2014 Winter in Florida
I have been really, really bad about writing the past few months. Since I
haven't been traveling, it feels like not much has been going on. When I think
about it though, I've been pretty busy. The weather has been cold and or rainy
overall, so I haven't been to the beach or any of the typical Florida
activities. I have been doing a lot of hiking with several different groups and
have met some awesome new friends.
Finally the weather report showed a glorious weekend coming up, and my
friend Jayen suggested a beach day. I couldn't say no! It was one of the great
warm sunny days when the entire northern half of the country was snowed in. I
hate to gloat, but that's the exact reason I came to Florida! We had a great
time; we sat on the beach, looked for seashells, ate some food and generally had
a nice, restful day. We didn't swim, however, the water was too cold for me.
In the 3 months in Florida, that was my only beach day.
I joined several Meetup hiking and adventure groups. Mostly we hike, but
some of the groups do other things, like a weekend camping trip to Little Talbot
Island. There were about 10 of us and we were spread out all over the
campground. We met for a group campfire each night. It was really fun and so
different being in a tent. In the RV, I mostly stay in RV parks. While some
people do sit outside in the evening, there usually aren't campfires or big
groups of people. Once the sun goes down, we all head inside to watch TV. I
forgot how much I enjoyed 'camping'. Except that it was freezing, as in the
40's! I had a nice air mattress and several blankets, and as long as I stayed
curled in a little ball, I was plenty warm. But it was so hard to get up in the
morning. We went for a few walks on the beach but the wind made the cold even
worse. I got some great pictures of driftwood of the beach and we all went on a
short nature hike. We were joined for the day hike by a few local people then 5
of us girls headed to Amelia Island.
Its amazing how sometimes you meet someone and just click. It seems like
you've known each other for ever. I met several girls like that this winter and
can't wait to get back in Sept to get to know them all better. Most of them I
met through the hiking clubs. When I was in DC, though I had many friends, none
of them enjoyed the outdoors . When I joined hiking clubs there, it was with
the goal of making friends who had similar interests. While I did hike with
some nice enough people, once the hike was over, that was that. This time
around, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself exchanging numbers and getting
together either one on one or in small groups. I got to do many more things
that I could have thought of on my own. Now if only I could meet a nice man
with similar interests, I'd be one happy camper!
One of the groups spent the winter hiking the western corridor of the
Florida trail. Each week, we hiked anywhere from 6-14 miles of connecting
segments. I think in total we did 110 miles. I would love to walk the entire
Florida trail, from the panhandle to Miami, but I just don't know when I would
do it. Most certainly not in the summer, the heat would kill me. This winter
I'll be back, but I plan on getting my certification to teach English as a 2nd
language (ESL) so I can teach overseas. More on that later, but that leaves me
with no time to do the trail. I guess I'll just file it away as one of the
things I'll get to. Some people do segments of the major trails as time and
money permit. This includes the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail
on the west coast. I've done day hikes on both. While it would be incredible
to be able to hike both of them too, I think that is unrealistic for me and my
broken down knees and bad feet. But the Florida trail is still attainable since
its all flat. One of these days...
One day a group of us decided on a road trip to REI, the outdoor store.
They have a large selection of gear for hiking, biking, backpacking, camping
etc. I only buy my hiking boots from them because they have a 1 year
guarantee. If I get a pair of boots and they never get broken in well, I can
take them back and try another pair. Believe me, that makes the $100+ price tag
worth it As much as I hike, a good pair of boots makes all the difference in
the world. Nothing is worse then getting 6 miles down the trail and realizing
you have a blister and now have to hike 6 miles back. We had such a fun day,
shopping and eating, and getting to know each other better.
I noticed several of my adventure groups went on weekend trips not only to
hike, but they did a lot of kayaking too. I've kayaked before and enjoyed it,
so I invested in a 10 ft starter kayak. The RV park I'm in is next to a river
and it was so peaceful paddling upstream and floating back. There is an
abundance of wildlife to be seen. Apparently there is a troop of howler
monkeys, but I never saw them. On one trip I saw 3 boys fishing. I say boys,
but they were about 20, still boys to me. Somehow they had gotten their line
hooked over a tree branch and caught a fish at the same time. One guy was
trying to swim out far enough to pull the line off, but the water was too deep
for him to be able to pull effectively. I paddled over and got the line
untangled and when I did, the fish popped into my kayak. I paddled to the shore
and he waded out and caught it. It was pretty funny and we all had a good
laugh. We chatted for a few minutes then I started back up stream. The one boy
was flirting with me a little and said be be sure to tell my husband I caught a
fish. I said I wasn't married and he really layed it on then, saying hey
beautiful, come back and spend the day fishing with us. I got a good laugh out
of that, I don't think cougar even comes close, but it still made my day. What
a nice boy to make an old lady feel young again.
