PBnJ5 Adventures

Oh Florida, I have had such high hopes for you. You are after all the Sunshine State. Well, I believe we have only seen the sunshine for maybe 8 hours in the week that we have been here.

We had such high hopes, we started off with the perfect afternoon and a gorgeous sunset the very first day we arrived. We arrived at our place on Miramar Beach on the beautiful Emerald Coast. It was perfect. Our site was literally steps to the beach, the sand was so white it hurt your eyes to look at it and the water was beautiful turquoise. We enjoyed it for about an hour before the sun went down. The next day held high hopes as we enjoyed the beach all morning. Sunny and warm and perfect for playing – and then it took a turn. The next two days in Miramar Beach were incredibly windy, cold, and rainy. I can do cold, we can handle a little wind, but when you add the rain and add them all together – it sucks. We are talking below average cold with wind warnings and temps in the 40s. So we spent time driving in the rain down 30A and saw the fun beach towns from the truck. We saw what looked like great places to hangout and relax on the beach, but not while we were there. We did get in a swim in a covered heated pool, at night, with very little light, in the middle of a downpour. No need to dry off! And of course the day we left the wind started to die down and the beach would have at least been tolerable to sit on and look at the waves, maybe next time.

We headed across the state with an overnight stop at Suwannee River State Park. We got parked in our tiny little spot and rushed into the 5th wheel, cranked up the heat, and prepared ourselves for a night of 32 degrees. Um seriously – this is getting ridiculous. Had our first experience of the surprise night time puking, which has been my biggest fear living in the RV. But all things considered it was only once at night once in the morning and only Max went down. Thank you Jesus.

Off the next day in the wind and the rain to Daytona Beach. We are finally meeting up with Mimi and Pops! (Luke’s parents) Life is never boring on the road and this drive did not disappoint. The first gas station we stopped at was to small we couldn’t get in, so down the road to the next. We can make it in but have to back up and sit and wait because only one pump has diesel. Fine, we can make it work, just need enough to get to cheaper fuel. Back on the road, find the cheap diesel at a Walmart. Perfect, we need groceries. One of the smallest Walmart parking lots we have encountered, we only had to drive over a couple curbs to make it around the corner and into the lot. I take the boys inside to shop while Luke gets the gas. Oh wait – it is easier to unhook the 5th wheel then trying to maneuver it to fill up! Best decision of the day so far, the truck barely fit by itself. Back on the road. We can make it about 200 miles a day because it literally takes us ALL DAY to drive that far.

I am going to stop right here with a friendly PSA: When driving large trailers that have clearance issues and make very wide turns it is best to look ahead and see where the heck your GPS is sending you.

Back to the story. 15 minutes to go, we get off the highway as directed and take what seems to be a questionable turn into a neighborhood type area. We check the map, yep if we take this we end up on the road our RV park in on. We keep going. This lovely road starts to get narrow, a cute little two lane road, suitable for say a Mini Cooper. We go slow – there is no place to turn around. I look ahead – I see a lovely yellow warning sign. Low clearance due to trees 8 ft 6 in. People, we are 13 ft 6 in. tall! Panic starts to set in. What the crap are we going to do! There is no place to pull over, we can’t turn around. I say to the boys, “I need you to start praying that Jesus gets us out of here or we are in big trouble.” The line of cars behind us gets a little bit longer. We have to go slow it is so narrow, not to mention we are driving through some sort of marshy area, so water on both sides. My hands are sweating. I am getting nauseous. What are we going to do. Well the only thing you can do, just keep going. Every tree that we drive under, we look up through the sunroof, yep we should be okay on that one. Check the map, we are half way, boys keep praying. Check the next tree, yep we should make that one. Sorry dude who had to stop going the opposite direction, we need both lanes to make that curve. I keep waiting for the low tree that is gonna bring us to a screeching halt and make us have to get out and ask people to move so we can back up and try to save the top of our 5th wheel, but it never came. I am sure it was a very lovely drive down this curvy scenic marshy tree covered road. We saw none of it. But Jesus performed a miracle for us. We did not hit any trees, we did not hit any cars, and we did not have to back up. Seriously nothing short of a miracle, and I didn’t throw up from nerves.

We finally make it to our campsite on Ormond Beach. Once again literally steps to the beach. It is freezing and unbelievably windy. About 10 years ago Luke and I took a trip to visit my sister over in the UK. We toured many places including the beach in Northern Ireland. It was one of the coldest and windiest beaches I have ever been on, that is until we stepped foot on Ormond Beach. It was like stepping into a sand blasting booth with a wind chill advisory on top. I kid you not, we were under a wind chill advisory with temperatures in the 20s! So once again we hunkered down in our home cranked the heat and hoped we didn’t blow away. On the bright side, Mimi and Pops joined us for dinner in our new home and there was plenty of space for everyone! The boys were over the moon excited.

The next day we were under a high wind advisory all day with periods of rain. So we went to the museum. We had a great time and the kids area was awesome. We usually can make it through a museum in record time because those of us who can read are not typically allowed the pleasure of doing so by those who cannot. But they really enjoyed all the hands on experiments. We also made a stop after the museum at a chocolate factory in Daytona Beach. It was a “sweet” way to end the afternoon. Of course it was cold and rainy and horribly windy so we took a drive, as we do. We drove down and saw the Daytona International Speedway. It was very cool and we got to see a parade of race cars being towed across the street at the stop light. We need to watch the Daytona 500 coming up soon just so the boys can say “we been there”, one of our new favorite phrases (so cool).

We headed out this morning from Daytona down to Orlando, and in true form, drove in the rain most of the way and had the pleasure of setting up the 5th wheel in a lovely drizzle. The plan is Sea World tomorrow and Lord willing, it is supposed to be sunny. We just counted, and since we left in November we have had less then 10 days of “nice” weather. I am not sure what we would have done if we were still in the Class A and stuck in such a small space all the time. There are so many great things that we love about our new 5th wheel with very few drawbacks. We are so thankful.

My word for 2020 is Changed. In doing my devotions and journaling this word jumped out at me as my word for the year. Last year my word was Breathe, looking back on 2019 that is exactly the word I needed. There were many life decisions that needed a lot of breathing to get through. In deciding on this word I questioned whether it should be just Change instead of Changed, but I think not. Everything has already changed in my life, and while yes my world changes on a daily basis, I have been changed. I am not the same person I was even 6 months ago. If you would have told me last January that in a year I would be living full time on the road in a 5th wheel I would have laughed in your face and made a snarky comment. But look at us now. Here we are and actually, even in the midst of the weather, loving it. I am changed in how I function on a daily basis, we changed how we live each day, I am changed in how I parent, I am changed in how I view the weather for crying out loud! My faith has changed as well. Not having a church that I know and love to go to every Sunday has changed me. My faith has changed from being more of a ritual to being a lifeline. It blows me away to see the ways that God shows up for us on a daily basis in the big and small ways. I am also starting to crave time reading my Bible as it is a place of strength and encouragement. I am sure there will be many many more ways that I will continue to be changed in the next year and I am excited to look back a year from now and see all the ways I have been changed. As scary as that may be.

So we will say a prayer for better weather, I told Tucker he wasn’t praying hard enough 😉 and enjoy our time with Mimi and Pops. I am so excited to see Sea World with my boys, I think they are going to love it. Here is to pretending to be Orca whales for the next few days – bring it on.

Live your Adventure,

Julie