Its Cold Then Its Hot | Workamping in Florida

March is such a strange month in Florida. Yes, I know our poor neighbors to the north and out west are almost frozen in and we really are not complaining but, man!, will mother nature please make up her mind. First we’re cold and then it warms up and then it rains and gets cold again. Then we start all over. These past three days were so nice, breezy, temps in the high 70s and a day or two in the low 80s but then the rain came and now it is back to being cloudy and gloomy all day long. Of course, right now it’s sprinkling again and supposed to go down to the 30s. Again, I know the rest of the country is frozen over. Hey! We’re in freaking Florida for goodness sake. Anyway, our little space heater fell in the water yesterday when we went to dump our waste tanks. Why, you ask, was the heater in the shower where the water overflows when the gray water tanks are full? Well, there wasn’t anywhere else to keep it out of the way and I really thought we would get the tanks dumped before it overflowed again.

Mom has put a moratorium on all new Volunteer Workamping assignments in the future. NO MORE SITES WITHOUT SEWERS! Even though we really love being here at Stephen Foster Folk Cultural Center State Park. The sites are all nice and big, under large oak and pine trees. The shower rooms always have lots of nice hot water. We even like being campground hosts here. We do work more during our three or four days on than we have at just about any other assignment. We do have to fight each morning to get a working golf cart to clean all the fire pits, barbecue grills and rake the sites on those who have left and before they let others in. Granted, the bathhouses are pretty large and we have to clean both of them every day we are on. It would really make it more convenient for us to have a sewer on-site.

Our co-campground host couple hasn’t moved their class “A” since we have been here. He has one of those Blue Boys that he takes down to the dump station every couple of days. He must have much larger tanks than we do. He does have to make a couple a trips each time. He started out pulling it behind his little convertible. When he is working he uses the golf cart. But this last time I saw him lift it out of the back seat. I hope he hasn’t broken a wheel or something because those things are pretty heavy when they are full. Anyway, the Blue Boy thing just wouldn’t work for us. I really don’t have the strength to pull it around after it is full, we don’t have a towing ball on the back of our Minivan and finally, our Minivan has been non-functioning for over a week.

Let me tell you what, it takes a lot of imagination and hard work to make sure you have everything taken care of in one go. Otherwise you will just have to do without. Our little trips into town to check the mail, go by the store and to the library have been halted. I just never realized how much we have become to depend on our car to take us where we want to go. I mean at Woods Ferry we didn’t go out but about once or twice a month anyway. Now that we are in a more “urban” area we like to run around a little bit more and not have to buy as many groceries at one time as we have in the past. Of course, going to the library for new DVDs every week has been nice as well. Now all we have to do is come up with about $500 to fix the car and have it towed to the dealership.

Thank goodness I purchased the Good Sams Roadside Assistance Platinum package for a couple of years when we first started. They offer unlimited mileage for towing for our RV and personal vehicle. The only place we could find was the Chrysler dealership in Lake City and tech stated he would need at least a couple of days to get to it. So, now we have to get up the money, call the towing service and get it over there before the 18th. We really need the vehicle to be fixed by then because we have already paid to be vendors at the Wild Azalea Festival in White Springs on the 21st of this month. All of our craft items are in storage in Live Oak and we will have to go get it and set up on that Saturday. My daughter has offered to help us out with the setup but her little car cannot hold much of our inventory, let alone our tents, tables and things. Plus, my granddaughter will be staying with us the whole week before for Spring Break.

That same day the state parks in the area will be holding a Volunteer Appreciation Day. We will not be able to participate in most of their events as we will be working but we hope to at least get a free dinner that afternoon after we break down our booth. The Antique Tractor and Farm Equipment Festival will be held the first weekend in April so that will attract lots of visitors too. It is going to be a busy last two months for our volunteer workamping assignment. We will be at Troy Springs State Park beginning May 1st and looking forward to that as well.

Till next month!