I've been wanting to rip up the carpet in the RV and lay down some kind of
vinyl floor. I've been volunteering with Dade City Habitat every few weeks and
one day they were laying vinyl floors. Perfect timing! It was a lot easier
than I thought, so that night I went home and pulled up the carpet. I totally
lucked out because the carpet was just stapled along the edges and the wood
underneath was undamaged. I spent the next day shopping around and finally
bought some vinyl planks from Lowes. They are interlocking tongue and groove
like hardwood floors and float, meaning they are not glued down. The next day I
spent about 6 hours on my knees, but it came out beautiful! The hardest part
was getting both sides to click in properly, but eventually I got it all done.
I bought 3 boxes and was on the last piece of box two. Luckily, it was my last
piece to lay as well. Each box was about $50, so I was excited to return the
extra box. Now for the final cut. I measured, went outside and marked the
piece. I thought, I want to make sure I get it right, so I went back and
measured again. Perfect, so I cut. When I got inside and put the final piece
in place I kicked myself. I had measured it correctly, but cut it backward!
Its tongue and grove and I cut off the tongue side so there was no way to slide
it into the grove of the piece beside it. What a stupid mistake! I had no
choice but to open the new box and try again. Oh well, such is life. I may
need to replace one of the boards in the future, so its just as well. As I
stood back and admired my work, Beefcake came over and promptly slid on his
butt. He falls a lot, he's a bit unsteady on his feet. Its to be expected for
an 18 year old dog. I put his bed in place and he started over to it and slid
again. You've got to be kidding me, he can't walk on the new floor! His feet
slide right out from under him, its too slick. Off I go to Wal-mart for a
runner from the kitchen to his bed. It covers up part of the floor, but not all
of it.
I went to the Tampa RV super show where I got to see Cindy and Bob from the
FROG group. They are probably the nicest couple I've met on my journey so far.
They set up and attend several rallies a year and meet hundreds of people, yet
they always remember each individual person and details of their life. They
always ask about Beefcake and Habitat. After visiting with them for a while, I
next met up with Barb, a friend I met through Habitat. It was so nice spending
the day with her and checking out the RV's. I have been thinking of trading
mine in for a different layout. Also, I want a new one, still under warranty.
Traveling full time is really hard on the RV, its starting to need this and that
repaired. Nothing major yet, but I'd like to avoid that expense. I have long
wanted the new front living layout. Normally, the bedroom is in the front of
the 5th wheel and the living room and kitchen are configured in different ways
in the back. There are now several newer models with the living room up front.
The downside is you give up the big 'basement' storage in the front. Also, all
the models are 40 ft. I still want to stay below 35 ft to make sure I can get
in the smaller parks. After this show, I'm now thinking about the toy hauler.
The bedroom is still up front, but now you have a big garage in back. Most of
them come with the ramp able to convert to a deck. The kitchen is a nice size
but the living room is usually along one side and there is no kitchen table. I
was thinking of taking out most of the couches and making a dining room space
and using the garage for a large living room. I've seen them with carpet that
can be rolled up if you are going to use the garage for ATV's or what ever.
There is a bed and 2 couches that are elevate and can be lowered for use, making
it a multipurpose room. I'm not buying anything just yet, so I still have
plenty of time to change my mind again.
Aside from meeting new friends, I've been able to reconnect with several
friends from the past. I mentioned some in my last post, this time I caught up
with Jeff and his lovely wife Linda. Jeff and I were stationed together in
Dover DE in 1983. When I was in DC, I got a call from him out of the blue. I
have no idea how he tracked me down after so many years, but it was really nice
talking to him and we've been in contact, mostly through FB since then. He just
landed a job in Belgium and he and Linda were coming to Fl to visit family
before they left. We met for lunch and it was so much fun catching up and
meeting Linda. I say this all the time, I can't believe how much FB has changed
our lives. In the past, you might think of old friends from time to time, but
there was no way to really find them.
My travel buddies are Sammie the cat and Brutus Beefcake the dog. I've had
Sammie for 14 years, I got her as a 3 month old kitten from a shelter
in Knoxville Tennessee. She has always been very shy, but the past few years,
she seems to have gotten more friendly. She now comes out when people visit and
will even let them pet her if she's feeling generous, in typical cat fashion. I
noticed one day that she seemed to be getting thinner. Since she always has dry
food out, its hard to notice how much she's eating. Both her and the dog always
have dry food and get a big spoonful of canned food twice a day. They don't
always eat the canned food for what ever reason, but once I thought about it,
Sammie hadn't been eating any of hers. I tried a different brand, thinking she
may have just gotten tired of her usual brand. After a few days it became
apparent that she was getting very thin and wasn't eating at all. After a
through vet exam and some blood work, everything looked normal except that she
was anemic. Without extensive testing, his best guess was worms or cancer.
