Or, is time passing? At any rate, I do apologize for the lag in posting. I haven't felt that anything I've been doing is worth passing on. I've also been doing a lot of thinking, and that always gets me in trouble :-).
Its been definitely odd, balancing our full-timer life with also buying a home down here in Florida. Maybe because we haven't been on the road for very long...it'll be a year on March 27. So on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays I'm still a workamping full-timer, but Mondays through Thursdays I'm down in Sugarmill attending to the variety of things that need to be done when moving a household and residency from one state to another. It's a dichotomy that I'm having difficulty dealing with. I've also found that I'm letting myself get stressed out just like I was before in my business life, without realizing that I was doing this, and now I have to get myself back on track. Just breathe deep, realize everything is going well, and it is ok. Things could be very much worse.
We have also made a few decisions the past couple of weeks. Our families down here are very important to us, and we wish to spend as much time as possible with them while we are in Florida for the winter months. Also, sites are rather expensive here in the winter, even with the monthly rates. Paying workamper jobs in this area seem to be on the scarce side...I have sent out dozens of inquiries the past 6 weeks for next winter, and of the handful that have bothered to respond, while polite, say they don't have any pay positions, and that they want folks to work during the summer in order to be considered for the winter. I can understand that, but our objective is to see different areas of the country during the summer months. They also seem to want A LOT of hours worked in exchange for a site. So, we are most likely going to be "3/4" timers: we'll leave the trailer in storage for January through March, live in the house, and take a few camping trips during those months. As we've been told many times, there is no single "right" way to full-time, and I think for the next few winters that this will work for us.
Another decision we've made, that in order to "finance" the 3 months in Florida without paying jobs, we're going to try working the sugar beet harvest in October. We have the time to do it in between our job in Colorado and our return to Amazon. I thought about goofing off for that month in between, but instead of spending money being a tourist, we can make enough in those three weeks so I can relax in Florida. I may have different thoughts AFTER doing it this year, but we're game to try almost anything :-).
So: the game plan: less stress, more fun, work hard, play hard. Life is too short to do otherwise. The house is beautiful, it will be a wonderful place to live in during the winters, and a very good "exit plan" for when we come off the road. We are looking forward to our summer jobs in Colorado, and exploring a new area of the country. Life is very good.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Time to Catch Up!
Time just seems to fly by lately. I didn't think I would be this busy over the winter, yet there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day for everything.
We have settled into our work schedule here at Otter Springs. Friday Saturday and Sundays we clean the bath houses, check sites and firepits, do trash patrol throughout the campground and trails, and anything else that needs to be done. Its a very relaxed atmosphere here, and we're enjoying it very much. Last Saturday another blogger, Janna and her husband Michael (Tin Teepee/Log Cabin) arrived and are, staying at least for the week. They too are enjoying the quiet life here, and I hope they extend their stay a bit longer! They have explored the area more than we have at this point, and found a lovely craft center in the town of Trenton. I would like to explore the stain glass studio myself, and possibly learn how to do this.
Last Monday, 1/30, we hooked up the fiver and headed down to Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground for four nights. We were meeting up with several members of Al's family, and had a great time! His sister Susie flew in from Texas for a visit, and his cousins Bill and Denise, Kathy, and Fred were also along. Al's mom, sister Ginny and Aunt Rita rounded out the group of ten. We had a great time chatting with everyone and catching up what's been going on. I have to laugh, because everyone is most interested in our experiences at Amazon.com this past fall :-).
We have settled into our work schedule here at Otter Springs. Friday Saturday and Sundays we clean the bath houses, check sites and firepits, do trash patrol throughout the campground and trails, and anything else that needs to be done. Its a very relaxed atmosphere here, and we're enjoying it very much. Last Saturday another blogger, Janna and her husband Michael (Tin Teepee/Log Cabin) arrived and are, staying at least for the week. They too are enjoying the quiet life here, and I hope they extend their stay a bit longer! They have explored the area more than we have at this point, and found a lovely craft center in the town of Trenton. I would like to explore the stain glass studio myself, and possibly learn how to do this.
Last Monday, 1/30, we hooked up the fiver and headed down to Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground for four nights. We were meeting up with several members of Al's family, and had a great time! His sister Susie flew in from Texas for a visit, and his cousins Bill and Denise, Kathy, and Fred were also along. Al's mom, sister Ginny and Aunt Rita rounded out the group of ten. We had a great time chatting with everyone and catching up what's been going on. I have to laugh, because everyone is most interested in our experiences at Amazon.com this past fall :-).
What a beautiful day we had at the Magic Kingdom. The weather was the most awesome we've ever experienced. Sunny and warm, but not hot.
Al's sister Sue, and cousins Fred (who visited us in Michigan this past summer) on the left and cousin Bill (one of our first on-the-road visitors while we were at Hunting Island SC in March) on the right.
