We’re busily preparing for our first trip after this very long pause, and I’m feeling alternately excited and anxious. I’m a very good traveler. Or at least, I used to be. But at the moment, I feel out of practice. Eric is doing better than I am. He doesn’t fret about things like the Delta variant, or traveling with THE CAT.
More Big Decisions
Honestly, if not for the fact that we promised ourselves we would NOT spend another summer in Florida, we might just stay put. But after our hellacious summer last year (see Sweltering In Place) I made reservations for a small park in North Carolina six months ago, just in case we were still here.
Well, not only are we still here, but we’ve decided to make this our home. I never thought I would return to live in Florida, and Eric never dreamed that he would become a Floridian. But here we are.
Once a week, we go to St. George Island for a dinner picnic and a long walk on the beach. Miles of glorious emptiness.
Our intention when we finished our full timing adventure was to return to our home in Southern Oregon and our beloved community of friends there. But the continuing drought, wildfires, and smoke that are plaguing the west have made us rethink our plans. We’re in the process of selling our home in Oregon, and have completed the long process of probate here, so the house in Florida is now officially ours. It’s another life altering change in a year-and-a-half of life altering changes.
The past few months we’ve been busy with continuing projects on the house, including a new screened porch, a new roof, and major tree work. There are so many ‘surprises’ when you’re a homeowner. Think you need new screening? Nope, you need an entire new screened porch. Think you need just a bit of tree trimming? Surprise! You need to have three trees taken down in addition to the trimming.
Removing the old screened porch
We still have a long list of projects to do on the house, but the summer heat and humidity has arrived, and it’s time for a break. I think it will do us good to get away, and as Eric says, we need to get back out there before we forget how to do it.
Preparing For Take Off
Preparing for a long road trip is an enormous amount of work. After such a long hiatus, we’re basically starting from scratch. When the pandemic stranded us in March 2020, we unloaded everything from the trailer and settled into my folks’ house (which has now become our home). As I deep clean and organize and restock our RV, I’m trying to remember how in the heck we fit our lives into a 27-foot long trailer.
And as you know, there are now three of us. Ready or not, Magnolia is going on her first road trip.
“I’m comfortable. Why are we leaving??”
Along with finishing up projects on the house, we’ve been doing some projects on the trailer. The pull-out sofa bit the dust (not sorry to see it go!), so we bought two new recliners (so much better!). And we bought a travel-sized cat tree for our furry companion. Because who doesn’t want a cat tree stuck right in their face?
New recliners (from RecPro, which is an excellent source for everything you need for fixing up your RV)
And…The Cat
Magnolia does not travel lightly. She has a stash of her favorite food, her bed, her litter box, and her favorite toys, including her fishing rod with a feather lure, her catnip stuffed squirrel, and her carousel with colorful balls. And we’ve been trying to teach her to walk on a leash.
That’s going well, as you can see.
The first encounter with the leash harness
We also bought Magnolia a travel pet pen so that she can be safely outdoors with us when we’re just hanging around the campsite. We were delighted that she liked it right away, and delighted that it’s lightweight, durable and folds up easily for travel. Except that is a big fat lie!
The lightweight and durable part seems true, but it does NOT fold up easily and the instructions are the most frustrating thing I’ve ever encountered in the realm of instructions.
Magnolia in her pet pen. I’m hoping it still looks like this when we unfold it again, LOL.
Eric spent an hour working on it last night and finally gave up, moving on to more important things. “It can ride on the bed,” he said. I got stubborn, and spent the next two hours sweating and swearing, trying to collapse the damned thing. After watching six YouTube videos a dozen times I finally got it wrestled back into some semblance of flat at 11:00 last night. It doesn’t fit in the carry bag, but who cares.
Wish us luck. We take off today!
So excited for news on Magnolia and how she travels. Enjoy your trip! We are thinking about you guys.
Thanks, Beth. So far, so good! Hope you guys are enjoying your new swim spa while you plan your next adventure.
I had to watch and frequently pause a how-to YouTube a dozen times on taking the cover off my cell phone! About three hours later, Eureka!
Haha, I’m glad I’m not alone, Terri! I still can’t believe how impossible that danged pet pen is to fold up. I’m afraid to unfurl it again!
Glad to hear y’all are getting the tires back out on the road! Have a safe and fun trip. We look forward to hearing about how Magnolia adjusts on the new adventure. 😁
Hi Stacie! So fun to hear from you…we’re so glad that you and Tom and your critters are enjoying your full-time traveling lives. Come visit us in Florida! We have a spot for you.
