Day to Day RV Life

When we decided to become full-time RVers, part of what we were seeking was simplification.  In fact I came across this blog post, Top 10 List from 2017, which lists simplification as one of the reasons I wanted to be a full-timer.  The following is a quote from that post: 

I'm making a list of the 10 Reasons I want to Live the Full-time Dream.

1. To spend more time in the great outdoors; to soak up the majesty of Nature!
2. To explore and experience new places, new people, new things.
3. To simplify; to live with less, to be able to enjoy life more.
4. To connect: to put our attention on each other and savoring our time together.
5. To disconnect: to break free of the ties that bind; the "work, mortgage, repeat" routine.
6. To find the sun.  (AKA To get out of Dodge in the winter!)
7. To be free to roam - stay as long as we want, look for new vistas when we are ready to roll.
8. To grow - to face new challenges, to solve new problems, to learn skills.
9. To be present - to slow down, to be in the present moment, to meditate, to be grateful.
10. To have adventures and create wonderful memories together.

Simplification is not only a goal to aspire to, it's a real necessity.  Living in a 20' camper, there is a very limited amount of space.  So the question is not, "Would I like this?", or even, "Do I need this?", the question is, "Where am I going to put this?"  

Carol drinks tea everyday, so when we started out we brought our tea kettle from home.  But we quickly realized we had no place to put it.  The issue of "where am I going to put this?" is not just (and really not much) about where it will go when you are living in the camper, the real question is about where it will go while traveling.  When traveling the amount of movement inside the camper is extraordinary.  Pam Michielen of Happy Camping RV, where we purchased our Lance 1475, says it's like there's an earthquake and hurricane happening inside the RV when you're driving.  Which means everything must be stowed securely.  So we left that tea kettle at a rest room in South Carolina and simplified.  (Campground rest rooms are a great place to drop off stuff you want to give away, a high traffic area where someone is likely to find your unwanted item and give it a new home.)  We have two pots/pans with us, and quickly realized our small pot could do double duty as a tea pot.  This pot has a collapsable handle which made it ideal for packing up in a small space.  Thank you Dan and Colleen Olson, this perfect pot was a gift from you 💖. Our microwave serves as a storage location both while camping and traveling.

Pot that doubles as tea kettle

Pot with handle collapsed inside microwave, where it is stored when not in use.

We have one other multi-use pan that we purchased specifically for RV life.  We got rid of an entire set of Revere Ware copper bottom pans, and bought this one 5-quart pan which we use for 75% of our cooking.  In addition to being a great non-stick Calphalon pan, it has no long handle, which makes it easier to store.  This lives under the sink when not in use.

Our "do-it-all" Calphalon pan

Another item we "wanted", but knew there was no space for, was a toaster.  We had toast for breakfast, most mornings before RVing, so this was a tough adjustment.  I recently discovered a simple alternative - broiling bread on a cookie sheet.  We have one cookie sheet and one 8x12 baking dish which we use to do the remainder of our cooking.  

Bread on cookie sheet under broiler.

Broiled bread; AKA toast

Another item that got left behind at that rest room in South Carolina was a dish drainer.  We had a wooden collapsable rack that we've used camping for years, and I loved it.  I had thought it would work in the RV as it collapsed and could be stowed somewhere.  The reality was, it is much simpler to put the dishes on the counter to dry on a towel.  

In addition to simplification, RV life requires creative solutions.  Our camper has a round sink, and there aren't round dish pans out there.  However, Tupperware makes this really big storage bowl that I've had for years, and it makes a great dish pan.  

When we are traveling this bowl becomes the location for the tub of Damp Rid that sits on the counter (a must have when traveling in humid areas to help absorb moisture from the air),  the dish cloth, dish soap, hand soap, sponge and pot scrubbers.

In the bathroom, the sink also becomes the travel spot for the travel clock, the hand soap, tooth paste and toothbrushes.  Well, it did until recently.  I've really wanted to find a way to get the toothbrushes off the side of the sink.  I didn't like having them laying on the side of the sink, it seemed kind of unsanitary.  I was so thrilled when I found these cute toothbrush holders on Amazon.  

Mansa 5 pc animal Antibacterial Toothbrush Holders with Suction Cup by Cukyteck

Our toothbrushes NOT laying on the edge of the sink.

