Saturday, December 31, 2016

Happy New Year!

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Here we are, December 31st 2016. Time flies when you're having fun! I still can't believe the huge change in our life since we took the plunge into full-time RV living. Glen's health has improved, my health has improved and we are generally happier and more loving toward each other.

We learned a lot in the 5 months we've been living this life. The first lesson is: whatever life throws at you there is always a solution. It might not be what you expected but you will never know if you don't give it a try. When we became more and more stressed financially and less capable of working because of our health we went through a time of desperation even thinking the only solution would be for one of us to die in order for the other one to live comfortably with the insurance money or the inheritance. Pretty drastic! So by researching different ways of living cheaply I came across a multitude of blogs and vlogs of happy people living in RVs which got me thinking. What if we could do that? Wouldn't it be nice (for me especially) to be able to escape winter weather every year while staying in our own home? Wouldn't that be more affordable than going on a 1 week holiday trying to get some warmth and sun but having to return to the reality of winter in Canada? My health always deteriorated during the winter and I was afraid it would rush my demise eventually. Now here I am, feeling great, healthy and strong and it's December 31st!

The other lesson: Not all black tank treatments are good. That's right. As much as they all claim to do the same thing, they don't. When we first purchased the trailer I had already bought something for the black tank. I bought it from Amazon.ca and it was called RV Digest-It. A liquid, it came in a gallon container that I found room for under the bed. After that was done we were at Walmart and I bought some already pre-measured packets that claimed to dissolve everything and take care of the smell. Well, I ended up having to use 2 packets per treatment as it didn't quite do the job on the smell. It wasn't atrocious but it wasn't good either. So I ordered the same RV Digest-It from Amazon as it is by far the best in my opinion.

Lesson number three: No matter if it's sunny or cloudy or even rains, it's all better in Florida.

Still working on: Reducing our grocery bill. How can two people who don't eat like kings spend that much on grocery? I must admit that Glen does eat a lot through the day but still! So in the next year I have to plan more so we can keep it under budget. We don't throw out much food and I have the wine as an entity by itself. And yes! We can buy wine and beer at the grocery store here! So convenient! And the wine is so cheap! It will be a shocker once we get back home! I might have to give it up for the summer. We'll see.

It was a radical move for us and especially for Glen who still has a 17-year-old son who he misses terribly and he feels really bad about leaving his ex-wife to take care of him. On the other hand, at 17 his son is getting more independent and we would rarely interact with him when he was spending the week with us. For me, I've been far away from my son and my brother for quite a long time so it didn't make as much difference except for Christmas when I would always go to my son's home and spend Christmas with them and have the pleasure of seeing the kids' excitement in the morning when they saw all the gifts. I missed that terribly but we'll replace that with more time with them during the summer. For us, it's been such a great life compared to the options we had if we had stayed that I don't regret anything. Life is too short to just go through it enduring day after day with no joy.

On the eve of a new year, I ask you to examine your life and count your blessings. If you are not happy and feel like you are just existing instead of truly living, please take a stand and make a change. It doesn't have to be anything drastic but sometimes you have to take a big leap into the unknown and take a chance. I've now done it twice in my life and it's been good. Trust the universe to direct you in the best direction. And if all else fails, sell everything, get an RV and start traveling!

All the best to you and your families in this coming new year.



Thursday, December 29, 2016

Peace River Preserve Thousand Trails Campground

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We were ready to leave Dupuis early in the morning but then the "guys" came over and started to once more test our battery and its output. With all the talk going on we ended up leaving past lunch time. I was hungry and thirsty. The outcome was that our battery is good but seems to deplete fairly fast due to our refrigerator. So we left with the knowledge that we might not have to replace our trailer's battery but should have a way to keep it charged either by solar or generator.

Generators are very expensive (for quiet ones) and need maintenance (which we're not very good at) so we're looking at solar panels quite seriously.

We arrived at Peace River Preserve late in the day. We were told to look around but to omit lane B as a motorhome had burned down the previous week and there were big trucks getting it out of its site blocking the street. After looking we tried our luck at backing up the trailer into a weird spot with trees and roots. The site turned out to be so badly leveled that we gave up on it. I also hit a tree which dented the rear bumper and later prevented us from getting one of our sewer hoses out (we store them in the hollow bumper for travel). So we ended up having to go to Walmart to go buy another one (turns out this new one was cheaper and is of much better quality than what we originally bought).

So this guy came over to help us. Now I had two guys telling me which way to turn but using two different languages. One would tell me which way to send the rear of the RV and the other one was telling me which way to turn my steering wheel. We finally got it done and we actually like this site as it is perfectly level and on a corner so we don't have any RVs on one side - we overlook the mini golf.





