Category Archives: Florida

We just finished our volunteer stint at Oleta River State Park.  We had been at Oleta since early December and it feels just right to hit the road again.  After a few months in one spot, we can’t wait to travel again.

I finally was able to really enjoy my job at the Gatehouse.  There was so much to learn and it’s so fast-paced – but I loved greeting the guests – who, in spite of 40 seconds of interaction, I became friendly with.  One weekend I worked both mornings and it was very busy.  On that Sunday, there were four pavilions rented for large events and a day camp in session.  That meant hundreds of people entering the park in addition to the sunny weather bringing in many hundreds more.  I work with lots of cash, plus credit cards, so I have to be on my toes to be accurate. 

I think I mostly enjoyed the challenge of this job.  I’m happy that I’m physically able to stand on my feet for four hours and walk back and forth from the cars to the register.  I’m happy I have the mental capability to make change, answer questions, and still continue to smile.  I’ve had lots of support from the staff here and I’m grateful to them for all their patient help.

Doug has been involved in a maintenance project that has brought him some satisfaction.  He designed and built fold-down tables for the 14 cabins in the park.  The design is great and he managed to get them all installed before we left.  It wasn’t that easy since our cabins are very popular and he had to squeeze in the installations between check-outs and check-ins.  In addition to the washing machine, he has fixed a Gator or two, the front gate, a power source for the gate camera and still did a field shift once in a while.  You can be certain that when he was done with his shift, that area of the park was free of trash.

In February we were treated to a really nice Volunteer Appreciation Day. Our supervisor Chelsea rented a car to take us and another volunteer couple to Bill Baggs State Park. We were served a very nice breakfast and lunch and were given tickets for a lighthouse tour, a boat tour, beach chairs, beach umbrellas and bike rides. The park itself is beautiful with lush sandy dunes on a sparkling white beach. Doug and I spent our time walking on the beach and we rented a two-seater surrey (bike) to really get to see the park. There was an award ceremony and through that we learned about the other Southeastern Florida State Parks and some of the unique volunteer opportunities with them. It was a beautiful day that showed off the impressive contributions of volunteers in this state.

This last month we’ve spent more time with my brother Dan and his wife Lisa.  Dan has had some health issues but is improving.  He was able to walk to the beach on our lagoon last week with just a little stabilizing help from us.  We drove to their home in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea to indulge in Taco Tuesday at our new favorite restaurant –Taco Craft.  We also met his high school friend Nancy there and those tacos we all shared were amazing.  On our last night, Dan, Lisa and Emily came our way to eat.  We planned to eat at a Thai restaurant here in North Miami Beach but switched to our new favorite – Kabobji, a Middle Eastern Restaurant.

We discovered Kabobji when Doug’s brother, Nelson and his wife were on a few days’ layover in Miami on their way to Buenos Aires, the Falklands, and the Sandwich Islands.  We experimented with Kabobji’s and were excited to have such a great meal – fresh baked pita, luscious hummus, fluffy rice with toasted almonds, shwarma, kabobs, falafel, wraps – all delicious!  So good, in fact, that Doug and I went back the next day for lunch and then brought our family there again.  We are sorry we discovered it so late in our stay!

It will be hard to say good-bye to Dan and Lisa since we are not sure when we’ll see them again.  But we are hoping they take their beautiful RoadTrek to visit us in Arizona next winter.

Two years ago we spent 2 months in Florida and had beautiful weather.  This winter was not as good – much more rain and overcast days in between high humidity, which means more bugs.  We are still being bitten by no-seeums and are now seeing some mosquito bites too.  I have two fire ant bites on my ankles which are over 6 weeks old and still look scabby and itch.  So leaving this beautiful mangrove and sea grape jungle will mean our skin will heal and we won’t have to slather ourselves in lotions and oils just to exit our RV.

We will be saying good-bye to the staff and other volunteers here too.  We’ve made connections with some of them and hope they keep in touch.

One of the hard parts of leaving a long-term stay is getting the RV back to travel mode.  We found that when we are stationary we accumulate – extra food – more clothes – STUFF.  So a purge and a thorough cleaning had to happen before we left.  We ate whatever was in the pantry and refrigerator and I prepared food to freeze for easy meals on the road.  We made one last charity donation as we weeded through our closet, drawers and cabinets. 