We really like our camper, our space, our simple and minimal stuff.  We've found that living in a small space is part game of Tetris, part genie in a bottle, and part radical detachment.  And figuring it all out together is the best part.

Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

We spent four days in New Orleans, Feb. 18-22.  We stayed at New Orleans KOA, which I selected because it had a shuttle into the French Quarter, but the shuttle only left the campground at 9:00 am and 5:00 pm, with one pick up at 5:45 pm.  We never used it and the campground was pretty disappointing in general.  Some highlights of our trip included walking along the riverfront and listening to the calliope on the Steamboat Natchez, cafe au lait and beignets at Cafe du Monde, seeing the houses along the parade route from the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus (thank you Scott and Karen for talking us into doing that!), visiting Barataria Preserve at Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve with Janet and Jim Zadina, blackened catfish smothered with crawfish ettouffee at Restaurant des Familles and the birthday King Cake Janet got Jim with strawberries and cream that was to die for!

I'm glad we had the experience, but New Orleans was very crowded, some parts were pretty seedy and driving and parking were a total nightmare.  So when we moved on to Breaux Bridge, it was a welcome change of pace.  This is not the first time we have found the well know city destination to be too much for our small town comfort zone, and some unknown nearby destination to be much more our speed.  While we thought Asheville, NC was very cool, it was a busy city that was at times very overwhelming.  Nearby Black Mountain, NC was the small town vibe we really found appealing.

Breaux Bridge is 2 hours west of New Orleans, near Lafayette, LA.  We are staying at Poche's RV Park and Fish Camp.  We've been here four days and leave tomorrow.  We are very happy with this campground.  There is plenty of space, grassy sites, clean showers, small campground store, ice for sale, a pool and splashpad for kids (though it's too cool to pool) and if you wish, you are free to fish.  This was our view upon setting up.

Looking across the pond from our site

Our site

We've been very comfortable here and are loving the wide open space, the quiet, the birds, and the water.  Sometimes people ask what we do all day.  In reality it varies, but there are days that involve a lot of reading and doing crossword puzzles.  There are days that involve doing laundry and grocery shopping.  There are days that involve going on grand adventures or little explores.  If you follow me on FaceBook, you know there are days that involve finding local breweries and sampling local beer.  We did check out two local breweries; Bayou Teche Brewing and Parish Brewing Company.  We both liked the DDH Operation Juice Drop at Parish Brewing.  As with many great craft brews, only available on tap.

We took a wander through downtown Breaux Bridge which features a number of charming antique and gift shops, a great coffee shop Joie de Vivre Coffee and Culture Cafe,  La Petite Carolina an artists' collective and artspace and Buck and Johnny's restaurant featuring Zydeco Breakfast, which unfortunately we did not make it to.

We discovered a great local option for refilling our gallon water jugs.  Watermill Express is the largest drive-up pure drinking water company in the nation and the green alternative to prepackaged water.  We use bottled water for drinking, making ice and coffee.  We use campground water for washing and flushing.  Rather than buy new gallons of water, we've been using water refill stations.  One of the campgrounds we were at had a refill station on site.  We've also found them inside Publix and at water and ice machines similar to this one.  25 cents a gallon - can't beat it!

Another explore we took was of the Nature Conservancy's Cypress Island Preserve to see their bird sanctuary.  We saw more great egrets than I could capture, but these are some of the pictures I took.

Great Egret flying to tree

Great Egret sitting on branch

Great Egret walking in marsh

Great Egret in flight

I've really become taken with birdwatching.  Often times at campgrounds it's possible to watch birds while sitting at your site.  We have been enjoying 2 male and one female cardinal who have been in the trees around our site quite regularly, serenading us every morning.  Many times I will see a bird, but not be able to identify it.  I keep my binoculars handy so I can check out it's colors and features, and use the most wonderful app on my phone: Merlin Bird ID.  This is a free app created by Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  If you have the slightest interest in bird watching or bird identification, I highly recommend this app.  In addition to the cardinals, which I don't need an app to identify, I also saw a yellow-rumped warbler (too tiny to photograph) and a mocking bird.  Carol commented today that we've seen more birds at the campground than at the bird sanctuary. 

Cardinal

Mockingbird

This is a lovely spot, especially when the sun is shining.  My favorite view in the world is "diamonds dancing on the water" as seen here.

