24/7 Chat About Anything

Van Living Forum

Help Support Van Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Thanks sofisintown - I did you get a good rest last night.

So today I am in Ellisville Florida. I’m only a couple hours from my winter home of Pinecraft. I started planning this trip last year when Bob announced he was coming to Florida for that RV workshop thing. I wanted to be there for that and I finally got there almost one year later. I Want to stop and visit some friends who live in an RV park in the middle of Florida but The park is closed to visitors, due to Covid. Some state facilities are cutting their campsites in half so that they have more space between campers. How they decide who loses the reservation and who keeps there’s is hard to say. I came here for warmer weather but it’s 86 today that’s a little warm not complaining. God bless the nomads everyone no matter where they roam.

No covers on tonight (maybe nothing on at all tonight) don’t think about that too much if you start to feel your head explode make sure to wrap it in duct tape so you can find all the pieces.
 
Sorry you are eating alone tomorrow Maki. There are others out there just go find them. We should leave here Sunday. Don’t know how many days it will take us to drive out. We are pretty slowww
 
Well my friend & nemesis Qxxx is deleted, say goodby everyone & RIP Qxxx avatar. I suppose I should make less controversial friends. 

Happy Turkey Day everyone, we are together in spirit for sure. Blessings.  -crofter
 
I finally found the others this afternoon. Not so easy to find specific campsites when there are no street addressesor markers on roads.  of course many times the trailers, RVs, cars and moyor homes remind me of the ssying, all cats look grey in the dark. Almost all of them are white, off white or various shades of grey and tan. Fortunaetely my vehicle is so far at least, one of a kind in the area and very noticeable so Abnorm saw me go by and waved both arms wildly until I saw him

 But I was also invited to have T-day  dinner with another group of people who volunteered at the RTR events in previous years. Some of them are my neighbors here where I am camped. I had been gone from my camp for several hours dropping in and out and late this afternoon the campersv next door were so sweet that they had actually begun to worry if I was OK or was in trouble somewhere.  I was just out exploring and shopping, never thought that any one would even consider wortying about me as I am used to being independent.

I see people posting in the forum about feeling lonely on the road butn my personal experience so far in the last 4 months is totally opposite of that.  Maybe the difference is that I am not out camping in remote and isolated areas. Also I am not vonstantly on the move with a new campsite every night. I do not need to be steathy.

As far as personality types I am an ambivert, right in the midfle, not at the extremes of introvert or extrovert. I dont mind being around people and I am also comfortable alone. So happy to be participating in a group T-day dinner but if I had not connected with the others today I would still have had a lovely dinner and day. I am many years past the first time of spending a holiday alone. That can hsppen as a single parent when your child goes for Christmas vacation out of town to the other parent and you dont live near any other family.  it also happens to older people. This year there will be a great many people on their own for the holidays perhaps for the first time ever. Some will care anout thst but others won't mind it at all.  Either way is works for me as I always make a nice meal and enjoy the day.
 
Oh good Maki! Glad you get to join others! Doug is an extremely hospitable man!
 

  • Paulette is also very nice, I got to see her wearing that very attractive new shawl she just finished crocheting.
I stopped yesterday and bought a couple of gallons of diesel fuel formy stove/heater. I had only put in a  mall amount of fuel a month ago when I first got it all wired up, 2 gallons pretty much filled up the tank. I ran it long enough this morning to hest my coffee plus another 10 minutes which took the morning chill out of the air.

Another beautiful sunny day here but it will be breezy this afternoon, grits to go with our turkey?

I need to fire up my generator and vacuum the dust off the floor in my trailer and the driver side floor mat in my car.  I think my little shop vs might make a handy "leaf" blower for dusting off the outside of the car and trailer. It will be an interrsting experiment to try that. But right now the neighhbors are enjoying their day off and having coffee around their campfire so I am not going to disrturb them with noise.
 
My standard invite goes out to anyone transiting across Texas as they head west....if you need or want a place to camp overnight, for up to about a week or so, I am in Tulia Texas, which is about 50 miles south of Amarillo. Because state parks in NM are closed to travelers, and rest areas and shopping centers may or may not allow overnighters during this covid situation, it might come in handy to camp here, especially if we get some severe weather in New Mexico in the next couple of months. 

I have 20 and 30 amp electric hookup and water...plus some areas to make minor repairs and/or work on a small project with the vehicle or trailer.

I don't have an indoor shop or a place for major repairs or extended renovations...just sayin. And large aggressive or dangerous dogs are not allowed because I have a small friendly female dog who loves to socialize with people and animals and welcome everyone. I don't want any canine confrontations, but if your dog is friendly and social, he or she is welcome.

This time of year the weather can be a problem....in fact we had snow and ice a few weeks ago already...so for anyone traveling along I-40, be sure to watch the weather.
 