Here’s hoping things go so well for the three of you–how exciting!! And we too are rethinking Mike’s life long commitment to Montana–this smoke and heat has been maybe the last straw this year! Safe and uneventful travels!!
Janna, we never thought we would give up our home in Ashland. I can imagine it would be a very difficult decision to give up your beautiful home in Montana that you’ve put so much work into. But the smoke and the heat are just so devastating in the west, and show no signs of abating. Thanks for your good wishes for our travels!
Oh, Laurel,
Your post made my morning…it’s hilarious, and the “cat on the leash” pic had me howling! So glad you’re getting back out there. I understand completely your decision on Oregon. The smoke is so bad right now, you couldn’t see the mountains 25 miles away, and it’s drier than a bowl of popcorn out here. I forget which NC campground you’re visiting and for how long, but sit back, enjoy, and don’t let the cat out of the box for long–she might like NC! Joe
I’m so glad you enjoyed the post, Joe. Every time I see that photo of Magnolia in her harness it makes me laugh. As soon as I put it on her she fell over and refused to move, LOL!
We are sad about giving up our home in Oregon, but after the fires last year that burned only two miles from our home, and the continuing years of drought and summer smoke-filled skies, we feel like Florida overall is a good decision. I’ll take humidity over smoke any day…but we’re also happy to be heading to the mountains for a month. :-)
Beautiful photos and what a great adventure you’re off to. I’m very excited for you. I sent a part of your paragraph to my friend. The part about, thought we would just need a screen, nope, etc.. That happened to my friend Anne. One little thing turned into a big thing. We had a bad storm two weeks ago and one of her large palo verde trees uprooted. She had to get a tree company to come out. Good thing is great at budgeting her money. Unexpected bills pop up.
Thank you as always for your blog.
Christine Duval
Tucson, AZ
Hi Christine, I hope it makes your friend feel better knowing she’s not alone in the world of unexpected home expenses. We’ve replaced almost everything here, so we’re hoping soon we’re going to run out of projects. We’re excited about this trip to North Carolina—it’s been such a long time since we’ve been anywhere. Lots of adventures ahead! And than back to work on the house, haha!:-)
Congrats on this new chapter. Unfortunately, the pandemic changed the nomadic life (imho) and we too will be settling into part-time RVing. It’s not so much what we ‘want to do’ as much as it’s what ‘we need to do’. In April, we bought a house in the Phoenix area and when we return in the fall, we hope to sell the 5th and get a small RV for part-time travel.
Have a great time on your get-away and hope Magnolia loves it.
I agree with you, Ingrid—I think the pandemic has really changed RVing as we all knew it. We’re still not certain what our travels will look like, but plan to continue part-timing, much like we did before we started full timing eight years ago.
How exciting that you bought a home in Phoenix! Congratulations!
Stunned and speechless… We both said WOW out loud. What a change. We certainly want to visit Apalachicola again and you guys have given us the perfect excuse to head that way. Maybe we need to buy another RV….
All our best to you in this new chapter. It’s all good!
Oops, forgot to mention that we bought a house in Olympia, WA. Please stop by if you are in the area.
R &K, yeah, we didn’t expect this change, either! We’re just trying our best to go with what seems to be the next best step. We would love to have you visit us here! And congratulations on your big life change of settling in Olympia. We’ll definitely see you when we head that direction.
How surprising and exciting that you are now Florida residents! Jim keeps saying maybe we should move back there due to the same issues you mentioned with the West, but then I remind him why we left: humidity, summer heat, bugs, hurricanes, etc. No place is perfect but you have such a sweet spot there I don’t blame you for wanting to stay.
Hope Magnolia did well on her first big outing! Her photos and your description of trying to collapse the travel pen gave us a chuckle this morning.
Enjoy your time in NC!
Gayle, we’re definitely surprised that we’re going to be Florida residents, LOL. But when we weighed all of the factors, we decided that we would prefer to have two to three months of heat and humidity instead of months of heat and wildfires and smoke and ongoing drought. You’re right, no place is perfect. So far, we’re mostly loving it here, and we’re also happy to be taking off for a few weeks in the mountains!
Magnolia is doing well and is a good little traveler. I hope I can get that danged pet pen unfolded when we get to NC!
