INTJohn’s Winter ‘24-‘25 Van Livn

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INTJohn

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Friday, 8 Nov ‘24
Left Kamp Koon last Saturday morning destination Virginia Beach. Spent Saturday night sleeping near Somerset Pa. Arrived in Va Bch early Sunday afternoon.

Spent Monday & Tuesday at First Landing State Park. Wednesday morning headed toward the Outer Banks in North Carolina and stayed here 2 nights then took the scenic route from Nags Head along hiway 264 to Washington NC spending today along the waterfront in town.
See below pik.
IMG_2924.jpeg

Spending the night here in Washington and 2maro will be moving on to Greenville NC some 25ish miles West where will be visiting with Dr Dawter for the weekend.

The drive from Kamp Koon to here has been uneventful but it’s been an exciting week with the election and wondering where Hurricane Rafael is headed and of course seeing my dawter.

Weather is forecast to turn kooler with rain so don’t know how long I’ll remain in NC. Might move on into South Carolina lil sooner than expected.

aint no plan……
bch bum jonny
 
Wednesday 13 Nov ‘24 J-ville, Florida

Had a great time with Dr Dawter & SonLaw last weekend. Only saw them 5 days all year and we have a tentative date in Jan to meet up in the Keys.

Spent Monday at Edisto Island, SC enjoying the beach and then drove to Florida. Have spent last 2 days at Fernandina Beach doing what I do and apparently I’ll be hanging in the J-ville area for a lil longer than I anticipated as there is another hurricane forecast to form and move toward Florida.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/hurr...aribbean-track-into-florida-next-week/1712965

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

I’m sitting tight here in Jacksonville area for the next week or so until I know which direction Hurricane Sara is headed and if when I need to make a getaway.

ciao for now
bch bum jonny
 
IMG_2943.jpeg
Since I’m on a food pik kik……..
Baby spinach leaves, blueberries, grapes, sweet mini peppers, cauliflower and ranch dressing.
I know, I know, need olive oil vinaigrette.

Next time I hit the store
bch bum jon the vagabon
 
Yesterday was problem day. Nothing major, just annoying sorta……..

Sooo, Friday, Saturday & Sunday I ran my 2 house batteries down 2 16% & 12% respectively cause it’s healthy for them to do that at least once in awhile.
Monday was forecast for SUNSHINE with Tuesday clouds and Wednesday rain all day.

Kool; so I’m doing what I do at Anastasia State Park at St Augustine Beach and I’ll top them both off Monday before the clouds & rain roll in.

Sunday night was spent at Palm Coast and Monday I roll into Gamble Rogers St Park at Flagler Beach to spend the day & do my thing.

Hook up the 400 watt panel to the 1 battery and 120 watt panel to the other and the 120 watt won’t work. The 400 watt panel is working but there is mostly blue sky EVERYWHERE but where I’m at sooo it ain’t puttin a whole lot of amps in the battery; like it might as well be nuthin.

I rewire the 120 watt and get it woke up so I’m basically putting a large trickle charge into the batteries but at least all is working now but the cloud cover is killing me.

Then I notice the red light on my fridge isn’t on. I check the connections and I’m like F#%k!! now what’s wrong? I disconnect the 12v cord and connect the 120ac so my fridge is working again.

Shortly after all this one of the park peeps walks over and starts asking me all about solar & batteries etc as he & his wife are fixing to move onto a sailboat and we’re jawing about that and I’m whining about no sun.

He says you can charge them on that ac outlet on that picnic pavilion if you want. I’m like really? He’s like yeah sure. If they’re not on just come get me and I’ll unlock it for you. How longs it take to charge? I say, 120v less than an hour. Kool. So I got both batteries topped off. YES!! 🙌

Back to the 12v fridge cord. Blew the 5 amp fuse they put in the plug and brainless jonny boi has no spare fuses for it. Dug out my old 12v cord which I have an 6 amp fuse in and put that cord back to work.

It’s annoying that they put a 5amp fuse in the cord to power a 60 watt fridge. Its going to blow in short order and this 1 lasted about 5 weex on part time use.

Anyway, its Tuesday and its a new day and im at the Apollo Beach, Canaveral National Seashore and it’s a great day at the beach!🤙

bch bum jonny livin the dream 😎
 
Dr Dawter sent me this with the message “Dad; if you were a cat this would be you. The killer beach cat. “ 🐈
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/QspBqC6hJmMCd6FR/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

yep; as usual Dr Dawter is correct in her analysis 🧐 except I wouldn’t care for the camera shoved in my face while I’m eating. Might trigger a violent reaction from me.

sayin
bch bum jonny
 
Sunday, 24 Nov ‘24
Been in Florida about 2 weex beach bouncing my way south along the Atlantic Coast.

