Florida, Here I Come.

             

Fernadina Beach shells 2017

I haven't been back to Florida, (I mean, really INTO Florida),  since I was a very little girl. I spent a lovely bit of time on Amelia Island/Fernadina Beach last year but didn't venture farther south.

 (Boy, I look like what I picture Atticus Finch's daughter
Scout to look like.)
With my mom, Arlene -  I think in Miami.

                     Apparently, I was the topless shuffle board queen.

          With Dad, Bob.

 One of my favorite photos of my mom as a young girl in Florida. Her family would tow their trailer from Ohio. Here she's hamming it up for the camera - shades of her Broadway/modeling career to come. Their camper was a "Bender" trailer and they called their car "Baby Elephant". My mom learned to drive the Baby Elephant when she was 12 years old (and actually drove it.)

Mom's dad, Lorenz Anderson was the captain of the road ship. He was the postmaster in the small town of Fostoria, OH, and it afforded them enough money during the depression to travel like this each year. Grandpa moved to Florida full time when I was a kid and would visit us in Connecticut in his 1950-something pink Cadillac convertible. Must find a photo!

Following in the footsteps of my ancestors -
Florida, here I come.

Departure date....... sometime after Christmas.

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Leaving a Comfort Zone by Roxy Whalley

ROad leading to BorRego Springs, CA. 2017

Roxy is a 11 year veteran of minimalist mobile living and one of my inspirations and mentors (as I hope I've been to her in other ways). This post speaks to our need as humans for human contact and consistency, and yet speaks to our unbound spirits that know no need for limitations and safety. How do we find that balance? This is something that I am attempting to do with my own life. I do love my home, my friends, my work. And I do love leaving the routine and driving off into the unknown. And as I do more of that I make dear friends on the way who I can visit on my journey. So the road becomes home too.  Below is Roxy's recent post from her blog "Nomad for Nature". 

LEAVING A COMFORT ZONE

November 4, 2017 · by Nomad for Nature ~ Tranquil Light Photography · in 2014, GATHERINGS OF THE TRIBE, LONELY OR NOT?, PHILOSOPHY. ·

