Gertrude Goes Back Online!

I have decided to start fresh with this blog. So having said that, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dorsey. I'm a 40-something wife and mother of two. My husband, Kyle, and I live full-time in our Class A motorhome. We currently travel around the United States collecting memories and friends as we go.

Back in 2014 we were living in a suburb of Dallas, Texas with our son away in the U.S. Navy and our daughter embarking on her senior year of high school. We lived in a 3000 sq. ft. house and were contemplating what our future would look like for us as an empty-nesting couple. We thought maybe we would move into a smaller rent house, apartment, condo, or something similar. A co-worker of Kyle's happened upon a listing on Craigslist for a Class A Motorhome and ask us what we thought of it. I received a message asking if I though I could live in this. Sure! I grew up camping in tents, pop-ups, RVs, and such. Why not?!?! The RV was located in Galveston, Texas so we had a family member that lived in the area check it out for us. We got the thumbs up and started the process of making this our future home. Over the course of a year, we donated or sold a large amount of our belongings and ventured into a life in an RV as our home. Kyle still worked in the area and that particular job was less than remote-friendly. So we moved into an RV park in town and took the occasional trip around Texas and the surrounding states, while dreaming of the day he could work fully remote and we could explore the country from our new home. Our daughter found her footing after high school graduation and started her life as a full-fledged adult living on her own. We were officially empty nesters! To see the full story of how our Motorhome got her name (Gertrude) please refer to this post.

In early 2018, he happened upon a job posting through Facebook by a former co-worker. The position fit him to a "T" and was fully remote! The interview process went great and in April 2018 he accepted a position with the new company and we hit the road! So Monday through Friday, he can usually be found in the front of the RV working away at his "desk" and then we use our evenings and weekends to explore and enjoy the areas where we choose to stay. For our internet connectivity needs, we primarily rely on Starlink. We also use a Verizon and AT&T hotspot when Starlink is less than optimal. 

In 2017, when our son was exiting the Navy, we went on a 2 month road trip to pick him up from Virginia, explore a bit of the East coast, and bring him back to Texas. While planning this trip we found a campground organization called Thousand Trails to aid in our travels. This membership has allowed us access to around 200 campgrounds/RV resorts across the country that we can utilize for up to 3 weeks at a time. I am planning a later post further explaining our membership and the options available to those interested in learning more about this down the road. For most of the year we tend to stay within the system of the Thousand Trails parks we have access to, only occasionally venturing out of the system for a variety of reasons.

Currently we are staying in a park in North Fort Myers, Florida that is part of our membership. Here's a little review of the park. 

Name of Park: Encore Pioneer Village 

Address: 7974 Samville Road, North Fort Myers, FL 33917

Date of first stay: 26 Nov - 3 Dec, 2023

This is a park that is part of our Trails Collection (an add on to the base Thousand Trails membership). There are 505 sites in this year-round park. We are on a FHU (water, electric, and sewer) site that is on grass. We have a concrete patio beside our site and a picnic table, as well. There is more than enough room for the motorhome and our Honda CR-V.  All RV sites in this park are FHU. There are RV sites and manufactured homes (park models) here, no cabins available at this location. There is laundry on-site.They have a pool and hot tub (although sadly the hot tub is currently in disrepair), shuffleboard, pickleball, Petanque courts, and a community room. So far it has been a pretty quiet park. There are many Canadians here for the winter. Grocery stores and Walmart are less than 10 miles away. I would return to this park if we were to stay in the area again.

That's it for now. I'm looking forward to more reviews and sharing our adventures in the future. Be well friends and safe travels!

Gertrude Goes Into Lockdown

 

Since February of 2020 our lives on the road traveling have looked VERY different. That month we traveled from Florida back to College Station, TX. Our son was living there and we wanted to help him out with some furniture projects in his RV, as well as take care of some more of our own renovations. We made the long journey over two days. We arrived and quickly got to work. Our original intention was to stay until Mother's Day weekend when my family had an annual camping trip at a lake nearby. This was going to be a longer time in a campground than we'd become accustomed to, but we had an end date and were looking forward to all the progress that could be made in the 3 months we were to be stationary.

We were progressing along quite well when the country, and the whole world, shut down. Stay in place orders were being sent out all over and campgrounds were shutting down and canceling reservations throughout the country. It started with school spring breaks being extended by a week and people trying to be a little more conscious of gathering in groups and such. As the weeks continued, schools went 100% online and stores began having abbreviated hours to try and give opportunities to restock. Then masks were bring required and/or suggested in many of the shopping establishments. And let's not even TALK about the whole toilet paper debacle! Suddenly we were told we COULDN'T travel. We were still a couple of months away from our exit date, but now we craved travel even more. Strange how when you're suddenly told you can't do something, you want it even more. Local lakes closed and Thousand Trails denied any day use of their facilities. This was a major downer as now I had nowhere to get out and kayak like I'd looked forward to when we planned on being in the area.

We did make a few day trips while in lockdown, mostly cooked at home but got carry-out about once a week from a local establishment. We tried to limit large gatherings of people and did our best to stave off the mania that feeling cooped up seemed to bring about in all of us. We had a few times where we wondered if we'd been infected with COVID-19, but did our best to self quarantine and be safe. We had family members that did test positive and others that told everyone to stay away until we knew it was safe to visit with them again, as they were in a higher risk category. 

Our summer 2020 plans to travel the Great Lakes area was looking bleak. The heat was rising in central Texas and becoming a miserable working environment for my hubby. We started hearing some encouraging news that campgrounds were going to start opening again in June, so we began the travel planning process again. There was a lot of nervous energy and a few frustrated hours spent online/on the phone making reservations in our desired campgrounds. But in the end, we were able to book all of our desired locations and our trek to the Midwest began May 31st. 

We have been enjoying our travels once again, albeit a little different as many of our favorite activities are not accessible in these current times. We haven't been to a movie since January 2020 in Florida, not that there has been anything released or available. We don't dine out as often as we did, in general, as many restaurants are still maintaining carry-out only or have not been able to stay open in these times. 

We have our masks and we wear them when shopping or out in public, but have missed a lot of the social opportunities in the parks. I will do my best to put up a few reviews of campgrounds we have visited in our time in the Midwest as well as tell you about some of the upgrades that have been done to Gertrude recently.

Be well and stay safe friends!