July 2015

Werner Boyce Salt Springs State Park

Port Richey, FL

Rain, rain and more rain.

  It rained for twenty days in a row in the area where we are currently work-camping. 

 Luckily for us our site is raised enough that we weren’t directly impacted. 

The road leading out of the maintenance area of the park where we are work-camping gets flooded quite often.

But the surrounding area had flooding serious enough for entire neighborhoods to be given an evacuation order.  The ones that chose not to leave had to be rescued by boat as the streets in front of the houses became rivers.

 

 

 

Most of our month was spent with Monte working on various projects for the park including servicing an ATV. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Together we performed our gate closing duty schedule of three days one week and four days every other week.

 

 

 

The worst part of the job- 

It amazes me how people can be such slobs--cigarette butts all over the place. 

The most time consuming part of our closing procedure is unlocking and relocking all the gates we have to go through just to leave the compound.

On the 4th of July we didn't make any special plans because we were scheduled to close the gates that evening.  We did go shopping and were delighted to discover that Winn Dixie was donating all of the days profits to Wounded Warriors.

One morning, during a rainstorm, I discovered the carpet under the kitchen table was wet.   Monte figured out that the water was coming in through a poorly sealed window.  We temporarily placed a plastic garbage bag over the window and then spent several hours vacuuming up the water out of the carpet.

Monte took advantage of a lull in the rainstorm to re-caulk the leaky window. 

 

 

 

Another project Monte worked on was to correct the shoddy job that RV Merchandising did when they installed our new landing gear in February 2014.  They had mounted the landing gear sideways so that the lubrication points were not accessible.  Monte didn't realize the issue until he wanted to lubricate the gear and discovered the issue. To correct the problem, he had to raise the rig and support it with floor jacks.  Next he removed the landing gear.  He had to grind some of the metal away in order to reinstall the landing gear properly.

We joined in the celebration of a couple of birthdays during the month of July beginning with our grandson Timmy who turned 10. 

My Mom opted to have her birthday dinner at Applebee’s followed by birthday desserts at her home with close friends.

On the last day of the month Monte and I had a celebratory dinner at Applebee’s marking our third anniversary on the road. 

We reminisced about the day we pulled out of the driveway of our bricks and sticks house to begin one of the most exciting adventures of our life. 

The first year and a half we were on the road had us traveling quite often exploring several big cities, small towns, national and state parks, museums and many out of the way places.  We had the opportunity to meet some wonderful people and had some once in a lifetime experiences that we treasure.

 Unfortunately, due to some unforeseen circumstances, the last year and a half (with the exception of three months last fall when we traveled mainly through the eastern states) we have been work-camping in Florida.

One reason keeping us in Florida revolves around our former bricks and sticks house that we still own.  We are in the difficult position of owing more than the house is worth so we are forced to keep it as a rental property but the house needs some major repairs.  So not only are we stuck in the area where the house is located but the situation has also necessitated our “working” at state parks to offset paying camping fees.

The other reason keeping us in Florida has to do with Monte’s heart condition.  Following his heart attack last Christmas Eve he was put on meds that require follow-up appointments with his cardiologist for the first year. 

Hopefully all of our issues will be resolved by next spring and we will be able to continue our journey.  But in the meantime we will continue saving money by work-camping the next few months and visiting with family-the only positive side to being stuck in Florida.