We will definitely miss the free washer and dryer we had access to here.  The first two months we were here the washer wasn’t working, but Doug fixed it and we figure it saved us about $10 per week in laundry costs.  I will definitely miss that Doug left for work at the shop with a bag of dirty laundry and returned with clean laundry.  All I had to do was fold and put it away.  Once we are on the road, laundry is usually my job.  But I enjoy using the campground facilities when available.  That’s where I meet like-minded travelers who share their journeys and ideas with me.  Doug and I enjoy the times when it’s just us.  We settle into a gentle and comfortable routine.  But once in a while I need a little bit of conversation from someone else.

So it was a busy week of getting ready to leave, but the lure of the road ahead was great incentive as always.

The month of January had us working our volunteer jobs at Oleta River State Park.  Doug is now doing more maintenance – fixing things and building things and occasionally helping with trash pick up.  I am feeling more comfortable at the Gatehouse and have come to love the busy mornings when I feel like I am dancing between the cars coming in and the phone ringing.  I have made a few mistakes (ugh!) but everyone has been great to work with.

Our daughters, Becky and Paola, and our grandsons, Benjo and Mati, spent a week with us.  It was wonderful!  We celebrated Christmas and New Year’s Eve together (just a little late!).  We had a Sunday Dinner with my brother, Dan and his wife Lisa.  We had a picnic on the beach with my sister-in-law Theresa.  Doug took them to Secret Woods where they caught a glimpse of a manatee.  We spent some perfect days on the beach digging in the sand and playing in the quiet water of the lagoon.  Becky and Paola enjoyed a moonlight kayak tour and also spent a night in a cabin in the park during the beautiful Wolf Blood Moon/Eclipse.  We ate a lot and enjoyed every minute with them.  We miss them and look forward to more time at their home in Philadelphia this May.

The highlight of their visit with us was the boys’ Junior Ranger Induction Ceremony.  Ranger Chelsie swore them in, gave them their badges and certificates and they took their responsibilities seriously.  We showed them how to use the Grabber and every time we went out to play, hike or go to the beach, we took the Grabber and a plastic grocery bag.  The boys, even at almost 5 and almost 3, recognized trash when they saw it and pounced on it like good stewards of the Earth.  We lost track of the number of bags of trash they disposed of.  The Nature Trail and the Beach were cleaner after Benjo and Mati passed by.  The very first day we did this, we were walking from the parking lot to the beach and Benjo spotted his first piece of trash – he enthusiastically ran to it but tripped and scraped his knee.  He was wounded in the line of duty, but he picked himself up and continued his quest!  We are so proud of them!  They truly earned their Junior Ranger Vests and badges!

We have been able to visit Dan and Lisa in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea a few more times and we fall in love with that area more each time.  We’ve had some memorable meals in the fun sidewalk restaurants and have heard a few bands while sitting near the beach.  We are so happy that they have found the perfect place to enjoy their retirement.  We even got to spend one night with their daughter, Emily, who visited them for her birthday.

We have about one month to go here at Oleta River.  New adventures await.  We will be supervising a Beach Clean Up for a volunteer group this month.  I love the opportunity to share my love for the park and public lands while teaching them to be good citizens of the Earth.  I love greeting the regular park-goers as they enter almost every morning to bike, kayak, walk, or sit on the beach.  Their warm and pleasant greetings to me make my day.  I even have some favorite dogs that sweetly say good morning to me too.

There has been quite a bit of rain this past month, so we take advantage of any sunny days to beach-sit.  Our lives are in a nice pattern – a trip to a really good laundromat about every two weeks keeps our clothes and towels clean and we don’t mind all the quarters we spend since we are only there about 1 ½ hours.  I have come to enjoy shopping at the nearby Winn-Dixie.  It has the most diverse selection of food I’ve ever seen.  We’ve tried both the Cubano and Puerto Rican bread, experimented with some Jewish food whose packaging was in Hebrew so I’m not sure what it is called but it was all good, and I can’t resist the spicy Jamaican beef patties.  I notice something new each time I go.

We are starting to plan our trip north.  We are attending a Family Motor Coach Association Rally – “Peachy in Perry”, in Georgia.  Then a few days with my Aunt Camille near Charleston, SC.  We’ll take our time heading to Philadelphia with lots of leisure camping time so we can keep avoiding winter.  We look forward to a busy May near Philadelphia where we will see family and friends.

Once we leave Philadelphia we head towards Michigan where we can’t wait to spend time with Doug’s brother Nelson and his wife Lydia exploring the Upper Peninsula in Michigan.  We expect to get to North Dakota for the first time.    We’ll continue out to Portland, Oregon for a visit to our family there.

