February 2016 – Page 2 – Towing Silver: Kim Davison's Travels

One Down…

I thought this was a great sign! And, I hope to see more of the Corps of Engineers campgrounds. They are always so well designed, built and maintained. They are engineers, after all.

Ortona South Campground was next to a lock on the Caloosahatchee River portion of the Okeechobee Waterway.

The lock for the boats to go through is on the right bank of the river

The campsites were lovely. Water and electricity at each site and tables with shelters over them.

And the sites were level! How wonderful not to have to jockey around to keep things on an even keel.

The camp hosts took the initiative to organize a hot dog roast/pot luck dinner for Christmas eve. (Yeah, these posts are landing out-of-sync with the calendar, but it is hard to keep up. Besides, would you want to read a daily posting of my doings?)

Some of the campers were really into the seasonal decorations.

These guys really got into it! And, you should have seen it with the lights on.

These folks decorated in an understated, yet elegant manner. I had my orange fiberglass shovel in the back of the truck. Maybe I should have gotten it out and wrapped lights around it…

The mailing address for this campground is Moore Haven, Florida, but I never saw that town. The closest town that I saw was Clewiston. Driving back and forth to pick up groceries and such, I passed miles of what look like the invasive Elephant Grass you see all over up north. I finally figured out that what I was looking at was sugar cane.

And where you have sugar cane, you have factories that process it into sugar.

Sugar cane growing in front of the factory

In addition to sugar, they also grew other crops in the area. One I could identify was cabbage. There were other sorts of things growing, but they were in early stages of growth and I couldn’t tell what they were. I wish farmers would label things for us city slickers.

I had no trouble identifying the cattle ranches, though. This one was right outside the campground. If I turned a bit to the left, I could watch birds.

I enjoyed watching the birds looking for their dinners in the controlled creek just outside the campground fence from my site.

I even managed to take a photo of a butterfly. The better shot should have been one of me chasing it around.

Next stop, Lake Manatee State Park.

And That’s the Way the Money Goes…

Pop goes the weasel!

I decided to track my expenses this year, just to see where the money gets spent. One of the questions that people have when considering whether or not to go full time in their RV is how much things cost, so I have decided to share this information.

So, now that I’ve closed the book on January, I’m ready to review how things have gone.

Campsites $950.43
RV Maintenance $737.06
Gas $321.25
Grocery store purchases $291.46
Eating Out $156.62
Other purchases $85.72
Tourism and Entertainment $41.00
Tolls and Parking $48.25
Laundry $23.50
Food and Drinks on-the-go $12.83
Clothing $0.00
Truck expenses $0.00
GRAND TOTAL $2,668.12

I am not including health insurance and medications in my records. Those items are not particularly negotiable and they would be the same if I were living in S&B. (S&B is RVer talk for “sticks and bricks” – a house.)

This month, I drove 2,168 miles and visited three states. I stayed in eight state parks, one national park and one RV Resort.

My average price per night was $30.66. I hope to get that down in February. I have no plans to book any nights in RV Resorts. I much more of a state park, BLM, boondock sort of person.

I also hope that I don’t have any more RV maintenance for a while. I have to start squirreling money away for new tires. But, I think I have enough rubber on them to keep rolling for a while.

Key West Part 2

I suppose I could have squeezed in the rest of Key West into the last post, but it seemed to be getting long. Thanks for taking the time to read of my adventures.

One of the most delightful places I encountered was The Oldest House on Key West. I had to borrow the photo of the front of the house from another source. Key West was just hopping and it was impossible to get a clear shot of the front.

The house was built by Richard Cussans 1829 on Whitehead Street, but was moved to Duval Street by 1836 after Duval Street was built.

One of the things I liked best about the house was the fact that it was FREE!

Given the era it was built, of course the kitchen was in a separate building. Fire was always a danger in these older homes, especially before the advent of running water.

It looks kind of small, if you ask me.

But, I guess it was big enough – and it’s a lot bigger than the kitchen in Flo!

The Oldest House in Key West was decorated inside for the season. It looked festive, and – believe it or not – it was free to tour the house! Free, I tell you!

But, that wasn’t even the best part of my visit to the Oldest House. The best part was the gingerbread house making party in the garden that was being held for the children of the city.

Everyone was so engaged and focused. It looked like a great time. I almost thought about getting involved – but then I thought about the trouble I’d have carrying it around. Hard to be a tourist with a gingerbread house in your hands!

I saw this little girl carrying her house to the wrapping station and I asked if I could take a picture of it. She was so proud to show it to me. Her little sister’s house was being carried by an adult, and she looked like she wanted to show off hers, too, so I asked if I could take her picture.

She was very happy to pose with her creation.

They thought of everything – even wrapping the houses to carry home.

I was looking at how the whole event was organized, and thinking that it would be a great fundraiser. People could buy the various building components and buy as much or as little as they liked. I looked around, but I didn’t see any money changing hands. I asked someone about it, and it turns out that it is an annual FREE event that is sponsored by a local bank. Amazing!

There is even a Santa standing out in front inviting people in. I chatted with him for a while, and it turns out that he comes from San Francisco every year at this time to volunteer for this event.

Speaking of San Francisco, this row of cottages reminded me of the Victorian era Painted Ladies on Steiner Street in San Francisco.

And, finding a Circle K with its 79 cent Polar Pops also made my thrifty heart smile.

One other thrifty thing is the sunset.

I was lucky enough to catch one at Mallory Square. And, actually, I didn’t stick around until it was all the way down. As much as I love “free” and “sunsets” – well, I just do not care for crowds. And Mallory Square was elbow to elbow with people. I don’t blame them, but I decided to declare a victory over Key West and get back to the RV Park.

Flo at Leo's Campground and RV Park — Flo at Leo’s Campground and RV Park

The next day, I hitched up and headed back to the main land.

I spent one night at John Pennekamp State Park – the place I stopped on the way out, just to cut the trip into manageable segments.

My next stop: a Corps of Engineers campground called Ortona South.