I originally posted this on my (then) blog A Free-Spirited Woman in 2014. Since then I’ve made a number of nomad friends that are always floating around somewhere out there on the road. I take great solace in knowing that I have friends that are part of my tribe, and I know that many of them would come to my aid should anything bad happen, and are always available for companionship should I start feeling too lonely. Indeed, they already have come to my rescue once, and in a very big way. I met most of them at the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous in 2016 and 2017, and I’m sure I’ll meet more in the future. I spent the best part of 11-years traveling on my own prior to this, and I’m so appreciative of Bob Wells for bringing us together at the RTR. If you’d like to know more about the RTR please visit Bob’s web page at www.CheapRVLiving.com.

~~~

It’s not always easy to leave a place I’ve been in for a long time, especially when I’ve considered it my home base and will be leaving behind friends, and the familiar.

It is known as a comfort zone, and comfort zones are hard to leave. Oh, it’s fine when you’re going on a holiday or vacation, your comfort zone waits for your return. It is that place that has you saying “Ahhh, it’s good to be home,” on your return. Maybe it’s your home, or even your town or just an area that feels safe and familiar to you. However, when one doesn’t have a place to return to or a particular place to go to, it can be a hard step to make.

I believe that is one of the reasons so many people stay in one place all their lives, or settle for a town or job that does nothing for them, or remain in a place or situation they truly dislike or even hate. It is easier to stay with the familiar than to face the unknown.

I’m well practiced at leaving a comfort zone, I’ve moved-on many times in my life, often entirely on my own, and still, I get a nervous feeling in my stomach as I drive out of the town or area I’ve thought of as home for a while.

It comes in little waves for the first day or two. Sometimes it feels like a very deep sadness or loneliness that sits in my heart, for I am after all, alone. I do have one friend out-there, whom I meet up with occasionally for some adventure, but he’s a drifter like myself, and I don’t know where he’ll be. I also don’t have a single family member in this entire country, so there is no one to turn to should things go wrong. I’m completely alone.

Other times it comes in the form of anxiety, a restless turmoil in the stomach that may last for a few minutes. Nerves. I always feel a little bit better when I look at the map and make a decision on a general direction, like, North. If I actually narrow it down to a particular place, it eases some more. And so I move onward, further and further away from the safety of my comfort zone, one mile at a time.

But the anxiety doesn’t stay, it usually only comes and goes for a couple of days. By the time day number four or five comes around, I find that my excitement for life, for the unknown, and the desire to see what is around the next bend or over the next hill takes over. I find myself settling into a new comfort zone, the one of the open road, the highway, the unknown.

Magic can happen in ones comfort zone, but when you step outside it, you are exposed to a lot more magical and amazing experiences, because you are no longer limited.

I encourage each one of you to step outside your comfort zone every now and then. Pack your bags and head out for the weekend without a plan. Just drive up roads you’ve never been up before, drive further than you have before, try something different. And if your life has become stale, if you are feeling stuck, then reach inside yourself and find the courage and the guts it takes to leave. We all have a spot inside us that is loaded with courage. Stir it up, dig it out, bring it to life. Leave! Go on, do it.. you just never know what magic will await you around the next bend, and with any luck, it might even become addictive.

Until next time…

Adjusting to her new comfort zone and finding magic on the open road…

Roxy ~ A Nomad for Nature

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Van envy, cats, dogs, and a minimalist materialist

It's been a very active week in my driveway!

Three boondockers have been my guests.

Here they are!

I met David at "The Slabs" in California last year. He's a retired potter, gardener and martial arts teacher. 

If you don't know what the Slabs are, check the link out below. It's a truly wild place. 

While I was boondocking at the Slabs, David wandered over to me at dusk as I was struggling with a sandstorm, high winds and my solar panel that was taking a beating. He offered me some stew that he had cooked in his car. I'm like ---

"WHAT?? I'm busy here!!" I didn't actually say that but I thought it and I said "no thank you." And who is this weirdo anyway offering me food? 

Then I thought that was not very neighborly.......... and........... I'm just as much of a weirdo..............so I wandered over and sure enough, he was cooking stew in his car. And it turned out it was very good.

David came to stay for a few days in Norwalk this past week while visiting his daughter in the city. And he stayed in my driveway in his Prius.

David's Prius

David's "kitchen"

David is a self proclaimed "minimalist materialist". He loves his toys. He has a motorized folding bike and a pizza oven that all live inside of his car with him. Which by the way is also the ONLY place he lives, sleeps and yes, cooks. 

Needless to say David gets some attention when he drags these gadgets out.

