is beautiful with tons of white sand, but it was a bit crowded for my taste and after checking out Pier 60 (which has vendors and restaurants) we moved down to Sand Key Park which I liked much better. It was $5 for an all day parking pass at Sand Key (versus $3 an hour at the Hilton on the Clearwater beach) and much less crowded. We stayed for quite awhile looking for shells, watching birds, and eventually seeing the sunset and it was a very nice experience.

PIer 60 in Clearwater

Clearwater beach

Sand Key State Park (Totally different ocean than Pier 60. It’s not even on the same side. This one is on the right, and the other one is on the left, as the pictures show. – Lee)

Message I wrote to Lee on the beach (Never trust anyone who writes an I.O.U. in something as temporary as sand.- Lee)

Thursday and Friday we spent the time getting acclimated to the area. I was nervous about my first haircut here, since I had heard horror stories from people about changing hairdressers and had the same person cutting my hair for over 10 years, but we found a Super Cuts and Lindsey did a great job. We also tried out one of the three local grocery stores. We’re going to try them all and see which one we like best. I am finding those types of things to be unsettling..not knowing which grocery store to go to, or where to get my hair cut, but as I knock each one off my list I am finding it’s much easier than I thought it would be. I am overdue on a teeth cleaning as well, so calling Aspen Dental soon which Cori recommended to me because they are a national chain, so I will tell you how that went after the appointment. I also started cooking again, something I have kind of gotten away from with all the traveling and actually menu planned and shopped for all next week. My first couple of attempts; Individual Beef Wellington and Chicken Parmesan were not that great (meat overcooked and undercooked respectively), but Lee appreciated the effort and since he only has 1/2 hour for lunch at the school every day it’s important I get back into the habit. Plus we are absolutely committed to living within our budget this month. Originally my intention was to start posting budget numbers last month, but things were so crazy with the moves and unexpected startup costs, I decided to start fresh this month. I’ll be completely honest, we did not do as well as I would have hoped but we also didn’t completely blow the bank either. My advice is expect to plan to spend extra that first month, just like you would if you bought a new home or moved into a new apartment.

Saturday we drove down to Fort Meyers to see Jo and Ben. One of the best things about being here is so many of our friends are close by. We saw Kelly and Bill and the night we came in (they made us a terrific dinner) and we hadn’t seen Jo and Ben since they left Maine. Ben took a six month contract with the Fort Meyers hospital which he likes very much and Jo is working on call for 3 different hospice companies. Plus they really really like their site which sits right on a canal and they have their own little private boat dock which goes to a river which has tons of manatees in it. (That is utter nonsense. There is tons of water, tons of birds, tons of mangrove trees. There are not tons of manatees. Not even a few pounds of manatees. We saw no manatees. We were there, we were in the river, we looked. No manatees. I think it’s all a big marketing ploy. Just like in New Hampshire with their alleged “moose”. I lived there over 13 years, never saw any “moose”. Don’t believe the lies about the moose, and the manatees. – Lee) After tons of hugs, talking a bit, and eating a quick lunch we set out on their boat. Ben took us up to the power plant which dumps hot water into the river and is a favorite hanging out spot of the manatees. (Suuuuure. – Lee) It was a glorious day and although we didn’t see any manatees we did see lots of birds and some very cool mangroves. We had a terrific time and I am so glad we are close to our good friends again.

Ben and Lee on the boat (You see how Jo and Ben are almost gleeful in their laughter about how we feel for the “manatee” story? – Lee)

Lee and Jo

Loved the pelicans just hanging out. (Those aren’t real. They’re sophisticated animatronic pelican statues. – Lee)

Lessons Learned

Budget extra money for the first month or so…you’ll need it
Getting a hair cut in a new place doesn’t have to be traumatic…BUT be prepared to describe exactly how you want it. Your former hairdresser can write down important information like color, type of cut, length etc for you before you go on the road.

