Working at Gulf Pines KOA

Reflections on our 5 months at Gulf Pines KOA in Milton, Florida

It was a beautiful, sun-shiny day when we arrived on December 2nd, with weather that was 15 degrees warmer than the temperatures we had left behind in North Carolina.  This made us happy!

The RV sites here are all pull-through.  All of them!  This, too, made us very happy.  One of the challenges at our previous campground had been the pain of watching an inexperienced driver back into his RV spot.  As a guide to arriving campers, John already knew that his job here would be more pleasurable and less stressful!

The covered pool

This is a beautiful park, with a lot of amenities for campers.  I mentioned the pool in a previous post.  It was covered for our first 3 1/2 months, and it's been uncovered (but still heated) since March 16th. It's a 20 yard pool, and so far I've swum 80 miles in it.  And taught approximately 45 water aerobics classes in it.  Needless to say, I LOVE this pool!  It has helped me stay on track with my fitness goals.

How many workampers does it take to fix a bike??

And we have mini golf!  Free for all our guests.  We've had fun playing while we've been here.  There are also a mile's worth of paved roads for walking, running and riding bikes.  And we have a nature trail, a game room, and clubhouse, 3- and 4-wheel bikes to rent, basketball hoops and horseshoes.  It's a fun family place!

The staff here have been great.  Managers Steve and Willa Maxwell are wonderful to work for, and the overall attitudes of the other workampers are those of cooperative teamwork.  The monthly "snowbird" campers, many of whom were here all winter, are very friendly.  Many of them return to this campground year after year.  There's a real spirit of community here.  We've been invited by Steve and Willa to come back and work here again.  We'll certainly keep it in mind!

The weather, for the most part, has been really nice.  I mentioned that the temps were warmer here than those we'd left behind in NC, as would be expected.  Sometimes they'll see snowfall here.  I'm happy to report that we saw no snow here this winter!  Last year, they had experienced a lot of flooding in April.  This year, while we've had ample amounts of rain, I'm thankful to say that we haven't had any flooding.  We had plenty of nice days all winter for walks and bike rides, swimming and beach-going.

Sunset on Navarre Beach

A windy day on the beach

                     We love the beaches here.  And though we're headed to the Outer Banks in less than a week, and the wonderful beaches there, we'll miss the sugar-white sand and the emerald-green waters.  We'll miss watching the pods of dolphins, jumping rays and diving pelicans, though we expect to see some of this in NC.  But we'll miss the culture here, too, with its Cajun flavors and New Orleans flair.  And the Spanish Moss, which reminded us that we've been in the "deep south."
We've enjoyed the "military" town feel, also, as both active duty and retired members are nicely recognized with discounts and specials.  I've mentioned the medical benefits of being here in a prior post, but                               we've also been thankful for the Commissaries and Navy Exchanges.
God is good, and has shown us much kindness here in Milton, FL!

Happy AnnRVersary to Us!

Happy AnnRVersary to us!

One year ago today, we picked up our RV from Camptown RV of Benson, NC and began living in it!  I've chronicled those early days in previous posts, so I won't repeat it all here.  

But I thought this day was a fitting occasion to reflect on the past year.

• We're still loving this way of life more than even we'd thought we would. 
• We're still enjoying the time we're privileged to spend together.

A beautiful day at Navarre Beach!

• We still marvel at God's directing us to this way of life and to the ideal RV for us.
• We're loving meeting all kinds of people from all over the country (the world, actually).
• We're loving the time we've spent with friends and family members, some of whom we        hadn't seen in a very long time!

Cousins Marcie & Marc, John, cousins Barb & Dennis, and friend Debbie at Canoe Club in Danbury, OH 

John, Barb, Aunt Nancy, Jim, Herb And Christine at World of Beer in The Villages, FL

• We're loving the activities that we've had time to enjoy together -- lately it's been mostly bike riding, swimming and going to the beach.
• We're enjoying the nomadic lifestyle very much, much as we did when John was in the Navy and we moved 9 times in 13 years.
• We're enjoying the different foods and customs of the various places we've been.

  

  The iconic Joe Patti's seafood market in downtown Pensacola
  

  While John had been in the Navy, we were able to spend significant time overseas -- 3 years in Italy and 6 years in Japan.  We found that the most valuable aspect of actually living in a different place for a time, rather than merely whipping through on a fast-paced holiday is the thing we're most enjoying about full-time RVing and workamping -- as we stay in one place for several months, we're able to enjoy many aspects of the culture in that particular location, meeting people and really getting the flavor of the area.  To God be the glory as we enter our second year!

