Back to Van & Bus Life – Maryland to Florida to Arizona! Return to SKP Saguaro Co-Op & Zephyr!

Whew… it’s been nearly 3 months since we left Y-Not stored in northern Maryland for winter and hit the road. And now I’m sitting in Zephyr, our vintage bus, in Arizona!

So how’d we get here?

Certainly not the direct route!

Let’s get caught up on the adventures before winter gets too far behind of us!

First.. the video catch up version if you prefer:

Phase 1: Maryland to Florida

With Y-Not safety hauled out for the winter, and Blooper loaded up – we started heading southbound to Florida in the beginning of November.

I’ll just highlight the stops we made:

• Henrico, VA – A Harvest Hosts overnight at an Indian Restaurant
• Clarksville, VA – Occoneechee State Park – after an afternoon stop to cycle over High Bridge  -where we somehow managed to score a most awesome waterfront spot!
• Chapel Hill, NC – Visiting our dear friends Ann & Elliott at their new digs with perfect van parking.
• Fayetteville, NC – Grabbed a cute little AirBnb to rendezvous with a friend for a long weekend of exploring the area – including a musical, a vegan festival and zip lining!
• Florence, SC – Overnight at a Harvest Hosts distillery
• Jacksonville, FL – Overnight after a very long driving day in the Ortega River area at a Harvest Hosts brewery – an area of town we’ve spent a lot of time in on the boat.

Phase 2: Bouncing Around Florida

Now back in our state of domicile, we could slow down the pace a bit.

First up was a few nights on our own to decompress after a hectic few weeks of boat storage preps and transition.

First we snagged a site at Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine, FL – a town that is likely the place we have visited the most in our full time nomadic travels that doesn’t have a tie to family.

We love this park for their spacious wooded sites and access to the beach, and easy reach of town. Our stay coincided with the Endless Summer running race on the beach (which we both participated in) and the opening of Nights of Lights holiday festival.

Next up, we moved down the coast to Flagler Beach, where we had snagged four glorious nights in our favorite oceanfront spot at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Park. We enjoyed beachfront running, hiking and biking – and even caught a night rocket launch. We went swimming in the ocean!

Decompression was now as complete as it’d get before we dove in social time with family and friends!

We moved over to our beloved Sanford – where we basecamped for many years during the pandemic aboard Y-Not. Our dear friends Sabine & Eckhard have an RV spot in their backyard that they so kindly make available to us.

It was a whirlwind visit that included a night out at Theater West End to see a performance, a day at Universal Studios with Sabine (courtesy of her son’s employment there), an evening at Hollerbach’s German Restaurant catching up with friends, a bike ride around Lake Monroe with dear friends Theo and Pete, visiting the Asian Lantern Festival (my mom joined us) and catching up with annual doctor’s visits. Whew.

And then it was over to Spring Hill on the west coast for Thanksgiving. Chris’s aunt now also lives in the same neighborhood as his parents, and she graciously hosted an amazing feast for us all – including my mom. It was a jam packed week of soaking in family time, paddle boarding the Weeki Wachee River and catching up on backlogged tech maintenance for the family (everyone got Apple Watch and iPhone upgrades!).

After a wonderful week with family for the holidays in Spring Hill, FL – we were in need of some recharge time. We selected nearby Serenova Tract to head to – part of the SWFL Water Management properties, offering FREE dispersed campgrounds throughout the state.There are hiking trails onsite, and easy access to the Suncoast biking trail – which we did a 22 miles bike ride along.

And then we headed southward to Clearwater to catch up with dear friends Ben & Karen – enjoying lots of laughter, mini golf and our first Escape Room experience!

It had been far too long since we had gone nude RVing.. so after multiple social visits in a row, we headed out to Cypress Cove in Kissimmee. We enjoyed a weekend of soaking in hot tubs and pools, paddle boarding on the lake, dining and playing games. All without dealing with wet swimsuits.

Next up, we headed to Moss Park in Orlando to focus on a mobile internet industry update for the Mobile Internet Resource Center – which was a perfect location with easily hiking for breaks.

And then it was one last social visit – headed over to Melbourne for a few days with my mom to celebrate her birthday, and play elve’s helpers as her neighbor geared up for the holidays.

Phase 3: Rapid Trip to Sante Fe, NM!

We knew we wanted to get to Arizona to our co-op in Benson – but we weren’t sure the route or pace we’d keep. We also knew Christmas and New Years would overlap with the transition, and we were contemplating options such as getting an AirBnB somewhere along the way?

Chris had been on our TrustedHouseSitters account and favorited a few holiday sits in cool cities – and before he could update me to discuss whether we should apply for any, an e-mail showed up. A couple in Santa Fe with a cute kitty saw his favorite, and reached out to us directly. We set up a video call the next day, and it all clicked into place.

We were heading to Santa Fe for the holidays, and had just over a week to get there!

