Camping on the Gulf

February 1-14^th had us at probably the best state park in Florida: Topsail Hill Preserve in Santa Rosa Beach. It’s a former private RV resort that was purchased by the state. We were afforded the luxuries of a full hook-up site, 8 washers and dryers, mail service, quiet (or no) neighbors, along with a wonderful paved walking path to the Gulf of Mexico.

The weather was certainly better than it was back home but we still had to bundle up for our daily walks, meditations, and laundry trips. Most days brought cloudy skies and temperatures on either side of 50. Usually there was wind off the gulf and we had a few rainy days to keep us humble. We all idealize Florida and this was a great lesson in enjoying the moment and not being disappointed by our fantastical expectations.

The only service not provided by Topsail was internet. We found this slightly inconvenient but also a great benefit. Like TV, internet can devour a day so we were forced to plan ahead, find a local coffee shop and intentionally spend time on the computer. Topsail is located on scenic route 30A which runs all along the gulf for about 30 miles. With the exception of the state park, 30A is built up with huge hotels, enormous single family homes, and private communities mainly meant for summer rentals. We were there during the heart of their down time so it seemed particularly desolate. Miss Lucille’s Gossip Parlor was open for business though. We had some tea and a cinnamon bun and enjoyed the free wifi a couple times so Chris could work on his sabbatical and we could plan the next bit of the journey. Not having internet or TV at home allowed us to accept the lack of technological stimulation and actually be happy without!

Lily is hilarious with strangers. We met all kinds of people who just “had to see the baby!”. These were mostly retired women who would tell us about their own grandchildren or how they don’t have any yet and “why don’t they just hurry up?”.  People’s voices made Lily stare then burst out laughing and kick her legs. She’d flirt with the men in the office, giggle at the ice cream girl, and smile huge for oogling women on our walks sometimes even waking from a nap in the sling when she heard a new voice. During these two weeks she has really gotten the hang of her head and swivels it quickly to look round. She’s comfy on her belly and pushes her chest off the floor now. One day she rolled herself from belly to back and looked at me like “what just happened?”. Her Auntie Mary and Muzzie bought her a second-hand Bumbo chair and shipped it to Topsail…boy is that a great invention. She’s still napping two or three times during the day for about 45 minutes and is ready for bed around 7 when I change, swaddle, and nurse her in bed to sleep. It’s so cool to see her get sleepy with the sunset and wake up at sunrise.

Towards the end of our stay the weather cleared and we had a couple gorgeous, clear days. This was great timing for a ranger-guided walk to one of the freshwater dune lakes. These lakes exist in only five places in the entire world. Campbell Lake in particular is special in that it is protected and pristine. It is used as a benchmark for measuring pollution in other lakes of its kind. It was neat learning from the rangers about the wildlife (alligators, deer, coyotes, mice, sea turtles) and plantlife (longleaf pines, saw palmetto, deer moss). The gulf is clear as glass and emerald in color with pure white sandy beaches. The sunsets were pure magic over the water with wispy clouds and a bright white crescent moon above. We found a neat restaurant called Fire which serves local food as much as possible and we enjoyed an awesome lunch and dinner there: pecan crusted gulf snapper with diced apples and jicama over smashed yams and potatoes mmmmmm! Nearby there was a bike shop where we both got to test ride an electric bike…so cool. We also found a great natural food store and got some necessities before heading off toward Arizona.

Sunset from a public beach access point

Seaside, Florida is about 15 miles east of Santa Rosa Beach. It is a tiny town established in 1981 and demonstrates what is called New Urbanism. There is one main road (30A) where the speed limit is 25. On the right are two layers of relatively modest homes then natural dunes then beach. On the left is a town square with small streets arranged around it and homes that all suit the beach life. The point of Seaside is walkability so there are little paths through between all the houses that lead to the beach and charter school and center square. There is a bike path all along 30A as well. We enjoyed a beautiful day here walking around and Lily and I returned the next day to see the flea market and farmer’s market where we got some local jam and tasted some local milk.