We will finally spend a few nights in Idaho and Utah – the first time for this RV trip so we will be adding a few more states to our map.  We’ll continue down to Arizona for a long stay there.  We will take care of doctors and dentists and other necessities and then spend the winter volunteering at Kartchner Caverns State Park.  When I wrote it out like this it sounds like a whirlwind tour through America, but our travels are not rushed; there is much to see and do with plenty of lazy days in between.

We really love this life!  Thanks for reading our blog!  We feel like this is a good way for us to keep in touch and for all of you to know how we are doing and where we are.  Hope you all are well and happy too!

It was easy to settle into our space in our new home at Oleta River State Park.  We are in a remote area of the park where there are five manufactured homes in which some of the Rangers live and three full hook-up sites.  One of these is home to a Ranger so only two sites are for Resident Volunteers.  There is no camping in this park, just Camping Cabins located in another area.  There are two volunteer couples who host the cabin area.

My job here is Gatehouse.  I thought I understood how that worked since I worked Gatehouse at Kartchner Caverns.  Well, no.  I had no idea.  This is a very busy urban park with up to a thousand visitors most days and three or four times that on weekends and holidays.  In addition to collecting entrance fees, I sell annual passes, rent pavilions and give out info on cabins, kayak and bike rentals and give directions.  The phone rings a lot, but I mostly just tell people calling the website for the cabin rentals and the phone number for the kayak rentals.  I quickly had to learn to juggle everything.  Everyone has been great helping me to learn this job.  After two weeks, I am starting to relax a bit and enjoy greeting our visitors.

Doug’s job is not exactly what he thought it was going to be.  We had been told he would be doing maintenance and lawn mowing.  There is a real shortage of employees here and in a park this busy and this big that means that Doug mostly has been picking up and disposing trash.  He also has to check and clean the public restrooms.  The Rangers on late duty are supposed to take care of the restrooms and some of the trash, but everyone here works mostly alone and no one seems to be able to keep up with constant crowded park and full trash cans.

There is a pretty beach on the lagoon and the best part of Doug’s day is walking this beach in the early morning hours and picking up the trash there.  This isn’t the best job for Doug.  We are both morally offended by people who leave their garbage around, especially in public lands.  So having to deal with this day after day and never being able to get on top of the mess is demoralizing to Doug.  He has been assigned some maintenance projects soon.  Another volunteer may arrive soon and that will make his job better.

There is a lot to do in this park – canoe, paddle board, kayak and bike rentals with lots of water and fifteen miles of hiking/biking trails.  There is a playground, a butterfly garden, nature walks, a fishing pier, a lovely sandy beach on the pretty tranquil lagoon and picnic tables and grills all over the park.

I’ve been enjoying the half-mile walk from our site to the Gatehouse.  I’ve seen some local fauna – raccoons, woodpeckers, ducks, geckos and iguanas.  I love to hear all the birds and I wish I knew what all these trees and bushes are.  As I walk the sandy trail, I am watching a new high-rise go up over the dense trees, adding one more giant to the skyline.

It took some courage for me to venture out of the park gate to go grocery shopping.  I’ve conquered my fear and managed to make the right turn and quick left into the Intracoastal Mall where most of our needs can be met.  We have also explored the beautiful Sunny Isles Beach – about two miles from the park.  One day we parked half way and walked the rest.  We tried out a parking lot the last time we went.  It’s worth the hassle of traffic to sit on this quiet pretty beach.

The primary reason we took this job was to be near my brother Dan and his wife Lisa who are living in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.  We enjoyed our first visit to them on a perfect Sunday evening.  Their condo is just two blocks from all the nightlife near the beach.  We walked to the beach plaza and sat in Adirondack chairs watching a guy teach people to dance.  Then, of course, we had ice cream.  It was a beautiful night and we look forward to more good times there.  Dan and Lisa visited us one day so Dan finally got to see our RV.  Hopefully, they’ll come back for some beach-sitting with us.  We also hope to spend time with our sister-in-law Theresa in Miami.  It’s nice to be near family.

As a special added attraction to our Florida stay, our daughters Becky and Paola and their two adorable sons will be spending a week with us.  We can’t wait!  It will be tight quarters, lots of food, Disney movies at night and sandy beach days.

We do have one serious complaint.  We are constantly being bitten by the nasty no-seeums – teeny, tiny monsters (aka midges) that bite.  We were warned to cover our skin in lotion and oils to prevent their bites.  So we start each day a little greasy and still get a bite or two.  The intense itching has us taking allergy meds which make us Grumpy and Sleepy.  Despite all our efforts we were swarmed after a rain, which apparently enrages the little bugs and our necks, scalps, arms and legs are spotted and scabbed.

