Selling our house and living in a small travel trailer (25’8″) is a big adjustment even though I don’t talk about it. Having less, making do with less, having less space is even a big adjustment for Buddy. There are times it feels very crowded but normally we are well organized.
We are creating a new life, even how we play with Buddy. It’s quite an adjustment with a big learning curve. A curve that takes quite a while to adjust to.
We had been staying at parks for a couple weeks or less, then moving. That is a lot of setup and teardown. Key Palms is the first place we have had an extended stay. Helene did a lot of damage in the South this year and that changed our plans. The damage she did affected our travel plans and my surgery.
Flexible! You have to be quite flexible to do this and realize that it is all part of the experience. Looking back at my backpacking and our tent camping, we talk and laugh about the rough times and the people we’ve met the most. We are fortunate to have the time and ability to do this, something we need to remember when things don’t work out.

“I would rather own little and see the world than own the world and see little of it.”
Alexander Sattler (photographer)

December 1st, 2024
Quite a chilly morning, 64° and windy. The wind is out of the NNW again bringing us that cooler weather in the morning.
We plan on spending the day here at the RV resort and letting all the holidaymakers head home. After I run my errands this will be a good day to take a nap, lay on the beach or sit on the dock and enjoy the weather, just because I can.
Went to CVS today (Sunday) and the pharmacy is closed. Ace Hardware is closed, the shop that worked on Bertha is closed on weekends too. They have stepped back in time to the 50s when everything was closed on Sunday. When people found time for themselves and their family. Good for them, being able to do this in such a chaotic world.
There is a family at our resort with two Boxers that are very aggressive towards other animals. I don’t understand why people bring animals like that to a place like this. They make it uncomfortable for everyone.
We believe that Buddy is either unhappy with where we are (our site in the park) because of road noise day and night or he is homesick. Not sure what to do with him. We have this site for about two more weeks then we get a better one (away from the road).

Enjoying the moment, looking out over Florida bay

December 2nd, 2024
We drove to Miami this morning to a PNC Bank. What a pain. One and a half hours to find a bank. The bank didn’t have tellers as we think of them, they had virtual tellers. A machine larger than an ATM with a display. The teller answered after Carol started the process and help her complete the transaction. The virtual teller is new enough that the bank had an employee there to help. We have decided to open accounts with other national banks like Chase or Bank of America to make things easier in the future.
We went to a car wash to find it so busy that I wouldn’t wait. Home for lunch and an afternoon on the beach.

A relaxing afternoon at the beach

December 3rd, 2024
The search for warm weather.
58° this morning! I had to turn the heat on. 66° in Key West, are we southward bound?
I went to CVS this morning to fill my script and I have never been in such a nice CVS. The people at the pharmacy were very nice and helpful, they knew what I wanted and were able to fill my script in fifteen minutes not the normal two days that I am use to. They and everyone in the store were very friendly and helpful.
While I was out I called Carol and asked her to remind me about a job I wanted to. She made me a post-a-note and put it on the table. Buddy saw her do it. Buddy jumped up and sat at my seat at the table and tried to look innocent but Carol knew that he was waiting for her to turn her back so he could eat the note (he does that). When I got home I saw the note and Carol told me what was going on. I bought a small clear Christmas tree at CVS and was showing Carol while I was putting batteries in it. When we turned around, Buddy was laying on the couch looking innocent and the post-a-note was history.
We went to the beach today but it was windy and chilly. After a half hour or so Carol went back to the trailer and sat on our deck in the sun. There is very little wind once you are off the water. Buddy and I stayed and ended up walking the docks and then joined Carol on our deck.
Buddy is still unhappy, he wouldn’t go to the dock or beach with me at night so I went alone.

Venus and a waxing crescent Moon over Florida bay

December 4th, 2024
Great morning, I slept until 7am. I got up and was making coffee and noticed hair that wasn’t ours in the container of coffee and decided to throw it away. I went to the grocery and bought more coffee along with some other items.
After talking to my sister Carol and having a good cup of coffee, we had nothing planned for the day, so this was a good day to go crusin. I headed South towards Robbie’s of Islamorada. There is a lot to do there and it’s a nice ride.

We didn’t find anything for the trailer and it was too windy to eat there so I thought we could pick up an easy lunch at McDonald’s. Wrong, McDonald’s drive-thru line was busy and inside the kiosk were busy with a line of people waiting for their food. I ended up cooking burgers on the griddle and we had a side salads to go with.
I headed to the beach to relax and work on the blog a little.
Today is what traveling is all about. I (we) had a very relaxing day doing a lot of nothing except for the blog of course, then we watched the sunset from the beach.

Another great sunset

We did see some small garfish (Belone belone). The water was to rough to photograph them.

December 5th, 2024
Carol wasn’t feeling well today so we canceled our plans for Key West. Even though the weather was perfect it was hard spending the day at the beach (that is sarcasm). Great Sun, light breese and low seventies.
Buddy spent some time at the beach with me. He sat on a lounge chair under a palm tree for shade.

