Let’s go to the Beach

This next chapter begins near Sarasota, Florida, where my parents spend the winter as snowbirds.  My parents divorced when I was very young and have both been remarried for a while now.  I am immensely fortunate to have two wonderful parents who, despite being divorced, still get along VERY well.  I have sat through many celebratory dinners surrounded by my mom, stepdad, dad, and stepmom seated all around the same table.  I know these family dynamics are unique and I’m thankful every day for it.  About a year and a half ago, I had been talking to my mom and she told me the exciting news that she and my stepdad were buying a home down in Florida to escape to during the winter when the sun disappears from Michigan.  My jaw dropped.  Just a day earlier I had received an email from my dad with the details on the new home in Florida that HE had just bought!  What a weird coincidence!  But wait, it gets weirder.  They both purchased homes 7 MILES from each other.

This is where we are all very lucky.  This was a hilarious realization, and nobody had to turn around and immediately sell their home.  The best part of this situation is that when my sister and I visit them in Florida, we get to see them both!  So, this was the case as I made my way to their Florida homes with Forrest and Dakota.  I easily bounced between my mom’s and my dad’s depending on their schedules and it was just a quick drive down the street either way.

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My time with them was lovely.  I ate fancy meals at restaurants (something that never happens on my vanlife budget), spent time in the sunshine next to the pool, started running again, and just enjoyed a break from the daily logistics of life on the road.  Dakota and I always sleep in the van still when we visit anyone because why wouldn’t you want to sleep in your own bed with your own stuff nearby? But I definitely enjoyed not worrying about where we would move to or how much water we had left.  I got to visit with grandparents, uncles, and an aunt who live down there as well, which was such a nice treat.  My dad also had a ladder big enough for me to climb up on the van and address the rust I noticed back in Michigan over Thanksgiving, and now there was no snow on top so I could take care of it.  And the warm weather- the shorts, sunscreen, tank tops, SANDALS- pure heaven!

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And then suddenly I can feel the itch.  The need to go.  And so, it was time to get back in the van after all the clothes were washed, floors were vacuumed, and water filled up.  But I wouldn’t be heading south like you might think…

During that quick overnight stop in Jacksonville on my way to Sarasota, I was killing time on the dating app, Tinder.  As I went to leave the next morning, I got a message from a guy in Jacksonville. I told him I was already on my way out so we unfortunately wouldn’t get to hang out.  He wished me safe travels and suggested a few spots to ride my bike near my parents’ houses.  But then we kept messaging.  We had a lot in common and I found him incredibly interesting.  So after about 2 weeks of messages, we decided it might be worth meeting up.  I hadn’t seen any of Jacksonville and had no reason not to make the detour.  We planned to meet for drinks and decided if it went as well as we thought it would, we would take a little road trip for the weekend.  My last relationship started with an immediate road trip as well, I think it’s the best way to decide whether you’re compatible.  You learn quickly in close quarters for long periods of time whether you like a person or not!

Well, he was as cool as I thought he’d be.  We enjoyed good beer, pizza, and a freezing cold walk on the beach.  Then decided we’d head out the next evening and make our way towards Tallahassee.

Our road trip consisted of seeing some cool new cities (Lake City and Tallahassee), hiking to sinkholes and the largest whitewater rapids in Florida, and drinking great beer at interesting breweries.  I did my best to show him real vanlife: he got to experience random people asking him questions about the van, the joys of dumping the toilet/graywater (or watching me do that), and spending the night at a Cracker Barrel.  The long weekend went by too quickly and soon it was time for me to move along and for him to go back to real life. 

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And this is where it gets tricky again.  Where does that leave us?  Will we see each other again or do we just move on?  I was sad to leave, but that’s what I do… so off I went.

My next leg of this trip was to move south along the east coast of Florida, so my first stop was St. Augustine.  It felt kind of crazy to be on the beach here.  I had walked along the beach in Virginia Beach, Hilton Head, and Jacksonville, but this was the first time I had been to the beach in really warm, sunny weather.  My body and brain were sending mixed signals.  It felt like I was on vacation, which is a bizarre feeling when you’re not on vacation, and it also felt like summer.  My body even tried convincing my brain that it was summer and suddenly I’d panic that I had forgotten my sister’s birthday (in July), yet it’s only February. 

While this sounds funny to be all mixed up because of a beautiful beach and warm weather, it really started to make me homesick for Utah.  While I was lathering up sunscreen and brushing off sand, my teaching friends back home got their first snow day since 1993.  That made home feel really far away.  I’m not saying I wasn’t enjoying the beach, that’s DEFINITELY not what I’m saying, but for the first time I really felt this ache for home.  I was starting to feel how long I had been gone for and not only that I was on the other side of the country, but apparently in a different month on the calendar as well. 

