Autumn in FL

It was a very fun filled and knowledgeable autumn in FL.  We only went to the beach a few times, living there for 6yrs previously made it not as appealing as it once was. You can only dig sand out of your every crack and crevice just so many times before you discover the many other things to do around town. We had the fountain to play in and live music on the weekends at The Landing, an abundance of arts and crafts shows to attend, friends to visit before we moved to the northwest for the summer, too many things to mention here.  Plus, we could just walk across the park and thru the fence to enjoy the bounty of the locals all day long.

      Soon it was a common Saturday thing for the lil one to take off with the neighbors to the flea market.  They would pick her up and enjoy an hour or so exploring the market.  They would first get a cup of coffee for them and a big-as-your-face cookie or cupcake for the lil one, baked fresh daily with an abundance of flavors to choose from.  Then a trip to the pet store was in order, they all had dogs already but enjoyed looking at the pups.

      The neighbors soon were bringing gifts and trinkets for the lil one.  She still has every one of them in her keepsake box of treasures in a special place in her room.  You can imagine the weight we are carrying in that box can’t you?

      All of these activities kept us pretty busy, not to mention just the normal housework and chores that were a daily task.  I actually found the time to paint a few pieces, but gifted them to friends and family along the way.  A habit my hubby is putting a stop to, he says I’m too good to be giving them away. He is now my art dealer/salesman for the pieces I find the time to paint; funny I haven’t found much time lately though.

      It wasn’t long before new friends moved in, these two became her ‘bestest’ friends, as she puts it.  They too had the schoolwork and chores before playing rule, making my job so much easier.  The schoolwork seemed like it was going good, except the trials of learning to read, something we hadn’t mastered yet.  While talking with the other mom I learned that hers didn’t start reading till age 8, whew, I was worried for a bit about it.  If not for all the support we had from our new found ‘family’ at Pecan Park, I think I would’ve pulled all my hair out and be locked in a strait jacket, but they gave us the mommy and daddy time we needed so much.  The value of good, trusting neighbors is priceless, thanks to all that have contributed to our lil one adjusting to homeschooling and life on the road.

Until next time…..

 

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things.     ~Author Unknown

Trials of Homeschooling

     After a trip to the school board and bookstores around town, we were ready, we thought.  You see up until this point in the lil one’s life I had been at home with her for the past 2 ½ years, and daddy had the opportunity to draw his unemployment and spend extra time at home with us; in a nutshell, she had gotten spoiled to having us around all the time.  We had given up a strict schedule and embraced the fulltimers lifestyle of doing whatever you felt like, whenever you felt like it.

      It didn’t take long for the lil one and her new best friends, the adopted grandparents, to find more homeschooled kids in the park.  She now had friends from FL, AL, TN, and VA.  With this many friends that were homeschooled it was pretty easy to have a leverage piece if she didn’t do her schoolwork.

      We soon got into a schedule that kind of worked for us.  The major issue was the lil one taking after her daddy more by staying up most of the night watching TV, movies and infomercials, then sleeping until late in the morning.  No matter how hard I tried to wake her, she would not budge some mornings. 

      We soon had to implement some rules with consequences, ‘No work = No play’, simple as that, or was it?  At first it was easy, it was still hot and the pool was the main prize.  After it cooled off, it got more and more difficult to get her to concentrate.  It was espeicially hard with the windows pulled open enjoying the warm salt-tinged Florida air, was hard for the teacher to concentrate on many of these days too.

      She had new friends move in from Colorado, and yes all three of them were homeschooled too, they were older than ours by a few years but they all got along great.  They too, had a ‘no play before work’ rule in their household, it helped us tremendously for her to have them as role models.

      The lil one immediately made a turn around, she had new friends to play with after lunch, that was when most of us would get through with the schoolwork.  She would ask to be woke up at a certain time and we would work on one or two letters a day, a new number a day, along with repeating everyday the things we had learned previously.

      It was the most wonderful feeling to know that I could do this, I could be there to witness the first time that that lightbulb goes off in their minds and they ‘get it’. You know, when it all those monotonous days of repeating the same stuff over and over again finally just CLICKS.  That light that shines in their eyes with pride at themselves is priceless and I feel so privileged to have a husband who has offered to work and sacrifice for me to be able to stay at home and raise our daughter and teach her along the way.  I feel very blessed for all of our blessings we’ve had over the years.