Boondocking at a Harvest Host site

"Boondocking" is free camping, taking it's name from camping out in the boondocks.  It's come to mean camping without any hook-ups (no water, electricity or sewer connections).  Here's a link to a data base of GPS coordinates for boondocking sites, should you be interested.  www.boondocking.org

We had our first boondocking experience on Saturday, Feb. 16th when we stayed at a Harvest Host site, Three Oaks Winery.  Harvest Hosts is a membership network that invites RVers to stay overnight for free at over 700 wineries, breweries, farms and more.  For a small membership fee, you get access to the list of all the member sites.  Members are encouraged to patronize the business that is allowing you to stay for free.  It wasn't much of a hardship to do a wine tasting and buy a bottle of wine, in exchange for a free spot for the night.  💗

Our camper has a built-in solar panel on the roof, so our battery stays charged and works for lights, cell-phone charging, and anything else you can do on 12 volts.  We have a water tank, so we had water to wash our hands, flush, and do dishes if we wanted to and we had propane for heat, cooking and running the fridge.  But my number one concern with being without an electrical hook-up was ... COFFEE!  We would not be able to plug in the coffee maker and that was a horror I could not face.  

I have to tell you about the most amazing product we found to solve this dilemma.  This is a single cup pour over coffee maker that I purchased on Amazon.  Click here for link to product.

Using a number 2 cone filter ensures no silt and grounds get in the coffee.

  

What I really love about this is the well that sits over the coffee grounds so you can pour a whole cup of water at once.

And when the water drains over the grounds you have a perfect cup of coffee.  Now that I know I can have coffee, I'm really excited to do more Harvest Host locations and even try boondocking out in the boondocks one of these days! 😀

Two Months in Ft. Myers, Florida

I am well overdue for a blog post.  I apologize for keeping you waiting so long.  This will be a longer post to get caught up with the last two months.  When we left St. Augustine in mid-December, we went to stay with our dear friends Patti and Freddie in Ft. Myers. 

Freddie, Patti, Bodhi and Oliver

We were so excited to see our friends and spend 3 weeks staying with them at their house.  We parked the camper in their driveway and used it as a big closet for that time.  We made the best of our time together.  There were beach days

and sunset nights at Ft. Myers Beach.

There were boat days in Lover's Key between Ft. Myers Beach and Bonita Beach.

And there were brewery visits and trivia nights.

We house and pet sat while our friends visited family over Christmas weekend.  Our beloved sister/in-law Kathy joined us for a week over Christmas, and we thoroughly enjoyed sharing Ft. Myers with her.

Kathy, Bodhi and Mrs. Buttersworth

Bodhi and Oliver in their Christmas Sweaters

For the month of January, we stayed at Tamiami Village and RV Park.  This was our first experience at a true RV park, and we loved it.  This park had a large village of park model trailer homes and an RV section.  Many of the RVers spend the whole winter at the park.  The RV park was an open area with rows of side by side lots, grass and some small vegetation, but few trees.

Our spot at Tamiami Village

Tamiami Village at night

If you would have told me that I would enjoy this as much as I did, I would have been skeptical.  But what we quickly discovered is that one of the big differences between RV parks and campgrounds, is that RV parks are designed to be communal and social.  People regularly stopped and introduced themselves, chatted and were generally very friendly and amiable.  The majority of the folks spent all season together, and become a close knit group.  They were quick to welcome us to the mix.  One of our favorite social gathering spots was the pool.  Because it was heated, people lounged in the pool all afternoon.  And everyone had a pool noodle.  I joked with Carol that I had noodle envy, so I had to go back to the camper and get my floaty, not a noodle, but it made me happy.  

Just as we were getting settled in, we had to make an emergency trip back to NY when my dad became ill.  My dad is doing well now and we are grateful that he has great doctors and that this was not something more serious.

Not only did being home allow us to help my folks, it also meant getting to spend some extra quality time with Maria and our grandkids, Alana and Gregory.  💜💚

Carol returned to FL a week earlier than me to attend to some appointments and I was gone for 2 and a half weeks.  I returned the day before were due to leave Tamiami Village.  We decided to adjust our previous plans, and looked for a place to stay in the Ft. Myers area to extend our "time in one place" just a little longer.  We were so fortunate to find a wonderful spot just across the highway at Swan Lake Village and RV Resort.  So we cancelled some other reservations, and stayed 2 more weeks. 

