The Adventures of Van Girl and Flea Dog- Florida Part 2

Part of the goal of this vanlife journey was to see all the National Parks.  I knew this would be hard as I made it up to Alaska because there are a few that can only be accessed by plane, but difficult National Parks would also be the case in Florida.  Florida has 3 National Parks: The Everglades, Dry Tortugas, and Biscayne.  The Everglades is the only one that’s accessible without a boat.  And especially because it’s hot here in southern Florida, I couldn’t leave Dakota all day while I went on a boat excursion and she would obviously not be allowed to come with me.  So, I embraced this fact and enjoyed what we could of the Everglades. 

By the time I got there it was already very hot.  The plan was to drive down the main road on the east side of the park and stop at every pull-out to hike.  Dakota wouldn’t be allowed to join, so I’d just walk her around the parking lots like I had done in previous parks.  The first parking lot we stopped at was scorching.  I found a shaded spot to park and sat in the van to test out the temperature.  It wasn’t dangerous, but it definitely wasn’t comfortable, so I’d have to be quick.  I was able to buy a patch again now that the government was back up and running and I did a quick loop on the Anhinga Trail, which has a boardwalk and a tremendous number of gators.  I had seen a gator from a distance behind my dad’s house, but here they were so close, and many were swimming around.  I saw baby gators and turtles as well.  And of course, birds of every shape, size, and color.

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It was too hot for Dakota to walk around much and the sun and heat had really wiped me out.  I just didn’t feel that zest for adventure that I normally felt.  I walked a couple trails and jumped in on a short ranger-led hike (which I’ve mentioned before during my time in Glacier, but if you’re visiting a National Park, I definitely recommend seeking these out- they’re free).  Just as I was feeling exhausted and kind of unfulfilled from this day, I saw the most spectacular sunset spreading out across the Everglades.  I pulled the van over and sat outside on the bumper, where I watched the sky change to every combination of colors. In that moment, I felt very full.

I had been staying at a very busy Cracker Barrel just outside of the park. Usually I’m the only camper at a Cracker Barrel or sometimes I’m joined by one other RV, but this one was BUSY!  I pulled up after watching the sunset and there were at least 10 other vehicles and everyone was standing in the parking lot, wine in hand and dog on a leash.  I had to work that night but DESPERATELY wanted to be friends with everyone.  Dakota needed to go outside anyways, so a few minutes later we were chatting in the parking lot with a bunch of retired couples on their way to the Keys.  I never used to be the kind of person who could go up and start talking to people, but I’ve become that person on the journey. 

I had planned to go down to the Keys from here as well.  I know someone who lives down there and figured there would be so much to see and explore.  As I began looking into it though, I kept reading reports of how hard it is to do vanlife in the keys.  There are strictly enforced rules about sleeping in a vehicle overnight and you can get hit with a big ticket or even taken for a night in jail.  I’ve never really been worried about being told to leave by the cops, although it’s not my favorite, they’re usually kind and just ask you to leave.  But a fine or a night in jail? No, thanks!  Plus, I had to work every evening and that made being stealthy even harder because I’d need the lights on at night.  To make it even more difficult, the heat was becoming really challenging.  Dakota was having a hard time staying cool enough and was spending hours panting, even in the van.  It’s pretty rare for Dakota to pant, so this made me worry (more than my usual amount of Dakota worrying).  I decided the stress of the Keys just wasn’t going to be worth the drive.  As much as I wanted to see them, it would have to be saved for another trip.

We couldn’t handle one more day of Miami heat.  I know it probably sounds amazing if you’re reading this from somewhere wintery, but vanlife is harder than I thought it would be in the heat.  Obviously, vanlife is hard in the cold too, and you’ve heard stories of frozen pipes and me sleeping in thermals if you’ve been following along for a bit, but the heat is just as hard.  The heat brings more challenges for Dakota, but the van also has a hard time when it’s hot.  I try and park in the shade to help with the temperature in the van, but then my solar panels don’t get any sun.  The fridge also has to work a lot harder and I run the fans at full-speed all day and night, so I’m using a lot more energy than I normally would.  So not only is it hot, but my batteries are low, and I need enough charge for my lights and computer in order to work.  It was time to head north.

Dakota was also really struggling.  She hadn’t stopped panting in days and even when the van was cool, she still couldn’t seem to cool down.  I needed a place where she could get out of the heat for the day.  I thought about calling a local vet and seeing if we could just hang out in their air-conditioned waiting room but figured that would only get Dakota more excited or stressed.  So, I found a dog-friendly brewery in Fort Meyers and spent the afternoon in there with Dakota sprawled out on the cool, concrete floor.  That night I found two more ticks on her, so I put them in a ziplock bag and went to sleep.  Dakota was still panting hard in the morning and I decided to look at that bag again… this is where I realized these weren’t ticks, they were fleas.  Perfect.  What we really needed right now was good flea infestation.

Just like ticks, fleas weren’t something I had dealt with before.  I did as much quick research as possible and then bought flea shampoo and drove to a nearby dog wash.  Then it was off to the nearest laundromat where I washed everything I could, and I threw her dog bed in the dumpster.  I had hoped to stop at my parents’ houses on my way back through again but realized that fleas would probably limit our chances to see anyone for a while.

