Yesterday we left Steamboat Bend Campground in Cincinnati after 4 nights. We got to see family and hang out with some friends. It’s never long enough, but at least we got to go home before Christmas, even if it was just for a couple days…
Steamboat Bend site #18west
We stayed one night at Scales Lake Campground in Boonville, IN while Allen filled out some paperwork and got things straightened out for his NEW JOB!
He was hired on his 35th birthday and signed dated a bunch of papers 7/27/1981 without realizing it until I pointed it out… Oops!
We are both really excited about this change! Honestly it was a long time coming & needed to happen. Now just happened to be the right time! Everything wound up working out for us… We took two weeks to have a vacation on the way to San Francisco, seeing Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Flathead Lake & Glacier, a side of Idaho I never thought existed, a good friend in Seattle, and the Oregon Coast. Allen worked a week in San Francisco then we sat and waited out our rent to be up at Novato RV Park before heading back east. We stayed on BLM land in Nevada and Wyoming for $2 total! Found a FREE truck scale and weighed the camper for the first time… YIKES! We finally got to visit the largest truckstop in the world! We got a new axle on the camper and got all brand new tires. We topped all that off with a little family time, and back to work we go!
His first job with the new company is in Riverview, Florida. That’s where he was working when I took a Greyhound bus down from Cincinnati to visit… and I never left!
We haven’t been back to Florida since we bought our new camper in March 2015 (we were staying in Palm Beach then), so we are all three ready for the Sunshine State! (Beats the heck out of California!) Allen loves the ocean, I love the sunshine, & Charlie loves the soft, sandy, diggable ground.
I called an RV park we haven’t stayed at before, that was really close to the jobsite, but the rent was outrageous ($710/month) AND they charged for electric but she could only tell me it was between 15 & 18 cents per kW… No thanks!!! (Hidden River RV Resort if you’re interested.)
Allen has his motorcycle, so being a little farther out won’t be too terrible for fuel costs. I got us a spot at the Happy Traveler RV Park for $504/month plus electric @13.5 cents/kW. That’s a little better!
This was the first RV park I stayed at with Allen so it’s kind of sentimental for me (he just puked in his mouth a little!)… He had a 26′ 30amp Wildwood travel trailer then and I was just a guest! We were puppy-less also so I didn’t really walk around the campground. Now that we have a big 43′ fifth wheel and awesome little Charlie, I’m wondering how my review will compare to what I thought 3.5 years ago! From looking at their website I just found out they have a dog run. I had no clue!
When I called, the lady said it was a 55+ park but we could stay as long as we were quiet. I guess they’ve changed that since last time. I do remember there’s a liquor store and Winn Dixie and a Dollar Tree within walking distance. And the world’s largest flea market is right across the highway. And they have a pool next to the laundry!
I’m looking forward to seeing what this new chapter holds for us! I have a good feeling about this new company (along with some lingering not-so-good feelings about the last one). I think it’s all going to work out great for us. I know as much fun as we’ve had, and as much as we love to travel, we are looking forward to sitting still for a little bit! Even Charlie agrees!
I made this pillow cover…
Home Sweet Home on Wheels 
Congrats on the new job!
Can’t wait to see your review on the Tampa campground. We live just under 2 hours from there. Have done Busch gardens passes in the past so would like an option of where do stay with The camper when we do them again. Enjoy!
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Thank you so much! The first time we were there I loved it… I think it’s changed owners since then, and I have a more “experienced” (I guess you would say) perspective now… So we’ll see! I’ve never been to Busch Gardens, maybe that’s something to look into.
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I read your blog about losing your brother. It made me cry. Not the pretty kind of cry, but the ugly faced, runny nosed sad kind of cry. You see, I have a son Josh who is addicted to meth. He got in alot of legal trouble and was on probation for a very long time. But the pull of the drugs just kept sucking him back in. He is currently serving 5 years in prison and I have such mixed emotions about it. On the one hand I am happy is is there because he is safe, he has three meals a day, a place to sleep at night. On the other hand I hate that he is there because he has three kids to support one of which he has yet to meet. I worry that he will come out of prison worse than before he went in. He has a felony record and can’t get hired for most jobs and the jobs he does get hired for are crappy and not enough to support his family. Doing time in prison certainly isn’t going to help him support his kids or learn to live in society with out robbing, stealing and doing drugs. I pray for him nightly and hope to as a mother I don’t find my son like your mother found hers but I know that, that could be my reality.
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Well, this comment made me cry. I’m so sorry for your situation, and I completely understand the mixed emotions. Drugs are nasty. Addiction is one of the worst things a family can go through. I hope and pray for you, and his children that he seriously decides to fight for his life when he gets out.
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