A Scene Out of X-files

It’s 1:30am and I am unable to sleep. It’s hot in this tin can when there is no breeze. So I am going to stay awake until I am so tired nothing will stop me from falling asleep. BTW- further down the page is the ‘scene out  of x-files.’

We spent the day at the beach again yesterday – from about 9am to almost 5pm. Jessie joined us too. I spent the morning cleaning the bus – sweeping, mopping, organizing, while Joe and Jadyn set up the shelter on the beach and played in the water/sand. By the time Jessie showed up I was just about done then we hung out under the shelter. Joe made lunch and after we ate it was low tide – our favorite time at the beach. The part of the beach we go to has a wonderful trough (which turns into a dangerous rip current at high tide) before the sand bar that is deep enough to come up to Jadyn’s chest. So we all just float around there while Jadyn runs circles around us. Sometimes a school of little bitty fish show up and “kiss” our legs and feet. We tell Jadyn they are kissing us so she doesn’t freak out and think the fish are eating us.

Here’s the picture of Joe’s latest beach shelter. This contraption is my favorite so far.

A couple nights ago we spent the night in Port Canaveral at Jetty Park. That was such an incredibly good time. It was cool because we were in the primitive camping area where there is only water and no hookups, but to me that was the best spot because it was 50ft away from the water at the canal where the big ships go by and submarines. After spending some time at the beach (which was just a short walk over the dunes) we came back to the bus where we saw the Navy getting a sub ready to go out to sea. It was a really neat site to watch the coast guard and the Navy people patrol the water with the machine guns on the boats – then they finally escorted the sub out past the shoreline. I enjoyed watching that very much. Another thing that was cool about our campsite was that it was directly across from the submarine turn-basin where Joe and I used to fish when I worked at the space center.

Oh, and something else happened that was just incredible! We were in bed almost asleep and I heard a low rumbling. I almost wasn’t going to look, but then I’m glad I decided to. I looked out the window and saw this HUGE HUGE freighter go almost silently by – the tug boats were helping him in. But it was so freaky to see this enormous ship sailing past us only 50 feet away! I was so excited I woke up Joe and he was amazed as well. It was so surreal – like a twilight zone moment or an X-files moment.

Here’s a picture of the bus at our campsite facing the turn-basin where the sub was.

The boats patrolling the water before escorting the sub out and then the sub going out.

Jadyn chasing seagulls.

Here are pictures of the next day. We walked down the pier and saw fish in the water and baby sea turtles. Then we went for a walk on the beach and had a banana breakfast out there.

 

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Another thing that was great about this camping experience was being able to take showers in a nice clean shower stall!! If we are ever your way, the best thing you can offer us is a shower – especially if you smell us before we even get there! :o)

Breakfast on the Beach

This morning we stopped to have breakfast on the beach. We were on our way up to Merritt Island from Palm Bay and decided to stop at the beach across from Patrick Air Force Base. It was such a beautiful morning too with a nice breeze.  While Joe and Jadyn were walking on the beach I decided to clean up the bus a bit. While I was in there I heard two loud BOOM BOOM’S that shook the bus. I was like, “What the heck!?” I thought someone was attacking the bus, then I thought the air force base launched a rocket, but that’s not the right sound for a launch (a successful launch). Then I realized it was the sonic boom of the space shuttle coming back in from space. Pretty darn cool!

So this is where we pulled up to have breakfast at PAFB.

Here Joe is helping put up a very pretty entry door. Good job sweetie!

Joe and I were talking today about living our dreams and I realized that I have already lived some: having children, working on the space shuttles, owning my own home, getting married, owning my own business, being a stay-at-home mom, and now – traveling the country. Next is traveling the world – or competing on Hells Kitchen.  :o)

The Perils of Living in a Garbage Can

No…we don’t live in a garbage can, but I was dreaming we were. The sounds of the dumpsters being dumped into the truck infiltrated my dream. I awoke with a start and snatched open the curtain so I could tell the garbage men not to dump us.  Funny stuff!

