Relocation to Cocoa FL; JOY RV Park

On Monday, we moved about 17 miles from Jetty Park Campground located right at the beach to a location further inland and across to large rivers.

Our Monday morning commute.

While the drive was only about 30 minutes the chores of packing up and then setting back up again take about 3-4 hours out of the day.  Then we were off to Walmart to reprovision.

We are staying at the JOY RV Park on the very west end of Cocoa FL.  I’ll post some more about this park at a later date, but this mid-sized park of 75 sites is almost full.  Most of the camper appear to be here for the winter from somewhere up north.

It is a very friendly park that is run by a Christian non-profit group and all workers are volunteers.  They have a great club house, heated pool, and an activities director who has loaded the calendar.

The home for sale by owner ad on Zillow seems to have worked.  I had many calls and now have an accepted offer.  We just have to work through all the common snags such as buyer financing, home inspection, and any other number of “opportunities” that could arise.

The timing for Mom to move into an Independent Living Facility would be around mid-January if all goes well.  My brother Kevin has been touring places in Indy near his home and we also toured one down here in Viera FL.  Lots to do in this major change for her.

I have placed ads for the major pieces of furniture and the smaller things will go via garage sale this weekend or else we make a donation to the local SPCA group.

The cold weather that ripped across the country has also dropped the temps in this central part of Florida.  The lows have been in the 40’s while the highs are in 60’s and low 70’s.  Even though our RV is made for “four seasons” it just does not have the insulation as living in a house.  So, we have to use the propane furnace for just a bit in the mornings as the camper temps drop into the low 60’s overnight.

We are looking forward to seeing an upcoming rocket launch from Cape Canaveral.  It has been delayed a few times, but is now planned for this Friday.  This one will be a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft sitting on top of the massive Falcon 9 rocket.  Read more about it here.

This is the rocket that is able to return the used booster to safely land in the same spot as it took off.  How cool is that?  Technology has certainly advanced from the early days of the Space Coast.  We just watched the movie Hidden Figures about the early days and the Mercury program.  In those early days all of the complex programming was done by hand.  The orbit and reentry calculations.  Very interesting.

Here is an RV license plate at our campground.  I can identify with it!

Have a great day and God Bless.

Merritt Island FL Paradise

It is now Monday morning and this will be our last morning here at the Jetty Park campground located at Port Canaveral.  The home of the cruise ships and NASA.  Our focus on this segment of our travel was to get Mom ready for the next phase of her life, not for beach time or sightseeing adventures.

It has been sad at times to work toward moving her away from the retirement paradise home that my parents enjoyed for the last 25 years.  My Dad passed away almost two years ago and Mom feels that it is time to remove the responsibility of home ownership and the chores of daily meal prep.  Time for a new phase.

It has been a lot of work at this stage with much more to go, but so far we have addressed years of accumulation, placed the home on the market by owner, and have had much interest so far.  It will sell quickly. Continue reading “Merritt Island FL Paradise”

Jetty Park, Port Canaveral

We are located just a few feet from both the ocean/beach and the port canal with its heavy boat traffic.  What a cool destination for a week’s stay!  We have already seen a cruise ship leaving, several fishing boats and a couple of Navy ships on their way past our campground.

Our main reason for being in this area is to help Mom downsize her possessions, sell her home, and then help with the move and transition into a retirement community.  A huge job. Continue reading “Jetty Park, Port Canaveral”

Ocala FL

Yesterday, we moved about 180 miles from Tallahassee FL to Ocala and into the Ocala RV Camp Resort.  This journey was on I-10 to about Lake City where we picked up I-75 south.  The traffic really picked up on I-75 on this Saturday morning.  Many semis and auto traffic as well.  Good thing it was three lanes in each direction. Continue reading “Ocala FL”

Final Days in Destin FL

This was our first month long stay in one location.  Prior to this month, our pattern was to stay in each location for a week and then drive about 150-200 miles to the next location.  The month stay has been great!  We have done some sightseeing, but we have mainly just relaxed, read books, worked around the camper, and have watched the sunsets from either the Surf Hut or from our beach chairs near the surf.

Continue reading “Final Days in Destin FL”

Air Force Armament Museum, Eglin Air Force Base

The Air Force Armament museum visit was much more than I had ever imagined.  It was the proverbial bomb!  Located about 35 minutes north of here and it had a free admission to boot.  Our tour lasted about 4 hours as we also packed a picnic lunch to eat in the shadow of a massive B-52 bomber.

If you can imagine a display on every single different type of ordinance that has been developed for the Air Force.  From the Wright Bros to the current GPS or laser guided missiles.  Plus many of the bomber planes ever developed! Continue reading “Air Force Armament Museum, Eglin Air Force Base”

Black Friday

Today is supposed to be one of the largest shopping days of the year.  To me a good reason to stay closer to home and avoid the massive crowds.  Anyway, we are not really in the accumulation phase anymore.  Been there and have done that.  It was a real feat to downsize enough to live in the RV plus some items in storage back home. Continue reading “Black Friday”

Destin FL: the Halfway Point in Our Month Long Stay

We are truly enjoying the month long stay in Destin!  I continue to get up early each morning around 5:30 am and watch some local and FOX news while drinking a couple of cups of coffee.  Then I read some online news and a few blogs that I follow.  Then breakfast and go outside to read some of my current Michael Connelly book.  About 7:00 am is when Pat gets up and by then I have my long arduous task list updated for the day.  I’m not sure how I ever made it while still working! Continue reading “Destin FL: the Halfway Point in Our Month Long Stay”