December 6th, 2024
Friday morning is a good grocery shopping day,  if you beat the crowd.
Carol hasn’t driven since we left Avon and I don’t want her to get out of practice. I know that some day she’ll end up pulling the trailer. We Buddy proofed the trailer and left him home with the pet alert sign on the door. With Carol behind the wheel we went to the store. This isn’t a major event, I just want her comfortable driving. She has pulled the trailer before. After we got home, Carol put the grocery list on the table and Buddy saw her.
SEE WHAT HAPPENED

Buddy taking the grocery list.

After dropping off our food and taking the grocery list from Buddy, we headed out.
Shopping at the Rain Barrel. They have a lot of neat shops.

What would it take to get you in a boat like this? The search for freedom!

We did buy some home decor

Relaxing after a long day of shopping

December 7th, 2024
Another weekend with a tremendous amount of traffic on the road. We walked to the park this morning and relaxed there while it was still cool. A woman at the park asked if Buddy would like to play with her dog so we let him off leash but he doesn’t know how to play with other animals. They got along but that was it. We did run him for a while before we walked home.

Time to take you for a tour of our trailer.
We will start with the entry way. We have some simple hangers on the wall for hats and leashes on the left with keys and notepads on the right. Normally the door is open allowing a nice breese through the screen.

Going down through the kitchen where we have a microwave, a stove and oven that works well. We also have plenty of storage and a nice refrigerator across from the stove.

Into the dining room where we have mounted a TV for those rainy days. The TV does fold up under the shelf. There is also a small built in am/fm stereo system with Bluetooth, HDMI connections with interior and exterior speakers.

Across to the family room. The couch also folds down into a bed giving us a place to lay around and watch TV, our entertainment center.

Back to the bathroom across from the kitchen.
There is a skylight over the shower that let’s in plenty of light.

Lastly, the bedroom, to the right of the door as you enter.
There is storage over the bed with a closet and shelving to each side with additional storage under the bed for things less used.

We have changed alot to make it livable and increase storage and convenience. It works for us.
I carry a gas griddle in the truck that I setup and connect to the trailer gas, using it for the messy cooking.
When we boondock, our generator will run everything with minor compromise.

Key Palms Luxury Motorhome Resort
104mm on US Route 1

This walkway leads down to a day of relaxation and fun

Kayak launching and dock area

A view or the beach

There is a pool and spa that is heated or chilled depending on the season

Boat docks and fishing area

This will not be our average stay. This is a anniversary and holiday treat.

December 8th, 2024

Something to consider when looking for a place to stay  Don’t take any site close to a popular road. We are close to the only road through the Keys, US Route 1. Key West is mile 0 and we are at mile marker 104, very close to the Northern end of the keys. Just about all the traffic goes by us. We are close to the road and have a lot of car, truck and motorcycle noise day and night.  We are moving to a better site in about a week and should have less noise. When you are looking for a place to stay consider the noise as well as the other amenities. We will probably look for a resort in Marathon or closer to Key West and ask for a site away from the road. To complicate things more, we just had a relaxing walk along our waterfront. The weather is perfect the sky is clear, a magnificent setting for an evening on the water. You choose

December 9th, 2024
Carol thought we should do custom Christmas cards from our trailer in the Keys this year. So we did. We ordered them on-line and should get them in a few days.

We went to the Post Office this morning to mail our grandson’s late birthday card and his Mothers on time card. Sorry JP. That was our excitement for the morning and probably for the day.
A late lunch after talking to my sister. The weather was perfect for a relaxing afternoon on the beach.
Today is our two month anniversary for being on the road andddddd we are still talking to each other.

December 10, 2024
KEY WEST
The ride is only one hundred and two miles but takes over two hours to get there. Yes it is funny that we are at the one hundred and four mile marker and GPS is taking us two miles short. Obviously mile zero is not where GPS is taking us.
We parked near the southern most point and walked to the buoy, then shopped up Duval St. and cut over to mile 0 at Whitehead St. and Fleming St.

Not the first time we’ve been here.

This past spring we were in Key West and parked at about the northern most point of Key West. Not being oriented as to where everything was and not having an agenda our goal was to shop and have a good time. I suggested that going to the southern most point could be fun so we shopped our way down Duval St. and over to the buoy. This time we parked close to the southern most point on Duval St., walked to the buoy and then went back to Duval St. And shopped our way up to mile 0. By not planning and doing everything backwards we get a lot of exercise.

After that it was time for a cool refreshing drink. So we stopped at a familiar Pub and relaxed for a while.

Time to head to pirates well.

I guess Grog wasn’t the only thing they drank

Time to eat! There is a good restaurant on the beach at the southern end of the island. Not a far walk where we can have a good meal with a beautiful view.

A really good burger

Fresh chicken and squab but I don’t think they’re on the menu.