Bon voyage! Your mini-trip will be a perfect way to escape the brutal summer conditions and also reset and recalibrate after a very stressful 18 months. I hope you come back rested and relaxed and ready to start your new chapter of life as Floridians. We will be thinking of your cool overnight temperatures as we trudge down the beach every morning in 80 degree, high humidity weather!
Thanks, Shannon! This is a good way for us to ease back into traveling, and as you know, it’s the perfect time to leave Florida. I know we’ve all been happily surprised at how nice the temps were well into June, but now at the end of July the mountains are calling. It’s crazy when it’s even hot at the beach at daybreak. Speaking of beach, thanks for keeping us up-to-date on your sea turtle monitoring through Instagram!
Laughing with your frustration and “cat training”…. bon voyage to the threesome! Traveling with a cat …when Dave and I lived in our school bus, we had a cat named Tinker. When we stopped for the night, she’d take off and search the neighborhood coming back to sleep by the heater. Picked her up and realized she’d gained some girth after her adventure so we followed her, seeing first hand a beggar in action… spotting a person she’d cry like a starving waif and soon be let inside for half and half or tuna from the can (she seemed to sense non pet owners and narrowed her focus on sympathetic older women). Hope Magnolia behaves better than Tinker as I’m sure you’d be less lasses faire cat parents!
Haha, that’s a great story, Diana! How funny that Tinker was profiling people for handouts. Magnolia won’t have the opportunity to mooch, much to her dismay. After having a free roaming cat who killed birds we decided any future kitties had to be indoor (or outdoors under supervision). It’s a pain for all involved but we don’t feel right about attracting birds to our feeders and having a cat that hunts them, LOL.
Situations change, needs change, wants change, opportunities arise. I think you all can have the best of everything, owning your sweet Florida home and still traveling from time to time. Magnolia will adjust sooner or maybe later, but she will adjust. Stay calm and send her relaxed, business as usual vibes and all will be fine. Muscle memory will help you get back in the swing of travel if you get out of it’s way. Whatever you forget to bring along will be available for sale in NC!
I’m sorry we’ve picked opposite sides of the country for our new home bases but I still hope we will cross paths somewhere, sometime! If nothing else we can “see” each other and keep up with our new lives via blog land!
We look forward to reading “Travels with Magnolia”!
Love, Sue
Sue, hopefully this will provide us with the best of both worlds, having a home base in a good location and continuing to travel. It’s a lot more work than traveling full-time, but it seems like the right decision for now with the way the world is changing.
I’m really sorry that we’re on the opposite sides of the country, too. But we will definitely make a plan to see you guys. Oh, and Magnolia appears to be adjusting well to the traveling life!
It’s a testament to both of your flexibility and ability to adapt ~ skills acquired from all the nomadic years, that has you able to change long term plans to something you never expected!! And then the fires! Honestly it’s heartbreaking where we at as a planet, as a whole ~ Climate change is now upon us and very much a reality. My oldest son and his fiancé spent four years building up a property with love and care North of San Francisco and now are looking to move due to the stress and very real threat and danger of living in fire territory.
I’m excited for you and this trip with your adorable feline. Fortunately you have your RV which will be her on wheels new permanent home. We found that some cats we have had adapted well to two residences and going between them. She looks very well pampered and calling the shots. Can’t wait for the next update! Happy travels to all three of you!!
Peta
Peta, it is devastating to witness the effects of climate change—which we absolutely knew we were headed for, but I still had hope that we could turn things around. It seems the best we can do now is to learn to live with drought, wildfires, and floods. And hopefully, be more willing to make the radical changes that need to be made to save our planet. I’m sorry to hear that your son and his fiancé will likely be leaving their beautiful property. But Northern California, as you know, is at such high risk of fires, the same as our beloved hometown in Southern Oregon.
Thanks for your good wishes for our travels. Magnolia is adjusting well to her new home on wheels!
Oh boy! Best wishes for your adventure. Looking forward to seeing/reading how it all goes!
Thanks, Nancy! So glad to have you along for the journey! We’re in day two, and so far, so good. :-)
I tried to read this post out loud to Russ, but was laughing so hard I could barely get through it. We’re eager to hear how Magnolia does on the trip. Have fun and enjoy the cool NC mountains. And congrats on settling into the FL home – you’ve made a wise choice, though I know it must have been a difficult one.
Janie, I’m glad you got a good laugh out of the post! I was mad when I was trying to get that stupid pet pen folded up, but I was also laughing at myself. And every time I look at the photo of Magnolia in her harness it cracks me up. She’s good entertainment, even when she’s not trying to be.
