Last day in VA Beach, 1st day of travel - Day 1655 (Year 5, Day 195)

Selma, NC

We spent Friday and Saturday at the Holiday Trav-L Park, down the road in VA Beach.  Thankfully, the water pump was replaced on Friday so we were able to travel as planned (left today, Sunday Jan. 6th).

I'm not sure I would stay at this park again.  It was pleasant enough as it was quite empty, although the sites are very close and the roads narrow.  I can't imagine what it's like during the busy season.  They had lots of amenities (including 4 pools).  They converted one to an indoor heated pool, which we forced ourselves to take advantage of after services and a nap on Saturday.  The campground also had very nice decorations all over the park, including cute signs, a large statue of Neptune, even wooden duck in the fountain pond.  They still had some Christmas decorations up, including these:

 

So... we packed and hitched up for our ride down to Florida.  We're not planning to drive more than 200 miles a day, so God willing, we'll arrive on Thursday.  We left VA Beach at 10:30 this morning, and after a 20 minute stop at the first rest area we came to (NC Welcome Center just over the border, where we changed drivers), went the rest of the way to this campground, in Selma, NC, where we arrived at 2:45 pm.  Other than being right off the highway and not too far from train tracks (thus car, truck and train noise, which doesn't really bother us), this is a real gem of a park (why do we always manage to find these gems when we're only staying overnight???).  The property is a  nice size, sites are extremely spacious, grounds very well kept.  Our site is right on a small lake (catch & release fishing, no license required).  In fact, it's a gorgeous day with temps in the high 50s, so I decided to sit outside and do some work.  I'm also impressed by the fact that instead of a standard picnic table, the sites all have real patio furniture -- glass tables and outdoor chairs. Below are some photos of my table setup and what I am looking at as I sit outside:

And a few hours later, sunset over the lake:

Anyway, tomorrow's plans include more rest stops (about every 50 miles) and we will most likely be staying overnight at a rest area, as I couldn't find any affordable campgrounds within that mileage.  The destination will be Santee, SC.

UPDATE:  We discovered that we were only 35 miles away from Raleigh.  Turns out Jessica was leaving on a business trip early in the morning, but we all agreed to meet at the halfway point (which was Clayton, NC) for a wonderful sushi dinner.  Thanks Jess and Griffin!!!  It was great seeing you again, especially so spontaneously!

Status on leaving - Day 1652 (Year 5, Day 192)

Virginia Beach, VA

Yesterday (Wed), we were told the part (water pump) would arrive today.  Note there are 2 RV techs that are working the project: the owner of the company (Shawn) and his specialist that works on plumbing issues (Mike).  Mike is the one who is doing the labor but Shawn needs to do the warranty work, order the parts and other administrative stuff.

Anyway, we called at 10:00 am this morning to find out whether the part arrived.  Got Shawn's voicemail.  Mike said that Shawn had to take his father to the hospital, and therefore didn't know what the story was.  He said he would drop by Shawn's house after work to see whether it had arrived, and if so, he would install it tomorrow (Friday).  So another day of wait and see.

Meanwhile, we packed and hitched up and went down the road to the other campground.  Lots of wide open space here, but the sites are rather close together.  It's probably not very pleasant during busy season.  The place is huge, however, with tons of amenities and 4 pools.  One of them has been converted into a heated indoor pool, so I'm hoping we'll have a chance before we leave to get at least 1 swim in.

Happy New Year (and update) - Day 1650 (Year 5, Day 190)

Virginia Beach, VA

January 1st and it's 74 degrees!!  Strange for this area.  But it will be 49 tomorrow.  Mitch is still underneath the trailer making stuff "pretty".

We're starting out the year on a fairly positive note... one of the places I contacted in Florida called me back and has a spot for us.  It's in Zephryhills, which is about 30 miles northeast of Tampa.  I guess the reason they're not sold out is that it's a small little hole in the ground (about 30 sites), it's not a resort -- absolutely no amenities; just a place to park, and they don't advertise.  I found their listing on a site of RV lots for rent by owner.  But hey, the price is right ($400/month + electric) so it's worth giving the place a try since we wanted to be in FL anyway and it's peak snowbird season.

Whether we go down the road on Thursday or head down south depends on when the water pump comes in and gets installed.  We're hoping tomorrow, but time will tell.

Last day of 2018 - Day 1650 (Year 5, Day 189)

Virginia Beach, VA

How we spent the last day of the year...  Mitch spent the first part of the day under the trailer again, still putting the finishing touches on the underpinning.  But then it started to rain, so he decided to tackle the toilet (again not holding water, so he had to take it apart).  He didn't put it back quite right which resulted in a small flood.  Fortunately, he caught it in time before it got much worse; it was only a puddle behind the bowl.  He just ran out to Home Depot for more supplies for the trailer.  He also spent a great deal of time on the Employ Florida website, signing up with their job postings site, taking numerous tests and applying for jobs. 