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January 1, 2015 by Lee and Tracy

For my Grandmother

The same day we made it to Florida I received a phone call that my grandmother had passed away. She had a relatively minor procedure to unclog an artery (the first time she had been in the hospital since her youngest son was born) and she was back home recovering when she unexpectedly passed. She just fell asleep in her chair with her husband and her son close by…and was gone. That was my grandmother in a nutshell: no fuss. Everything she did she did with no fuss, and she died the same way. It was very unexpected though (she was only 83 and in fair health) so I was glad I was only 3 hours away and could get there quickly to be with my grandfather and aunts and uncles as they made arrangements to transport her back to Ohio, where she was from, for the funeral. Since she is a huge part of the reason I am living on the road, I thought I would write a little about her life. I admired her tremendously and maybe writing will help deal with the sadness some.

Grandma Pat was born in Akron, Ohio but lived in Newport, RI after her parents divorced. I lived and worked near Newport and had the opportunity to visit one of the cottages where she spent time as a child. I don’t know much about her early years, but they were tough, and she left high school in the 11th grade to marry my grandfather. She had my mother at 15 and went on to have 3 more children with him. So you would think she had everything against her…kids at a young age, no high school education, but not my grandmother. She was tough.

Grandpa became a very successful brick layer and they flipped houses back before flipping houses was even a thing. They would buy a house, and he would fix up the structure, and she was a brilliant and creative interior designer and would completely redo the inside. Then they would sell it for more money than they bought it for, and move on. I don’t know how many houses they bought and sold over the years but she had a knack for picking a property that would increase in value, and the talent to show it to its best advantage. They had a place in Florida for many years right on the beach at Singer Island and we spent quite a few summers with them when I was a kid. I have to say it spoiled me quite a bit because I grew up walking the beach a few yards from where we were staying and few vacations I have ever taken since then have compared to those childhood experiences.

She also owned her own beauty salon when I was small. She taught herself to do hair, had a salon in one of her homes, and then bought her own little place in downtown Grove City, Ohio called Patrice Salon. She was very very good with hair and most of my early haircuts came from her. The other really impressive thing she did was teach herself the stock market. She was a whiz at math and through research she learned how the market worked. For years she managed their investments and did very well for them until the dot-com burst in the 90’s when they (along with most people people) lost quite a bit. She was never bitter though. She looked me right in the eye and told me the stock market was no different than gambling, and to never let anyone tell me different. That was my grandma. She didn’t give much advice, but when she did it mattered, and I learned to pay attention.

She was the most proper person I have ever met in my life. Not prim or prissy, just proper. Mom told me this week that GranmaPat bought a book of manners and used that book to live her life. I never saw her rumpled or messy, she was always neat and orderly. She was very reserved, but I never found her unapproachable. My cousin Troy and I spent the most time with her as the oldest grandchildren and she was very good to us, but no-nonsense. I really think my brutal practicality comes from her…along with my hair. (Mom used to despair when I was a kid that I got my grandma’s hair because it never did what it was supposed to.) That practicality was balanced with amazing creativity though. Later in life, she taught herself to paint watching the guy from PBS and she worked at it until she got pretty good. Her initials are P.A.P and she called those paintings her PAP smears…which was funny because it was the closest to inappropriate I ever saw my grandmother get.

Grandma Pat’s picture

When Grandpa was 55 he hurt his back and had enough years in the brick layers union to retire. At some point they decided to see the country, and they bought a Class A motor coach and started traveling. Again, they were ahead of their time. I didn’t even know that was something people did, but it made a huge impression on me and I always thought one day I would want to do the same thing. They traveled all over the US and Canada in a Class A and then a Class C. A year ago when Lee and I were thinking about starting to full time, I called Grandma and asked her what she thought, and she said she had a wonderful time those three years. She met so many great people and they saw so many wonderful things. I asked her why she stopped, and she paused and said, “Because we saw everything we wanted to see, Tracy.” As if it were obvious, which I supposed it was. That was my grandmother; she didn’t suffer fools. She loved deeply though, I always knew she loved me, she just had a tough time showing it. It never bothered me though because I always knew. I also have to say she is the only person I know who could stop my mother in her tracks with a look or a word. My mom is a very strong person, but grandma, in her quiet way, trumped her. Mothers and daughters..every woman on the planet understands.