We got pulled over last night as we were driving to our next stop. I hurriedly reminded Joe that this is our home and the police can’t come into our home without a search warrant. We weren’t doing anything wrong so I thought he was just going to harass us. Well, as it turns out, our taillights were not working correctly. Joe and our friend Steve thought they had everything working correctly (after trying to fix another wiring problem), but apparently not. So while Joe was talking to the cop about it he thankfully developed a good rapport with him and he didn’t give us a ticket. He did suggest we sleep at the nearest Walmart and not to drive on because if we got into this other city we were heading for they would surely give us a $70 ticket. I said, “Thank you Jesus!” when he left because this was surely a blessing. It’s probably the only time I’ll hear Joe state, “Thank you for pulling us over officer.”

This is the best shower enclosure Joe has made for us yet. We set it up at the state park we day camp at and just as he was finishing it the park ranger pulls up and says, “You’re not planning on living here are you?” We laughed and Joe started talking to the guy – apparently he’s lived there since 1984 and he said he’s been noticing our bus in there several times. I guess he felt like he needed to make sure we’re okay and not some hippie freaks. :o) Anyway, the shower was great – I enjoyed having more room to move around although I wonder if “Big Brother” or someone else can zoom in on me using a satellite. Maybe I’ve been watching too many movies. :o)

A beautiful rainbow over Patrick Air Force Base.

I dream of Jeannie with the light brown hair. This is down in Cocoa Beach Florida.

Miss J “surfing” at the Cocoa Beach Pier. She said, “Look! I’m surfboarding!”

 

The Great White Buffalo at the Pier. I would like to get a mural painted on it of buffalo roaming the plains and in the foreground a white buffalo. Anybody want to express their artistic talents in that way please see me. :o)

I am happy to say that Joe successfully drove over this bridge. He had to sing a funny song REALLY LOUD to do it and the words were, “It’s just a bridge. It’s just a bridge.” over and over and over. :o)

Not sure yet how long we’ll be in Florida, but if it’s for a while longer then I think I might check into some part-time work. I’ll have to see what’s available – I know there’s an RV park here looking for workampers. Hopefully we can go and talk to them tomorrow. It would be nice to have a “home-base” other than Walmart.

Boondocking – I’m glad it’s free.

Well, we’ve spent a whole week in the bus now.  It hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be.  Except for last night, the nights have been really warm and we wake up feeling a little damp, not only from sweat but from the moisture in the air. Last night though we parked the bus a different direction and had a pretty good breeze all night. We have had a couple nights where we’ve spent the night at friends and that was very nice!

So, most of the time our days are spent at a state park by a lake or at the beach and at night we boondock at Walmart. Even though there’s a sign that says ‘No overnight parking’ we’ve learned otherwise. Most Walmarts don’t mind Rv’ers because they spend money there. Especially in our case. Every day we are buying something there – usually food. We don’t have much storage for cold food so we tend to buy fresh and eat it within the day. 

Right now Jadyn is sleeping (it’s after 9:30pm) and I’m waiting for Joe to get back from helping somebody out. I’m hoping we’ll get some free food from it. I like free stuff. :o)

Jadyn hanging out on a picnic table. She was sick and threw up on it so I spot cleaned it and was letting it dry.

Joe and Jadyn taking a nap together under a pavilion. There was such a nice cool breeze this day. It was such a perfect day for me, not only because of the breeze, but I was able to have some alone time on the bus to meditate and hem some curtains (and not sweat a puddle while doing so).

Jadyn is checking out the wildlife through our binoculars.

Our bed. Now how many bedrooms can sport an exit labeled “Emergency Door.” :o)

My little helper.

A fun day at the beach. I think it is so cool that the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) is in the background. It took me 20 minutes to climb the stairs in that sucker in my younger days. But, with my legs on fire, I made it to the top where I signed my initials along with others who had gone before me, including astronauts.

Joe taking a shower at the beach. Jadyn and I took one before him and we used between the two of us only two 2-liter bottles of water for our shower – including washing our hair. That amazed me!

This is where we set up camp at the beach (which is on the other side of this sand dune) – we showered and cooked lunch before we left.

Us in the Walmart parking lot. We set the cook stove on the curb and heated up water for coffee and oatmeal.

Our Plywood Bed

We finally have a platform for our bed, now we just need a bed. Joe and our friend Greg built the platform high enough so that I could have storage underneath and I love that extra storage!

It was really nice sleeping on top of it even though we are only using sleeping bags, and we discovered that the length of the curtains over the bed don’t allow air to circulate. So we had a cozy and hot bedroom. I’ll have to hem them up to  get that good breeze again. I was very happy to find room darkening curtains at Walmart. When you are trying to sleep in a well-lit parking lot these curtains work great!