Thank you for your support in the choice we made to live in Florida. We hope you and Russ will come back soon for another visit.
Happy travels you three! Your new home in Florida looks beautiful and with all that is happening here on the west coast, I think you made a wise choice, although Southern Oregon will dearly miss you!
I’m happy to hear from you, Katie. Thank you for your good wishes…it was a very difficult decision for us to make to leave Ashland. We’re going to miss the Rogue Valley and all of the people who make it such a special place. We’ll be back for a visit and would love to see you. Hope you’re doing well!
LOLOLOL. This was Hilarious! I love Magnolia’s dramatic pose in her harness…. “It’s all too much!!” And I laughed and laughed at your play pen story. “It can just go on the bed” is a sentence we’ve uttered many times when trying to figure out where some item or other can be shoved for travel days.
I’m excited for you guys to head back out there and start taking advantage of this ‘best of both worlds’ situation you find yourselves in. I think it’s gonna be great. And if it’s not great, it’ll probably be funny, which is just as good!
Safe travels!!
Laura, you are absolutely right…Magnolia was being such a little drama queen! She seriously fell over when I put the harness on her and pretended she couldn’t move. We just rolled our eyes and she eventually got up.
That is SO funny that you and Kevin have the same “let’s just put it on the bed” strategy for travel days. But there is no way I was putting that enormous cat play pen on the bed! I need space for other stuff, LOL.
We’ve already had some funny moments in just a day and a half, as you know. But overall our travels are going remarkably well!
Eric, Laurel and Magnolia-
So many changes, so many opportunities. We’re glad for you and your new plans. Florida could use a couple of Progressive voters. Looks like your new home is going to work well for you.
We’ll be heading to Lopez soon and will miss you folks. The fires and drought here in Oregon are definitely real concerns and I guess, the new trend. I’m not surprised you trade that for the occasional hurricane. We’ll keep in touch.
Love and Peace to you.
– Tom & Georgina
ps. something for you to check out: http://www.tomkubisiak.bandcamp.com
Tom and Georgina, we would love so much to be meeting you two on Lopez! It really is the perfect place to be in summer. We have such great memories of spending time there with you.
As you can imagine, it was very difficult for us to decide to sell our Ashland home. We love Oregon. But the drought and wildfires are intensifying, as you know. Especially in Southern Oregon. At least with a hurricane we have plenty of warning, and it doesn’t last for months. (That said, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we won’t have any hurricanes here.) And yes, now Florida will have two progressive voters. :-)
Congratulations on your new CD! That’s quite an accomplishment!
Will be looking forward to hearing about Magnolia’s travels (and that of the two staff / minions / servants who have been chosen to accompany her). This ought to be fun! :)
Bruce, you understand exactly what it is to be under the rule of a cat! I hope Sofie is treating you well. :-)
Ah, yes. Home ownership. We aren’t fulltiming in our RV, but we also aren’t home owners anymore. Living with my 88-year-old mother gives us a bit of a break from all the stresses of owning a home, as she is still fully capable of making decisions about repairs and maintenance. I wonder if Rod & I will ever buy another house, at this point in our lives. We would be perfectly happy living in a condo and let others take care of the yard and exterior maintenance…
I always get the first day jitters when we head out on a trip after a long break, but it doesn’t take long to settle back into the RV routine. I’m sure everything will feel very familiar to you once you hit the road. I hope all goes well with Magnolia. She looks pretty laid back. ;)
I love your new recliners! Was it difficult to get the sofa out of the trailer? We have one and have often thought of replacing it with recliners, but it’s a good spot if one of us is having a tough time sleeping. I suppose a recliner would be just as comfortable…
I hope all goes well with your 2021 adventure! Can’t wait to see your next post and hear all about it. Safe travels, my friend.
We’re in day two, and things are going reasonably well, Les. We’re settling back into traveling and Magnolia is doing well, considering that this is her first road trip.
We’re adjusting to not having the sofa. The recliners win as far as comfort, but the sofa wins as far as better utilization of space. I’m thinking of getting rid of the cornices that surround the windows because the recliners swivel and hit them. I can let you know my definitive answer after this trip. :-) As far as getting the sofa out of the RV, I was afraid we were going to have to take a chainsaw to it, but Eric was able to take it apart pretty easily because it was simply bolted together.