So I will miss her very much, but I carry in me many things I learned from her: my tendency to be still in conflict, my need for some order in chaos, my “properness”. My sister Wendy seems to have inherited most of her creativity, but I hope to discover I have some of that in me waiting to blossom. Mostly though, my desire to create my own path I truly believe comes from her and her example. It is at war with the desire for conformity in me, but I think in the end that quiet independent spirit will win out. I often think of her and all the things she accomplished with every disadvantage in her life and have no patience for any excuses on my own part since I had so many more advantages starting out. I love her and I admire her, and I wish I could have told her that one last time. But I also know she would have no patience with me dwelling on it.

She would say, “That’s enough Tracy. Get on with it. ”

So I will Grandma, and thank you.

Grandma Pat

December 27, 2014 by Lee and Tracy

First Time on Jekyll Island

The day after Christmas we were excited to get on the road and hopefully into some warmer weather, but it took us a little longer than expected to finish packing in the morning. I guess we were out of practice being in one place for so long. (For someone with a master’s degree, she’s not very good at spelling “slept in and then lay around all morning like a slacker”. – Lee) We left around 9:50am but thought it would be fine since it was only a 5 hour travel day. Also we made Cori’s Traveling Day Shredded Pork (which is yummy and convenient as an “on the road lunch item”…see below for the recipe) so we were all set. Unfortunately I guess it was a travel day for a lot of other people because the traffic was terrible. I was really really surprised, because it was a Friday I thought for sure the roads would be light, but every time we got near a major city…Columbia, Charleston, and Savannah traffic really slowed down. We also saw several accidents…not due to weather as it was a gorgeous sunny day, just folks not paying attention I suppose. They were not minor accidents either as we saw two people put on stretchers. Anyway it took much much longer than expected to get to our campground in Brunswick, GA so we rolled in around 5pm. Yikes!! Long travel day but at least we had just enough time to get into the site before it got dark.

We are staying at the Golden Isles RV Park for a couple of nights because I wanted to see Jekyll Island. It’s not a great park, but it’s Passport America and only cost $17 a night plus it is close to everything we wanted to see. It’s not awful or anything, but it doesn’t have much in the way of redeeming qualities and the entire campground has this funky marsh smell. (This entire area has a funky marsh smell. Somewhere between rotten eggs and sewage. It’s really gross. – Lee) I thought it was the entire area, but once we get a little closer to the water the smell dissipates. (Her nose just got used to it.-Lee) Anyway, like I said, not a place I would stay for a week or anything but fine for a couple of cheap nights. (Fine for a couple of cheap nights. That’s how she ended up with me. Thank you, I’m here all weekend. Try the veal. – Lee)

We got up in the morning and went over to Jekyll Island. The Island is a State Park and survives mainly on self funding. It cost $6 per car for a day pass to get into the park which took us back a little, but it was absolutely worth it. There were minimal crowds and I really loved the island. Beautiful marsh areas and amazing huge beaches that we spent some time walking on. There are also some nice neighborhoods with normal houses in them (as opposed to mini-mansions) and there are beautiful bike paths absolutely everywhere. The first stop was the beach and we found a nice little access spot down near the soccer camp on the east side of the island. Posted signs reminded you it was a nesting area and asked to stay off the dunes which of course we did. It was absolutely beautiful and we took a lovely walk with some great pictures.