Six intrepid cousins on Splash Mountain...I'll wait to experience my mountains in Colorado :-).
The wet aftermath :-).
The whole group enjoyed the ride on the Jungle Cruise. I was quite impressed with the handicap service in place for the elderly and disabled. Al's Aunt Rita would not have been able to go if they had not had the boat set up for wheelchairs and scooters to drive onto. She's 93 now, and quite a hardy soul, but there was no way she could have stepped down into the boat and gotten back out. Its really nice to see how they take care of these folks.
Wednesday we enjoyed strolling around Sea World. Its been many many years since we visited Sea World, and it has changed a lot. The orcas are always amazing, and just makes me long even more to head up to Alaska and see them in the wild. My favorite show there was actually a pet show, where dogs and cats performed a really cute skit on stage with very little assistance from trainers. What I really liked about it was that every dog and cat in the program was rescued from a local shelter or rescue society. They were amazing, and I can't imagine how difficult it must be especially to train a cat! My cat would look at me and say "yeah, right...you want me to do what?" :-).
A trip to EPCOT rounded out our all too brief visit on Thursday. We were leaving early Friday morning so we could get back to Otter Springs for our Friday shift. Very sad, but hey, we are a lot closer to Disney than we were back in New York :-)! I know, yes, we love our quiet campsites, close to nature, hiking alone in the forests, kayaking silently along the rivers. But, we have always loved Disney World, and make no excuses for it! I can't explain it, it is just one of our favorite places, and we always, always have a great time there. Its extremely touristy, crowded a lot of the time, but we love it. One is not mutually exclusive of the other, right? Its what we are learning as we go along. There is no one right way to live this RV style, and its up to us to decide what combination of things is what makes us happy.
Lastly, this week we are back in Sugarmill Woods. After our work weekend, and meeting Janna and Michael, it was time Monday to head back south. All the furniture and stuff that was in storage waiting for the house to be bought arrived early Tuesday morning. Since then it's been a whirlwind of activity, opening boxes, arranging furniture and cabinets, and discovering what we had packed up last year! But at least everything is going according to schedule, and we should have Al's mom and sister all settled in the new house before we leave in April to head for Colorado.
I guess that's enough for one post. I have some random musings and thoughts, but will save them for next time! Thanks for reading, and let me know if there are any other Mouse fans out there ;-)!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Isn't it Nice?
The weather down here, that is. I can't believe how wonderful the winter weather has been this year. In fact, most Floridians are telling us don't get used to it, it's just plain weird how great it's been. The goldenrod is in full bloom down by the Suwanee River (I know, bad for a lot of folks), the azaleas are starting to pop, even the bees are already out.
We've been busy busy busy. We finished another weekend of camphosting at Otter Springs. We really are enjoying the campground, how quiet and peaceful it is. The folks we work with are very nice, and the few winter seasonal people we have are nice folks as well. There has been a potluck one night, and card games set up, but as we've been spending the weekdays down in Homosassa we haven't joined in those yet. We're hoping within a couple of weeks that the bulk of the work will be behind us and we'll be able to proceed at a more relaxed pace!
Last week we took care of getting mom to a couple of doctor appointments and shopping. The "to do" list of paperwork and phone calls are getting done bit by bit. We're also installing a LifeStation alert in the house since she will be living alone now, but we are having some issues getting it to work. Now we are waiting for a "dsl filter" to arrive as it seems like it won't work because of the dsl internet line my dad had for his internet.
We also took care of registering our vehicles here in Florida, and registering for the right to vote here...now if I could only figure out who to vote for LOL!! Anyway, people may be interested in hearing how we made out doing this, as many try to decide where to set up residency once they are going on the road. It actually wasn't that difficult for us, mainly because we do have a physical address to use here. THAT is the prime ingredient. And it seems as if it is happening in every state, slowly but surely, and is due to Homeland Security regulations. My sister-in-law witnessed a poor woman in the driver's licensing office who is a full-timer trying to get licensed in Florida using her mail forwarding service address, and they will NOT accept that address any longer. It must be a physical address, and the computers DO recognize the mail forwarding services and will kick it out. She was very upset, and I don't know how she is resolving it. My best advise is to have relative or friend in Florida be your mail forwarding service, and get their affidavit that you are "residing" there. It will be much easier!
In Florida, there are two separate offices for driver's licenses and then for registering your vehicles. You must go to the websites and make sure you have ALL of the proper documentation for proving who you are. Otherwise, its a wasted trip. Here is where to go for license requirements and here for titles and tags. We also found that when we called Geico (we had them in NY) to switch the insurance to Florida, that the insurance rate went up...wow, I thought NY was one of the highest priced states! But we shopped around down here, and ended up getting insurance with identical coverage for less. I always forget, you have to keep looking around every few years as the rates do creep up after a while. If anyone wants further information about setting up in Florida, just let me know, I'll be happy to help out.