We also think about a condo in our future, LOL. Meanwhile, we’ve hired some help to keep the jungle under control here during the summer. It’s ridiculous how fast everything grows!
How exciting.
Our numbers are through the roof in FL again, all hospital ICUs in my county are over whelmed how lucky for you to be escaping the craziness as well as the awful humidity. 💕
Looking forward to your posts, stay safe
K~
Kathryn, it’s really concerning to see what’s happing with the Delta virus. Florida is once again a hot spot and few people are wearing masks here. I guess they don’t take it seriously.
We’re continuing to be just as careful as ever, but it will be good to get away for a while, although I’m not sure anyplace is safe now. We’re definitely looking forward to some cooler nights and mornings! I hope you’re doing well. Take good care and thanks for your good wishes.
I love your recliners! We eliminated the sofa in our rig several years after we bought it and wondered why we didn’t do it much sooner! We opted for a dinette booth with benches that make into a comfy bed if needed, which is very rarely.
Also love your kitty! What a sweetheart. The best traveling cat I ever had was my Jeremy, who made it to 18 years. I wish I had mentioned this to you when you first got your kitty. I think he was such a great traveler because I was working soil survey when I adopted him at three weeks old. He was bottle fed, and by the time he was 4 weeks old I was taking him in my work truck with me, perched and snuggled on my shoulder, hanging on to my hair. He grew up traveling in the truck. In later years as we traveled in the MoHo he would love to sit on the dash, perfectly still, when we got gas. Attendants often wondered if he was real. He didn’t take to the leash right away, but before long he grew to love it because he knew he could go outside. In his later years, the leash was never needed. He would roam around camp, happy as could be. My favorite photo of him is during his last year when he strolled down to the lake from our campsite for a drink. You might remember that photo from 2014. I said all that to say this, traveling with a kitty can be incredibly rewarding, even with the cat litter thing. Travel safe and stay cool!
Sue, I love your stories about Jeremy! I wish I had met him, he sounds like a perfect kitty companion. That’s amazing that you bottle fed him! And I can just see him riding on your shoulder.
We’re hoping Magnolia will take to the leash when she realizes that it is her ticket to outdoor adventures. I’m a bit worried about what to do if she feels threatened though (by a dog, for example). I know I’ll pick her up, but I will also probably get scratched to pieces in the process! If you have any advice, let me know! She has never deliberately bitten or scratched us, but she got scared yesterday when I was moving her from the truck to the trailer and I have some big scratches to show for it.
Big changes! While I am a little surprised you are selling OR, I totally get the reasons why…and it certainly seems that you are well and happily settled in to FL. Good luck with Magnolia on her first trip!
It was such a big decision to sell our home in Ashland, Lisa. For many reasons. But it just seems like the right thing to do at this time. We’re mostly loving Florida, especially because we’re in such a beautiful, peaceful spot. We’re glad to be escaping the summer humidity for a few weeks, though!
How very exciting! I’ll be interested to see how Magnolia takes to traveling… I hope well! We are planning a trip soon too and are experiencing many of the same anxieties you are. We are excited to see other places but a bit worried that it is too soon. Our trip will take us through Oregon and we are concerned about the big wildfire up there. So sad that the whole western US and Canada are experiencing a horrible drought – even as other parts of the world are drowning. Happy – and safe – travels!
Janis, we decided to go ahead with this trip when it seemed that the pandemic was abating, and then cases started rising again. Sigh. We figure that we’ll just continue social distancing and masking, which kind of changes how we travel. But it will be good for us to have a change of scenery and also to get to a higher, cooler elevation for a month or so. I hope you have a wonderful trip! Oregon is so beautiful, and hopefully you won’t be affected by the fires or smoke.
As they say …. “best laid plans” … We, also, are in a bit of limbo.
Future planning is proving to be more of a challenge then we thought. And so it goes…..
Sadly, Ashland is in our rear view mirror, as well.
Have a safe road trip to Carolina.
Take care of each other. We hope to visit with you both one day!
Saludos
PS. Love your Gato!
Hi Robert & Colleen, it sounds like big changes are in store for you two, as well. We would love to know what you are thinking of doing/where you’re thinking of going. It’s challenging in these times, isn’t it? It would be interesting to hear about your experience living in Mexico. Hope you both are doing well! We love our gato, too. :-)
It’s hard to believe it’s been 18 months since you arrived in Florida “for the last time!” I do hope you’ll get some relief from the ugly Florida summer weather, but mostly I hope you guys enjoy exploring again. I’m sure Maggie will keep things extra interesting. ;)
This was the longest and also the speediest 18 months ever, Joodie!! Time has both expanded and contracted in a very strange way. Anyway, I think we’re going to enjoy exploring again, Magnolia is being very good, and we’re happy to be heading to cooler weather for the next few weeks.