Entrance to Jekyll Island

Trees were growing out of the beach very cool

My sweetie pie. (Day 39, the seagulls still think I’m a seagull. They suspect nothing. – Lee)

After the beach we drove around the island a bit and stopped the Georgia Sea Turtle Research Center. I have loved sea turtles ever since getting to swim with one while scuba diving in Honduras and was thrilled to stumble across the research center. It was $7 per person, a very reasonable price, and had educational areas and the hospice area where the recuperating turtles live. (This is Georgia math, mind you. The sign said $7 per person, and they charged me $13.98. – Lee) Each turtle has an information sheet that says in detail what happened to it,and the plan for either its release into the wild or its permanent placement with an aquarium. They also have baby turtles and they watch nests and breeding areas closely in the summer months. I was happy to pay my $7 ($6.99 – Lee) to such a worthy cause and more than felt I got my money’s worth. The gift shop is evil though, with waaaay too many cute turtle things to buy. (If she had read all the little information plaques, she would have learned that sea turtles are rabid capitalists. – Lee)

Me at the sign

Skeleton of a prehistoric turtle very cool

Skeleton of a giant turtle very cool

The research assistants were very serious about their turtles

The babies were marked and were being weighed when we were there

This one was called the Pumpkin King which cracked me up. He’s almost ready to be released.

This poor little girl had her flipper caught in wire and had to have it amputated. She swims pretty good with three though. She was brought from Florida. (I had some funny stuff to say about a three-flippered sea turtle, but it seemed cruel, so I’m keeping it to myself. – Lee)

I bought this shirt because it made me think of DeDe, my mother-in-law

After the institute we went to the campground to check it out. Jekyll Island campground is in a terrific location, but unfortunately the sites are right on top of each other. It’s in a terrific location with bike paths that lead to absolutely everywhere on the island. The campsites cost $38 a night plus a $6 daily fee for parking which goes to the State Park. The monthly rates were much better at $550 a month off-season and $650 a month high season. I would definitely recommend the larger pull throughs D5, D6, and G21, G22, G23. I say larger but they are still very close to your neighbor. The campground has its own fenced in bird watching area though that I absolutely loved and again the location cannot be beat. (We cannot stress enough how close together these sites are. There were several places where the awning of one RV was within a few inches of the neighbor’s RV. For that kind of money, there should be some more separation. It’s a campground, not an airline.- Lee)

The bird watching area at the Jekyll Island campground. More campgrounds should have these…VERY cool. Then we went over to the historic part of the island and saw the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. From the late 1800’s to 1950 it was a private island owned by the club and you could only enter through one set of docks. There are lots of old “cottages” and a grand hotel and it was still decorated for Christmas. The Hotel was beautiful from the outside and we took more great pictures.

Jekyll Island Club Hotel

One of the many “cottages”

Waterfront

We talked about having lunch at the pier, but were good (Another typo. She misspelled broke and over-budget. – Lee) and drove back to the camper and had lunch there. After a quick break we went to St. Simons island which was MUCH more crowded and touristy. I preferred Jekyll’s Island but we did find two things from my Roadside America App . We found a bulldog covered with pennies promoting the local ASPCA and these wonderful carvings in trees which are supposed to be the spirits of dead sailors. The carvings were tough to find, but led us into a lovely little neighborhood tucked back in a corner.

Bull Dog covered with pennies for the Humane Society

Carvings in trees are throughout St. Simons island but hard to find

Sailor’s spirit carving in tree

Sailor’s spirit …this one was a bit creepy

One of the “cottages” tucked back in this neighborhood we found

Finally we went and saw the St. Simon’s Lighthouse and spent a few quiet moments on a side street pier.

