Menu: Intro | Day 1-2 | Day 3-4 | Day 5-7 | Retrospective
In the software development world, each time you complete a project, you review what went well and what you could do better next time. It’s called a “retrospective” or a “post-mortem.”
We did a retrospective on our boondocking adventure, using Confluence’s template. These are the results. Continue reading
Menu: Intro | Day 1-2 | Day 3-4 | Day 5-7 | Retrospective
Truck and Travel Trailer
Did you know I’ve worked from the road for over 3 years? It’s a lot like working from home except when I look out the window of my home on wheels, the scenery is always different! In May 2015, we got rid of most of our stuff, sold our cars, and hit the road in a travel trailer.
Our trip started in Virginia. From there we traveled South through the Eastern states, explored the entire Florida coast, visited 8 Texas cities, stayed a while in Arizona and California, and then went North through Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. This entire time I’ve worked as a Jira administrator, consultant, and speaker on the Strategy for Jira Tour. The tour highlight was speaking at the Atlassian office in Austin, TX and at Summit! Continue reading
Today is our one year “RVersary”; we’ve been on the road for a full year! I’ve analyzed our miles and days between stops. Our travel patterns sure have changed since we started!
Being in the Florida Keys for 7 months gave us a good understanding of the cuisine in this part of southern Florida. One of the joys of traveling and this RV adventure is experiencing local and common foods of the area.
Lobster BLT at “Key Largo Fisheries”
Keys’ cuisine is influenced by multiple cultures like early settlers from Spain, the Bahamas, Cuba, and merchants from New England. The Keys are known for farming pineapples, limes, tomatoes, and melons. Of course their location on the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico brings vast seafood opportunities.
In the 112 mile long stretch, there are 1700 islands. Some are well known (Key Largo and Key West), some are privately owned, some are part of Everglades National Park, and others are only accessible by boat. Continue reading
A camp host is someone who helps other campers. This includes anything campground related, like: receiving guests, collecting payment, completing paperwork, or even recommending a local restaurant or bait shop. The host answers questions and solves problems while the official camp staff is away. You become the “go to” person when assistance is needed. The camp host is either a paid or volunteer position and most camping jobs are seasonal. You reside in your own RV and sometimes park in an official “camp host” spot.
Camp Host Chris
We wanted to stay in the Florida Keys through the winter, but were having trouble finding an available site for that length of time. At the same time, our current campground was looking for a host for their busy season and had a site available for that purpose. Kayak Chris agreed to become the camp host and we moved into the designated spot.
It was an interesting 5 months! Now that the hosting gig is over, here’s a list of some of the unexpected things he ended up doing. Continue reading
Key West boasts about its sunsets, but we think they are better in Key Largo. Watching this daily occurrence is an official activity in Key Largo; so much that I often set an alarm, so we wouldn’t miss it. Neighbors gather to watch the often stunning descent of the sun along with the colors that emerge afterwards (which are sometimes even prettier.) It’s a great way to meet people and there’s no such thing as “too many sunset photos.”
Click image to enlarge.
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Our mission to avoid winter this year is a complete and total success! As I’m reading about Winter Storm Jonas and the havoc it’s caused in Northern Virginia and the surrounding states, I’m reminded of one of the many reasons we set out on this RV adventure! (No more being cold!) Continue reading
Paddling the Loxahatchee River (Jupiter, FL)
One of my favorite toys, and passions in life, is my kayak and kayak fishing. A kayak’s size and light weight works well with our kind of lifestyle and the places we visit. We’ve been up and down the East coast and every where we go, I can barely launch my fishing kayak before someone wants to talk to me about it! It’s quite a fishing machine when fully rigged.
Kayak fishing is gaining popularity every day. This awesome sport is one that nearly anyone can get into quickly and affordably.
It’s day 180 of our RV adventure and there are few things I can’t or (don’t see the need to) do anymore. They are:
1. Watch TV
Our travel trailer has TV hookups in the main room and in the bedroom, but we didn’t get one. We figured with our laptops, smart phones, and tablet, we didn’t need any more screens to stare at. We’ve gladly avoided: the political ads, the endless loop of negative world news, and paying a cable bill. We still check the news, but we do it online. We still binge watch a TV series on a lazy weekend, but we do it from a laptop. Yes, I do miss a few of our favorite shows (ex: The Walking Dead) but I know that even if we can’t watch it today, we can watch it sometime in the future. (Unless the world is overtaken by real zombies, it will be available to watch.) When I want background noise, I turn on the radio like it’s 1940.
2. Go Camping
I know how this sounds. Yes, we’re in a campground right now, but living in a travel trailer and spending the night in a tent are two totally different things! The trailer has a queen size bed, electricity, climate control, running water, a kitchen, and a bathroom. One day a few weeks ago, I had the urge to go camping. (That is, pack up the truck, and go to a different camp ground where we’d spend the night in our camping hammocks.) That urge was brief and has since passed. Avid camper Kayak Chris hasn’t uttered the phrase “Let’s go camping!” in months either. Continue reading
I took this time lapse video, using a GoPro camera, right off the marina dock in our campground. I didn’t even have to drive to a good location; I just walked two minutes with my camera and a tripod. (And I fished for snapper, of course, while the camera did its job.)