Big news for sure. We are sad that you will not be returning to the valley but understand your hesitation. The smoke has certainly changed our summers and because of that many longtime folks are leaving. We wish you the best and will enjoy hearing about your travels. Please give a call when you get back in our neck of the woods. We would love to see you in person and catch up. Good luck with your travel with the cat. It will add a whole new dimension to your adventures. Love to you both.
Hi Sue & Doug, we love Ashland, as you know. But the biggest reason that made it difficult for us to decide sell our home is that we are leaving behind good friends, including you two. We don’t know what the future holds, but seems like this is the best decision for now. No matter what, Ashland will always feel like ‘home’ to us. And we look forward to spending time with you when we return! If you ever want to experience the ‘real’ Florida, come visit us! Love you guys.
Sad, happy and excited for you! So many changes, thanks to Covid and what is happening in the world. Well, sad because it may take years before we see each other again, happy that you have overcome the challenges met and questioned answered whether to live again in Florida (you got a lovely spot there) and excited that you are traveling again.
You are so funny how you describe your encounters with Maggie, which Im sure Maggie is secretly chuckling inside. Will see how she handles living on a 27 ft trailer.
MonaLiza, we’re still kind of stunned by how much life has changed in such a short period of time. We feel fortunate to have this beautiful place in Florida, I just wish we weren’t so far away from you two and all of our other friends in the west and on the west coast! We will definitely be making trips back west. Wish we could entice you to come to Florida again for a visit! Maggie says she wants to meet you. :-)
And I just noticed the purple splashes! Do you wish Maggie is also colored purple?
Haha!!! You know of course I have to have some purple around! Maggie has her purple harness and leash, but I like her natural coloring. Although I do think she looks good in purple. :-)
How exciting to be back out there. Love your new home in Florida. It will be good to not have that trek across the country every year. The whole I 5 corridor is not so good with all of the tents along the road. Have fun.
Deb, you’re right—we’re happy that we won’t be having to make the trek back and forth across the country every year. But we also know that we’ll be heading back west to see friends, so there are some long distance trips in our future. Tents along I-5? I didn’t know about that!
I was just thinking of you three last night and knew it was time for you to hit the road again. Wahoo!! It is an interesting feeling to be packing up again after spending time settled in a stick and bricks. I fight this feeling every time we prepare to head out in the MH. It is easier to just stay here in BC, but at the same time I want to head out. Crazy!! Once we have pulled out, I quickly settle into life on the road again. I can’t say I’m surprised by your news to stay in FL. Right now Oregon isn’t a great place to be in the summer. Every year there are so many fires. It’s so scary and sad. You seem to have such a perfect spot there in FL. Can’t wait to see your new screened in porch. Make sure Eric shares lots of photos on Insta!! Love seeing Magnolia being a great car rider and navigator. Safe travels to NC!!
Pam, I have exactly the same feelings! It’s easier to stay put at home, but we still have the desire for more travel. I think everything is intensified by the craziness of the past year-and-a-half. We’re settling back into our traveling mode now, and of course, we have Magnolia to think about. She’s adjusting well, considering that this is the first time she’s traveled in her nine months on this earth. :-)
Oregon has changed so much over the past few years with the increasing fires. It makes us very sad because that was ‘home’ for us. We’re grateful that we have this beautiful place here in Florida with plenty of water and no fires! (And hopefully, no hurricanes.)
Oh my — I was laughing so hard. Yes, I have one of the fold-up dog crates and even that has, at times, given me a headache, trying to refold and push back into my truck for travel. They all make it sound “so simple!” And little Magnolia — of course, she deserves all of this, the travel pen and the little cat stand. Pretty soon you’ll be convinced she needs a buddy! I about fell off the chair with the harness picture! And she was darling at the start of the blog with her sploot on the couch. Oh, yes, many adventures and tales to come indeed. And we’ll look forward to all of it. Good luck today! Push forward. It will all somehow work out. Cindy P
Haha, “sploot!” That is a perfect word, Cindy! I had never heard the term but looked it up and it’s a real thing! Magnolia loves the back of the sofa, and she’s always in that crazy position, LOL! She makes us laugh every day with her antics.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who has problems with those darned pet crates. They really should be simple, but they are most definitely not. They should at least come with instructions that make sense! Thanks so much for your good wishes. I’m so glad you’re following along with Magnolia’s adventures. :-))
Hi Laurel, It’s good to get an update. While it saddens me to know you needed to distance yourself from your beloved Ashland, it is probably the wisest choice. Climate change has been devastating! You’ve done so much to your Florida home, it just makes so much sense. You also can’t beat those nature walks. And bonus, Florida gets two new rational voters! Yea!