Swan Lake was similar in many ways to Tamiami Village.  There was a section of permanent homes, and an RV section.  However the RV area was somewhat more natural, with more trees and a little more campground than RV park vibe.  

Home Sweet Home

Looking into the RV park at Swan Lake

Many of the folks at Swan Lake also spend the winter season in the RV park and were also quick to welcome us to their midst.  We found the amenities to be quite nice and truly wished we were staying longer.

Bathroom at Swan Lake

Bathroom at Swan Lake

Laundry room at Swan Lake

The pool at Swan Lake

We loved our time in all three of our Ft. Myers "homes", but it's time to move on.  Stay tuned!

North Beach Camp Resort - St. Augustine, FL

We stayed at North Beach Camp Resort from Dec. 5th thru 12th.  (I'm much behind in posting 😕) . We thoroughly enjoyed the remoteness and easy, peaceful feeling of this campground.  While we used it as a base to explore St. Augustine, which was 10 min away, it was an oasis of calm we were very happy to return to after the crowds and bustle in town.  North Beach Camp is actually across the road from Villano Beach.

Villano Beach

The weather was only in the 60's during our stay, so while we enjoyed walking the beach, we didn't actually hang out on or swim in the water.  There is a parking area beachside for campground guests, so you can either walk or drive to the beach (in mere moments).  There is a nice restaurant, The Reef, on the beach, just across the street from the campground which is a nice location for an oceanfront meal or cocktail.  We enjoyed a beachfront drink there during our visit.

The campground extends from beachside to inner coastal.  This map gives a clear picture of the "front" and "rear" of the property.  We stayed on site 101 during our visit, which was ideal as it was close to the front of the property, the showers, the store, the laundry, the dumpsters, etc.

North Beach Camp Resort map

We walked back and explored the inner coastal side.  There is another casual dining restaurant on the canal side, Aunt Kate's.  We didn't eat here, so I can't say too much other than it looked like a great spot to hang out. 

Aunt Kate's Restaurant 

Aunt Kate's Restaurant

View from pier facing canal

View from pier facing campground

There was plenty of vegetation separating sites and creating a nice feeling of privacy and opportunity to enjoy the natural surroundings.  

This shot shows a single site.  You can get a sense of the natural privacy the vegetation creates.

This is a view of the center road looking towards the ocean.  

The property was very well maintained and maintenance staff were readily available if needed.  We had a little "situation" while we were there that they handled very promptly.  We woke at 4:30 am to discover our strand of Christmas lights outside the camper was flashing on and off.  Thinking they were shorting out or something, I simply unplugged them.  When I came back inside the camper the microwave clock was flashing. At this point I realized we had a power problem 😳.  .     I walk I walked around the camper to the electric pedestal and I hear a snap crackly popping sound. $#!T Panicking, I flipped the breaker and unplugged from the pedestal. In the morning I go to the office to report the problem and a maintenance guy comes along quickly to check it out. I’m imagining all the horror stories that could possibly be the end of this story, berating myself for not having a surge protector, wondering how far we will have to travel to have the entire electrical system replaced... it turns out there was a tiny salamander that had gotten into the box and sizzled up. It was arcing creating our flashing power. Problem solved, power restored. RIP Kamikaze Salamander 🦎


We took advantage of the laundry and washroom facilities.  There are 3 washers ($2 a load) and 3 dryers ($2 a load), which we found very reasonable and well functioning.  We used the showers daily also, and while I would have liked them to be cleaner, the water was hot and plentiful.  There was a beautiful swimming pool and lounge area, as well as play ground area and shuffleboard courts.  We didn't use these, but they looked to be in wonderful condition.  There is a good size camp store, with both food and drink items (including a small selection of beer and wine) as well as many gifts also.  There is a living room/den area off the office with TV, wifi, book and video library and local area information, maps, etc. 

This campground is more expensive than what we would normally spend.  I hesitated initially at the ~$70/nite fee.  There is a "stay 6 days, get the 7th free" offer, so it made it more like ~$60/nite.  It was a splurge, but I don't regret it.  Had the weather been better and we'd been able to take more advantage of the beach, I would have been delighted.  Regardless, we loved the campground and would happily return.