Packing

 When we were newly-minted full time RVers - back in 2004 - I remember having to unlearn the need to pack for travel. We would be living in our RV in a park for a few weeks, or even a month, then it would be time to move on. My brain would get busy thinking of what I needed to pack for the trip, then I'd shake my head and realize that wasn't necessary! I was taking everything, including the kitchen sink, with me. We were driving our house! 

It didn't take long to get used to that. I LOVED traveling in my house. Wherever we were was home. When we're ready to go, we just stow everything in place, turn the key and head on down the road.

Now I find myself in the opposite situation. It's time to get on the road - we are booked to give seminars at two RV rallies in Wyoming in July - and I want to just turn the key and go. 

Not so fast. 

The kitchen stays fully equipped

We keep our little camper van fully stocked with everything needed in the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. We have a full set of silverware, plates, coffee cups, wine glasses, coffee pot, and cookware that stays put in the cupboards and drawers of our Roadtrek. Toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, etc. stays put in the tiny bathroom, and a full set of bedding also stays in place. We even leave a few clothes in the closet so we can be ready to leave on a moment's notice in a hurricane evacuation or other emergency.

But, we're going to be gone for 2 months. We need more clothes. We need our computers and various technology. We need food. 

The final thing we need to consider is tasks to perform around the house to leave it ready to withstand a hurricane while we're gone. Bring items in from the backyard that could fly away. Close the shutters, make sure a neighbor has a key bring in our mail, and to keep an eye on the place. etc. etc.

We start a week or so in advance, both Jim and I set up a "staging" area where we put things as we think of them, like the couple of Baby Yoda figurines that Jim 3D printed for our friend's kids that we'll be visiting, and my coffee table Blog book that I like to use as show and tell during our seminar. Things that aren't necessary, but they're important. 

Then I start to stress out.

After this past year of covid confinement, travel has gone from being commonplace to unthinkable. What are we doing? Why are we leaving our comfortable home? What am I forgetting? Why did we say yes to Wyoming? 

I decide that we should stay the first night at a local campground, so we could go back home if we discover we forgot something. Good idea right? But, I think it just prolonged the stress. We drove the couple of miles to Easterlin Park - one of our favorites anywhere - and had a delightful night. Ahhh, our comfy, cozy camper van with all the necessities of life. We only forgot one thing - the Berkey water filter - a necessary item. Since we use it in the house as well, it's something we need to remember to take back and forth. Maybe we should just get another?

We had planned to go back to the house once before actually leaving. We left a few tasks, like closing shutters and running the dishwasher, for the morning. Now I am worrying all over again, what are we missing? Will everything be ok while we're gone? Oops, I need to run the dishwasher, but Jim wants to shut off the water - so we have to hang around for a while. More time for me to worry! We look at the weather and see a tropical storm headed for the gulf coast - just where we're heading. Should we wait a couple of days for it to pass? But, we're all ready to go. How about this - we could leave now but visit friends in N Florida for a couple of nights. But, what if the storm comes to N Florida? Decisions, decisions.

"I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure." 

Well, we got everything taken care of (I think) and we got on the road. The sound of the tires on the highway is like a lullaby - erasing all my cares. If we forgot anything now, we'll just have to do without, or find a way to buy it. All is well. We're RVing.

We ended up visiting with 2 different friends in N Florida - Nick and Terry in Edgewater, and Alex in Melrose. I'll write another post on that. Suffice it to say, we like friends with driveways!

Novapalooza - lite

 I went to a high school named Nova and one of my classmates, Alex, has a talent for getting people together. She has property near Gainesville, FL and we love parking our RV there. When she is able to gather classmates together, she calls it NovaPalooza! We've attended twice before, once in 2012 and again in 2015. She had hoped to put together an event for 2020 but a global pandemic brought that to a full stop. It will be late 2021, or maybe 2022 before that happens now. 

Meanwhile, we keep hearing about our friends - mostly over age 65 - getting vaccinated. That paves the way for real get-togethers again! When one - Jeff - successfully beat not one, but two bouts of cancer, Alex wanted to celebrate and she put out the word and 3 days of a Palooza-lite began. 

A core member of the group is Cary Tennis who now lives in Italy. He actually considered getting on a plane to be here, but his doctor said no. He is still recovering from a bout of Covid. (read his story here) So, we did what we've been doing all year and brought him in via Zoom. Here we are in Alex's living room with Cary from Italy and Arynne from California on the TV ...

The need to get away - scratching that itch

 As much as we like our townhouse in Fort Lauderdale and as much as we've been enjoying this year+ of alone time, there's still a big part of us that is bothered. We have a need to get away, do something different. Thank goodness, our friend Chloe, gave us a reason to do just that.

Chloe lives in North Carolina and runs Big Mill Bed and Breakfast where we've stayed a few times. In her past life, she lived on boats all over the Bahamas as did her friend, Joy. These days they make a point of traveling to the Florida Keys for a week each year to get their boat fix. They booked a condo thru VRBO and invited Jim and me to join them for a night or two. It took us all of 30 seconds to say, "Sure!"

Jim and Chloe

We drove our camper van down to the keys, but we took them up on the offer of the bedroom in the condo to sleep for the night. It takes less than 2 hours to drive to the north/middle keys but you really feel like you getting away. 

The first night, they took us out for a sunset boat ride.

Chris and Chloe - I like to ride in the bow

Jim and Joy - Jim likes boats from the captain's point of view

The next day, we went to lunch by boat to a "Keys-perfect-funky" place called Robbie's. One of the main attractions is all the Tarpon - BIG fish - that swarm around the dock waiting to be fed. That also attracts one of my favorite birds - the pelican. With Joy's help, I remembered all the words to the poem I used to recite as a kid:

A marvelous bird is the pelican
His beak can hold more than his belly can
His beak can hold all of his food for a week
And I don't know how in the hell he can

 

Easter with Family

 Easter is traditionally a family affair with the Gulds. Jim's sister, Debbie has always put on a big spread and invited multiple generations over to get together and celebrate.

We didn't "do" Easter last year ... or Thanksgiving ... or Christmas. This year, since the 4 old folks have all been vaccinated - the meet up was ON. The 3 younger folks were also invited but told to keep their distance. It felt quite normal, and the food was awesome!

Even a homemade cake for family members with birthdays this month.

I was especially impressed with the orchids they had around their house. What a beautiful flower! And, nothing says spring, like beautiful flowers.

Thanks for being such a great host Debbie!

My contribution was making some fun JibJab videos:

Debbie, Jim, and 3 kids/cousins dancing

The 4 old folks dancing

HAPPY EASTER

Isolation elation

If this past year has taught me anything, it's how much I love our home. I thank my mom every day for finding and buying this place back in 1989. I'm also grateful that I didn't sell it back in 2010 when she moved into assisted living and Jim and I were still Fulltime RVers. It is a little piece of heavenly jungle in the middle of a big, busy city. 

Both Jim and I have separate office spaces and we've both used this year to improve our spaces to our liking. 

I've learned that I like to stay home!

Yesterday was the first time I ventured out on my own to do a little shopping. I was in for a rude awakening. Traffic was abysmal. The stores were busy. Wearing a mask is uncomfortable. And the stores  didn't even have what I wanted. I was so happy to get back home to the views of the trees and the sound of the birds. I'll stay content to get anything I need delivered from Amazon or Publix.

Is this how agoraphobia starts?