Saint Simon’s Lighthouse

Taking a few quiet moments by the ocean

(I felt compelled to add this picture of the stairs that Trace is sitting at the top of. These stairs literally go down into the water. That seems odd to me. Georgia is a weird place that smells weird. I don’t like it. I’m going to Florida tomorrow. – Lee)

It was an absolutely beautiful day…sunny and 73 degrees, but I was a bit tired so we decided to come back to the camper. I would definitely like to come back to Jekyll Isle sometime later in our travels, but am looking forward to getting to Clearwater tomorrow and seeing our friends Kelly and Bill. Kelly is making dinner for us and she is an outstanding cook…so I can’t wait!!! (Also, we’ll be in Clearwater for like, 10 weeks, so if you are in the area, and aren’t weird, and don’t smell weird, send us a message. We’ll do a quick background check and see if we want you to take us to dinner or something in a very well lit, public place with lots of witnesses. – Lee)

P.S. Here’s Lee’s great egret pic. He got a little pouty that it didn’t make the blog and was only on the bird page 🙂

Great Egret

Cori’s Traveling Day Shredded Pork

3-4 lbs of pork
1-2 bottles BBQ sauce
Water

1. Put pork in a crock pot with some water and 1/3 bottle BBQ sauce for 4-5 hours

2. Drain grease

3. Shred pork and add remainder of one bottle of sauce. Add additional to consistency desired

4. Cook additional time as needed to soften pork

5. Serve on buns. Freezes well and heats very well in microwave.

y003

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December 26, 2014 by Lee and Tracy

First Christmas on the Road

Our first Christmas on the road was a bit of a mixed bag. It was really wonderful being with my sister and her kids, but we both really missed our girls. Not only was it our first on the road experience but it was also our first Christmas in 25 years without having at least one kid there. My nephew Alec’s 11th birthday was Tuesday, which was fun, but we were both pretty depressed on Christmas Eve. We didn’t make plans with ourselves or anyone else and in retrospect this would have been the perfect time to start a new tradition. But we just watched TV all day and generally felt glum. Not such a great plan. Christmas day was much better because we got to speak with the girls and our parents…plus we had a terrific time watching Wendy’s kids open their presents and seeing Abrams first ever Christmas was really special. Wendy and Josh also made a fantastic big ole country breakfast which was amazing!! Lee got his sausage biscuits and gravy which are his favorite Christmas morning tradition since my mother started it many years ago.

Alec and Bryce and the pile of presents

Alec with one of the soccer goals. It was a soccer themed Christmas!

Bryce

Bailey was happy about her Uggs

Loved Wendy’s face when she got a Pandora bead from Josh with Abrams birth stone

Abram loved the tissue paper the best.

I put a lot of thought into their gifts since they have been getting gift cards from me for years and it was really nice to see their faces when they opened their presents. Bailey was the hardest to buy for but I think I scored with the Ulta giftcard!! After breakfast the boys went outside and played soccer which was really fun to watch and Wendy put Abram in his new little Tikes swing which he loved. One thing about Christmas in Ohio or New Hampshire- not much outside time, but it was a beautiful day in South Carolina and almost everyone in the neighborhood was outside for a little while.

Loved watching the boys play soccer on Christmas day…never seen that before

We went back to the camper and started packing up for our departure the next day, and then we went and met the family for Chinese Christmas dinner. This has always been their tradition and it was a lot of fun eating chinese for dinner but I am glad we went early because the place was packed by 6pm. Afterwards Wendy really wanted to see the final Hobbit movie and Lee and I went with her. The movie was good although the fight scene was like an hour and a half, but it was nice hanging out and I was really grateful that I got to share my first two holidays on the road with her and her family.

Oh and by the way, if anyone was wondering how the birds and squirrels liked their edible Christmas tree I think this picture speaks for itself.

They devoured the “tree”

So it’s been a great 6 weeks in Rock Hill and we loved Ebenezer State Park Campground, but it’s definitely time to move on, so Florida here we come!