A public pavillion in Seaside

It was marvelous being on the panhandle. As we head west, I remember snapshots of the gulf and am comforted knowing that we enjoyed our time there to the fullest.

Five Legs & Three Sore Bums

The trip to FL took us five days of driving and four nights of rest. We arrived to our destination park on time and in one piece! Each leg was between 250 and 300 miles which turned out just right for us and Lily. We stayed a night in VA, NC, GA, and Tallahassee, FL before settling in on the gulf coast at a beautiful campground which will remain unnamed until we depart. Chris drove the entire way which allowed me to occupy Lily with “Crinkle” the peacock, stories from Wind in the Willows, and various items for sucking. I pumped every so often and fed her from the bottle which allowed us to keep on truckin’. She slept a fair bit and cried when she needed to and overall she’s the best of travel buddies.

Thursday had Chris up at the crack of dawn shoveling the camper out of nearly a foot of snow! He and John worked at a good pace to clear off the driveway, truck, and camper roof and we headed out by 10:30. Through NJ, PA, MD and VA we passed snow-stuck trees and enough billboards to last a lifetime. The truck traffic was pretty heavy making it difficult to travel above 55mph because of the draft created when they pass. This was of course fine because we are in no hurry and it afforded me the chance to gaze across fields of hundred(or more)-year-old farms and out to the mountains lined up all around us. We stayed just beyond Washington D.C. that night in Stafford, VA.

We awoke to the beginning of a snowstorm and so packed it up early and got on the road. We drove out of the snow soon enough and into some beautifully sunny weather. The landscape slowly changed to groves of pine trees with perfectly straight, bare trunks with an umbrella of needled branches at the top. I began reading the adventures of Mole and Rat from Wind in the Willows, a most excellent book given to me in 1988 by my Nana and Poppop that I never read until now. We arrived in NC at our campground a bit disappointed by the proximity to I-95 but nonetheless enjoyed the sunset and crescent moon that night. Chris met a man who had converted an old Harvard University bus into an RV and was in his twelfth month of still “working on it” at his campsite.

Saturday was our earliest start around 9:15. We were only twenty miles from the SC border which meant every other billboard was for South of the Border. We got a kick out of the one that said “You never sausage a place” with a huge 3D sausage on the board. I’ve got to admit: they were right. I-95 flattened and straightened out in SC. The highway is lined with soft pines and swampland. I would guess we were passed by about 100 RV’s that day with license plates from all over. Before heading to the KOA in Savannah, GA we went to the Food Lion for some groceries. They had very little organic produce and a tiny natural food section but we found what we needed minus soft taco shells which all included hydrogenated oils. It was pretty comical that we wheeled our cart out into the parking lot right to the camper and loaded up our fridge, freezer and cabinets right there. The KOA was beautiful and Chris was even able to wash the rig clean of all the salt mess.

Southern Georgia and northern Florida are swampy. On the map it looks like a child took blue tempera paint and dragged their fingers from I-95 out to the Atlantic in squiggly lines. We listened to a talk from a Center for Action and Contemplation seminar called “The Great Chain of Being: Simplifying Our Lives” which reminded us to live in the moment and that what we are looking for is right here. We began to see palm trees and live oaks as we made our way through probably some of the most rural land I’ve seen: nothing but highway, hitchhikers, and trees for miles. Tallahassee being the capital of Florida is equivalent, we decided, to Montpelier being the capital of Vermont…times change. We stayed at a modest RV park there and made use of our new sewer hose set up after giving up on our so-called ten-foot model which didn’t cut it at most sites. We asked for pull-through sites at each stop so didn’t have to unhook the truck (a common complaint of travel trailers). We got full hookups at each campground so never had to do the dump-on-the-way-out process. Even amongst many enormous motor homes, we are really happy with our choice of rig.

Our last day of driving was only 150 miles so it went quickly. We crossed into Central Time, gaining an hour, and we enjoyed the longer first day here with a walk to the gulf where we were greeted by beautiful green water and bleach white sand. We’ve already begun the process of unkinking our necks and stretching our legs and vow to walk to the beach each day.

