We left Eastern Tennessee to go home, to South Mississippi for Christmas and the month of January. Luckily, our family lives mostly in the south as we are finding out that south is where we want to be in the winter.
We arrived in South Mississippi right before Christmas. We stayed on family land until we found a better spot for the month. The family property would have been ok for the month if our generator had not stopped working. Since it is now in the shop, finding hook ups was going to be pretty important; mainly because of me working. We found a quiet campground; Lake Mike Connor which is located between Collins, MS and Hattiesburg, MS and decided we would stay there for the month. There are several camp sites by the lake but we were the only ones camping and pretty much had the place to ourselves most of the time. On the weekends, people would come and fish and there were some who hunted in the woods nearby but it was definitely a quiet and peaceful place to be.
We were able to visit and spend time with family and enjoy lots of food and they typical holiday get togethers. We even were able to celebrate some January birthdays while we were in town. We thought about going straight to Abilene, Texas and spend time with our oldest son and our grandson but he was able to come to Mississippi for Christmas and the experience we had been having with the colder weather we decided we were not in any hurry to stay where it is cold.
So, I decided to to go to Abilene with our youngest daughter, Shelby; our son, Aaron, and grandson, Lane; and spend time with them; help babysit and be able to enjoy the time I wanted with them while I was off from work. I only spent a little over a week and came back to Mississippi so I could concentrate on my work. It would be difficult to get my work done like it needed to be being around them all of the time. I love spending time with them, I love them to death and enjoying my grandson learning who his "nana" is and how much we love him; however, I knew if I had stayed, my work would suffer; I needed to dedicate a specific amount of time each day for my job, the job that allows us to travel, that income is very important right now since it is our only steady income. I enjoy my job and do not want to give it up. Luckily, we have Face Time and I am able to call or Face Time every day and it's still like I am there. Shelby, decided to stay and help out while Aaron is working. Also, I needed my own bed to be able to enjoy some sleep.
January was down time, like being home for a month; well because it was being home for a month.
Some of our tasks:
- Truck Maintenance
- Generator Maintenance
- Dental visits
- Tax info to CPA
- Vehicle Tags
- Birthday Parties
- Lots of Cleaning
- Lots of Downtime just working and schoolwork
Unexpected Goodbye
Although we did not travel with our miniature Schnauzer, Roxie, she was still an important part of our family. She has been with us for over ten years and our oldest daughter, Abby had taken her in for us while we were traveling. Abby decided long ago that Roxie was her dog although I originally purchased her for myself. I had a miniature Schnauzer growing up and when I saw a lady needing to get rid of hers (only a few months old) I couldn't resist. Abby loved Roxie and Roxie was her baby. Roxie wasn't eating and had a hard time breathing and Abby had to take her to the Pet emergency hospital. They discovered a tumor in her heart and she had fluid in her lungs already; it was time to say goodbye. We did not expect this at all and not what we wanted but it was good we were home to say goodbye.
I have a feeling that we will try and make it to our home base in Mississippi every January. I know we do not want to be caught in cold weather and it seems like the best month to spend at home; the best month to get away from the extreme cold and to take care of business.
Why warmer weather?
We have learned after spending some time in the camper in cold weather that we needed to try and stay where it is warmer in the winter for these reasons:
1.) Our living space is small, when it is cold outside it is harder to spend the much needed time outside.
2.) When it gets too cold, there is a chance of frozen pipes, hoses and just water in the tanks; we have learned ways to prevent this and was very careful so we did not have any problems but I can definitely see the problems that could occur.
3.) This was the biggest reason: Condensation!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lot's of explanation marks because if anyone has ever been in a camper (especially a metal framed one) when it's cold outside and you are nice and warm inside; there is a big condensation problem. It is more than just annoying, it causes mold quickly and is a constant problem that has to be addressed daily.
I don't like to be cold and we can cover up, put on extra clothes and extra blankets but we still need some heat. We have heard many others complain about condensation but did not experience it ourselves until we were in Tennessee and the lows were in the 30's and 20's and it barely warmed up during the day. We have the least amount of moisture when we stick to temperatures at night that do not drop below 50 degrees.
So, this is when our plans changed again, we thought about going to Florida after Tennessee but knew we needed to be home in Mississippi so changed plans to go to Mississippi and then straight to Texas where our son lives. Well, we decided to skip Florida and just go to Texas and spend time there and then head west and north. However, one last time, we decided to change those plans again, and decided to add Florida back in to get some winter Florida weather and see how we enjoy it, so we will be spending the month of February in Florida before going back to Texas. We are still learning!
We also decided it's probably a good idea to get a dehumidifier; although we really didn't want to and do not have a lot of space for one, probably will be an important thing to get. There may be times where we can't help but be in colder weather in the winter but we will most definitely try to avoid it as much as possible, but for now, onward South!!
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