I’m glad you’re temporarily back on the road, to a cooler climate during the mid-late summer. Hopefully we’ll reconnect somewhere along the road of life.
Lucky Magnolia to have you two as her parents. She’s going to be lots of love and laughter.
Take good care, and safe travels.
Hi Karen, I’m glad to hear from you, and hope you and Krash are doing well. It was a very difficult decision for us to sell our Ashland home. But as you said, the climate change has been devastating. Despite the humidity in the summer in Florida, we’re grateful to be in a place where there is plenty of water.
We’re glad we decided to head for the mountains for a few weeks—and Magnolia is adjusting well and keeping us laughing! Are you guys planning to spend the winter in Cedar Key? If so, we would love to see you.
That first picture of your dock and the second one of St George are reasons enough to be Floridians. Yes there is NV here. That kitty is absolutely darling and beautiful too. Such gorgeous coloring and markings. LOVE the pet pen. It looks like a sweet cozy home she would like and I might too. I always have liked cozy spaces. No claustrophobia here. So funny about your struggles to fold it up. I can just imagine it flipping back open every time you try. I think you’ll like Eric’s plan for it to ride on the bed. LOL! Safe travels. When do you leave?
Sherry, we never tire of the view of the dock and the bay in our backyard. And we love having St. George Island just across the bridge. It really is a wonderful location. We’re looking forward to your visit in the winter. :-)
Magnolia is such a sweet and fun kitty. She says ‘thank you’ for noticing her beautiful markings. We’re waiting until we get to the park in North Carolina to set up her outdoor pen just in case I can’t figure out how to subdue it again, LOL! We left Thursday and will be in NC on Monday.
OH Laurel, you just crack me up! That post made me grin from ear to ear. The photo in the beginning is just stunning. Really, it’s no wonder you are OK with living there. And although I am super sad to hear you are leaving us here in Southern Oregon, I TOTALLY get it. The Almeda Fire last year was shocking. A real wake up call. And the smoke is awful – although so far this summer it hasn’t been bad…..yet. I love it here SO much but honestly I keep thinking in the back of my mind about where else I might want to live. The fires are so frightening. I still haven’t come up with a single place that meets all my “requirements” from wanting wilderness nearby and a decent climate to living somewhere with the “right”politics. I simply could not live with right wing extremists. Anyway, I definitely understand why you are leaving Oregon. I hope your first trip is a huge success and that you find that intermittent trips rather than full-timing can also be a fun lifestyle. Good luck little gorgeous Magnolia!!! Big hug to you all!!!
Janet, you summed up all of the reasons that we love Ashland…and also the beautiful park system, great food, and most of all, wonderful friends, including you. It was such a difficult decision for us to sell our home, but we figure we’ll give this a try here in Florida, and also give ourselves time to recover from the intensity of the past couple of years of parental care/pandemic/political unrest.
I hope you’re doing well, dear friend. Thanks for your good wishes, and Magnolia says thanks, too! She’s having fun watching the birds while on her leash, LOL! We all send big hugs back to you!!
I LOVE Magnolia! She looks like a hot mess and I love that about her. I hope she does well on her first trip and learns to appreciate the leash. The purple pillows on the recliners are a beautiful touch! It is amazing how a little color can change the whole mood of a room. I hope you guys have a fun and safe trip. Looking forward to hearing about your adventures!
Viv
Hahaha!!! Magnolia is definitely a hot mess, Viv!! She’s actually adjusting pretty darned well to her first travel adventure. She’s starting to realize the leash is her ticket to exploring the outdoors. Now she doesn’t just lie on her back and refuse to move when we put it on her, LOL.
I love purple. I have had a purple addiction for years, and things just aren’t right unless I have some purple around me. Kind of like you with your red shoes (which is SUCH a great story!).
