I love that the RVing life is always full of changes, some slow and some very very fast. The year 2019 brought about several changes for me. A new car, a new RV, and some added income. I turned 60 (okay, I said it out loud) in June, which meant as a widow I could start collecting my late husband’s social security benefits. One of the stipulations with that is you can only make a certain amount of money throughout the year. By the end of September I had reached my limit so I figured I would take the next three months off. I left Hot Springs Arkansas and I arrived in Knoxville Tennessee on October 1. I stayed at the Raccoon Valley Escapees Campground in Heiskell, just north of Knoxville. My mom and younger brother and his wife live in the area, so I was there to spend some family time.

My good friends Bill and Bob are also close by in Blaine. I have known them for years. We go way back to when we all lived in Fort Lauderdale. Now they have a beautiful piece of acreage on the Holston River.

About halfway through the month my best friend Shirley flew up from Boca Raton Florida. Mom, Shirley, Bill, Bob, and Linda (a friend of theirs) took a day to go to a balloon festival near Dandridge TN.

At the end of the month Shirley and I said goodbye to everyone and headed south to Florida. I was going to be staying at Villa Margaret campground in Okeechobee. This was a no frills campground (no pool, no cable, no activities except for a weekly bingo session at 10 cents per game). My friends Chris and Diane had arrived a week earlier. I have known them from working at the Mount Rushmore KOA and the North New York City/Newburgh NY KOA. I settled in for the winter. It was nice to be less than 2 hours from Shirley and her mom Norma (my sister-in-law). We were able to have a great Thanksgiving and Christmas. With no job, I was getting a bit bored and broke. I was having to pay rent for the first time in a long time, and now with the new RV I had a house payment. I worked on crafts and tried selling them at the flea market, but I really wasn’t having much luck. I knew at the beginning of the year I was going to have to have to find work. Okeechobee is a small town but has a Walmart, Home Depot, Publix, and an Aldi’s. I would hit them up after New Year’s. On December 31 I got a phone call from my friend Kay. She asked if I was looking for work. It appears someone working on the activities crew at the Orlando SE/Lake Whippoorwill KOA had to leave. I had applied each year for a winter job at this beautiful KOA but never had any luck getting in. After another call with Denise, the manager, I eagerly accepted the job. When asked when I could come up, I said tomorrow! My rent in Okeechobee was due on the first, so this got me out of having to pay another month of rent. I said goodbye to Chris and Diane and headed to Orlando, which was an easy hour and a half drive. This was probably the fastest change I’ve had since RVing, but one of the best. I have an income coming in again and not a big chunk going out for rent. I will be here until April. And after working the front desk at 6 other KOAs and Catherine’s Landing, it is turning out to be a lot of fun working on an activities crew. I am working under the leadership of Dave and Mary Ann Nichols. I worked with these guys in 2016 at the Virginia Beach KOA. You never know when you’re going to run into folks on the road. Another thing I love about this life!

Until next time, from Lake Whippoorwill!

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Forgive me, for I have sinned. I set out to write a steady blog and have not been too steady. New Year’s goal? Of course to be more consistent and write blogs more often than once every 5 or 6 months.
My biggest news from 2019 was trading in my old vintage 1994 Winnebago Vectra class A motorhome. It was hard to drive since it was old and had suspension problems. The engine would run hot, and it had several other problems. I kept thinking it would fall apart around me as I drove it down the road. It was 36 feet long and I was pretty sure I wanted something a bit shorter too. I had been perusing online for something a little newer for quite some time. In September I spotted a 2015 31 foot Class A Itasca (also Winnebago) that had a floor plan that I really liked. When you live full time in an RV liking the floor plan is important. I drove from Hot Springs Arkansas up to Conway, which is about a one and a half hour drive to see the RV. The Moix RV folks were super nice. I had checked them out because they had held a couple of rallies at Catherine’s Landing, the RV resort where I had been working since March. They would take in my old RV as a trade in, which made me happy. Some RV dealerships won’t take in anything more than 10 years old. I really liked the RV and we made a deal. I was to return a week later to pick up my new home. You would be surprised how much stuff you can stash away in an RV. I started packing things, but really had no where to put them except outside on my site. It hadn’t rained in a few weeks, but you never know. I waited until the day before to put most of it out. Thankfully, a good friend Jane Snyder, whom I had worked with years earlier was going to be in Little Rock over the weekend. She was driving from Pennsylvania for a travel writing seminar. My move day was the next Wednesday, the 18th, and she said she could come down on Monday after the seminar and hang out and help with the move. By Wednesday morning I was so frazzled. I had started Hugo’s engine the night before to make sure he would be good to go the next morning. When I cranked the engine in the morning, nothing! I flagged down one of my coworkers that I knew to be a bit mechanical. He checked the batteries, and they were loose. Some tightening and a jump start and Hugo finally started. Of course it was 95 degrees and 95% humidity. I was sweating. I left Amos and Andy in a cabin in some animal crates, and set off for the day with Jane in the passenger seat. We made it safe, and in time for our appointment at 1 pm. The guy in finance kept me in the office going over stuff for what seemed like forever, and then there was the walk through. It was getting late in the day. I asked someone there if they thought the RV would be able to maneuver the parking lot of a burger joint down the street. He said no, but they lent us the company Jeep to go down there because we hadn’t eaten all day. Pretty nice!
By the time we returned to Hot Springs it was almost dark, and rain was threatening. I was throwing anything outside that might get damaged from the rain into the new RV. A very long and tiring day, but well worth it. It’s a good thing I don’t plan on moving for a long time.