Ebenezer State Park Campground 4490 Boatshore Rd. Rock Hill, SC 5 out of 5 pinecones

Ebenezer State Park is a terrific campground. The price for out-of-state residents is only $28 a night and they have some beautiful waterfront sites. In addition they have excellent boat access, free wifi, (lies, lies, lies. The wifi is nonexistent, and when it’s working, it’s slow-Lee) and the TV signal through antenna is very good for the major networks. We stayed for six weeks and although their rule is you have to move every two weeks, we enjoyed all of the sites we stayed in (#30, #23, and #8). They do book fast however, so reserving in advance on the web or over the phone is a good idea. Off season there was plenty of spaces but they are pretty crowded in season and do require a day off property every two weeks to give other campers a chance. About half their sites are first come first serve and the others are reserveable, but once you get used to the system staying for an extended period is not a problem. They have many 50 amp sites and the water is from the city and tastes as good as bottled. Overall we were very very happy staying here and I give it my highest recommendation.

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December 22, 2014 by Lee and Tracy

First Time in Charleston, SC

Charleston has always been on my places to visit bucket list. Ever since I read the Prince of Tides when I was in my 20’s I have wanted to visit the magical city that Pat Conroy wrote about. Pat is one of my favorite authors and he writes so beautifully of the southern places of his young adulthood that you feel as if you have been there. One of my favorite books, South of Broad , tells the story of the families who live in the giant mansions south of Broad street (and those who do not). Because of his books, I have always wanted to see the mansions, the town, and the nearby islands, and finally I had the opportunity. I cashed in some Marriott points and got a free hotel room near the college and within walking distance to the historic part of the City. On Saturday morning Lee and I got up very early and drove the three hours down to Charleston.

Some things in life don’t live up to their press. Let’s face it… most things do not, but I loved every part of Charleston, and the city absolutely delivered on the promise made to me by Mr. Conroy and his books. In order to truly experience this city you really need to walk its cobblestone streets, but I will share my experience the best that I can. For those who have been to San Francisco (another of my favorite cities), it is similar in the mixture of history, water, and beautiful gardens. For those who have been Boston or Philadelphia you will understand how amazing it can be to put your hand on the brick wall of a structure built in the 1700’s. I have been to those places, but have never experienced one city that provided history, culture, nature, and style all in one package. Charleston is “southern old”. The colony was started in 1670 by a group of settlers with a grant from Charles II and they were largely left to their own devices. In order to survive they built a wall around their town and used the ocean as their main means of transportation. The historic part of Charleston exists within the boundaries of those long gone original walls, and a tremendous amount is within that relatively small space. The buildings are close together, and the alleyways are tight, which gives the city a very European feel.

The city is also home to a very old military college called The Citadel. Founded in 1842, the Citadel is a truly southern institution and since Pat Conroy was a graduate I just had to visit it first. It was way too early to check into our hotel when we made it to Charleston so the Citadel was our first stop. Visitors are welcome and because it was Christmas break the campus was almost completely empty. We read that every Friday people come to see the weekly military parade of the students, but we enjoyed wandering with no crowds and took some great pictures while we were there. The gift shop was open and I couldn’t help myself. I had to buy a copy of the Lords of Discipline while I was standing on the grounds.

The Citadel

After the Citadel, we drove downtown and were pleased to see that the weather (slightly rainy) was keeping the crowds away. As we were driving through we saw the restaurant where my sister said she had the best meal of her life and decided we had to stop and have lunch there. We parked next door (free parking if you eat at the restaurant) and took a little walk until they opened their doors at 11:30.

"Trolley" bus provide transportation downtown

“Trolley” busses provide free transportation downtown

Tree lined cobblestone walkways..so beautiful

Really neat fountain that people are allowed to play in

I couldn’t resist even though it was pretty chilly

Apartments facing Waterfront Park

I could totally live in one of these apartments facing the park and then the ocean

My favorite part of Waterfront Park is the Pineapple Fountain. I have read about this but it was so much better in person. It’s very large and people are allowed to play in it.