A much more rapid pace than we prefer.. but we made it work:

• Ocala, FL – First stop was the Ocala Drive In, a Harvest Host overnight where we caught a double feature of Wicked and Zootopia.
• Ponce DeLeon, FL – Next up, another Harvest Host stay at a farm – where we rendezvoused with an RVing mobile mechanic to help us install a new alternator belt on the van’s Volta electrical system (it had recently shredded!).
• Sulfur, LA – Now with our electrical system able to charge again while underway, we made a long driving day overnighting at a Cracker Barrel.
• Bastrop, TX – Next stop, a visit with my brother and his family.
• Tuscola, TX – After four driving days in a row, we needed a break – and took two nights at Abilene State Park to recharge. It was just what we needed with great hiking and biking trails.
• Levelland, TX – With the majority of the miles behind us, we could slow down a bit and headed to Prairie Chick Winery for a Harvest Hosts overnight.
• Santa Rosa, NM – Our final stop before arriving to our housesit – we took a night at Santa Rosa Lake State Park.

Unfortunately – on our last stop things got derailed.

It was Sunday Runday, and our site was right next to a shoreline trail that looked perfect for a run. We set off, with Chris ahead of me. It was nearing sunset, and I took a bit of a tumble – ending up splitting my knee open. Cell service was weak, but not weak enough for T-Satellite to activate on my cellular watch – so a message to Chris just wasn’t going through.

So I managed to hike out about .75 of a mile on my own, with my shirt wrapped around my knee as a makeshift bandage.

We ended up at the county hospital that evening – where their team got me stitched right up!

Unfortunately, that meant our vision of hiking, biking and hot spring soaking for our time in Santa Fe would need to be adjusted.

Phase 4: Santa Fe, NM Housesit

We arrived to meet our hosts – and they were amazing, and completely supportive of my brand new injury. Thankfully their home had limited steps, and she had lots of tips to share for getting around – as she just recovered from her own recent injury.

We met our kitty we’d be serving, and instantly got along.

We must have picked up some crud along the way across country – and it all caught up to us the next day after arrival. Chris was down for the count, leaving me with a braced stitched up knee becoming a caretaker instead of being taken care of. I thankfully only got a touch of the crud, and quickly learned how to navigate my injury.

We both were on the mend, and did get out to enjoy some of Santa Fe’s art, food and brewery scene. We even enjoyed NYE on the plaza after a symphony performance.

It wasn’t what we imaged our time in Santa Fe would be like, but it was a pleasant overall experience – and were thankful for healing kitty love and comfortable home to recuperate in.

We left our sit with a visit to have a final X-Ray done on my knee, confirming no fracture.

Phase 5: Getting to Benson

It’s about 500 miles to Benson from Santa Fe, so we spread it out a bit.

Our first night, we overnighted at a brewery in Belen, NM – but unfortunately learned they were closed for the holidays.

And then we took highway 152 over the Black Range – a gorgeous twisty mountain route.

We had taken it before in the bus about 10 years ago – and pulled off at Emory Pass. The sign saying no trailers is after you make the turn, and we got ‘stuck’ up at the overlook when trying to maneuver a tight turn around caused our power steering pump’s o-ring to pop off. Silly cheap part we had to acquire in the middle of nowhere!

Oh.. what memories!

We of course pulled off in the van, and enjoyed the magnificent views!

And on we continued to Faywood Hotsprings for a couple nights. This time, snagging a spot in the clothing optional side of the facility – which is perfect for vans.

We love this place, this being our third visit.

While I can’t yet soak my knee, I was able to find plenty of spots to prop my leg out of the water and relax the rest of my body. And of course, Chris enjoyed a fully submerged soak!

Phase 6: SKP Saguaro Co-Op Arrival

And then .. we arrived to SKP Saguaro Co-Op, almost exactly two years after we last left!

We checked on the Catsita, and then headed over to the storage lot to check on Zephyr and assess what it would take to get her moved over. Her coolant had all drained out, so we’d need to top that up.

And her starting batteries, now 8 years old, seemed to have reached their end of life.

We acquired coolant and new batters – and voila – she roared right to life! She aired up, and after a safety check on the brakes – we were able to move her right over to our lot.

Here’s a quick video we shared of her starting up and moving:

Real Time Update

We’ve now been back two weeks, and it’s been hectic getting settled back in. Lots of systems to bring back online after two years of storage, and some bus upgrades (a new bidet and kitchen lighting).

We also had to de-cat things – one of the big reasons we couldn’t bring ourselves to return last season. We found a local family with a new kitten to gift on Kiki’s cat trees and toys.

The park itself has kept us busy with events, we have been indulging in dining at the amazing Mi Casa restaurant, and we’ve been enjoying catching up with our neighbors.

I’m continuing on my healing from the injury, making progress every day to getting back to full mobility. Running again is my goal!

And of course, there’s work to be done too for MIRC that has taken a lot of our attention.

We’re planning to be in Benson until likely early March, when we’ll start the trek back to Y-Not to resume cruising northward later in the spring. If you’ll be passing through southern AZ and would like to meet up – give us a holler. And Escapee’s members can also rent a spot in the park as well.