To all the past, present and future teachers out there; I’ve never really understood why or how you could possibly do what you do and stay sane.  Then I was the reason for our lil brain learning and absorbing and ‘getting it’; I ‘get it’ now, to be the reason and witness that spark of light in their eyes is magical.  Thanks for all you have done and are continuing to do.

Until next time……

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his    influence stops. ~Henry Brooks Adams

Stability on the Road

     When we reached the RV park we were down to enough funds to pay for a week, knowing we could come up with some form of work in that amount of time.  They let us do just that, but at the monthly rate, which is always cheaper than paying for four of the weekly rates.

 I must stop here and take the time to mention that owners of the ‘Mom & Pop’ campgrounds almost always work with you, as the bigger named ones with a corporation in somewhere, USA usually wouldn’t think of it, ‘if you don’t have it all too bad’ is their motto.  For this reason the latter ones are our vacations for a weekend and the ‘Mom & Pops’ are our choice for year round living, always trying to support the local economy.

Pecan Park RV Resort; Jacksonville, FL

Pecan Park RV Resort only had 183 sites; it was a HUGE RV park, compared to the ones we’d been in so far, exactly one mile around the perimeter.  They had the typical pool, laundry, and bath house, but also had a rec room for karaoke, exercising, and holiday/potluck dinners for all the residents.  There was also a lake to fish in, except it was ‘catch and release only’, we didn’t spend much time fattening up some fish that we couldn’t eat.  Although right of the bat, the lil one spotted a fish as big as my forearm and said “Look mommy, that one fish is big enough to feed us one meal”, I have to smile at her thought process sometimes. 

Pecan Park RV Resort, Jacksonville,FL 

The neighbors here surely had the southern hospitality down, it didn’t take long before we would all meet in the road in the evening for our nightly gossip session, and the lil one was right in the middle of it, getting the feel for traveling and meeting new people.  Before long, the lil one was off on golf cart rides with them, stopping to talk to everyone along the way, she could tell us who lived in which camper/RV and what their dog/cat’s name was. 

For the first few weeks we acted as if we were on vacation while we waited for the address change to come through.  After patiently waiting three weeks, we gave up and had to make a not so hard decision; to send her to an inner city school (we were on the wrong side of the Interstate) or take another leap of faith and put her education in my hands and begin homeschooling.  Yes, I was going to be the lil one’s primary teacher with daddy and our travels filling in when possible.   

When we started this journey we had discussed this very possibility, just thinking about it is very different than actually doing it.  Could we really make it traveling around the country seeing all the sights and natural wonders while following the cooler seasons we had started to enjoy?  Would the lil one suffer any from moving to new cities a few times a year and experiencing the culture and sights from that region?  We debated all the pros and cons of this previously, but actually making it happen, well that’s been a dream come true. 

Of course she wouldn’t be affected in a negative way, she had the same bed to sleep in every single night, the same cabinet/closet and desk filled with her belongings everywhere we went; she even had the same family sitting down at the same table for dinner at the same time, be it a little later than the normal dinner bell, but it was a family dinner every single night.  No matter what town, or what region of the country we are in, we have the same stability and structure that we would have if we had sticks & bricks around us.  The catch, everything we own is ours, as in paid for; and rent is super cheap in comparison.  Ultimately, our stresses over bills are a lot less, considering what they used to be.

Until next time……

 And that's the wonderful thing about family travel: it provides you with experiences that will remain locked forever in the scar tissue of your mind. ~Dave Barry

As luck would have it....

     We spent the rest of the summer working, getting the hubby’s license straightened out, seeing old friends and family and a trip to the ER for a head wound I acquired(a whole story in itself).  We saved every penny in hopes of being able to leave Bama before the school year started in FL.

      We stayed the last night in town at the mom-in-law’s house so the lil one could spend one more night in her bunk bed she prized so much.  After waking at 1AM, coffee in hand and everything packed and ready, we were ready to try and hit the road, FL bound.

      As I’ve mentioned before ‘Murphy’s Law’ should have been my middle name.  The problems started right away with the camper lights not working, again.  This was the same problem we had coming from TX, and I was not looking forward to being mesmerized by two flashing red lights on a big white box for hours on end on a dark interstate.  The hubby started checking all the connections and wires all while the truck lights were on, we needed power for the camper lights to work, all this while ol’Blue’s batteries were being drained. 

      We got the lights working, somewhat, but no juice to crank the work truck.  I hated having to wake a tow truck driver at 3AM to jump off ol’Blue, but it needed to be done.  A couple of hours later we were finally on the road, not too far behind schedule at this point.