Happy Thanksgiving everyone ... got my tooth pulled on Tuesday then went to Yreka for an overnight trip and to do my laundry as I have issues with the local laundry opportunities... but quickly returned to the Camp on Wednesday morning as I wanted to feed the cats in the Meadows. This morning I sat and watched... over a period of about two hours, seven cats came to my feeding bowls in the carport. The carport will be demolished when the state clears the property so I need to alter the feeding situation... maybe a series of plastic bins - some with beds and some with food bowls. Kitties need help! It seems that some are finding refuge beneath the metal roof of my neighbor's former home.

I'm feasting on things I bought at the market this morning and my daughter, two spaces away, is cooking a complete Thanksgiving feast so I'll go there to get more food later. I'm happy because today I hooked up the computer in the van, and am getting a much better connection than I ever did in the cargo trailer.

Like Paulette I'm a crocheter, though a bit bummed that the things I crocheted in the last year were destroyed in the fire. I wish I'd thought about taking them that morning, but no . . . couldn't think of everything I guess. If I had those two hours to do over again, I'd do them much differently. MUCH differently. :: sigh :: ... but you never know how many mistakes you'll make until it happens.

Anyhow, all the best to you on this special day that celebrates the good habit of leading a life full of gratitude.
 
travelaround said:
 returned to the Camp on Wednesday morning as I wanted to feed the cats in the Meadows. This morning I sat and watched... over a period of about two hours, seven cats came to my feeding bowls in the carport. The carport will be demolished when the state clears the property so I need to alter the feeding situation... maybe a series of plastic bins - some with beds and some with food bowls. Kitties need help! It seems that some are finding refuge beneath the metal roof of my neighbor's former home.

I feed ferals around my area. A rubermaid tote, sans lid, on its side works well as a feeding station.

Rubermaid totes, with lids and straw, make great shelters. Just cut an entrance and a smaller escape hatch on opposite sides, and duct tape the larger hole scrap over the smaller hole on the outside (or scavenge a door hinge and screws and attach as a hinge at the top). That allows escape from predators.

This is a good time of year to get them as you can get the green ones meant for Christmas decor storage, which blend better into nature and are much more stealth.

I am grateful that someone who has lost so much can still care for the even less fortunate furkins.  :heart:
 
travelaround. The only thing that matters now is that you have years of time ahead to sit and crochet many more things. Stay focused in the present, you can't redo that packing up day. You need every ounce of positive energy you can produce to move forward this month with all that needs to get done.  What a spiritual counselor might say to you is ...Surrender all of those items up in a prayer of letting go of what you can't change so that you can move forward unburdended by those regrets. Not so easy to do without the support of a counselar praying with you but perhaps you can arrange for that.

It is tough for you right now, you are stuck between the new and the old as the past is still physically very close by.  You don't have the advantage of getting far away from the scene of the disaster or even a way to dig in and take away the charred remains. So all you have that will help with moving on with it being right in front of you is your faith. Try to work with the animal people to rehome those cats so you don't go back to the site as often until the work begins. It will wear on your spirits to be there too often before the work begins.
 
Hello nomads I am thankful for everyone of you. Well almost everyone. Smile. Hello from warm and sunny Sarasota Florida.
I’m camping behind a Cracker Barrel tonight. It’s not camping just parking but trying to get some sleep I’m under a large Live Oak covered in Spanish moss. I spent most of the day with my Amish friends watching shuffleboard being played at the park in Pine craft.

For a special Thanksgiving dinner I saw several of my girlfriends. You might call it sort of a progressive dinner. My cute freckled redheaded girlfriend, Wendy served me a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. She makes the best burgers. Then for dessert I saw my little sweetheart, I think you’ve all met her, her name is Little Debbie we have a hot thing going on. Can’t control myself I’ve got to get my hands on her goods. And you know they say every mans secret fantasy is two women at a time, maybe even sisters. Well Little Debbies going to bring her big sister Sarah Lee. I should gain about 10 pounds. That’s the only kind of hot, sensuous relationships I have. God bless the nomads all of them. This was meant to make you smile not to upset anyone. I’m not a womanizer but I sure do go after food.
 
Natute lover, there you go again, having another fantasy about having relationships with multiple females.
 
Nature Lover,
Just be careful your sweeties don't get fed up and kick you in your Funny Bones.
:D :p
 
II think tne breezy add fternoon just turned cthe corner into being a windy night.  i lowered my pup top ehich made things quieter and warmer. It can eadily handle the windvwhennit is raised but I appreciate being able to have a lower profile on nights such as this.
 
Good morning. I ate too much. I seem to still be full. Glad everyone's day was good.

TX, I might take you up on your hospitality offer for two nights max (mon and tue night). I need to be back home for my permanent bridge and it will be cold where you are. It feels good being away from the house for awhile.
 
Yes this weekend looks cool and maybe rainy/snowy but next week it should warm up a bit. Of course, I do have electric hookups and a small space heater you can use in the van if needed on those cold nights.

In fact if the weather around here were to get really nasty, being parked here for a few days seems to me like a good way to wait out the weather. Traveling on snowy/icy roads in the panhandle is not fun!
 
Top