Visits from Family

Since arriving in Milton Florida in December, I'd been encouraging my Mom to come down to the Gulf Coast to get away from the Cleveland cold and snow.  Our family's dear friends, Cal and Marilyn Weiss own a condo in Destin and had offered to let her stay there.

Mom and Trudy on the beach

Jake is happy to be in the warm sunshine!

Destin is an hour's drive from where we currently are living.  So Mom and her good friend Trudy left on Saturday March 14th, with Sean along to help with the driving.  They made the trip in one day!



                                                                         



By God's providence, Jake was also able to visit with us the very same days that Sean was here!  God is so good, and provides unexpected blessings in so many ways.  While the time with Jake and Sean was brief, it was filled with fun and laughter!  And sunshine!  We really enjoyed the beach together.

Mom, Trudy and I at Bellingrath Gardens

                                                                                   


Mom and Trudy have stayed for two weeks, and we've really enjoyed our time with them. The weather, for the most part, has been lovely,
especially for the days when we've had outdoor activities planned.  We've spent some time on the beach, saw the Navy Blue Angels practice, visited beautiful Bellingrath Gardens in Theodore, AL, and the Chautauqua Winery in DeFuniak Springs, FL.

Trudy, Mom and John by the bridge over Mirror Lake -- Bellingrath Gardens

Sean and Jake speeding through the Gulf Pines KOA Park!

USNavy's Blue Angels in formation over the Pensacola Museum of Naval Aviation

Sean and John soaking up the sunshine

Flexibility and Other Important Things

So we got down to Lake Norman Motorcoach Resort the 8th of May, for what we thought was going to be a 2-year job. 

Lake Norman Motorcoach Resort -- our home for 3 months

Let’s just say that one of the greatest things about this way of life is its flexibility!  Things didn’t work out there as we had expected.  But that’s OK. Actually, it's more than OK, because that was God's plan for us! While we were there, we met some wonderful people and had sweet fellowship with members of Christ Church (ARP) in Denver, NC.  Though our time there was brief, we feel that some of those friendships will last a lifetime.  Thanks go out especially to Ken and Julia Zappone for the warm, heartfelt hospitality we experienced in their home.  We’ll also always remember Jeff and Dawn Parris, who followed us there from another church in the area, and also blessed us with amazing hospitality.  God’s ways may not always be clear to us at the time, but we can trust that He is always in control!

Which brings us to more evidence of God’s grace.  Before leaving Lake Norman, we secured workamping jobs at Gulf Pines KOA in Milton, FL.  And we had no idea how many ways we would see God’s hand of provision through leading us here.

First of all, there’s a pool here.  Heated. Covered.  20 yards long.  Open every day.  Anyone who knows me knows what this means to me.  I’ve been in virtual paradise since early December.  And I managed to complete my 150 mile goal for 2014 because of that pool.  When we arrived, I still had 30 miles to go.  30 miles.  And I did it.  God is so good.  I also started a water aerobics class 3 times a week in this pool, introducing many guests here to this wonderful form of exercise.  And this area of warm temps and flat roads has encouraged John to start running more often also.  He has even completed two 5Ks since we've been here -- The Pensacola Beach Run in January, and the Blue Angels Rock 'n' Fly at NAS Pensacola on March 21st.  

Then, there’s the medical benefit of being here.  Back in NC, we had been involuntarily kicked-out of the military Tricare Prime system (on the same day that Obamacare went into effect, but I’m sure that’s a meaningless coincidence), presumably because we lived more than a 30 minute drive from any military base.  But now, being back in the Florida Panhandle, we’re able to be re-enrolled in Tricare Prime.  So we’ve been using this season to get caught up on routine medical stuff (I won’t go into any details here -- it's all good!).  It’s been a HUGE blessing, to say the least.

And, there’s all the people we’ve seen — both expectedly, and unexpectedly.  We knew we’d be in contact with my old friend Colleen (it's the friendship that's old, not you, sweet friend!), who still lives in Milton, and it’s been great fun seeing her, her husband Mike, her mom, aunt, cousin, friends.  They’re a crazy bunch.  But I didn’t expect to  have the opportunity to visit my Aunt Nancy and her husband Herb down in The Villages.  And to see cousins Barb, Jim, and Christine down there.  And Doris Korecky, a long-time friend from our church when we lived near Pensacola 28 years ago.

John, Gayle and Doris selfie!

John and Colleen in Fairhope, AL

And speaking of church, that has been another blessing as well, as we’ve been enjoying worship at the same church — sort of.  What had previously been Northeast Presbyterian Church (PCA) when we were here before is now Covenant Orthodox Presbyterian Church.  We’ve been very thankful for Pastor John Schortmann and the saints at this church.  You can listen to Pastor Schortmann’s sermons at sermonaudio.com.  We’ve truly been blessed.