      We didn’t make it very far before my luck would strike again, actually only the edge of Muscle Shoals city limits.  We had our first flat tire.  It was OK though, we had a spare, as dry rotted as the rest, but a spare none the less.  It only took about 30 min or so to change this one.  We went for a couple of hours more, almost made it to Birmingham before another flat tire would delay us more.  We were smart this time, we checked all the other tires and discovered a knot on one. Two tires needed replacing, but on the bright side we could use the knotted tire as a spare in a pinch, if need be.  Two tires and $289 later, we were FL bound again.  By now the hubby had become an expert at changing tires on the fifth wheel.

the first of many to come

      A few more monotonous hours on the road and we finally saw the Florida state line.  Once again before hitting I10, we had ANOTHER flat tire.  The flat tires were getting as monotonous as the highways were at this point.  This time the old dry rotted knotted ‘spare’ tire came in handy, as there was nothing around for miles.  This was probably not one of our wisest decisions; heck  leaving on four dry rotted tires was definitely not the best choices we’d made in a while.

      After so many flats the lil one decided to ride with mommy for a bit.  After hitting I10 eastbound we had a full blown blow out on our hands.  This one was the worst as part of the tire flew back and almost hit the Ranger, as I said a few choice words the lil one looked up saying “Great, another flat, look it looks like snow.”  No, she wasn’t seeing things, as the tire flew off the rim, it allowed the camper to crash into the asphalt, tearing off a fender and styrofoam insulation from underneath, making it look like a blizzard we were driving into.  About that time is when I saw sparks on the same side our propane lines were.  Sometimes we can have the worst of all luck, but then again considering it didn’t go up into a ball of flames, I was feeling pretty lucky at that point.  You see, when we traveled in the Rockwood Fifth Wheel, we ran with the propane on, so the fridge would keep on working as we went down the road.  Counting our blessings we decided to sleep on the side of the road until the stores opened in the morning.  After a rough night being constantly rocked by the big rigs passing, we got one of the insurance checks cashed and changed that tire. 

the last and most damaging of the flats

      We rode pretty well for a while, as we had replaced all of the camper tires, except one.  Finally, we passed the sign that read ‘Jacksonville 25mi’, only 25 miles left on this long drawn out journey, way behind schedule at this point.  Our last and final original dry rotted tire blew right past this sign.  By this time I was ready to walk if I had to, just to get there, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave the hubby on the side of the interstate.  We got the last insurance check cashed and changed that one; I’m still amazed at the price of camper tires.  There went the last of our ‘sit and relax’ monies we thought we would have to live on for a bit.

      At last, we were within Jacksonville city limits, heading directly to our winter home in Pecan Park RV Park.  After turning a 15 hour trip (my estimation on the travel time pulling a camper) into a 36 hour trip, I was very pleased to be able to get off the interstate for seven months.  We learned a ton of lessons on this trip, the most important one is to be flexible at all times and to carry twice the monies you think you may need.

Until next time…..

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money.

 ~Susan Heller

Family Times

While at Tuscumbia RV Park, we made friends, some that had moved from the worse campground to the better one with shade, and rested for a few days.  The lil one learned the art of fishing and taking our dinner from the creek to the table in the form of some fine fresh caught catfish. 

Another storm blew through and we headed to the niece’s house in Cherokee.  Little did we know that we were driving to and hunkering down in the worst part of the storm.  Straight line winds tore up the town of Cherokee on this night.  The next storm that came, we decided to stay at the campground.  We watched the rains flood out the neighbors, luckily we were on top of a small hill.  When we awoke the following morning we discovered Mother Nature had lashed out again and tore down trees all around us.  Thankful it only hit the TX sized brush guard on ol’blue and kept her safe, we started cutting down the limbs around us.  

We made the dreaded call to the insurance company and decided it was time to stop volunteering and work to save and get out of dodge.  The weather in the summer of 2011 was just too tumultuous for us to justify staying any longer than need be.

The lil one loved spending time with the family she hardly ever got to see, especially the cousins.  It was the first time she had actually got to know some of her kin.  She learned a lot of great things over the summer like the importance of family, helping your neighbors in their time of need, and most importantly how to skin a catfish (her paw-paw Duck would’ve been very pleased).  She also picked up a few negative habits along the way, like telling us “No” every chance she got, leaving all her toys strewn about and just acting like a spoiled brat in general.  I will forever be reminded of these as I search for that perfect switch to break these habits.  For these very reasons I know I wouldn’t trade the days spent with our AL family for anything in the world.