As for me, I put feelers out to all my RV peers in the 3 Facebook groups I belong to, asking for recommendations of places to stay in FL, under $600/month (I know - big ha ha, especially during the winter when all the snowbirds are down there).  One criteria is that it also needs to be within 15 miles of a shul, preferably Chabad.  So I have spent pretty much the entire day doing my due diligence.  I am now getting pretty disillusioned and don't believe we're meant to be in Florida.  I just wish I knew where we were meant to be!

Meanwhile, we still need to be out of here in 3 days.  Good chance the water pump will be replaced on Wednesday, but I think we'll still go down the road for a few days or a week or even 2.  There is way too much pressure to figure out where we're going next over 2 days.  Although, it would really be awesome to just hit the road and go without any sense of direction - just take the highway and see where it leads us.  But alas, I'm not that brave.  I need a plan.

So our plans for New Year's Eve is pretty much the same as always. We'll do Chinese takeout, and either watch tv or movies, or play Scrabble (which we planned to do for the past 3 years and didn't!) and hope that we can stay up to watch the ball drop, or at least stay up past 10:00!  Tomorrow - more of the same: working outside for Mitch and more research for me.

Happy New Year everyone!  I pray 2019 is far better than 2018!  I think 2018 pretty much sucked big time, except for our lovely vacation in November.

Next sub-chapter in our lives - Day 1646 (Year 5, Day 185)

Virginia Beach, VA

Mitch just got unexpected news that the company he has been working for just lost their entire east coast contract, and he is now officially unemployed.

We've always believed in Divine Providence and that things happen for a reason.  In fact, lately Mitch has been very disillusioned with his work and has been exploring how to get back into the IT field.  We believe this is a sign,, or rather, a PUSH, from above to do just that.

Next step is to figure out where to file unemployment -- where he's been working under this contract (VA) or our official address (FL) and then figure out where to move to next.  We were planning on leaving this campground next week to go to a place up the road, but now perhaps the entire country is wide open.  Or at least another place anywhere VA or (hopefully?) Florida.

Finally things to post on my blog!!!  Will keep you posted.

Christmas project - Day 1644 (Year 5, Day 183)

Virginia Beach, VA

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 25th, Christmas day (which we don't observe, being Jewish).  Mitch, however, is very grateful that he had yesterday and today off of work, as this is the third day he is working on this project (you can see his legs sticking out to the right of the steps, and all the building materials layout around.  I do feel really bad for him, being that he's on his back, on top of gravel & rocks, working in a tight space, in 40 degrees.

You may recall that for the last few months we reported about a leak underneath the trailer.  The bottom of the rig (the underpinning) contains a layer of heavy duty foamcore ("coroplast") and fiberglass insulation.  The leak had caused those layers to become very wet and sag, so the areas where that happened needed to be removed.

Unfortunately, we - along with the help of an RV tech - were not able to find the cause of the leak, as we couldn't locate the source and must be intermittent.  It was decided that for now, there's nothing we could do other than keep an eye on it.  However, since he took off the underpinning last month, there's been nothing underneath, which really doesn't help during these days when the temps are in the 30s and 40s (among other things, it provides insulation for warmth).

We are moving next week and realized it's probably dangerous to drive without the underpinning, especially within this campground where the roads are all dirt and gravel, which could get kicked up and hit something.  So it became critical to purchase the building materials and get underneath and replace it!  Today Mitch is on his 3rd day.  Hopefully he'll be finished by the time it gets dark!

Holiday lights - Day 1631 (Year 5, Day 170)

Virginia Beach, VA

Still nothing terribly exciting to report on lately.  Chanukkah has come and gone, although we did not attend any public lighting displays (there was one scheduled but we were warned that it was a very narrow street and there wouldn't be anywhere to park; people were encouraged to take a taxi to get there.  It wasn't worth spending $20).  Here is a photo of our display on the last night (it was actually arranged for entry into a photo contest; it's not how we had things set up during the holiday.  That's our tv/huge computer monitor in the back, and below is the fireplace).

There is also a large light show on the boardwalk, which we may or may not go to before the end of the month.  In the meantime, Mitch came across this house (actually, several houses) that had a synchronized light display, set to music that you listened to on a special radio station.  Here is a video of that.  It was really cool, and the video doesn't do it justice.  I think the light show on the Boardwalk will be very similar, so not sure yet if we want to spend the $15 to view it.

Interestingly, there aren't all that many holiday lights here in the campground; a few decorations and lights here and there but not a whole lot, which is sort of unusual.

We also plan to move to a different campground right after the new year.  It's the one we originally wanted but they didn't have space when we arrived in October.  We got a special promotional deal here but needed to stay 3 months ($530 versus $795).  But in January, it goes back up to $795 plus electricity, which is running about $150/month.  The other campground (1 mile down the road) is the same rate but electric is included so it makes more sense to go there instead.