We also set up for the Homesteading Exemption since we were in the county offices. I must say, everyone we spoke to was most pleasant and helpful, a much different experience from the DMV and officials back in NY. I think all the utilities for the house are now set up, and the pest control as well..lots of bugs down here :-).
We had planned on heading back to Otter Springs early on Thursday, but it turned out to be SO beautiful a day we decided to try out our new kayaks we had bought from Nick and Miss Terry (Gypsy Journal). We got them secured to the roof of the Trailblazer, and headed down to Crystal River Kayak Company to launch. We were headed to the Three Sisters Springs to see some manatees!
We've been busy busy busy. We finished another weekend of camphosting at Otter Springs. We really are enjoying the campground, how quiet and peaceful it is. The folks we work with are very nice, and the few winter seasonal people we have are nice folks as well. There has been a potluck one night, and card games set up, but as we've been spending the weekdays down in Homosassa we haven't joined in those yet. We're hoping within a couple of weeks that the bulk of the work will be behind us and we'll be able to proceed at a more relaxed pace!
Last week we took care of getting mom to a couple of doctor appointments and shopping. The "to do" list of paperwork and phone calls are getting done bit by bit. We're also installing a LifeStation alert in the house since she will be living alone now, but we are having some issues getting it to work. Now we are waiting for a "dsl filter" to arrive as it seems like it won't work because of the dsl internet line my dad had for his internet.
We also took care of registering our vehicles here in Florida, and registering for the right to vote here...now if I could only figure out who to vote for LOL!! Anyway, people may be interested in hearing how we made out doing this, as many try to decide where to set up residency once they are going on the road. It actually wasn't that difficult for us, mainly because we do have a physical address to use here. THAT is the prime ingredient. And it seems as if it is happening in every state, slowly but surely, and is due to Homeland Security regulations. My sister-in-law witnessed a poor woman in the driver's licensing office who is a full-timer trying to get licensed in Florida using her mail forwarding service address, and they will NOT accept that address any longer. It must be a physical address, and the computers DO recognize the mail forwarding services and will kick it out. She was very upset, and I don't know how she is resolving it. My best advise is to have relative or friend in Florida be your mail forwarding service, and get their affidavit that you are "residing" there. It will be much easier!
In Florida, there are two separate offices for driver's licenses and then for registering your vehicles. You must go to the websites and make sure you have ALL of the proper documentation for proving who you are. Otherwise, its a wasted trip. Here is where to go for license requirements and here for titles and tags. We also found that when we called Geico (we had them in NY) to switch the insurance to Florida, that the insurance rate went up...wow, I thought NY was one of the highest priced states! But we shopped around down here, and ended up getting insurance with identical coverage for less. I always forget, you have to keep looking around every few years as the rates do creep up after a while. If anyone wants further information about setting up in Florida, just let me know, I'll be happy to help out.
We also set up for the Homesteading Exemption since we were in the county offices. I must say, everyone we spoke to was most pleasant and helpful, a much different experience from the DMV and officials back in NY. I think all the utilities for the house are now set up, and the pest control as well..lots of bugs down here :-).
We had planned on heading back to Otter Springs early on Thursday, but it turned out to be SO beautiful a day we decided to try out our new kayaks we had bought from Nick and Miss Terry (Gypsy Journal). We got them secured to the roof of the Trailblazer, and headed down to Crystal River Kayak Company to launch. We were headed to the Three Sisters Springs to see some manatees!
Vies of the canals as we paddled towards to springs. Its an easy 15 minutes to the springs.
Right outside the canal to the springs is a roped off area for the manatees. You are not allowed to cross into this area, its a protected area for them to retreat to when they've had enough of the visitors.
Al is waiting for the snorkelers as the head up the canal to the springs. It was quite a strong current through here and made for slow going as a snorkeler!
Inside the springs area
One lone tagged manatee was hanging out in the springs. We watched for a while, taking care to stay well away from him.
Back out of the springs, we continued paddling up the canals past the beautiful homes on the water, and out into King's Bay. It was terrible windy, though, and I didn't feel confident enough in my paddling skills to tough it out, so we called it a day and headed back. King's Bay will wait for a calmer day!
Nice looking kayak Al's got himself, isn't it! Thanks for the great deal, Nick! We're going to have a blast with these.
One last view of the manatees
After hauling out and packing up, we headed back to the house to clean up and have some lunch. A round of grocery shopping, and we were off to Otter Springs for our weekend of keeping the place all spiffy looking! have I mentioned that we do enjoy this campground :-)?
This week we are down in Fort Wilderness at Disney World.That will be the next story, so stay tuned :-)!
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