Our winter home - reflections on the decision to stay in one place for a few months

As I sit here in our RV home watching the sunrise in sunny Florida, I find myself thinking about staying in one place for 3 months.  Why did we decide to do this instead of continually moving to see new places?  You know how much I like exploring and seeing new areas so you would think that stopping for 3 months would not be in our plans.  Believe it or not, I am looking forward to having roots and being one location for awhile. 

While I like traveling and seeing new areas and scenery, I miss being near family and friends.  We meet really nice people on the road but it is hard to get close when you are moving every few days.  Within a few days here in Zephryhills, FL, we feel part of a close knit community and it feels like home.  We both enjoy having an active social life and this place seems to be a good fit.

When Tim and I started planning our adventure, we decided to spend the first year in the eastern part of the country.   Another key factor was to “follow the sun” or follow the weather”.  In other words, we wanted to escape winter snow and ice for sure and hopefully have sunshine and warmth most of the time.  Florida in the winter meets that goal; and to avoid winter weather, we have to stay at least December through March. 

Our first plan was to spend a month in one spot and then move on to another for a month so that we could try out a few different areas in Florida.   Then I did the research and realized how much that would cost us.  While monthly rates are definitely more reasonable than the daily or weekly rates, it is still high, especially in Florida.  There are many RV resorts across Florida that cater to snowbirds from the north.  One way to attract them is more reasonable costs if you stay for the season, typically for at least 3 months.  

We also discovered that rates vary depending on the location and closer to the coastlines are definitely higher than the being inland.  Also, further north is less costly that being further south.  So we chose to stay for three months in Zephryhills, which is about 30 miles north east of Tampa which is saving us a good bit and helping us get back on track for our budget.  

With this as our home base, we can still travel to other areas of the state and have a less expensive stay.  We have many options within a 1-2 hour drive, for example we can get to a beach in a little under an hour and to Disney in a little over an hour.  Family also isn’t too far away so with a 1-2 hour drive we can visit Tim’s sister, my Aunt and Uncle, my cousins and some of our friends.  Zephryhills is a perfect central location for us.

Our winter home set up to entertain on the patio

Another goal of ours for retirement and a traveling lifestyle was to be able to focus on a healthier lifestyle.  I was way to sedentary the last 10 years of my working life having a stressful job that required sitting most of the day - at my desk or in meetings.  I worked long hours and did not get enough exercise or eat the right foods.  I started walking daily once we were traveling but was still not getting the right amount of exercise and we were still eating out too much.  Being in an active RV resort where many people walk and ride bicycles daily as well as access to daily activities will definitely help. 

Within the first week here, I am getting better at meeting that goal and I have increased my average daily step count.  Seeing the many bikes and tricycles here, made us want to get bikes.  Tim hasn’t really ridden a bicycle since losing his arm at age 17 so we looked for a recumbent 3-wheel bike that could be customized so he can ride it.  A new one would be pretty expensive and finding a used one probably challenging since it would need the ability to be customized.  For him, the breaks and gears all on the left side would work best.  He was searching for a fold up bike for me when he came across an ad for a recumbent bike that might work for him.  While it was still expensive, it was about a third of the cost of a new one so we ended up buying it.  Then we found a folding bike for me so within our first week here, we both have bicycles.  We found a bike shop nearby where we got my bike serviced and are seeing if they can customize Tim’s.   Now I am walking and riding almost every day as well as doing some swimming.  I definitely feel we are getting more active and healthier.  

Ready to get active!

Getting stronger and healthier will be a plus for when we do start traveling again.  If you are looking at this lifestyle, you need to be aware that closing up for travel day takes some work that can be tough on the body.   Tim gets hit with this more than me because he does the outside work more than I do.  There is quite a bit of up and down movements and bending over to do the work.   We have our fifth wheel set up with a tripod jack in front, an X chock between the trailer tires on one side and leveling blocks under the tires for stability when we are parked.   Taking that down plus checking the fifth wheel and truck tires and adding air before each travel day is hard on the old man.  That work, plus the stress of driving to the new location, then setting up again, definitely wears on you.  Tim needs a day or two to recuperate after travel days.  So staying put for three months eliminates that stress for a little while.  

Going forward, Tim wants us to stay at each place a little longer, no less that a week and possibly 2-4 weeks at each place.  I need to start planning for our spring and summer travels and will look for longer stays.  We may do a travel day or two, with overnight stays where we do not disconnect the fifth wheel; then stay a month at the next stop.  Look for another blog post on planning the next phase of our travel as well as one on our initial explorations of the Zephyrhills area.

Morning coffee in the RV watching the sunrise