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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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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Camper Chronicles

Travel Tales from Working Full Time RVers

RV Recipes

Football and Friends

First Time in Clearwater

Lessons Learned

First Time on Jekyll Island