We also enjoyed an unexpected visit from friends Dave, Renae and Lydia Davis when they were here bringing Lydia back to school. And we hope to get together soon with a former faithful Via Cappuccino customer, John Batchelor, who is now a UWF professor, and with friends David and Terrie Cash, with whom we were stationed in Misawa Japan. And we're wrapping up an eventful two weeks of visits from my mom, her friend Trudy, and Jake and Sean.  But you'll have to read the next blog to find out more about that!

Planning Our First Real Road Trip

We began our full-time RV adventure back in April by picking up our RV at the dealership and staying three nights at the Sycamore Lodge Resort in Jackson Springs, NC in order to settle in and get used to living in our new home,  But when it came to traveling up north to Marblehead, Ohio, we simply drove straight there, stopping overnight along the way just to break up the driving into two days.  But in anticipating our journey back down to NC for our next workamping job at the Lake Norman Motorcoach Resort, we wanted to actually stop and see some sights along the way.  Our love of travel is what prompted our workamping adventure in the first place.  It was time to start planning our first real road trip.

Our travels between NC and OH had traditionally taken us down I-77, so instead of using this familiar route, we decided to traverse I-75 instead.  Having grown up in Cleveland, I had never even been to Cincinnati, and since my niece, Karla is in school there, that seemed like the perfect place to start.

We'll actually make our first stop en route to Cincy in Wapakoneta, OH, to visit the childhood home of Neil Armstrong and the Armstrong Air and Space Center there.  We had passed it on the way to my cousin's wedding in Dayton, but didn't have the time to stop then.  But this is our new life.  We have time to stop.  The center opens at 10AM, and it will take roughly 2 hours to get there from Marblehead, so we'll plan to be on the road before 8.

And following the visit there, we'll drive down to Cincinnati, and the East Fork State Park, slightly SE of the city.  It looks like a nice campground.  We had planned to make reservations for a site with full hook-ups, but found out that this advance reservation would cost us an additional $8.25.  Since we'll be arriving mid-week during a non-peak travel season, we decided to take our chances and just show up.  If all they have are electric-only sites, we'll get along just fine.

Thursday, we plan to spend the day with my niece, Karla, who is a nursing student at the University of Cincinnati.  She doesn't have classes that day, and expects to be able to spend the whole day with us.  We don't want to spend a lot of money, so we've been doing research on the internet to find out cheap and free things to do, like spend time at the Findlay Market, and just walk along the river.  Karla said she'll give us a tour of the campus as well.  And, of course, we'll have to try some famous Cincinnati chili.  Skyline.  Or Blue Ash.  Maybe both!

We plan to leave Cincy on Friday morning and drive toward Lexington, KY.  We thought maybe we'd tour the Toyota factory there, with its test track.  And perhaps tour a bourbon distillery and visit a horse farm.  Then we're planning on dry-camping bivouac style at exit 77 off of I-75 in Kentucky.  This stop was recommended by my cousin.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Next, we're planning to see some sights in and around Knoxville, TN.  There's an Appalachian museum just north of Knoxville that we're hoping to visit.  And then we're planning to camp in or near Gatlinburg, just inside the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  We expect the beauty of this area to be well worth a stay of a couple of days.

Finally, we plan to drive through Asheville on our final leg to Sherrills Ford, North Carolina, on the West side of Lake Norman.  We might stop in Asheville for lunch, but since we'll be living a mere hour and a half away, we didn't think we needed to spend much time there for now.  There will be plenty of opportunities to visit over the next couple of years.

So on this, our first real road trip pulling our RV, we thought it best to plan, but not over-plan the journey.  We've been doing our research regarding travel routes and things to see and do, but didn't want to try to schedule every minute of every day, leaving much to play by ear.  Our experience has taught us that, even in this information age in which we live, you often don't find out about the coolest places or choicest gems till you happen upon them, or hear of such from locals or fellow-travelers.  We're looking very much forward to this little vacation and journey to our next locale.  Stay tuned for the details....

Things About Full-Time RVing that We Didn't Expect

We're four months into this venture, so I thought this would be a good time to present a few things about full-time RVing that we didn't expect.  Some good things.  Some not so good things.  Nothing terrible, just surprising in some way.

First of all, one of the main things about full-time RVing that we didn't expect is just how much we would absolutely LOVE it.  Having never spent so much as even one night in an RV in our lives, we were guessing/hoping we would enjoy it.  But, truth be told, we absolutely LOVE it.  We both love the simplistic life we now live.  We love having very little in the way our household responsibilities -- no lawn to mow, no mortgage or utility bills to pay, no big house to clean (it takes me only 1 1/2 hours to clean my entire home, top to bottom, including windows!).   We love having fewer things, and more time to enjoy the things we do have, such as the very nice features which came in our very new RV, including our multi-media entertainment system and inordinately comfortable leather LazyBoy recliners.  We actually really enjoy living in our close quarters.

