And So Our 2nd Year of Fulltiming Begins

Thursday, 12 December
Oak Grove park — NAS Pensacola, Florida
Temps: Lo 38F (3C) / Hi 61F (16C)

Had we not pulled in headfirst to the back-in waterfront site we snagged when we arrived at Oak Grove Park yesterday, we likely would have missed the brilliant red sunrise belt that trimmed the horizon at dawn this morning.

Definitely worth the hassle of connecting the hook-ups on the wrong side of the coach!

It was only 6:30a, and it was still a quite chilly 45F (7C), but we quickly bundled up and made our way to the sugar white beach a short distance from our site to enjoy a few quiet moments.  Alas, it wasn’t long before the breeze drove us back to the cozy shelter of the Phaeton.  Beach walks are going to have to wait until later in the day until the temps warm up!

Our day was otherwise uneventful.  We came to Pensacola to do some chores and provision the coach after being away from our “condo on wheels” for 3½ months.  The story of those months away is yet to be told.  In the meantime, it’s time to begin the story of another year of fulltiming.

When we put the Phaeton in storage on 24 August, we knew that the rest of our first year of fulltiming would be spent away from the motorhome.  At the time, the map of our travels to date looked like this …

Our Phaeton Journeys … at the point when we called a temporary halt to our
days on the road, we had traveled 4,710 miles (7,536 km) in our home on wheels.

When we disembarked Celebrity Constellation following the TransAtlantic cruise that returned us to the US on 9 December, we wiped the miles-driven-slate clean to begin our second year on the road.  An easy drive brought us from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando.  We picked up the Phaeton from storage, stayed overnight at the Orlando Winter Garden RV Resort, and turned our wheels north and then west on 10 December.

As a side note, I should mention that we were very happy to find that no uninvited guests — I speak of the 4-legged critters known as mice — had visited the Phaeton during her incarceration at the storage facility.  As well, the solar panels had done a great job of keeping all the batteries charged up and the coach purred to life as soon as Mui switched the ignition on.  The toad’s battery didn’t fare as well, I’m afraid.  Mui had installed a solar panel to charge the CR-V’s battery, but somehow the connection got loose.  In short, the car was dead as a doornail.  Still, it wasn’t a huge problem as the storage facility had the means to give us a jump and the short drive to the campground in Orlando was sufficient to bring the battery back to full charge.

The only problem we had with the coach was a minor one — the doorsteps refused to extend.  Mui was all set to check that out in Pensacola, but a miracle happened at the end of our first full day on the road — I opened the door when we arrived at the campground and the steps extended of their own volition.  Ours is not to question why, but to accept when such gremlins work themselves out ;-)

OK … back to the story of these past few days.

Whereas our first year of fulltiming started in Virginia, our second year starts in Florida.

We split the 444-mile (710 km) drive from Orlando to Pensacola into two days, driving a little more than half the way on Tuesday.  We stayed at the Beaver Lake Campground in Quincy, Florida that night.  As we had stayed at this campground when we made the trek from Jacksonville to Pensacola in January of this year, we knew not to expect much.  In fact, this Passport America campground is little more than a big grass field with pull-through FHU sites ($20/night with the PA discount).  This time we were in site 4, which was identical to the site we had stayed in the first time around.  The campground served as a convenient overnight stop and we got a good night’s rest with no traffic noise despite our close proximity to I-10.

In her infinite wisdom, The campground manager bunched together the five rigs that are here.
No big deal; it’s for one night only and our neighbors are as quiet as church mice.

Wednesday morning we were up at 5:30a with plans to be on the road by 8:00a — wanted to give the 39F (4C) temperature to which we woke up a chance to warm up before we had to go outside to break camp!  We would have met that timelime if not for a stubborn jack that refused to retract.  No matter, going through the troubleshooting steps, we re-programmed the “home” position for that leg and were on the road after a mere 30-minute delay.

We drove the remaining 176 miles (282 km) to Pensacola in good time, arriving at the Oak Grove Park at NAS (Naval Air Station) Pensacola in time for lunch.  And who should welcome us but the Navy’s elite Blue Angels.  I had heard that they were grounded due to the sequestration, so seeing them whizzing about was a delightful surprise.  Alas, no photos as we were in the midst of setting up, but here’s a link to a blog post from September 2012 when we were lucky enough to catch another practice session.  One of these years we’ll time it right to see an actual show!

Site 50 has plenty of space separating it from 49 (left) and 51 (right).

We’re in site 50, which is described as a “waterfront” site.  Since we pulled in headfirst, we do have a glimpse of Pensacola Bay through the trees and brush that separate the campground from the beach, but the water is several hundred yards away.  No matter, the beach access is just steps away, and we’ve already walked out that way a couple of times.

Glimpse of Pensacola Bay through the Phaeton’s windshield.

The waterfront FHU sites are $27/night.  At first we debated paying the $4 surcharge over the daily rate for the standard FHU sites, but after this morning’s beautiful sunrise, we’re agreed that we made the right decision.

Left: The beach access is just steps away from the sugar white sands and the bay.

Right: Can you see the Phaeton in site 50 in the top photo?  If not, I’ve included a
close up of her to prove that she is indeed hidden back there amongst the trees.

Ah yes … this is the beach we remember from September 2012.  It was hot then and Mui
delighted in swimming in the bay.  With the temp much colder now, he has no plans for a dip.

White sand … tall trees … puffy clouds … blue skies … sunshine …
and a campground nestled behind the treeline.

Once we were settled into our site, we ran over to Walmart for a few essentials, then returned to the coach to tackle the chores awaiting us after being away from home for such a long time.  Today was similarly taken up with chores.  Mui drove to our Pensacola-based mail service to pick up 3½-month’s worth of mail and the boxes of Arctic gear we shipped back from Iceland in early October.  Next he finished provisioning the Phaeton with a much-anticipated trip to the commissary.  I got a head start on the laundry and the household bookkeeping.  When Mui returned to the Phaeton, we took a break for a short walk on the beach.  It felt good to be out there in the sunshine even if we did have to bundle up.

My first shorebird photograph as we begin year two of fulltiming is of a willet
on the beach at Oak Grove Park.  Hopefully many more will follow!

We’ll be in Pensacola a few more days before we continue west to Texas, where we plan to spend the winter.  Not sure if we’ll be doing much of anything fun during our remaining time here.  I’m nursing a cold and Mui’s battling a sinus infection, so it’s probably best we take it easy before we embark on our week-long drive on Sunday.