One volunteer recommended taking B1 vitamins to keep mosquitos from biting and that actually works.  We have adjusted our lives to avoid the worst times – dawn and dusk.  Our work days start at 7 am so we leave just after the onslaught.  We are done around noon and there doesn’t seem to be much biting going on during the sunny part of the day.  Whatever we do during the day, we try not to return home at the “bad time.”  Hopefully there won’t be much more rain now and we’ll get used to slimy skin and an occasional bite.

We’ll be here until early March, giving us lots of time to enjoy our Florida family and some relaxing beach days.  Anticipating seeing some manatees soon too!

We loved our quiet Christmas together – especially the phone calls from the kids.  Today is New Year’s Day 2019 – a good time to reflect on last year and contemplate our future.  In a few days we celebrate our three-year anniversary of full-time RV living.  We love our lifestyle still and know that we have many more adventures ahead of us.

So… when we first looked at RVs a salesperson told us that there are three milestones to get through to be comfortable with full-timing:  to get through the first two weeks; then the first two months; and then the first two years.  After that you should be adjusted.  Well, we are one year past the last milestone and we have zero regrets.  It looks like we can keep doing this for years to come.  We are completely satisfied with our choice of RVs – the size, style and quality of our Tiffin is the perfect home for us and we wouldn’t change it.  Adding volunteering to our lifestyle has helped our finances, given us satisfaction and taught us much.  Our travels have brought us fun, history and excitement with so much more to look forward to.  And our interludes with our family have brought us great joy.  As I’ve mentioned before, it’s hard to say good-bye so we try to look to the hellos on the horizon.  An added attraction to this lifestyle has been forming friendships and meeting up with these fellow wanderers on our journey.

So much to be thankful for!  We wish everyone reading this a peace-filled, loving and healthy 2019.

This country is huge and there is so much we want to see that we don’t often retrace our steps or go back to places we’ve been, but we did just that on this trip through Florida.  Stephen Foster Cultural Center and State Park is one place we’ll be happy to return to again and again.  There on the banks of the Ol’ Suwanee River we know we are going to love our campsite and have a whole beautiful park to enjoy.  And we were there at the perfect time of year – the Festival of Lights.

Our first day of walking around the park, we saw many of the light displays just being constructed, and then on our last day all the displays were up and lit – Charlie Brown, Dr. Seuss, alligators, trains, boats, snow people and reindeer all come to life and light every night of the holiday season.

Our last night at Stephen Foster was the debut night of the Festival of Lights – a special evening planned for the local sponsors… and lucky us.  The lights are not spectacular.  They are simple and nice – in perfect harmony with the folklore of the area and the simple renditions of Christmas Carols and Foster songs ringing from the carillon bell tower.  Just a sweet way to start our holidays.

Once again, we said a reluctant good-bye to Stephen Foster State Park – grateful for a nice five night visit with just a little rain.

Next stop – Orlando Thousand Trails RV Park.  We had a whole week at this park – also a return trip for us.  It is a great place to enjoy the many tortoises wandering out of their burrows, the lovely graceful egrets and cranes, the great laundry facilities and easy access to shopping.

I started my holiday biscotti baking just in time to give some away to the friends we encountered in this area of Florida.  Just by coincidence, our friends Crystal and Jase from Tucson happened to be at a conference nearby, so we met them for dinner at Fresco Italiano Cucina for a great dinner and conversation.  The next day we had lunch with Lynn, a volunteer friend from Kartchner Caverns.  We had a long pleasant lunch at Anise in Tampa.  It was too cold and windy to do much exploration of Tampa but it was wonderful to catch up with Lynn.

We made a one-night stop at John Dickinson State Park, which is a really nice park we hope to visit again.  We had just enough time there to make more biscotti.

Then we arrived at our next volunteer job at Oleta River State Park on Friday, December 7^th.  We fought our way through heavy crazy traffic in the North Miami Beach area and then pulled into the park entrance.  Only a short ride into the park and we were in a quiet tropical jungle.  Palm trees and thick foliage in a protected mangrove forest.  Quite a difference from the towering high rises and crowded roads we had passed.

As we waited for the Assistant Park Manager to escort us to the site we would be living in for the next three months, a beautiful huge green iguana proudly walked across the dirt road next to us.  It was a special moment for us.  My brother Mike, who had lived for many years in Miami, had raised his prize iguana, Spike, here.  Mike and Spike have passed now but I’m sure that the iguana in the park was a greeting from Mike and Spike – “Welcome to Miami!”