AND it just so happened that journalist Jessica Bruder, author of the new book "Nomadland" came to speak at the Westport CT Library, my home town and residence to some of the wealthiest people in America.  And "Nomadland" is about folks who take to the road to make ends meet. 

David was mentioned in her book, and was there in the audience.

Putting two and two together,  she invited 50 Westport people to come out of their lovely library and take at look at his car and his toys in the parking lot. 

It was a bizarre moment............Westport elite ........car dwelling, uh..........

People seemed interested, intrigued and also turned completely off. "Not my cup of tea" I heard in a thick New York accent. Probably not most of their cups of tea.

David mused "I think I'm kind of materialistic."  So I'm dubbing him a minimalist materialist. He has to get rid of one thing to have another. He can't "collect" stuff. But he likes gadgets that serve his lifestyle and have a cool factor.

David's folding motorized bicycle. This is his sleeping companion. Not terribly cuddly.

David setting up his wood fired pizza oven that he can make cauliflower crust pizza in for his guests.

The next guest was Rachael who showed up in what was once my true love, a RIALTA van camper that I coveted back in the 1990's. It has a Volkswagon engine and got really good gas mileage for the time (about 23 MPG). Now a days, vans can get close to 20 with the newer technology, but back then that was about double what you' d expect a camper to get. 

Rachael is a part timer who lives in Cincinnati, was returning from a Rialta rally, an travels with not one cat, but TWO cats AND TWO DOGS in a 17 foot van!

She cooked us Cincinnati Chili (which has something to do with spaghetti, beans, cheese and other options) for dinner. 

No one thinks they can travel like this with cats. She says "they love it." Well, maybe they don't hate it.  In any case cause they looked pretty chill!

The downside of having so many pets with you is that you really can't leave them for extended periods of time in the vehicle for obvious reasons. But the upside is that you have your pets with you!

Then Rod showed up while Rachael was still my guest with what I considered to be my current van crush, a new Dodge Ram Promaster hightop that was his own custom design and build. How could I say no. This thing was cool.

It was like my first boyfriend meeting my current boyfriend. 

Rod is also a mid-Westerner from Michigan who downsized from a 42 foot 5th wheel with five slide outs to the Promaster van after his wife of many years passed away from cancer a year ago. 

Rod plays guitar and so after our Cincinnati Chili, we had a nice jam! I had to leave on my own trip early the next day, so I didn't get as much time as I'd have liked to play music with my guest. Maybe we'll meet again!

Rod and Laura 

Choochi checking out the action in the driveway

To read more about 

The Slabs click here

 Thanks for reading!! You make this so much fun!!

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Happy trails!

The Adventures of Asher and Journey

My most recent Boondocker's Welcome guests here in Norwalk are a family of four living in a 17 foot trailer! I remarked, if you guys still get along and love each other, you know you're doing something right.

Journey, Michele, Keith and Asher

And that's what matters for Dad Keith, a retired military vet and law enforcement officer from Los Vegas who decided that he wasn't seeing enough of his family. So he bought an RV and they started to travel the country with two three year old twins, Asher and Journey (Asher is the boy, Journey is the girl. Cool names!)

Journey

They've been all over the country, and Journey's favorite place is Leggo Land and Asher's was the bumper cars. I get it. It's all good.

Mom Michele is really amazing at how she organized her family in this small space. "Their toys go here" she pulled out a small drawer that would have held about 1/10th of most kids toys.

I remarked "You don't do much impulse buying for the kids do you because there's no place to put stuff."
"That's right," she said "and they hardly play with these, there's so many other things to explore out there."

Sounds pretty good to me. Less stuff you have, less stuff you want or need.
Even kids feel this way if their lives are rich in ways that matter!

Adding Connecticut to their map

The long range plan is to do something called "Space A Travel" that the military offers (this stands for "space available").  Apparently, Army vets can get on cargo planes and travel anywhere for free if there is room. So Keith, who says he can do something for about three years before he wants to do something else (they've been RVing for three and a half years), thinks that's what they'll be doing to start to travel internationally. 

Meanwhile, today, they're off to see the Statue of Liberty.

I can't think of a better way to bring up kids.

The Adventures of Asher and Journey

You can see their blog here:

http://theadventuresofasherandjourney.blogspot.com/

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Catching the Excitement!

Fernadina Beach, FL

The other day, I was at a little gathering of friends and someone I know who has her own business was lamenting that she could not retire without having to sell the house she adores.

I questioned further.

After about an hour or two discussion, my friend's vision of her retirement totally changed to a happy potential that could happen much sooner and without having to sell her house.

She got bit by optimism!

I've been enjoying watching and listening to her process the new found paradigm of keeping her house and using that as a rental asset, collecting social security when she's eligible instead of waiting until 70, and considering her love of the "tiny house" movement as something that's already been happening for over 80 years! 