Secondly, we have loved the huge amounts of time we've spent outdoors, which has more to do with the fact that we're in the comfortable summer-on-Lake Erie climate than simply RVing.  I had fond memories of wonderful summers growing up in Cleveland, but having not lived in this region for 29 years, I had forgotten just how delightful the weather could be this time of year.  I have made a point of praising God for this amazing weather every single day that we've been up here.  Even John has had to admit how stunning the weather has been the past 3 months.

But before it got warm and beautiful, we had some very chilly nights and mornings, which gave us a chance to marvel at another aspect of our RV -- the amount of heat that our little electric fireplace kicks out!  We were a bit curious as to whether or not we would enjoy this not-so-usual feature of our particular RV, but I can honestly say that we've loved it as well.  We'll be especially thankful for it whenever we're in a colder climate.

But some of the other aspects regarding the weather have surprised us as well.  Like how much the RV shakes in a strong wind.  And how noisy it is when it is hailing  (we had 2 hailstorms early in our season here, and we could barely hear ourselves talk!  It was LOUD!).

And speaking of noise, another of the things about full-time RVing we didn't expect, at least in our particular camper, is how noisy the air conditioner is when it's running.  Thankfully we haven't needed it very often this summer, but when we do have it on, we have to turn up the music or TV several levels to hear it over the noise.  In the future, we'll definitely research this aspect of any RV purchase more adequately.

And speaking of noises, we've heard many, many more sirens this summer than we ever would have expected up in this quiet little town of Marblehead, Ohio.  To tell the truth, I think they've mostly been firetrucks, rather than police cars.  Just yesterday we heard quite a few firetrucks screaming past us, in the direction of Bay Point.  I have no idea what was going on.   Department of Homeland Security Border Patrol agents have also provided their share of screaming sensory input.

And I would be remiss if I failed to mention another surprise -- skunks!  I can honestly say that I think I've smelled more skunks during the summer up here than in all the combined past years of my life.  Or at least in the past 20 or 30 years.  I haven't seen very many -- just smelled them.  And we smell them all.the.time.  Sometimes a couple times a day.  We drove home from south of Cleveland one day and smelled five!  I'm not complaining.  Just saying.  It has definitely surprised us.

But we've also been delighted to see bald eagles!  Four times so far this summer!  Having never seen a bald eagle in the wild before coming up to Marblehead, such sightings will never grow old!

And finally, though we expected to enjoy our days off together, we didn't really appreciate how wonderful these times would be until we started doing things together on those days off.  Things like walking, biking, and kayaking.  Things like exploring this wonderful region and learning about its history and some of the famous people who have called this area home (people like Thomas Edison and Rutherford B Hayes).  Things like going into Cleveland and spending time with my Mom, helping her in the yard, etc.  And, of course, Cedar Point.  I used to measure my summers by the number of times I got to go to Cedar Point.  By that standard, my five visits make this the best.summer.ever!

Counting our Blessings -- The Summer in Numbers

Thinking back on all the things John and I have done since coming to Marblehead, it seemed best to try to portray the summer in numbers.  I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things, but here's our summer in a nutshell:

-- 5 months in Marblehead, 4 swim cards purchased (10 swims each = 40 swims in Danbury HS pool for Gayle), 3 Historic sites (Edison birthplace, Rutherford B Hayes Presidential Center, and Johnson's Island Confederate Cemetery),  2 Festivals (Marblehead Summerfest and Halupki Festival), and 1 fishing trip (Thank you, Marc Cassaro!)

-- 5 trips to Cedar Point, 4 Wineries (Firelands, Hermes, Heineman's and Chateau Tebeau), 3 Kayak trips, 2 Islands (South Bass and Kelley's), and 1 lighthouse (Marblehead).

-- 5 visits by my Mom, 4 parties, 3 birthdays, 2 overnight visits from Sean, and a 1 month stay by Jake while he worked here.

-- Then there were the 10+ live music shows, 4 Bald Eagle sightings, 1 wedding, several visits with good friends, lots of good food, innumerable walks, runs (John),  and bike rides, uncountable acquaintances, unquantifiable fun with Lisa and Carlton, Kevin and Ginny, Barb and Dennis, Marcie and Marc and many other family members, and immeasurable enjoyment.  All thanks to our all-knowing, omnipresent, infinitely merciful and gracious God.  To Him be all the glory!