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!