Magnolias Restaurant in the Historic District

It was a very pleasant walk despite the weather and I definitely worked up an appetite for Magnolia’s. Magnolias is a white table-cloth restaurant and one I normally wouldn’t try, but my sister and her husband know their food and I wanted the experience. The service was absolutely amazing, I mean truly amazing, and we had a great seat by the window so we could watch the people walk by. The food was a mixed bag. Lee’s fish was according to him in the Top 10 fish meals he had ever eaten. My tomato basil soup was good, raspberry sorbet was terrific, but the fried green tomatoes were only so-so. In general I prefer diners, and a $58 dollar lunch is a bit steep for me, but I did enjoy the overall experience. After lunch we walked over to the market which has tons of local vendors selling their wares in a series of long brick building (think Faneuil Hall) and we explored some of the narrow cobblestone alleyways.

Narrow alleyways where only a compact car can drive down

Narrow alleyways where only a very compact car can drive

Next we drove to the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon to take a tour of one of the oldest and most historic buildings in the city. This building was interesting to me because the Constitution was ratified here. According to a poster it was one of the three main building used during this time period and by seeing it we had completed the trifecta. (Independence Hall, Fanueil Hall, and the Old Exchange) Since I am a bit of a history nerd that was pretty exciting to me. We also had a tour of the dungeon area and saw part of the original 1600’s wall which the Exchange was built on and was excavated only 50 years ago. Seeing a wall that had stood for that long was really amazing and along with the other historical facts made the $9 entrance fee a bargain for me.

Model of the original walled city

A model of the original Exchange

The 1600’s wall. Four hundred years ago the sea came up to this point but over time has receded and is now two blocks away

During the revolutionary war the building was occupied by the British but the rebels stored 4,000 kegs of gunpowder in this room and sealed it up so the British never found it

After our history lessons it had cleared up enough for us to take a walk along Battery Park which has its own rich history since this is where the cannons were stationed that defended the port. It is also where the old mansions are and we spent a couple of hours walking the streets and the park. One of the best moments was when we came across a wedding in the gazebo in the park and got to watch the couple dance to Etta James’s “At Last” as their first song. It was an amazingly romantic moment and one of my favorites of the weekend.

Beautiful Oak Trees in the Park

Couple getting married and dancing to Etta James’s At Last

Memorial to the defenders of Fort Moultrie. I loved the inscription

Where the pirate Bonnet and his men were captured

Revolutionary War Statue

Civil War Statue

Carriage Tour on the main street

His puppy rides with him

One of the few decorated for the holidays

My favorite was The Roper House which has a beautiful view of the sea

After walking the sea wall and viewing the houses I was getting a little cold, so we jumped in the car and drove the many side streets, stopping on occasion to get a closer look at one of the houses. The houses in this area cost between $3M – $8M and they are mostly on tiny lots, but the interior houses have made the most of the space with the most beautiful gardens. One of the houses was open for a tour, but I was more interested in the gardens which were free to walk. Absolutely amazing.

This house is available to tour

Side garden

Loved the three fountains

Really cool stone bird house

They make so much out of a tiny space

Beautiful vine arch frames the fountain

Gas Lights were everywhere in historic Charleston. Very cool

After walking the homes we decided to take advantage of the remaining light and visit the Angel Oak tree on Johns Island. When my sister found out how much I loved trees she recommended it and it was a very very special moment for both of us. The tree is between 300 – 400 years old and is absolutely massive. Admission is free but they have a small gift shop and a donation box if you would like to contribute something and I absolutely loved touching the old bark. Amazing and absolutely worth the trip.