BUT, the sites are small and on the side of our door and awning - where we sit outside - all we see are RV's. First time we're so crunched in. So our first impression was not very good. Turns out it's quiet and quite nice. The pool is warm but the hot tub is not heated right now as the pool heater is broken. The laundry room is nice with machines that you can pay for with a credit card. So convenient! And cheap too compared to the Orlando campground where a wash and dry was double the price. The free internet at the community center is excellent. I even watched a Netflix movie and the hanging rocking wooden benches that line the verandas are so comfortable.









There is a trail that starts at the back of the mini putt and it goes along the Peace River. A lot of people are scraping the bottom of the bottom river to find artifacts - shark teeth and fossils that can be very old as they are from a time when the whole area was covered by the sea (4,000 years ago?). One of our neighbors dug some up to show the first graders that he teaches back home. The river is host to some alligators but they are too small to be of any concern for humans but could decide that a small child or a pet would be good for lunch. Proceed with caution! The first few days we were a bit disappointed as the river didn't seem to attract wildlife. But then we started to see some Ibises, one alligator that favors one area in particular, a Little Blue Heron, a Kingfisher. So our walk along the river became more interesting. We even brought chairs to sit by the river and just watch. When kayakers or canoeists get too close to the alligator, he slips into the water and it can take a long time for him to resurface.















We were here through Christmas and New Year. Hard to get into the Holiday spirit with no snow or family around. The highlight of my Christmas day was Skyping with my son and his wonderful little family. I loved being able to see my grandchildren and hear their voices but our internet got weird and we had to cut it short and continue just on the phone - which was fine too as I love talking with my son. Glen also called his family who were gathered at his sister's place and talked to his sister and his son. We were sad not to be with them but one can't have it all! Jason was telling me that one of his colleague's parents do the same thing as us which made me feel a little better and not such a bad mother for not being close by for 6 months.

There are cabins to be rented also. Although, again, it's not the best set-up we've seen (the best so far for cabins was at Chesapeake Bay) there are a few that have their porch towards nature. And each porch has a hanging swinging bench!



Even though Peace River is not our most favorite campground it was still pretty good and the people around us were all very nice and friendly. We will be coming back here in 2 weeks as it was the only place available for that time.

News break - we discovered another nice trail that is more jungle like but sadly is not close to the river. It's a nice change of scenery and it's in the shade. We're waiting with anticipation to get our 100 W solar panel that we ordered from Amazon. Should arrived tomorrow. We'll tell you all about it during our week at Dupuis Equestrian Centre Campground next week where we'll be testing it out.


Thursday, December 22, 2016

Dupuis Equestrian Center Campground

Another free campground! The Dupuis Equestrian Center Campground is very well equipped for horses.The center was owned by the Dupuis family who later donated it to the South Florida Water Management Group. It's a huge area with several sections: a welcome center that includes a wildlife museum and a butterfly garden. At the welcome center there is also a nicely mowed trail loop that is short and sweet - just right for older or disabled people. There is another area that leads to a pier on the lake. The lake is very small (full of fish though) but the pier is beautiful and there are tiki huts with picnic tables. There is a family campground that only accepts tents and pop-up campers. The equestrian campground is quite large with a large stable and new smaller stables that are open sided but have box stalls.






There are water faucets everywhere with potable water for the horses. The water is high in iron and contains sulfur but after going through our numerous filters it was clear and odourless. There are miles and miles of well-marked trails for both horses and pedestrians.



We saw quite a bit of wildlife on those trails. The photos above show a boardwalk trail that ended to a lookout over a marsh area. The marsh was overgrown at this time of year so nothing there to see but the trees surrounding the area sported different kinds of air plants which was interesting. There were even ferns growing on the trunks of the trees.









And what a nice surprise to see a baby alligator by the side of the road. He's all green for the algae. Such a cute face!



The Dupuis Equestrian Campground is one large area and you just park where you want. There are signs to separate the equestrian camping from the non-equestrian (I think mostly for safety). While we were there a lot of people came to camp with their horses. Really nice to see them riding off on the trails. I spoke to a couple of girls that had just come back from riding and they said they rode 14 miles that day. They also told me about a special ride that is organized every year called Lake to Sea which goes on for 3 days and they ride about 25 miles a day. We also noticed some jumps here and there on the side of the trails and they were all marked by a small white flag on a peg. The jumps were small but solid - they could not be knocked down which made me wonder about the safety especially as some riders might attempt them with horses that had never jumped before.