      Grandpa Lorenz Anderson and the trailer they called "Baby Elephant" in 1932

Actually my mom and her family were nomadic in the winter and  drove a trailer from Ohio to Florida during the Depression. They were fortunate in that her father was the postmaster of her little town and they could afford to do such things whereas much of the nation could barely scrape enough money together to eat.

              Baby Elephant and the Bender

    Mom Arlene Anderson age nine in Hollywood FL.

The first thing I asked her about was considering how long it would take for her to make the Social Security deferral break even. For me and for her it was at age 82. 

FORGET THAT!

It behooves us to consider how long it would take to reclaim our deferred Social Security benefits if we wait until 70 to take SS and forgo the tens of thousands of dollars we could collect between 66-70 to pay off an asset like a house.  For my friend, it makes more sense to take it at 66 and pay off her mortgage. For others who don't need the money, then leave it alone. Selling her house makes no sense especially since it's an adorable waterfront cottage that could easily fetch a decent rent and substantially add to her annual income.

And she loves the tiny teardrop trailers...............Stay tuned!

Starting to Prepare for Winter 2018 Trip South!

The fall snap is in the air, and everyone is SAD! SUMMER IS OVER. 

Well not everyone, some of ya'll like winter. I love the three seasons but I love leaving when it's dark and cold.

Last year, I made a short list of what I'd do differently the next time. 

Here it is.

1. While I can do just a car, this time I'm taking my little "Livin' Lite" fold up trailer which will allow me the luxury

of a bed, sofa, lots of storage and six foot plus headroom! AND a propane heater!  However I might not always have the situation where I can use this, so I'm still making the car the secondary living/sleeping space.

What's great about this trailer is that you can push it around by hand once it's off the car. And it's only 600 lbs so you can tow it with anything. I love the open "screen room" canvass feeling too when the windows are down.

What's not great about dragging a trailer is that you have to tow it, park it, leave it, lock it, and my car doesn't feel as nimble and zippy as I like it to and gas mileage suffers about a 30% loss. 

It's all about trade offs. If you want this, you gotta not have that.

2. I took a solar panel suitcase to charge my house batteries last year and used it ONCE. And lugging that thing around was a bummer.  Big and heavy.

So I'm going to wire my car battery to my house battery so it charges when I drive. I Just have to remember to disconnect it when I'm using the house battery for my computer etc or it will drain the car. Lots of audio nuts do this to run their audio equipment on the road. (Maybe that's what makes that bass sound so loud in those crazy loud vehicles?)

I'll see how this works. When I come back and still plan on using the car to travel in, I might put a little flexible flat solar panel on the top of my Honda Accord.

3. The biggest luxury I'm probably going to have to forgo is a 12 volt cooler which means back to the ice chest and buying ice every two or three days. 

It takes some serious voltage  to run a fridge continuously, which means getting very serious about generating that voltage with solar panels and a bank of batteries. 

This generally takes a 400 watt solar system and tons of sun, which works in the desert, but not consistently on the east coast.

 The other option for RVer's is a three way fridge which can run off of DC, AC or propane. That's the way to go. But I don't have that in my camper right now. Maybe I'll look into it before I leave just for the heck of it.

AND 

4. I took a very very twin large foam mat in the car for sleeping last time because I wanted to sleep well and be familiar with the bed that I normally like. It took up a lot of space, but somehow I managed. So this time, I'm hoping to streamline into a mat made for camping.

There were 94 GREAT "5 star" reviews on LL Bean for this one so it's coming for me to test out.  It's called "Camp Futon" it has  3 inch density and it's $99.00.

And what's great about LL Bean is that if you don't like it or it leaks or something (even after you use it a LOT), they'll take it back. For the rest of your (or its) life.

SO................

I'm mostly going to focus on Florida this year. Or I might find myself on the Gulf Coast of Alabama.

First stop, back to Amelia Island and stay with my pal Mike who I met last year when he hosted me. 

Would love to  drop in on Jed and Dave and see the rebuild of their house in St. Augustine (which hopefully will be spared a second hit!).

Have an old friend near Sanibel Island named Chuck, haven't seen him in a long time.

Around to the west coast to Sarasota and drop in on Pat and her new pooch Flynn.

Will check out "Boondockers Welcome" and "Couchsurfing" invites around the state - generally great way to meet folks.

I might also drop in on A Course In Miracles groups and make friends there also. 

Also there is an amazing amount of open space that you can camp for free. I have to get up my nerve though to do this! For more on this check out this video "Gone with the Wynns"

Free Florida Camping -"Gone with the Wynns"

And in between, do some volunteering at Workaway and other places. I'm sure there'll be lots to do if Irma has it's way with Florida. 

It's easy to make friends on the road. You just have to be friendly and helpful! 

Found a great site for finding volunteer opportunities all over the country.

www.volunteermatch.org

And of course..........walk on the beaches with Choochi. She's the "dog" part of the Me, Dog, Car.