CT Highlights

Tree Decorating and Distraction

One Saturday evening we headed to the hot tub room to decorate the tree. Throughout December, Lily would get crabby in the early evening before falling asleep. Muzzie cleverly distracted Lily with the lights and ornaments of the tree (along with the chilly air in the glass-walled hot tub room).

Lily’s Breezy “Attack”

Lily spent time playing in an antique baby sleigh which freed me up to eat nearby. It was, however, low enough for Breezy (the 12 week old black lab puppy) to see Lily. One evening I was helping Mom prepare dinner while Lily was in the sleigh. Breezy snuck over and climbed all the way in with Lily, straddling her and licking her face up and down! Lily maintained a serene, thoughtful face and Breezy enjoyed the baby flavor. We only laughed after dragging Breezy out of the sleigh.

NH Trip

We traveled north to Andover and Salisbury New Hampshire for a weekend visit with my brother’s family and my grandparents. Lily got to meet her new cousin, Jack (born November 27, 2010), Auntie Mary and Uncle Justin. We stopped first at Justin’s wood grinding yard in Hopkinton; it was really neat to see the fruits of all his hard work. Dinner was spent at Grap and Grandpa’s house with visits from my Auntie Daryl and Uncle Stephen.

Christmas

Christmas was celebrated in Old Lyme. Emily and Jeremy traveled from Easthampton, MA; Nana came up the driveway; and Justin brought his family from NH in their Jetta…Mary, one-month-old Jack, Liebherr the blue healer dog, and, to add interest two chickens. We also got to briefly see my Uncle Jordan and Auntie Barbara and cousins Lucy and Imogene from Old Lyme.

MA Trip

Chris drove Mom, me and Lily to Easthampton, MA to see Emily for lunch and a quick tour and taste of one of the coffee shops she oversees. It was pretty neat to see the home she and Jeremy have made for themselves and to learn more about her work these days. I am so impressed with how she has taken her many talents and applied them to a supervisory position that affords her so much flexibility and variety. She visits each of three shops each day, spends time in the office doing bookkeeping, and one day a week in a warehouse; all for a very successful, unique business owned by their friend.

Yestermorow

I dropped Chris off at the Old Saybrook train station to begin his voyage north to Warren, VT. He took the local line to New Haven then swapped to The Vermonter, an Amtrak line going all the way to Montpelier. A taxi took him to a youth hostel where he spent one night before walking about a mile up the road to Yestermorrow Design/Build School. Two weeks were spent planning, drafting, learning skills and applying it all hands on. The ten students and three instructors focused on an overview of natural building methods including straw bale, cob, straw clay, plaster, and timber frame. Chris really enjoyed the chance to really get into these more sustainable methods of building and even drafted ideas for a teeny home of our own! I was glad when he returned as Lily had gained a few pounds and my shoulders were feeling it…he came off the train looking more like a Vermonter himself having not shaved the entire two weeks!

Wildlife

The day we left for NH, Dad got a deer and over the next week worked on processing it including some sausages in tricky natural casings. One day a resident red-tailed hawk had a mallard hen in his claws. Dad ran at the hawk and the duck was able to escape with her life. A blue heron visited the northern point of the pond on occasion to warm his poofed-up feathers. Dad’s nightvision trailcam captured some eerie photos of three or four different coyotes along with some fluffy raccoons, creepy possums and a skunk or two. The squirrels run rampant in the yard and enjoyed a daily meal at the bay window bird feeder. The usual Canada geese and mallards hung out on the pond ice and traveled up the hill for their predictable meal of whole corn served up by Dad.

Turkey Fry & Moose

Mom was in charge of turkey for thanksgiving this year and bought an extra just in case…we ate it our last night in CT. Since Chris and I spent thanksgiving in New Jersey, we missed the New Hampshire celebration where they had one turkey in the oven and one deep fried. A testament to my Dad’s love for me, he agreed to get it all set up again and fry this one for us! Nana joined, Emily traveled down again and my friend Kristin came so it was nearly thanksgiving all over. We had one more esteemed guest on this evening: Moose. Emily and Jeremy decided on a yellow lab who was born around thanksgiving time and we were so glad to meet him during his earliest puppy days.

