Old Year Gone

Happy Slappy New Year's!

I'm alive, doing much better, the pain has subsided somewhat, the antibiotics are kicking in, I might just survive.   I drove an astounding 25 miles on New Year's Eve.  I'm making some real progress.

I really wanted to keep resting, that's the fastest way to get well; plenty of rest and fluids. The fluids help flush the nasties out of the system. Storing all my stuff, packing up the motorhome for travel, is not restful at all.

Plus I've made some real messes. Like I dropped the Drano all over the throw rugs, so I had to wash those out by hand outdoors. Yuck. I did get the remaining half bottle, down the shower drain, that seemed to fix that problem. I guess I am so dirty, my dirt clogged up the drain. Then I thought a pot of coffee would wake me up, but I dropped the used coffee grounds, missing the garbage can. Now I had spilled coffee grounds all over the throw rug.  Wash rug number three by hand...   I should be in bed, not making messes.

I liked the last RV park OK, the hosts/owners were extremely nice when I arrived. The noise from I-95 was a bit bothersome, because it finally warmed up enough for me to throw all the windows open.  Day or night, the traffic was nonstop. Even at night, when I woke up multiple times from the pain, I could hear traffic flying down the lanes. It's a noise I was wishing I could drown out.

The husband checked me into the RV park. When I went to pay for my 2nd day, I inquired about weekly rates. The wife was now on duty. They of course would not count my first night's fee towards a weekly rate, OK, fair enough, but then we had serious math problems. She told me that by paying a weekly rate, I would pay for 5 days and get 7. Then she quoted me $184 for the week. I had paid $27+tax making it $29.97 for the first night. So by my math standard 5x30=$150 not $184. I mentioned this to her.  She spent another ten maddening minutes computing the math, then came up with the same figure.

The night before her husband had complained that business had been way down, things were much slower than normal.  So in my tiny brain, I figured they would rather have $150 than $30 in their bank, but the wife didn't see it that way at all, she stuck to the $184 rate for the week, saying their rates went up January 1st, and my one week stay would put me into 2011.

I gave up, just paid for one more night, because I was far to sick to move that afternoon.  Back at the motorhome, I slept much of the day away, when I woke up, I began searching for a new campground. I wanted something a bit cheaper, hopefully far away from a noisy highway.

The next morning, I got up, began putting things away in anticipation of traveling. Somehow, with the aid of coffee, I managed to reorganize and clean out a lot of cabinets. Suddenly I had a pile of garbage and a bag of useful things to give away. It feels good to have some (not all) of my cabinets cleaned and re-organized.  Traveling with my office work, takes up space, it helps to be organized.

On the way to a new campground, I was looking for a grocery store. I pulled over at Walmart, but alas, their parking lot was completely full. They had curbs between the parking spots, so no where to put my small motorhome, even if they had any spots open. Very odd. Besides the place was just so packed out, I couldn't imagine waiting in line for hours, to buy 20 grocery items.

I ended up at Whispering Pines in Titusville, Florida on the Space Coast.  The other two affordable places I wanted to go, were booked solid through Sunday.  A gracious lady from Whispering Pines (no website) returned my call.  Her rates were $25 a day and that included all the taxes. She has offered me a monthly rate, that I could afford, but I need to see if any of my workamping jobs come through soon.  One has a MAYBE for next week.  I hate to pay a month here, then get a job elsewhere. But if that maybe, doesn't come through, then this is on my list as a possible monthly place.  Paying monthly is far cheaper than daily rates.  The other two are in Georgia and South Carolina, as other than this place, I've not found anything in Florida affordable. I've been quoted from $600-$2,200 per month in Florida for a campsite. That's not much to the well-heeled RV-ers , but I am struggling to recuperate, my income from writing is not near as grand as I would hope, my past medical bills, piled up high on my credit cards, must be seen to each month, so every little penny counts with me.

The manager at this new campground, gave me directions to a grocery store, so I dashed over there, before parking for the night, gathering up a few healthy food items. In the parking lot, one of my bags spilled open, I thought I picked everything up, but I got home minus one bag of dried red kidney beans. What a shame. At least the black beans made it home with me. I am back on my bean menu, since meat prices are out of sight. By the time I buy the healthy foods I need to get well, there just isn't money left in the budget for meats too. I already had a pot of dried beans going in my crockpot, they were super tasty too. I combined them with some potato salad for dinner.

Florida is NO place to be on a budget. It's designed for the well-heeled, which I currently am not. But I keep working away at my writing and designs, trying to earn a modest living. Ha ha ha!  Modest is a polite way to say I earn below the poverty level. But things keep improving, more books sold in December, eventually the royalty check will find it's way to my bank (two months later).  Plus anytime any of my readers use my Amazon links to shop, I earn a small commission, that doesn't cost you a thing, so that little check helps each month. I live off a series of tiny little checks.

If I could just figure out how to earn more tiny checks to keep the banks happy...  Lord knows, I try each day, sometimes working far into the night.  I've also applied for a series of workamping jobs, maybe one of those will come through for me at some point. I have this eternal optimism, but sometimes I do get down, then I feel super bad, but I keep trying to hold my chin up, get well, keep working, keep living.

This old motorhome was one of the smarter decisions I made, for sure. There's an art to living in a small tiny space, but I seem to have mastered that for now, so I am lucky to feel comfy and content, that I have a tiny home of my own, for me and that ridiculous doggy.

If my body would just get well and stay well. I've come a long ways since exiting the hospital, but not far enough, fast enough to be pronounced in full remission. But, hey, it's a NEW YEAR and I am super excited to have made it to 2011, alive and almost well. Yippie!

I managed to move the RV, I didn't move far, but I found a better rate. (A) is where my workamping job finished, (B) is where I stayed near the noisy highway and (C) is where I am now for a  few nights, to finish getting well. (D) is up in the air, as I have several maybes going on right now.

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