Just to be different, I drove to mile 0 and drove US 1 through Key West and up to Key Palms RV resort at the 104 mile marker.
Got home and called it quits for the day.

December 11, 2024
Typical morning, I took Buddy out, had coffee and ended up having a pillow fight with Carol, she won, then we finished making the bed.
There was a site wide power outage just before lunch but it was short lived. After lunch we met some of our neighbors who call Las Vegas home and plan on having drinks the next night. They were changing sites because of noise as we were. I am sure the rest of the day will be very boring.
See you tomorrow.

December 13, 2024
Other than having drinks, a relaxing afternoon and some interesting stories with our neighbors, Bill and Donna it was a quiet day. I also took time to plan our move after Christmas, we will spend New Years at Suwannee River Hideaway. This is a very interesting park that is being restored (from the pictures I have seen) and has new owners. People travel more than I realized. Everglades NP and surrounding parks were completely booked for New Years.
Talking about moving, we move from site 30 to site twenty five Saturday. Farther away from the road and I hope less noise. Thank God!!!!

December 14th, 2024
Bill and Donna left this morning looking for new adventures. We did exchange phone numbers to stay in touch. They are very nice people and I enjoyed our time with them. I hope they have safe travels and good adventures. Hopefully we will see them in the future.
I didn’t know when we were going to move but had to disconnect everything to be ready and still allow us to live. I started disconnecting everything early and in a light rain as usual. The people in site twenty five didn’t leave until after 11am and then the site had to be cleaned before we could move in. Once the heavy rain started, I knew it was time to move.

It seems like we always move and setup in the rain

Driving two hundred feet to the new site wasn’t the problem. There was an extremely tight turn to get into the site and I wasn’t sure we could do it easily. I was wrong, nailed it! I pulled right in the site while Carol monitored everything to be sure things went smoothly. We do work well together!
I’m not sure if we’ll have less noise here but the view of the ocean will take some of the pain away. We are on the end of a lane and the site is very open. Very nice!

view from our window, and we do have less noise

Everyone was either on the docks or beach waiting for the thirty ninth annual Christmas boat parade.

Boats lit up Black Water sound for the event despite the rain

The parade ended with a spectacular fireworks event showering the area with color.

We weren’t aware of the fireworks, and once they started Buddy ran under one of the lounges trying to hide from the noise, so I picked him up and headed home.

December 15th & 16th, 2024
I could say I was taking a couple days off because of the difficult move but we know what that would be a load of. Nothing going on and sporadic rain, time to relax.

December 19th, 2024
I know it’s hard to believe but my life isn’t that exciting so I have skipped ahead a couple days.
We went shopping so Carol could find a gift for Wanda (an RV Friend). She gave Carol a hand made Christmas ornament and Carol wanted to reciprocate. After she found what she wanted we went to the Theater of the Sea.

The setting for Theater of the Sea is a tropical gardens on a lagoon in the village of Islamorada on Windley key.

In addition to having a number of land and aquatic animals in a tropical setting, the area has a very interesting history dating back decades.

This is a great place to spend the afternoon with a number of shows, exhibits and a grill for those who would like something to eat or drink.

Yes, they are pet friendly

They also have a very nice gift shop. Be sure to make it one of your destinations. To sum it up this is a great place to spend some time and the grill has great food at a reasonable price.

December 20th, 2024
The temperature dropped last night making it a great night to sleep. I took Buddy out for his morning walk and noticed that we had awning rain. It was dry everywhere but under our awning. I have had tent snow in the past but this is the first time for what I call awning rain (caused by warm, humid air (under the awning) coming in contact with a cooler surface (the awning)). There was such a buildup of moisture under the awning that when the wind blew the moisture dropped like rain under the Awning.
After talking to my sister Carol, Buddy and I spent the morning under our awning enjoying our neighbors while Carol went to the beach.
Another great day in one of the smaller, perfectly sized RV resorts. No crowds for us.
Life on the road isn’t always glamor and excitement, sometimes it’s  about relaxing and enjoying the moment.

December 21st, 2024
Carol always remembers our anniversary but I didn’t know if she remembered a card this year. I wanted to let her know that I got her an anniversary card and Christmas card without being obvious. I left the receipt out showing that I bought two cards and left the cards out in the bag they came in. Not knowing if she caught on I finally signed and set the cards out for her to see. I knew she would feel bad if she didn’t have at least an anniversary card so I pointed them out. I am not sure if she bought me a card or not, I’ll find out when she comes back from running errands.
I can’t criticize her, she always makes good decisions, I’m proof of that.

December 22nd, 2024
Carol,
Happy anniversary! Our fifty first! It’s hard to believe we’ve been together that long. Seems like yesterday that I watched an Errol Flynn pirate movie (Against all Flags) on our wedding night and now, two boys, countless dogs, four houses and a lake house later, we’re living in a small travel trailer wandering our country.

Thank You