One two three...go!

               C HA N G E  Well good day, fellow humans. The day we have been anxiously working towards has come and gone already.  On December 14th 2021 we officially became apartment inhabitants. The time we've spent being vagabonds was a learning process. Challenging, rewarding and an experience we will always treasure.   But our hearts weren't in it anymore and we were so ready to become permanent residents of Saint Petersburg, Florida.   And with many things in life if things are too easy how would you appreciate the end result? Right? Finding a place to live with 4 pets was quite an uphill battle. There are size restrictions, breed restrictions, quantity restrictions. There are pet deposits, pet rent. You name it, they are tagged on.  But after endless phone calls, text messages, clicks on various websites and making Google my number ONE "go to" every day, we finally found THE place! In the middle of the hustle and bustle of beautiful Saint Petersburg! Our back

 My suggestion is: If you don't love water,  don't come here! This beautiful park is mostly used by locals.  So consider yourself lucky that I am sharing the top notch goods with you. Just kidding. http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/camping.htm   This affordable jungle-like campground is literally surrounded by water on all sides. It has approximately 236 sites and books often months in advance. There are many water sites to choose from, many of them very spacious.  You'll be by mangroves on some sites.  This is literally a Florida experience at its best.  There are separate sections of the park:  1. If you own or don't mind being around people with pets. The pet section.  2. You guessed it:  Non-pet section for rigs of all sizes and tents.  3. Tent sites that can only fit tents or very small trailers. No pets here.  There is no lighting at night except for the entrance to the park and bath houses. Speaking of bath houses. There are plenty somewhat open concept ones, al

Has it really been 6 months of jungle life? Uuuhuuuh! The palm trees, wild and ungroomed, have done me in.  Love grew in record speed. Yes I love this place.   Fort Desoto.    https://www.pinellascounty.org/park/05_ft_desoto.htm The trails, the beautiful beaches, the abundance of birds. I can honestly say that I don't recall seeing such a crazy variety of large birds anywhere before.   While the actual Fort leaves alot to be desired  (at least in my book) the rest of this luscious southern tip of the peninsula screams paradise.  We've encountered one mandatory evacuation this summer.  Call us lucky!  From what we were told, in 2020 they had 9 of these here! The downside of being surrounded by large bodies of water, I suppose. So yeah,  we packed up and left to go an hour north at friends, who were kind to take us in.   Then we turned around 2 days later and came back.  The park was unharmed. Thank goodness 🙏.  I am proud to have mastered yet another lev

  I go about my daily tasks to include the workamper duties, managing and selling my things on "Ulrike's Shop " . I am also starting a new job as an Executive Personal Assistant to a lovely couple in St. Pete, when life decides to off-rail things a whole bunch.   Yep here we were, Joe spending an x-amount of hours applying for upper management positions and doing his handyman gig on the side. That's when his body put a break on! The signal was: You're done dude.  Fast forward: THREE awful weeks of pain.  Daily pain management,  sleepless nights,, doctors visits and MRI's. Dealing with the medical non-caring system that is quick to prescribe but at snail- speed to get to the cause of a problem.  My health isn't where it should be either, adding to the daily frustration. But that seems secondary.  Times like these are challenging to say the least. Each day is filled with stuff that needs to be done and at the end of the day, I find myself exhausted.  I am ov

         Fort Desoto PAW PARK This large grassy dog park can be found inside the Fort Desoto (Pinellas County) Park in the greater Tampa Bay area of Florida.   If you happen to visit the nearby Fort Desoto campground or are just visiting the county park, it is very dog friendly. Adjacent to the dog park is the dog beach that attracts dog owners who want to treat their dogs ( and often themselves) to a day at the beach and a dip in the beautiful turquois Gulf of Mexico.  The PAW Park is separated by  small and large dogs areas. Both have a nice tall fence and some shade along with benches for the humans. What I like is that there are water bowls, faucets and hoses.  So on a hot day ( and there are plenty in southern Florida) you can hose down your hot dog or rinse him after a swim in the ocean to get rid of the saltwater or just to cool down your furr baby.  Pros : - well kept  - lush green grass -  benches - water stations  -

  It's the middle of July. 9 months ago we arrived in Florida.  Time flies when you're having fun, right!?  One that does not live a full time RV life could assume that we're just kicking back every day, sipping on our margaritas.  One couldn't be farther from reality!  Reality check: Since our move to our current location at Fort Desoto campground we spend 3 half days working in order to receive a free stay at said location.  We switch duties weekly: One week we clean camp sites.   Where we get to cruise around in a non-shock absorbent golf cart and prep sites for the new campers.  On other weeks we get to clean the campgrounds bath houses.  This is where one finds out really fast that we mostly live in a culture where people think it's okay to leave their mess behind for other people to clean. I'll spare you the details of what that could look like but you're welcome to let your imagination go wild at this point and even then, you probably won't come c

Welcome back!   So here I am,  gathering my thoughts once again.  This time I am en-route back to Tampa, Florida.  Having left Orange County, California behind me. It was 22 days ago that you heard from me last when I was flying TO California.  These 22 days have been the longest Joe and I have been apart in the past 7 and a half years. And to be honest, I didn't care much for it, nor did he! You may ask: Then why did you do it? That's a valid question I shall say! Exactly 6 months ago I decided it was time to handle an overdue dental problem. I had the choice of going the convenient route and finding a nearby American dentist. OR choosing a rather complex route BUT saving thousands of $$ by doing so. Well you guessed it. Option # 2 won, hands down!  So, 6 months ago we of course resided in Escondido. Southern California. Joe and I drove to the Tijuana border, got on a cab and arrived 3 miles later at the dentist to begin the labor intensive visit to remove and repl