Spending The Month in Florida
/ Kathryn HyslopSpending The Month in Florida
So we escaped the North for an entire month, well, Tim did. I only got to stay a couple weeks before I had to go back to work. We rented a cottage (park model trailer) at a camping resort in Zephyrhills. The resort had many amenities that we highly enjoyed, especially the pool and hot tub. The two weeks I was there it was warm and beautiful most days so we were able to take advantage of the pool. Tim enjoyed playing pool a few evenings a week as well as playing Euchre. We attempted shuffleboard and definitely need to practice that a bit to get better at it. We met some great people and enjoyed our stay. The rental unit wasn’t the greatest but next year we will have our own home with us. I can’t wait till this is our lifestyle!
Thanks for reading, next up will be some blog posts as we downsize.
That is, if Tim lets me get rid of anything.
It is hard to believe that it has been a little over 5 years since we started full time RVing. To be honest, I am not sure what date to use for this anniversary. We officially moved into the RV on Labor Day, 9/2/19 but I worked remotely for a couple more weeks and didn’t officially retire until 9/20/19. We stayed at the campground for another couple of weeks finalizing work on the RV before we started traveling on 10/8/19. So, am I a month late in celebrating or do I use the October date? Either way, in a way it seems like yesterday and in another way, it feels like we have always lived this way.
We managed to have a little fun as summer came to an end even though we were still busy with way too many medical appointments. The good news is that all turned out well with the appointments. Tim had cataract surgery in both eyes and had a good recovery. He still has issues with bright lights and will probably need to keep using sun glasses for awhile. Also, his hand was bothering him again so he ended up getting shots that seemed to have helped. Hopefully that will last all winter.
It is hard to believe that it is August already and summer is almost over. Before we start getting ready to head south for the winter, I thought I would update everyone on our summer this year. So far, it is much better than last year - at least no falls and broken bones! We have still had quite a few medical appointments mostly for annual checks and tests although Tim had cataract surgery on both eyes. Those appointments and the daily eye drop regimen has been keeping us fairly busy.
After a little over 8 months of traveling, we settled down at our seasonal site in Pennsylvania for the summer. It stills feels like we are travleing though since we are in and out of Pittsburgh a bit as well as made a trip back to Ohio since we have been here. We headed over to Shady Acres the first day back to hook up the batteries and start to de-winterize it. Well we discovered a bit of a mess. It appeared that mice and either chipmunks or squirrels had gotten in over the winter..
Usually we aren’t anywhere close to a National Park during National Park week but this year we really hit the bonanza. I got to visit Zion and Bryce the week before and then as we left Utah, we headed back to Arizona to visit two more parks during National Park Week. After a quick overnight stop in Vegas, we headed south and east to Williams, AZ for a 3 night stay.
After our time in Nevada, we headed further north to Utah to spend a week visiting our friends, Gerry and Mari. We initially met them during our first year traveling in the RV in Berea, KY. We spent a week as neighbors and have kept in touch over the years even though we were in different parts of the country. They settled in St. George, UT two years ago and we were excited that we could finally visit them since it wasn’t too far from Las Vegas.
While in Verde Valley, we considered a visit to the Grand Canyon by taking the train from Williams, AZ. I realized that it would be a very long day to do that from where we were staying, so we discussed leaving a couple days early and staying in Williams for the train ride. I kept watching the weather since it had been cold and snowing at times up in that area. As we approached our last week in Verde Valley, the weather forecast looked great. Sunny and low 60s for Williams for a couple days in a row. We quickly booked a park in Williams for 2 nights.
When we purchased our Thousand Trails membership, it included a free week at a Getaway Cabin once a year for five years. Since we are always traveling in the RV, this was a perk that we didn’t anticipate using. Our daughter Katie has taken advantage of our free cabin the past 2 years. This year, she booked the cabin at Verde Valley for the first week we were there.
We have been moving around the beautiful state of Arizona and have stayed at some great RV Parks as well as seen some very beautiful areas. Right now we are staying in the Verde Valley area which is close to Cottonwood and Sedona. This is one of the most scenic areas that we have visited. Every where that you drive, there is absolutely stunning scenery. The best part is that the road approaching our RV park has a fantastic view of the red rocks of Sedona in the distance and is is exceptionally stunning in the afternoon sunshine; and our 3 week stay is free with our Thousand Trails membership!
When we planned our trip south to Florida, we didn’t want to go south too quickly and risk needing to leave due to a hurricane. Unfortunately, fall seems to be the time of year that some pretty severe ones come through the south. So we decided to spend a few weeks in North Carolina and hopefully enjoy some beautiful fall weather.