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I spent the day on the beach in summer clothes and tried to manage hot temperatures with the van and Dakota.  I spent a few hours writing on the beach and just watching the waves.  I was parked in a beach parking lot that had been tagged by an app that I use indicating that you could park there in a van overnight.  When the sun had set, there were two other vans in the lot.  I was so excited to wake up right on the beach here and was looking forward to taking a cup of coffee for a sandy morning walk with the dog.  I crawled into bed and closed my eyes.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

That unmistakable cop-knock.  There is no question when you hear that sound.  I don’t know if they teach cops to knock in a certain way while they’re training, but they have a knock that allows your brain to skip over the thought of, “I wonder who’s here,” and allows you to go straight to, “it’s the cops.”

I opened the door in my pjs, and the cop told me I can’t park here.  Then he asked me if I’m with the other vans, since he was surprised to see so many of us parked here.  I told him I wasn’t, and then moved along to the trusty Cracker Barrel down the road. 

I spent the next day at the same beach spot again, I couldn’t get enough of the relaxing waves and sunshine.  I wouldn’t be trying the spot overnight again, obviously, but it was perfect during the day.  Usually when I stay at Cracker Barrel, I like to call ahead and get permission to stay.  Since I got there so late the night before, they were already closed so I just stayed without asking and had no trouble.  But today, I figured I’d call.  When I did though, they told me they only allow one night.  I had technically already used my one night.  My app also indicated that every Walmart in the area didn’t allow overnight parking.  Darn.  I risked one more night at Cracker Barrel, figuring that nobody would be watching too closely, and knowing I’d have to move along the next day. 

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St. Augustine was a really cool place and I wish there were more van-friendly places to park so I could have stayed longer.  I took Dakota to the historic “downtown” part of St. Augustine the next day.  We wandered around and window shopped for a bit.  There were tons of school groups and Dakota attracted a LOT of attention. It quickly got too hot for Dakota, so she got to head back to the van for a little afternoon nap while I took advantage of being able to go into the stores without a dog.  I also went on a little scavenger hunt to find one of St. Augustine’s love trees, which are made up of two trees, one growing out of another.  It was pretty cool to see and was a fun little adventure to try and find it.  I treated myself to two small souvenirs to decorate the van with and then it was time to move along.

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This brought us to our next stop near New Smyrna, which is just south of Daytona Beach.  After a few days of laying on the beach, it was time for a proper outdoor adventure again.  I found some mountain bike trails and figured I’d check them out quick before deciding whether to bring Dakota along.  As I was getting the bike ready though, the van was getting REALLY warm. 

I closed the van doors, cracked the windows, turned up the fan, and sat in the closed van with Dakota to see how the temperature was.  It didn’t take long for it to be uncomfortable.  There was no way I’d be leaving her in there and it was already too hot to bring her along on the trail.  I found a shaded spot across the park where I could park the van under a tree, so I packed everything up and tried that instead.  It worked great and I got in a ride that ended up being longer than anticipated.  Of course, I spent most of the ride freaking out about my dog overheating in the van.  When I got back, the van was still nice and cool, and Dakota immediately jumped out to go bake in the sunshine. I was now on high-alert about ticks after our adventure in Savannah, so I’ve gotten in the habit of checking Dakota before she gets back in the van.  I found one and this one was quicker than ticks I had found in the past (spoiler alert: it’s not a tick).  Then we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the van with the doors open, enjoying the breeze and great weather. 

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The next day I went back, this time taking Dakota for a trail run so that she could share in the fun.  It felt like it had been years since I had been trail running.  After the run I opened all of the van doors again and got ready to make some post-run breakfast and coffee.  Dakota was laying outside the van on her dog bed and it only took a minute for another dog to come over and say hi.  The dog was joined by a nice couple that was very interested in seeing the van.  I gave the van tour and told some stories, and before I knew it, we had been chatting for nearly an hour!  Dakota was enjoying the company too and even showed off by pretending to enjoy playing fetch.  The couple and I exchanged numbers and they offered me a parking spot for the night (just another instance of meeting INCREDIBLE people on this journey).  As soon as they left though, I had a decent-sized crowd of people and dogs checking out the van.  3 hours later I finally made that post-run breakfast and coffee.  I love talking to people about the van and I will always love meeting interesting people and exchanging stories, but these experiences always go over better if I’ve been properly fed and caffeinated first.  It was 3pm and I was starving and exhausted.  Sometimes it’s hard to go from a lot of alone time to hours of straight conversation.  I’ll always be thankful for those times, but I was ready for a quiet night.