Living in the House

Since around January 1st we've been living in the house. It got too cold to use our pipes and Chris went away for two weeks to Vermont. We moved into my old bedroom in the house my parents built. I appreciate it much more now than when I was growing up. It's cliche, but I took so much for granted. 

The house is a cape with an extension out the back. It sits on almost five acres with barn and pasture. My mom and dad have really improved the land since it was given to them by my Nana. They tore down the existing house which belonged to Dad's Auntie Florence. They rebuilt as they could, cleared trees, put in a new driveway, built a garage, woodshop, and dog kennel, they bought adjoining land to expand the lot, they even had the brook dug out for a pond. Looking at pictures of the decades-long process makes me amazed at all the hard work they did.

I was able to have our horses at home, run barefoot amongst goose decoys in the front yard, ride a zip line into our pond, make hay forts in the loft, chase our dog Maggie when she got a green pepper from the garden,  and stand in the corner by the woodstove wrapped in a towel after getting out of the hottub. When I put it all down, I feel spoiled...and grateful.

Living in the house again has been great. During the days Lily and I are together all day taking walks, seeing Nana, reading, researching our cross country trip, and watching movies. When Muzzie and Popsie get home, one of us makes dinner while the others entertain Breezy the puppy and Lily. We wind down with a fire in the fireplace or watching HGTV shows with Muzzie.

Major differences between the camper and a house with a foundation? Extra freezer storage. Using a toaster instead of our gas oven to make toast. The ability to take a bath (not that I have yet). and TV which is a horrible distraction from the beautiful real world.

After two weeks without Chris, I'm ready to start our adventure and get back to the camper!

The Weather Outside is Frightful…

...but the camper’s toasty warm!

When planning our six-week stay in Connecticut, we definitely wondered how the camper would fair in wintry weather. It is an “extended season” model but this just means the underbelly is enclosed and radiantly heated. It has a more than adequate propane furnace which works great as long as we don’t push it too long and run out of gas! The windows are single-pane which caused some chilliness in the bedroom so we insulated the window with clear shrink wrap plastic. We use pillows designed for the purpose of stuffing in the roof vent openings to prevent drafts. And of course we added one-inch insulation around and under our mattress because that part of the camper seems to be less insulated and it gets wind on all five exterior sides.

So far, it had seen driving rains and forceful wind in NJ and all we noticed was a bit of movement from the wind and perhaps a teeny bit of water coming in our roof vents when the rain blew just so. But winter was going to be a different story. 

Early December brought temperatures down to nine degrees in Old Lyme. There were two nights when I got up to use the loo and it wouldn’t flush, nor would the sinks run. Eventually the cold water got going but we had lost our hot water flow because of it’s longer run to the faucet through the heater. After hearing what sounded like dripping in the underbelly and seeing a large icicle formed from the spout of our fresh water tank drain, we decided to winterize the pipes. This entailed waiting for the pipes to defrost and running potable system antifreeze through from the fresh water tank.

We continue to use the grey water tank for washing hands, dishes and Lily. Our water now comes in a large orange cooler for the kitchen and a small blue one for the bathroom. We lose some counter space but maintain the luxury of “running” water. I heat water in a pot on the stove for Lily’s bath.

The day after Christmas the camper braved a snowstorm that some forecasters were calling a blizzard!  We were in the house all day. The first bits of snow were wet and so created some icicles under the windows which are now melting in the sunlight. Then the blustery winds started and the snow drifted every which way. Lily’s Popsie (my Dad) plowed us a path and we braved the wind on our way back to the cozy camper around 10:00pm. Dad plowed all around the truck and camper the next day so we’ll be able to get out when the time comes.