Since Lexi, the stray I picked up a few weeks previously, had worms, I was
hopeful that was it. We gave her some meds for that and something to stimulate
her appetite. He also recommended force feeding her baby food to help kick
start her appetite. Now, anyone with cats knows that's an extreme measure,
trying to force a cat to do anything she doesn't want to. I did as he
suggested, and forced a few spoons full down her throat every few hours. We
would know in a few days if the worms were dead, she would once again be
eating. No such luck, she just lost more weight and became listless. He
offered to recommend a specialist, but we both knew it was too late for anything
like that so with a heavy heart I said goodbye to my sweet little girl.
I mentioned in a previous post that I was part of a group of Habitat
Care-A-Vanners involved with the new safety initiative. Basically, in
December we spent a week in Americus GA learning how to teach OSHA safety
courses. Since that time, I've been going over the materiel and personalizing
the power point slides I'll use to teach. Finally I got the opportunity to
teach my first class in NC and as the time got closer, I realized I hadn't
studied enough or worked hard enough on my slides. The last week, I studied non
stop! I had decided it was easier to stay in a hotel than to pull the RV up and
back just for 3 days. My mom agreed to watch Beefcake. I was supposed to leave
on Monday, teach Tue - Thurs and come back on Fri. Sat night I decided to
review once last time and sat down to study. At about 11 Brutus suddenly jumped
up from his bed and fell over. He struggled to get up and couldn't. I picked
him up and noticed he was hugging one leg to his chest. I felt the leg and
couldn't find anything wrong, so I put him back down. He promptly fell over
again. From the way he was holding his leg, it reminded me of both times I
dislocated my shoulder. But he didn't do anything, he was asleep in his bed. I
realized I was going to have to take him to the vet. Since it was the middle of
the night, they got me right in. After a very extensive exam, both skeletal and
neurological, the vet said it looks like he may have dislocated his shoulder.
This with no suggestion from me. He suggested an x-ray and I asked what it
would mean if it was dislocated. He said his entire leg would be in a cast,
holding the arm away from his body, for several weeks. I quickly realized there
was no way he could do that. He's 18 years old and can barely walk using all 4
legs. He falls into his food dish because he can't even stand steadily enough
to bend his head to eat. I had to get those raised dished so he didn't topple
over. At that point I started crying, I had just lost Sammie less than a week
ago and now it looked like I would say good bye to little Beefcake too. The vet
said lets get the x-ray and see how bad it is before we decided on anything.
They sedated him and took the films. The results were good. Although he though
it had been dislocated, it was mild enough that either he or I popped it back in
when we were moving his arm around. He had no idea how he may have done it,
maybe one of the time he fell and when he went to sleep it had time to stiffen
up and hurt. He gave me some pain meds that would also make him sleep and told
me to keep him as still, quite and calm as possible. If he didn't re injure it
he would still be able to walk on it.
Now what to do about the class I was supposed to teach? Since he has
started going blind, Beefcake has been very needy. He sometimes cries when left
alone, even in his own home. He does OK at my Mom's, but she wouldn't be
willing or able to give him the constant/intensive care he would need for the
next week or so. I thought about taking him with me, but he would be beyond
stressed about staying in a strange hotel room all day without me. Luckily, I
was supposed to teach the class in front of the instructor Don. Which meant he
was going to be there regardless of who was teaching. They were understanding
of my need to cancel since both Don and Mary, my 'boss' are both dog people. If
I had been on my own, and they were depending on me as the only instructor, I
would have probably just taken him and hoped for the best.
I've been thinking about wanting to travel more overseas but how can I make
money doing it? I've talked to quite a few people who have taught ESL. Some of
them went through an agency called Oxford. You get your certification by
attending 4 weekend classes where you basically learn how to teach. And they
assist you with placement. In looking at the various countries open to me, it
seems like almost anywhere in Asia has the potential to make a lot more money
than Europe. The money is better and the cost of living lower. For some
reason, I'm interested in China or Hong Kong. When I mentioned this to my
Habitat friends, they suggested Vietnam because they've heard such great things
about building there. Hmmm now thats an idea, teach, travel and still build. I
have all summer to decide, I can't take the classes until I come back from Costa
Rica the first of Oct.
Judging from how long this entry is, I guess I had a busy winter after
all!
Here is the link to pictures:
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