Fernandina Beach - Fort Clinch St Prk
Amelia Island - Little Talbot St Prk
St Augustine Beach - Anastasia St Prk
Flagler Beach - Gamble Rogers St Prk
New Smyrna Beach - Canaveral Seashore North
Titusville - Canaveral Seashore South
Cocoa Beach - O Club Prk
Melbourne Beach - Spressard Holland Park
Sebastian - Sebastian Inlet St Prk

Am presently at Vero Beach & Fort Pierce area for abit; Then onto Jensen Beach, then Dickinson St Prk, then MacArthur St Park near West Palm Beach………

ETA Florida Keys is 1 Dec.
bch bum jonny is rokin on 🤙😎
 
Are you just staying at these places during the day. I'd *like* to learn... What you're doing sounds like what i'd like to be doing pretty shortly but i wonder where you're staying at night. Probably got your own proprietary places... :) If there's anything you can divulge, it would be appreciated.
 
Are you just staying at these places during the day. I'd *like* to learn... What you're doing sounds like what i'd like to be doing pretty shortly but i wonder where you're staying at night. Probably got your own proprietary places... :) If there's anything you can divulge, it would be appreciated.
Generally, after i leave Michigan; i beach hop. Here in the SE; Atlantic & Gulf Coasts; During the day i stay mostly at state parks but there are also some city & county parks i enjoy and hang there some; and the Federal National Seashores.

The SE has many Walmarts, Lowes, etc and Cracker Barrels to crash at for a night or 2 and I use them on occasion. Theyre a good thing to use at night when you're first starting out till you get your routine, etc established and become familiar with the areas you want to hang in.

If you google “where do van dwellers sleep at night” all kinds of EVERYTHING will arrive on the results page and you can get ideas of what others do & have done and what not to do.

There are also tons of threads & info on this site on the topic. 🤙😎

bch bum jonny
 
Last edited:
...spinach...
.
[!!! hijacking alert !!!]
With my physical body and the way I use it, I need to avoid spinach.
Apparently, spinach contains a peculiar 'anti-nutrition' acid, and that acid binds with minerals in spinach.
Apparently, the result is a lot of water and some ruphage ruffage rouffuge fiber, but not much else.
.
.
from the WorldWideWeb (so it must be true):
* "Spinach contains oxalic acid.
This anti-nutrient compound binds to iron and other minerals, making them unavailable for absorption.
.
* The type of iron in spinach is 'non-heme', and is poorly absorbed by the body.
.
* Oxalic acid binds to calcium, increasing the risk of kidney stones."
.
.
We now return you to our regularly-scheduled beach...
 
Sunday, 1 December ‘24

Drove into the Florida Keys where I’ll be hangin for the foreseeable future. Till mid monthish.
Beautiful weather
IMG_2977.jpeg
love exploring this beach and I had an awesome day. 🤙

bch bum jonny livin the dream😎
 
That looks like a great place to spend the day! Just wondering, where did you sleep? Campground, stealth street camping, or other???
 
7 December ‘24
Somewhere in the Florida Keys 🔑

This week has been awesome; as it usually is for me here in Keysville.
Temps around normal, mostly sunny and it has been windy to very windy everyday so far except for yesterday.
Spend my time exploring the water & shoreline for interesting things; interesting to me anyway.
Crowds will increase now that it’s the weekend but I have my spots and I arrive to them early.

Publicity Shots:
IMG_2993.jpeg
My usual view.

IMG_2997.jpeg
Guess I interrupted dinner?
IMG_2998.jpeg

IMG_3001.jpeg
Sunset in The Keys

who lives better than I do?
Yep, I DO!
jonny boi , livin the dream
 
16 Dec, ‘24 Somewhere near Bonita Springs, Fla

Left the Keys 🔑 last Thursday morning, several days ahead of what I had planned but the weather forecasts were calling for windy to very windy conditions thru Tuesday so I just decided to split the Keys Scene till after New Year’s.

Took my time driving on 41 thru the Everglades & Big Cypress arriving in Bonita Springs and my tried & true sleeping spot just after sunset. First thing Friday morning stopped at my fav laundromat & self serve car wash in Naples where cleaned ma clothes and cleaned the van.

Then it was off to the beach! where I do what I do - bch bum livin! 🤙

bch bum jon the vagabon 😎
 
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