Joe put Armor All on the tires and now he wants to paint a black stripe down both sides. I guess I’ll have to Photoshop it to see if I’d like that.

I need to give a shout out to our friends Greg and Steve for all their help in making the bus our home. Thank you so much guys! It is so very appreciated!!

Our First Night Sleeping in the Bus

This weekend was our first time sleeping in the bus and so far we’ve been boondocking at the Walmart parking lot. The first night took a little getting used to. There were a lot of sirens, dragsters, and other Rv’ers. One pulled up right next to us about 2am and it sounded like a space ship putting it’s landing gears down.  It seemed as if all through the night there were people pulling up and camping out. We had our curtains closed so I couldn’t easily see how many people were out, but I said to Joe, “Man, it feels like we are surrounded!” He said, “Now you know how the cowboys felt” (I’m Native American).

I have to say again I have a good husband. Our first night sleeping at Walmart I needed a feminine product and couldn’t find where I’d put it. So he went into Walmart at 3am to get me some more. At least he didn’t have to drive there. :o)Thank you sweetie!

I’m sitting in a mall right now with the laptop plugged in while Joe is in a room here practicing Mixed Martial Arts with some people from church. I’m glad he is able to find people to continue his training.  And with the internet hotspots, hopefully we’ll find where others train in the different places we go to.

Here’s some pictures of what’s been going on.

This one is Joe scrubbing some tough spots before I mopped. Jadyn is overseeing our work.

All our stuff on the lawn while we clean the bus. It’s still a lot isn’t it!?

Fox Lake park - we went here after our first night at Walmart. We made breakfast and hung out for a little bit and enjoyed the morning.

Jessie, her best friend Savannah, Samuel and Jadyn. We are on our way to the beach.

Jessie by the boardwalk.

Fun in the tidal pools.

Joe made a shower for us with the tarp. He hooked it to the bus and we used a bug sprayer tank filled with water to wash with.

Here’s another spot we like to hang out. This is a cool spot not only to watch the wind surfers, but the dolphins like to play here too.

Here’s Joe putting window screen on the bus.

Here we are watching the Space Shuttle Atlantis launch. I cried. I was sad because that was the last flight of Atlantis. I’ve worked on each one of the space shuttles and they are all special to me. When you work on them long enough they become your" “baby”.

How we start our mornings: Coffee in a french press – I put stevia in mine.

Fox Lake park again – hanging out under a pavilion with a curious family of sand hill cranes.

Graduation! Yeah!!

I am so thankful I was able to be in Florida to see my oldest graduate with Honors from Brevard Community College with her Associates in Arts degree. I’M PROUD OF YOU JESSIE!

Afterwards we went out to eat and my husband and her boyfriend left together and I rode home with my two girls. Jadyn fell asleep in her car seat so Jess and I rocked out to some Shania Twain. It was a great mother-daughter moment.

Now, let me get you caught up on what’s been happening. Joe’s been busy getting the bus ready for us to live in. He took out most of the seats and the heater in the back (and discovered a rats nest - no rats thankfully).

 

 

 

 

 

Our friend Greg of Renew Systems of Central Florida pressure washed the bus.  The pictures are of Greg ontop of the bus and Joe on the hood. What a difference in how the bus looked!

In this picture we had just given our friend Steve and his son Josh a ride in the bus. Steve has graciously allowed us to stay at his house this week while we get our bus ready. Steve is one of the brainiacs that works at Kennedy Space Center. :o)

Here are my two girls. They are happy to be able to spend time together. :o)

These pictures are of Mother’s Day. We went to Playalinda beach that day and yes, we did see naked people. The last lot, #13, is where the nudist go. I’ve never been down there so we drove all the way to the end and I had Jessie get out and see if she saw anything on the other side of the dune. She did see a man’s naked butt – he was walking away from her. I think she was waiting for him to turn around because she was up there for a few minutes checking things out. :o) We ended up going to a different area that wasn’t supposed to have nudist, but one chick decided she wanted to let it all hang out. It was a little weird to see a naked booty on a boogie board.

Jess and Jadyn, Joe is talking to Jessie’s boyfriend Alfredo.

Jadyn loves holding hands with Jessie.

 

We were on our way to the beach, but we decided to stop at the church we used to go to when we lived here in Florida. We are waiting in the lobby.

At Playalinda Beach Florida.