I have not posted anything in a long time and it is for good reason. I am very technically challenged and as I go along I have struggled to learn as I go with this website and blog. My biggest challenge has always been loading pictures. I thought it was challenging because my Mac was getting old so I traded it in for a new model a few months ago. I still was having issues.

So I kept busy with other things like my crafts,

and eyeglass shopping (no, I didn’t pick these!)

I took pictures of pretty sunsets,

and I finally traded in my old Nissan which had over 218000 miles on it

for a cute red Jeep Renegade Trailhawk!

So this is a practice run adding pictures to my blog. I think I have figured a few things out (thankfully) and now I should be catching you up on everything I’ve been doing since I landed in Hot Springs. Keep tuned!

Part 1-Written in the beginning of January

As the new year begins, and we leave the old one behind, it is of course a time when we do a lot of soul searching. Am I on the right path? Do I need to tweak my course a little or do I need a whole new map? I started this blog to chronicle my wonderful journeys that I, as a solo full time woman RVer, was sure to have all the time. I haven’t written as many blog entries as I had planned this year. Why not? I have done some pretty fun things, but I’ve also been in a search mode, and haven’t known how to express what I’m feeling, not even to myself.
I entered the RV life three and a half years ago, with a paid off 37 foot 1994 Winnebago Vectra Class A motorhome towing a 2003 very beat up Nissan on a tow dolly. I love being on the road, but truthfully this thing is too big for me. I am not comfortable driving it with my car in tow behind. I am always stressed out while I’m on the road, and that’s not what this lifestyle should be about. So New Year’s resolution (goal?) #1: Get an RV much smaller. Under 30 feet would be much better. I have already started the search. Which brings me to my next topic of what needs to be changed this year. As a single person with only 1 income, it has been increasingly hard to keep afloat financially. Currently I am working at a campground that I love, working with great people, in a warm climate which is awesome. But the campground only pays minimum wage, charges for the site (albeit a tiny fraction of what the seasonal pay), and they have cut back our hours due to being overstaffed.
So what does a girl do? Get discouraged? Honestly, yes. But then it is time for this Wonder Woman Wandering to pick herself up, dust herself off, and get a new map. It is time for me to think outside the box, and look for other avenues of income. I do have my jewelry making business, but it is not enough to pay on a slightly newer and definitely shorter RV. So I have been reading lots of self help books this year looking for new ideas and out of the box business ventures that might work for me. Wish me luck, pray for me, and send me good vibes. I want to continue down the road, I am enjoying the ride too much to quit.

Part 2- Starting a New Venture

So as I was looking for income a little outside the box (not in a campground that pays a low wage), I came upon something that might work. I am a Workamper News gold member (whoops, I think platinum member now as they have revamped their levels) and they post new jobs throughout the day every day. In the 2nd week of January they posted one from a company called Southern Cross that has in the past hired workampers to walk gas lines with meters looking for leaks. This time the job was exchanging electric meters on houses in north Florida. They have a contract with Duke Energy. There is 2 weeks of training starting the 18th of February. I had to first pass a drug and background check and interview. I didn’t want to announce anything until all was final. And of course I had to give notice at the beautiful KOA I am at. They have been a bit overstaffed this winter so all is good with me leaving. I will be making almost twice the hourly wage I was making at the KOA, plus a per diem that will definitely pay for my campground stays in north Florida. Am I nervous? Yes, this is definitely outside the box. Since it is not customer service I am a bit afraid I will get lonely, not really working with a bunch of people or knowing anyone at the campground. But it will help me gather some money to upgrade my RV. The contract is for at least 4 or 5 months, then who knows where I will go from there. So on Friday the 15th I will be heading from St. Pete to Tallahassee for my training. Wish me luck!