A last thought…

The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.

 ~Thomas Jefferson

Learning to Donate

The new RV park was centrally located, somewhat, had full hookups, cable too and the cell phones worked, what more could we ask for. A pool was the lil ones request and maybe some shade was mine, but the A/C worked great on the rig, we could manage for a month here.

 As our luck would have it, the A/C went out on the roof and the temperatures started rising to the unbearable mark in the blazing Alabama sun. Never underestimate the power of shade or an awning when full timing. I’ve learned to pick sites facing north for less sun exposure in the summer months, opposite for the winter position.  We rode out the monthly rent and the rest of the money with the hubby volunteering as much as possible and me looking for another site with some very valuable shade trees.  While the hubby was away volunteering, all I heard was “Why can’t we go help too mommy?”, I had to come up with something for her to do so she could also feel like she was part of the cleanup effort going on all across the state.  I gave her a very important job of creating goody bags to be donated with the boxes of hotel toiletries.  After only a few hours she had HUNDREDS made up and ready to go.

making up bags to donate

         

I found a new place too, only 7 miles down the road, shade trees EVERYWHERE, and all the conveniences of home, even free laundry. I was sold; Tuscumbia RV Park was to be our new landing spot for the rest of the summer months.  When we got there to save our site, we found out an old friend from school was managing the park, I couldn’t of asked for more.

Before we could get moved from the gravel parking lot there was another storm that blew through.  This one tore off the awning and dinged ol’ blue’s passenger door.  Not sure if we really wanted to be in Bama with all the storms rolling through but without enough funds to go farther we were stuck.  We packed up and moved the 7mi down the road to rest for a bit and enjoy some shade. 

We knew we couldn’t survive long on the funds we had while volunteering, but that was the whole reason we made this trip…….that and to spend some much needed time with the family. 

Until next time.....

Having a place to go - is a home. Having someone to love - is a family. Having both - is a blessing. ~Donna Hedges

Cannot find Signal

Like I said in the previous post, there wasn’t much left of these smaller towns, it was late, well past midnight, in essentially the middle of nowhere.  We pulled over at the only store that was open only to wake every hour as someone would pull in for only a few minutes.   After some morning caffeine and a look at a map to see exactly how far we had to go, we started towards the campgrounds.  Our goal was to find one where the lil one and I would be comfortable while daddy was away volunteering; they were a bit stricter up this way on her helping out due to insurance restrictions.  Now to find a place to land for a bit that had a few of the things we were looking for.

      We found a place that had openings, one of the many drawbacks was that the only available sites were not pull thru’s, but with a confident hubby, what could stop us?  When we looked at the incline, it didn’t seem so bad, but ol’ Blue wasn’t having any of it.  After about a gallon of transmission fluid and 30 min of yelling, hand signals and maneuvering the rig, we decided this site was not for us, it just wouldn’t push the load backwards up the hill.  The only cell phone signal was about ½ mile away at the top of the hill, no cable, only water and electric hookups at the sites, but on the bright side Bear creek  hadn’t flooded as high up as our camper was sitting, only as high as the road in front of us. 

Unfortunately we had to go further down the road, for us this meant pulling the 26ft fifth wheel with the extra-long 4 door LWB truck all over town, no cell phone towers left meant no service to call them.  The frustrating part was that I was behind the camper in the Ranger pulling a 8ft trailer that was as tall as it was long, unraveled tarps tied over it with 500 ft. of ropes, making it look like whiskers after days on the road, this was that extra storage stuff we thought we just couldn’t live without having later on. 

                         all tied nice and neat at the beginning, but none the
                                      less looking like Jed Clampett

     

The next campground had everything you could think of, shade trees everywhere, by the water, full hookups, it was a dream after the week we’d just had.  Only problem here was no cell phone service, but I could live with that for a while, and no sites available for the next month.  Well shucks, time to hit the road again.  This time we stopped in at a gas station and asked if there were any places in the area they knew of.  They didn’t know of any that would have spots open, but gave us a map to the campgrounds in the county, and we had cell service here.  We started calling, and none had openings close to the devastated areas hit hardest by the tornados. 

We started calling all the closer ones, hoping to not have to push the diesel much past the ‘E’ mark.  You see when ol’ Blue gets close the dreaded ‘E’, she’s sits down on you like an old stubborn mule would.  We try not to take her too far down below ‘E’……