What we really enjoyed about Dupuis were the company of the other campers. All of them really good people. Some we had already met at Hickory Hammock but we made new friends. Our neighbors Joan and Ray were a lot of fun and we were always invited to Happy Hour with the "gang" - a bunch who spend winter in Florida but try to stay only at free campgrounds. Some have been doing it for a long time and know all the good spots. We were about 6 Canadians, 3 of which were from Quebec. It was nice for me to get to speak French a little bit with those folks. We learned a lot about solar energy and how to dry camp successfully (which we don't because we are not equipped to do so). We might have to bite the bullet and do another unanticipated purchase and splurge on a portable solar panel. We like to park our rig in the shade so the portable would be better for us. Our neighbours had a generator which they ran every evening for about 3 hours while they watched TV and used their ceiling fan and could have lights on. The solar panel would only trickle charge our small battery so all it would do is prevent the fridge from alerting us that the battery is dying (even though it's running on propane it still uses some electricity) and having to idle the truck for 30 minutes or so to recharge. Our problem is that the battery sometimes chooses to die in the middle of the night which is not very nice for Glen who volunteers to go start the truck but also most probably an annoyance for our neighbours although nobody said anything.

Dupuis also has a washroom and a hot shower - my first time showering with spiders looking at me. It also has a dump so we could empty all our tanks before hitting the road instead of carrying that extra weight - every pound counts for saving gas!

A little break during one of our walks. Even Cheeka is happy to rest!

Even though we enjoyed Dupuis, we were happy to leave and go for two weeks to Peace River Thousand Trails Campground where we were going to have full hook-ups!




Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Kissimme Prairie Preserve Equestrian Campground

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Ha! Kissimmee Prairie! Absolutely beautiful! So much wildlife!

When you enter the park there is approximately 7.5 miles to the campground. That road was where we saw the most birds. We would be driving and suddently STOP! Look over there! Take pictures and then continue to another STOP! Wow! Can you see? There, on the branch! Click, click and then continue. We would laugh as it would take us so long to drive those miles!










The welcome center is very nice and manned that day by two very lovely women. They told us that there was a "resident alligator" named Stumpy who could often be seen sunning on the side of the road. The first time we saw him he was just around the corner from where we were camping. Quite a big guy he just laid there in the sun and not much could disturb him. We were told that although alligators can seem pretty harmless, they are wild and can be aggressive if perturbed or harassed. There were signs to that effect at different points in the park.




There were no stabling for the horses there but they did have nice paddocks, each with its own water spiggot to water the horses. There were no horses while we were there.




There were a lot of trails but they went for miles and miles and were more of an expedition than just a nice walk. We explored one of trails and it was weird as no birds could be heard singing at all. I thought maybe it was a sign. We did have to turn back at one point as the footing got quite wet and mucky. There was a nice short loop that started at the family campground which we walked twice. We saw raccoons one time and egrets. Again the very large live oaks are like trees from a fairy tale and when you add all the other different plants and palms it is just beautiful.













We also decided to go on a swamp buggy ride which turned out to be a bit of a dud as we hardly saw anything but got great information on the history of the prairies. I'm sorry but I can't remember anything of it. It was quite interesting at the time though. Our guide was a well-known birder named Dave Simpson and he could identify a bird just flying by and had such a sharp eye as to see a deer at a distance in the long grasses (almost impossible to see) while he was driving. We went to an area that the Audubon Society had first claimed and restored before the land was donated to the State and became a preserve. We also learned the difference between heritage hammocks as compared to more recently developed hammocks. By the way, hammocks are clumps of trees and vegetation that form a small forest.







We also learned that the cattle egrets we kept seeing in fields with cattle or horses are in fact from Africa. How they got here? Don't know.






The campsites were well laid out with each having electricity and water connections. It was nice to be able to turn on the lights at night after spending four days without electricity or water. And to take a shower! We were only a handful of campers so it was very quiet. At the equestrian campground, there was only a composting toilet but we did have access to the washrooms, showers and washer and dryer at the main campground.




On one of our drives we saw the very beautiful Crested Caracara. It is a falcon and will feed on dead animals at times. When we saw him he was feeding on a dead skunk and then flew on a post with a bone and was picking at that.




Another very pretty bird is the Eastern Meadowlark. We also liked the Loggerhead Shrike. We took pictures of other birds still unidentified by us. We heard owls and Glen heard some wolves but by the time I went out they had stopped. We did see many deers at different times. One time we were sitting outside in front of our trailer when we see three deers walking by slowly and very relaxed.














We also saw some curly mules. Must have been a mixed with curly horses!





We loved our time at the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve and would definitely go back. It was not a free campground but at $16/night it was affordable. The only thing is that it is so far out from civilization that we had a weak phone signal and absolutely no data. The closest store was about 20 minutes away but was so run down it looked like it should have been condemned. To go to a decent store we had to drive an hour.



Each place we go offers us something different to see and experience.
Loving it!