We took an excellent walk one day, Lily in the sling, down to Rogers Lake which is frozen. Lily enjoyed the sliding sensation as Chris and I played on the thick ice at the edge of the swimming area. On our way home we trudged through drifted banks and visited Nana (Lily’s great grandmother) who lives off Muzzie and Popsie’s driveway. We moved into their house this week and are now preparing for Chris’ trip to VT! All in all, winter has been possible but not perfect in a three-season camper.

pooped after a big day outside

The Grand Tour

Our CT parking spot

For those of you who will not get to see our new home in person...here's the tour!

This is the floorplan of the Keystone Outback 23RS. We took out both the twin and queen mattresses in the front to make room for our dresser drawers, office drawers, laundry basket, etc and it also opened up some nice carpeted space in the "foyer" area.

The mudroom, closet, dressers, office...

This view is from the kitchen. The front door is to the right of the shoerack.

Lily's changing table and dresser

If you walk in the front door, just to the right is the rest of the "foyer" which includes our changing table and more clothing storage.

And here's the bathroom. It is directly in front of you as you walk in the front door.

This is the view from the bed which shows the dinette edge, kitchen, and "foyer"

The couch and the dinette oppose each other. Here you can also see some of our festive decor (stockings, ceramic tree, and a string of lights of course).

The bed is a slideout which means when we're driving it is slid in over the couch and dinette. It also means that it's less insulated causing the condensation we've been battling.

One day this week, I went to the library with Nana while Chris and Lily took a sling walk to Rogers Lake. They collected these pretty things and Chris put them together into this beautiful camper-sized wall hanging! All the best to all of you and a very Merry Christmas!

The Trip to CT

Lily & Popsie

We made it to Muzzie & Popsie's house!
Our first long trip with the rig: 220 miles and about 6 hours on the road. It was lightly raining most of the way.

The first leg was about 2 hours; we crossed into NY and stopped at a rest area to feed Lily and use the facilities. I went back into the camper with Lily after Chris had turned on the heat and it was nice and cozy. Since the bed is pushed in over the couch, I had to make a spot to nurse. I put pillows on the carpet to sit on and used the Boppy as usual; we enjoyed the warm air from the heating duct just below our spot. We stopped once more to feed and change Lily, this time at a gas station to fill up the truck also.  It is so nice not to have to use public changing tables whenever possible. She is such a good travel buddy and Chris is an excellent driver so the trip was virtually stress-free!

The rig does great on the road. Chris had new tires put on the camper and the truck along with a new hitch and weight distributing bars which all helps to reduce the sway caused by drafts from the big trucks. The truck tires are all-terrain beefy ones so the ride is a bit less smooth and a little louder but totally worth it for the stability and traction.

We parked behind the barn and my dad helped Chris hook up the specifics while I took Lily inside to see Nana (her great grandmother who lives down the driveway).

A couple days later Lily, Mom and I went about an hour west so I could ride Kermit for the first time in a year! He was amazing and it felt so good to be back in the saddle.

Lily and I went to Providence Place Mall to meet up with three of my high school friends Mercy, Beccah, and Alexis which was really special since our ten-year class of 2000 reunion was canceled.

This weekend Auntie Emily came down from MA to visit and get her tree from the yard. Jeremy couldn't join us because he was busy kicking butt (winning both Saturday and Sunday) in Portland, OR at the season closer for Cyclocross!

Chris, Mom, Dad, Me and Lily decorated the house tree last night to some Leon Redbone Christmas tunes and a few vinyls Mom had. Lily is mesmerized by the lights; if she's upset we just walk her into the hot tub room (where the tree is) and she quiets right down. She doesn't yet know what to think of the other baby in the house...Breezy the black lab puppy who is very entertaining and cuddly.

We had a bit of snow on the ground today and the temp got down to 25 last night. Chris is rethinking the insulation around our mattress in order to further mitigate the condensation happening there. I also installed a clear plastic shrink wrap over our bedroom window to stop the draft and that worked great.

This entry is a bit all over the place but a good update nonetheless. Lily is beginning to stir in the sling so I'll sign off here.