Angel Oak

While making our way to John’s island we kept seeing signs for the Festival of Lights on James Island so we thought we would check it out. Our friends Deb and Steve had stayed in the campground there and liked it, and since it was so close we thought “why not?”. What an absolutely wonderful surprise. For $15 ($10 if you bring a can of food) you can drive through the park and see all of the company sponsored lights and there were over 100 displays. In addition, the park center has a great stopping place where you can walk a section of lights, shop, roast a marshmallow, or have a cup of hot chocolate. We absolutely loved it. Almost all of the lights blink and show some kind of motion and they are very creative. We took many pictures but here are a few to give you the feel of the experience

Fire Pits. They sold huge marshmallows on a stick for $3...genuis

Fire Pits. They sold huge marsh mellows on a stick for $3…genuis

The Winter Wonderland

Cool hummingbird hanging from a tree

So cute

The annual winner the penguin slides down the ice

After the light show we drove back to the hotel and I think we were asleep by 9:30pm. It was a very long day and we still had a full list left for the following morning. I really wanted to eat at a french bakery the next morning but unfortunately all they had nearby was a little restaurant called Another Broken Egg. It started out great, totally cute brick building with friendly servers and the breakfasts themselves were reasonably priced. But when the bill came it was $32 before tip. Apparently the coffee was $3 a cup and Lee’s orange juice cost $4!!! With tip that was a $38 dollar breakfast and trust me it was not that good. One positive thing that came from the meal though was a serious conversation about money and eating out. We will discuss whether or not to spend $40 on an attraction, but when it comes to food we often do the most expedient and invariably pay for it. So we decided that food for us would hence forward come in two categories: Fuel and an Experience. We were definitely willing to pay more for an experience but if it was just fuel we would start searching out more reasonably priced alternatives. With that conversation out-of-the-way we came to Sullivan’s Island. Sullivan’s Island is only 3.3 miles long and has some of the highest per capita real estate prices in the country. Since it was early Sunday morning and another chilly day hardly anyone was out and we had a great time driving through the neighborhoods and seeing the beautiful homes. We also saw Sullivans lighthouse and stumbled across this really great public walkway to the beach. I love the ocean and this beach was a very nice one.

A cozy little beach cottage lol

Sullivan’s Island beach house

Sullivan’s Lighthouse

Walkway to Sullivan’s Island beach

The ocean!!

Great beach at Sullivan’s Island

After Sullivan’s Island we drove to Patriot’s Point to tour the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier. For $20 a person (a bargain) we got to explore an aircraft carrier, a submarine, and a destroyer. The carrier alone had 5 self-guided tours and took us several hours to complete. The entire day was amazing and I haven’t seen Lee so excited in a long time. Even though I am not a military buff, I was fascinated by how they fed and clothed so many people at sea. It is not unlike today’s cruise ships in that respect. But it is a TON of walking up and down stairs so be prepared for your workout if you go! I was definitely tired by the time we were done.

USS Yorktown

Destroyer

Submarine

Carrier deck, we were allowed to walk around on it. VERY cool

One of the many planes on the flight deck

Flight room just like in the movies

Crew galley

The amount of supplies it takes to make 10,000 chocolate chip cookies. They posted an actual recipe also.

Dentist…which I thought was pretty cool

Optometrist

Crew quarters. The hanging beds would have freaked me out

A shirt folding machine. Lee got pretty excited 🙂

Engine Room was really cool

The brig …tiny and three to a cell

The bridge. Can you tell Lee is having a good time

Patriots Place is an absolute must see in our opinion especially if you have any interest in World War II, the military or have ever played Call of Duty!! We had a wonderful time, but I was definitely wore out so we started our way back to Rock Hill. As I said when I started this blog it was one of the best weekends of my life and I would definitely return when we had more time. Bucket list item; CHECK!!

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Camper Chronicles

Travel Tales from Working Full Time RVers

Uncategorized

First Wedding Anniversary on the Road

Recipes

Bisquick Oven Fried Chicken

First Full-Timing Budget

First Time in Tarpon Springs

Feeling Closed in

Lessons Learned

Football and Friends

First Time in Clearwater

Lessons Learned

For my Grandmother

First Time on Jekyll Island

First Christmas on the Road

First Time in Charleston, SC