I spent the next day adventuring around New Smyrna Beach, which is a cool little area. Dakota and I walked around in the rain and I enjoyed a beer with a new friend at a rooftop bar. 

We left the next day with a quick pitstop to a dog beach.  Dakota is terrified of waves, so she stays as far from the ocean as possible.  The beach we visited here had a quiet spot without waves, so Dakota ventured into the water to cool off.  This is where she learned the hard lesson about salt water.  She took 2 big gulps and then did her best to spit it all back out.  She tried a couple more times too before realizing it wasn’t normal water. 

Over the next day or so we made our way to our next stop, a place to park along the beach in Jupiter.  I was so excited about this spot that I pushed the limits of needing a shower in order to enjoy some beach time before dark.  Dakota and I took a stroll on the beach, where we found hundreds of man o’ wars on the sand.  Unfortunately, Dakota thought these were awesome and I had to pull a few from her mouth. Luckily, they were dead and nearly dried up at that point, so neither of us got hurt.  After our stroll on the beach I did one of the most vanlife things I’ve done so far, I put on my bathing suit at dusk and rinsed off in the beach shower along the road since I had passed up a proper shower opportunity earlier.  I think that might upgrade my hippy status one level.

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This van spot was amazing because it was on a road that was right along the beach, with a nice big sidewalk and a row of trees separating the van from the sand.  The van was in full sun during the day, which was great for the solar panels, but the van was very warm by the time we settled in that night.  I cooked dinner then decided I needed to air the van out since it was warmer inside the van than outside.  I opened all the windows and doors but didn’t want to attract bugs.  I got better airflow without my bug screens on, so I sat in the dark and watched the stars from the van door while I ate.  The van was pulled up right on the sidewalk, but it was dark, so nobody was out walking anymore. 

Suddenly though, someone walked past and startled me because I wasn’t expecting someone to walk up so close (he was on the sidewalk, but that was right next to me at the door).  We exchanged “hi’s” and he said, “cool van” and I felt like a total creep for sitting there in the dark.  A minute later he passed by again and stopped to ask me about the van.  I made sure to immediately tell him why I was sitting in the dark to try and play it off as not so creepy (he was a good-looking guy, of course) and we spent close to the next hour chatting right there on the street.  The next day was his first day off in over a month, so we exchanged numbers and planned to meet early for a hike so that I could hit the road in the afternoon.  Is this how people used to meet back in the old days? It sort of felt like the beginning of a cheesy romcom.

I woke up to rain, and a text asking how I liked my coffee.  A little rain wasn’t going to stop Dakota and I from a good adventure!  He took us to a nearby trail and we bushwhacked through all sorts of mud and plants.  By the time we were done hiking we were covered in dirt and scraped up from unexpected thorns, it was definitely an adventure!  I checked Dakota for ticks and found 3 this time (again, not ticks).

I really had no reason to leave that day, other than I wasn’t planning to stay in Jupiter, but we were both having too much fun for that to still seem like a good plan, so I figured I’d stay another night.  We spent the rest of the day cooking food in the van and checking out a local brewery.

The next day I woke up to a text when I finished teaching, asking if I had looked at the van yet because someone had vandalized it.  I jumped out of the van and saw a little gift on the windshield with this note:

Today was Valentine’s Day, a day I had assured myself would just pass unnoticed in the van.  Social media was plastered in love and couples and was such a great reminder of how today was Valentine’s Day, whether I wanted it to be or not.  I stayed as busy as possible by walking Dakota on the beach and going to the gym, and then planned to drive south some more.  I don’t know if it was the holiday making me sluggish, the amazing parking spot, or the fact that deep down I didn’t feel ready to leave, but suddenly it was 5pm and I was still in Jupiter.  I texted my new friend asking if he had plans after work and he told me his only plan was to take me out for Valentine’s Day.  Swoon.

He took me out to a nice dinner at a really unique little restaurant that had an awesome 90’s acoustic cover band playing music like Dave Matthews and Counting Crows.  It was one of the best Valentine’s Days I’ve had in years. 

Now even though this sounds all perfect and romantic, we really were just good friends.  Maybe that’s just the way the Universe wanted it to play out, and it was probably all for the best. So the next day I took off to Miami.

“Don’t settle for anyone whose homeostasis doesn’t get thrown a little out of whack every time you make eye contact with them.”

Jupiter Friend