I haven’t added a blog in so long and I am feeling a bit guilty. I have just been pretty busy. I left New York in mid October, traveling down to my mom’s in Knoxville Tennessee for a short layover. It was just a few days of wonderful family fun. My younger brother lives in the area, my older brother came down from New Hampshire, my uncle came down from Quebec, and my older brother’s oldest daughter and her new husband showed up from Alabama. Wow, you just have to treasure great times like that.

After that I headed to my winter destination, the Saint Petersburg/Madeira Beach KOA. I have been settling in, meeting my new coworkers, and learning my way around the area. On top of that I have worked on my camper earring inventory. I love making jewelry, and I have designed some camping themed earrings. They are on the jewelry page here on the website. If you need some stocking stuffers or something for yourself, just check out the page. I am very excited about them.

The other fun thing I’ve been working on this month is a 30 day challenge by Dean Graziosi. He is an awesome motivator, and each day you get a little 1 – 2 minute video and an action to take. It is all very positive and it has just made a very positive impact on my life. Below is a link to the free challenge.

https://thebetterlife.com/challenge/challenge.php?id=13&inf_contact_key=b68e48cb46f8937d1a42c2d79c9aade5ead95ed8fcc733b80b52f4fef1c79404

I challenge anyone who wants a better outlook on life to try this challenge. Today was my day 13.

So please check out my earrings, and try the challenge. While you’re doing that I’m going to work on posting more often.

 

It’s been 2 months since my last blog entry. I will say that it is not because I have nothing to write about. I have had many wonderful visits and adventures with fun friends and loved ones. I have been talking to myself saying “Kathy, you certainly need to catch up on your blog. What’s the point of having a website if you don’t continue to add to it?” But I find that the more you put things off, the more you put things off.  The undone things get bigger and bigger until it just seems like too much to tackle.  I have committed to myself to write a blog entry at least once a week, while teaching myself how to work on the website.  At the same time I am trying to elevate my jewelry hobby into a business, and all the while having visits and visitors and adventures on the side. So when I realized I was so far behind and finding myself watching TV or playing solitaire or browsing Facebook, I knew I needed to take action.

Of course I stewed on it while finding new games to play, checking Facebook again and again, and watching more TV (considering we only get 12 channels here I still find myself turning on that boob tube). So several weeks ago I found an interesting book on Amazon about tackling procrastination. It seemed like it might be the answer to my problem. So I added it to my cart. I of course did not take action to actually buy it. I put that off for another couple of weeks.

For at least a month I hadn’t worked on my jewelry or my blog. Things really seemed a bit overwhelming. So I poured a bourbon and thought about it some more. The voices in my head were telling me that I needed to get things done! But alas, I seem to get so easily distracted.

Work, TV, electronic games, campfires with friends. Finally I did start working on my jewelry. A logo and artwork for my earring displays are coming along quite nicely in the last few weeks. Then about a week and a half ago I actually hit the order button on that book. I waited patiently, putting off a blog entry until I could get the book and read it cover to cover. At this point I wondered how long I would procrastinate to pick it up and read it once it arrived. Amazon said it would be delivered a week ago and here I sit with no book. The book on procrastination has procrastinated getting to me! Ha!

So this morning I thought I should google procrastination. I found out I could procrastinate for days just browsing procrastination on YouTube. Everybody has something to say about it. If you are in the mood to procrastinate, these are good distractions. Some funny songs:

 

Of course there are some serious talks about it too. Some people say it is a good thing, that you work better on a time constraint.  I know I did it in college and then crammed when things needed to get done. I got by just fine and had fun along the way too. Overachievers would probably argue with this approach. One speaker on the subject says she schedules extra time in her schedule for procrastination.

I could procrastinate some more, and probably will. Some of the Ted Talks videos on procrastination look pretty interesting. But in the mean time I will attempt to get back on track. I still have a lot of stories to share from this summer, and a few more are coming up before I move  on to St. Petersburg Florida for more adventures.

The funny thing is, when I didn’t get the book, Amazon told me I could reorder or cancel. I procrastinated that decision until I did the google research. I figure I have enough to read online on this topic so I have cancelled my order. It’ll probably show up in a week or two now that I have been reimbursed for it.

Well, that’s enough for now. I have some web browsing to do while watching tv.