A Temporary Home

So incredibly sorry for the lack of posts lately! In not much time reading this you’ll understand why.

We arrived in Florida not much longer after my previous post. It was a good 5-day trip; we took it slow on purpose. When we got to FL we decided to take the East coast route along the ocean. I’ve never been to the ocean so I felt like a puppy seeing snow for the first time as soon as my bare white feet met the sand! Mike was there after basic training in the Army and again a few years ago when he was working in Oregon so nothing too big for him. We walked a mile or so, having to sadly leave Monster in the RV due to strict beach rules in Daytona, and then collected seashells on the way back to send home to my family surviving the cold in MI.

Afterwards we went through Orlando, got in a few traffic jams, and then found our way to the parking lot of Wal-mart closest to his grandparents. Here’s what we came to find upon a few days of research after arrival:

• If you’re not 55+, you’re not allowed in most RV parks
• If your dog is not under 20 lbs, if they even allow them, you’re not allowed into most RV parks
• If you don’t have a lot of money and don’t feel like paying over $900 a month for a tiny lot your RV barely fits into, then they don’t want you either.

Basically to summarize, this area we were in was for the financially more than secure and old folks that didn’t like dogs. So another four nights we spent in the parking lot, riding our bike and blades over to the grandparent’s house just a mile away to help with their boat shed or whatever else. Everyday hoping that everything in our fridge wouldn’t go bad simply because we didn’t have the proper 24/7 electric hook ups. We also hadn’t had adequate Internet, thus the reason for my delayed posts and updates; my apologies.

Low and behold after numerous calls and multiple denials, we found a place about an hour and 15 minutes from Palmetto in Auburndale. For a decent low rate for our kind of living and beautiful area right next to a fishing dock, we we’re sold. Our only issue being was our water situation.

This park doesn’t have any common showers and without one in about four days, I was feigning. The pipes seemed to be loose or shattered from being improperly winterized; yay. But reluctantly with Mike’s can do and know how attitude, he soon figured out that many of the pipes were just loose. We now have only cold water since there is still an issue with the warm that yet needs to be attended to, but this makes me happy enough to be able to shower here and do dishes without the awkward looks from the nearby neighbors of me doing them by the water tap outside the RV.

I tell you what though, that was what Mike called an Army shower; in and out. We’ll at least for him. After going over a week without shaving my legs and the fact that I have a lot more head hair then him, it was more like a 15-minute ice cold shower. It was fine until I let it touch me mid body. After about 7 minutes I’m happy to say I just kind of went numb. Squeaky clean though ;)