Our big goal for the summer was to arrive back to Florida in time for my dad’s birthday, to present him our Operation: Dip Toes surprise. However, serendipity and good friends intervened and made that rendezvous happen up near Savannah.
Thus allowing us to take a much slower approach into Central Florida.
St. Augustine
Almost six years ago Chris and I first met in person after months of online correspondence. We knew we were destined for each other, and immediately started contemplating if it was realistic for me to move aboard his little 16′ T@B travel trailer and join him on the road. Just a few weeks after our epic 27-hour first date in San Francisco, he pulled into my driveway in Melbourne, FL and we continued our courtship.
The winter was spent taking trial runs in the T@b to see what life might be like sharing such a tiny space without a bathroom. One of our most memorable trips during that period was a stay at Anastasia State Park (our full review) in St. Augustine. And amazingly, we had not returned since.
Serendipity intervened when some blog readers reached out and asked if they could take us out to dinner in St. Augustine to pick our brains about full time RVing. And as soon as we let our friends, Ann & Elliott, know about our departure plans from their place near Savannah – they asked if they could come along too! Perfection!
Now, you may recall that Elliott owns the Le’Sharo that we borrowed last summer at the start of our bus hunt after we sold our Oliver Travel Trailer and truck. Since we shook out some of the cobwebs on the Le’Sharo for them, they’ve been vowing to get out more in their little camper. So this was a perfect little road trip for them.
As we were caravanning through Jacksonville, the curse of the Le’Sharo tickled us again. We noticed something amiss, backed off and called them. The conversation went something like this:
*ring* *ring*
“Elliott – slow down. Ok… now, take this next exit and find the first big parking lot. Your air conditioning shroud is about to fly off.”
I think we were all laughing more than panicking when we pulled over. Especially after the evening before Chris and Elliott had to fix a fuel leak before they could even hit the road. It’s nice to know that Le’Sharo continues to keep life interesting!
We had a very enjoyable evening at Anastasia together – frolicking on the beach, preparing dinner together and just hanging out with friends we grow closer with each visit.
The next evening we met up with Barbara & Rick for dinner, who are preparing their lives to hit the road full time sometime within the next year. We hope we were able to answer some of their questions, and point them to some of our favorite resources. Next time we see them, it should be out there on the road!
Cape Canaveral
Our next stop was Cape Canaveral, as our fellow nomadic friends Sean & Louise were in the area and we always enjoy a visit with them.
Our two hour repositioning turned into a 5 hour adventure, in which we failed 5 times at finding a fuel station we could both get the bus into and not feel like we were being price gouged. We also ended up having to unhitch the Mini two times. An annoying process to fill just the 40 gallons of fuel we might need in the coming months, but we finally accomplished it!
We wanted to stay at Jetty Park (our full review), which is right along the inlet where cruise ships, casino boats and submarines come into port. We’ve heard great things about this little waterfront park, but had never had the opportunity. The park did not disappoint, and we thoroughly enjoyed it – at least for the few moments we there!
Our three nights were packed solid. We enjoyed a couple of meals hanging out with Sean & Louise – as well as an evening of mini golf with local friends. And Sunday we spent taking a trip in the Mini down to Melbourne to scope out our RV Park options and borrow a few gigs of bandwidth from my parents to download the latest iOS6 developer tools so we could get an update out for Coverage?.
We had planned our stay at Jetty Park to be through Monday morning, as the last piggy back ferry ride of the Space Shuttle Endeavor was scheduled to depart that morning – and it would be a perfect viewing location. However, that departure got delayed due to weather.
Cocoa Beach
Originally, we thought we’d depart Cape Canaveral last Monday and then plop ourselves down somewhere in Melbourne for a couple months. However, we were gifted an opportunity that is hard to pass up.
One of Sean & Louise’s blog readers owns property in Cocoa Beach, which is their go-to spot while in the area. We were hanging out with them over the weekend, and their host recognized us as well. He extended an invitation for us to join our friends as temporary neighbors. As we were in no particular rush, needed a couple of chill days to focus on getting our Coverage? update out and the shuttle ferry ride had been delayed – this was a splendid idea!
The shuttle and Sean & Louise both departed on Wednesday towards California, so we started preparing to pack up ourselves. And then Dave came over and extended the invitation for us to stay through the weekend if we liked. Afterall, the Cocoa Beach Airshow was going on right out his front door that weekend.
Sure… why not? It seems we’ve become quite the airshow groupies this summer anyway!
My parents decided to come up for the weekend and join us, getting a hotel room overlooking the bus and the beach. And we managed to get in a business meeting with the rest of our Florida team while watching all sorts of airplanes zoom up and down the beach in front of us.
It was a great weekend! And we’re so very thankful to Dave for inviting us to stay over at this beyond fabulous location. It’s been a much needed week of re-charging time.
What Next?
We’ve been researching an ideal landing spot closer to my parents in Melbourne to plop ourselves down at. The pickings are slim in the area. Our favorite area public park is closed undergoing renovations, and the rest of the options are a combination of commercial RV Parks & Mobile Home Parks – which are not our preferred perfect spots.
We’ve picked one in my old neighborhood that seems pretty decent, and is at least within walking distance to the beach, shopping and dining. We are greatly looking forward to being still for a bit. This summer of lots of wandering has been fantastic – but these nomads are tired. The landing gear is down!
We loved Anastasia State Park. Getting up and walking that deserted beach each morning is a nice perk!