I was just going to say – you and purple are just like me and RED!
Viv
For all the reasons you listed as well as a gut feeling, I’m not surprised you are making your lovely Florida house your new home. You’ve done so much work to make it the perfect place, I’m glad you’re going to enjoy it moving forward. Also glad you’re still planning some travels. Either way we’ll catch up with you guys eventually! LOL on the easy-fold cat house!! Beautiful sunset. Keeping that dock is nearly enough reason by itself :-))
You have good intuition, Jodee. :-) We do love our Florida home, and we hope that you and Bill and Tessa will come to visit! The sunsets are spectacular, and Bill could even fish from the dock. Honestly, traveling doesn’t feel quite as easy as it did before the pandemic stranded us, but that’s probably because we’re a bit ‘rusty’ and we’ve gotten a bit too settled. But we’re happy right now to be in cooler temps in North Carolina. Hope you guys escape the smoke in the west soon.
Bon Voyage! One of my family’s credos is, “No guts, no glory”. I hope you are happy with your decision to get back on the road. We have found that we can maintain a nice COVID bubble while travelling. I would say that it has added an extra level of quiet which I have come to relish. We are looking forward to visitng in December. All the best!
It’s taken a few days, but we feel like we’re getting back into our traveling groove, Susie. And we’re remembering all of the reasons we love to travel. So glad you two have continued to enjoy your travels. We look forward to seeing you in December and sharing stories around the fire pit!
I’m late in reading your post but… Good Luck! Those pictures of Magnolia made me smile big :) Looking forward to reading about your newest adventures!
Thanks, Connie! It’s an adjustment for all three of us, but overall things are going well and we’re happy we managed to get back out for some traveling and exploring. Magnolia is such a sweet kitty, and she’s keeping us laughing! :-)
I was wondering if you might end up becoming Floridians. Now I have my answer. Can’t say that I blame you as the wildfires seem to be getting worse with each passing year. Having driven through smoke to get back home from our 3-month trip, I can certainly understand not wanting to live with it year in, year out. When we decided to settle in Colorado, one of the reasons to do so was to have a place with little to no humidity in the summer time so we could stay home when everyone else is out and about on summer break. Even with the sweltering mid-day summer temps that seem to be more and more prevalent around the world, it’s nice to have cool mornings and evenings … I’m sitting out at the moment with a jacket on as I write this. Unfortunately, that decision came with having to live with wildfires … at least for now.
Erin, one of the reasons we loved Ashland is because it isn’t humid in the summer. Actually, it’s never humid! Both Eric and I prefer places with low humidity, but there doesn’t seem to be anywhere with low humidity that isn’t suffering from drought, wildfires, and smoke. As you said, the wildfires are getting worse with each passing year. So, for now…we’re choosing Florida. It’s always humid, but it’s only horrible in the summer, LOL. We’re happy to be in North Carolina right now (which is also humid, but with lovely temperatures).
Hi Laurel, I just signed up for your blog after finding it today. You are a great writer and excellent photographer! Before the pandemic, I traveled approximately 6 months a year (3months and 3 months) in my motorhome with Albuquerque, NM as my home base. I was so interested to read about Magnolia! I adopted a cat last year (Pippa) while I was in Yuma, AZ. I’ve had dogs before but not a cat so it’s been a fun learning curve. She’s a very sweet, calm Calico cat, who is adjusting to traveling in a vehicle. I’m excited to start thinking about hitting the road again with Pippa, perhaps next month!
We just returned from a 3-week automobile trip to visit my daughter in Atlanta. Pippa cried for the entire first day of the trip, so I medicated her for day 2 and day 3. I’m happy to report that on the return trip she only cried for the first hour of the first day, and was fine after that. Whew! I’m wondering if she will remember the motorhome from over a year ago…
I’m excited to follow your adventures. I had started a blog to document my travels, but it has fallen by the wayside. Reading your blog today made me feel a slight rekindling of desire to fire it up again when I hit the road. We’ll see!
Keep up the good work!
Hi Rhonda, thanks so much for your kind words and for following along with our adventures! How sweet that you have a new kitty companion. Pippa sounds like she’s adjusting well to traveling. I love calico kitties. :-)
At this point, we’re thinking that we’ll be traveling part-time, too. I hope you’ll start writing your blog again. It’s a lot of work (as you know) but it’s great to have a record of our memories, and it’s a wonderful way of connecting with people and making new friends. Enjoy your life with Pippa!