Luckily, I have an amazing vet back in Salt Lake City who talked to me on the phone and sent me a prescription for a better flea/tick preventive.  He also kept me calm when Dakota started getting sick and reassured me that it’s probably due to stress, which would also explain her excessive panting.

Since we’d be skipping over my parents’ houses, our next stop was back to Jacksonville.  The Jacksonville guy I had adventured with a few weeks earlier had stayed in touch and we both wanted another chance to hang out before I left Florida.  Even with the flea situation, he still reassured me that he was excited to see us both.

On the way back to his place, we adventured to Blue Spring State Park, which is one of the largest winter gathering sites for manatees in Florida.  Dakota got to walk around the boardwalks with me, where we saw plenty of wildlife, but no manatees.  There were also about 50 first grade classes on field trips there, which made me thankful I wasn’t the adult responsible for them all.  Dakota was on her best behavior as we navigated the crowds of first graders who just couldn’t help but pet her, hug her, and try to get her to “do tricks.”  I used to take Dakota to my first grade classroom once a year, so she has luckily already been through the chaos of excited first graders and I know she can handle it, although it’s not her favorite pastime. 

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Soon we were back in Jacksonville and it was incredibly nice to be spending time with this guy again.  We adventured to Driftwood Beach in search of jellyfish (only found a crab and some fish), ate amazing food, and spent time cool breweries.  He showed us his favorite spots, I met some of his friends, and he hung out with me while I gave Dakota 100 flea baths.  But before I knew it, our time together was coming to a close again, this time a bit more indefinitely.  If I lived in Jacksonville, I have no doubt we’d still be together, but I’m on this amazing van journey and that won’t be ending anytime soon.

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So, what started as grabbing drinks with someone fun turned into a sad heart, which kind of made me wonder why I was doing this online dating thing anyways.  I definitely don’t regret a second of it, but these goodbyes were sure getting hard.

At the end of our time together I loaded up the van, now all clean and flea-free, and got Dakota in too.  As soon as I put her in, there was a huge boom of thunder.  She jumped right out and ran back to his door. 

Getting back on the road again is never easy, but this time was really beating us both up.  Thunder shirt on and one more sad goodbye, and we were on the road again.  The thunderstorms were on and off and Dakota was very unhappy.  I had kept her out of the van for a week while addressing the fleas, so her routine had change dramatically.  We were both struggling to adjust.

During that week that I was in Jacksonville, the homesickness hit me hard.  Like a deep ache in my heart for Utah.  I had been missing it for a while, but something changed inside me, and I missed it so bad it hurt.  I had a friend call me late one night crying and when I answered she said she just wished I was there to drink a bottle of wine with her.  I think that’s what sealed the deal.  I needed to go back to Utah.  I missed the mountains, the thin air, the familiarity, and my friends.  Hanging out with other people’s friends was great, but it wasn’t the same as being with my friends.  It has been almost 6 months now that I’ve been on this journey.  A lot has changed in 6 months and the thought of everything we’ve seen and done is exhilarating, but parts of me were starting to miss what used to be familiar.  Not just the people and places, but even myself. 

Before vanlife, I was an endurance triathlete and I completed my 3^rd half ironman triathlon last May before putting all my time and energy into building the van.  I used to spend hours everyday swimming, biking, and running.  I’ve been active and outside a lot, but nothing compared to the training I used to do.  When I look in the mirror, I also look different than I did 6 months ago.  I have spots that are softer and a strength and determination that is much harder. All of this seemed to be contributing to my homesickness and a bit of an identity crisis. 

As I’ve began this dating journey, I’ve been referred to now a few times as “van girl.”  And yeah, I guess that’s kind of what I am, but I’m also a lot more than that.  It’s kind of bizarre to have your identity become something completely different from what it used to be, and for it to happen so quickly.  While there could be worse nicknames (and maybe there are that I haven’t heard- I do know I was called “pioneer woman” once and I’d be grateful if that one didn’t stick), I’ve decided to just take it in stride and pretend it’s my superhero name.  The Adventures of Van Girl and Flea Dog.

Our way out of Florida was full of adventures and misadventures.  We hiked and drove and did our best to find good spots to sleep.  I took a chance on a spot in an open field, tagged as an approved spot to stay overnight, instead of our typical Cracker Barrel.  I figured it would be a refreshing alternative and make our transition back on the road a little nicer.  I watched the sunset and then got cozied up in bed with Dakota.  Not long after this, I heard a voice outside the van.  The man’s voice started reading off my license plate number, so I figured it was the cops and they’d be telling me to move.  No problem, I already knew where I’d go if this spot didn’t work out.  I didn’t want to startle a cop by opening the door, so I got out of bed and waited for the “cop knock”, but instead of a knock, they pulled on the handles of the back doors.  I’m diligent about locking the doors, so they didn’t open.  I’m not sure my adrenaline had ever rushed through my body so hard.  I quickly prepared to react, and then I heard the engine of their truck start up, and I watched them drive off. 

Now obviously I don’t know what their intentions were, but my best guess is that it was a park ranger/manager that possibly owned the space and didn’t think there was anyone in the van.  Why in the world someone would try and open a creepy, white van is beyond me.  There are people way crazier than me that live in vans!  They never told me to move and never knocked, but I knew I didn’t feel good about the situation.  And the beauty of a home-on-wheels is that you can move at any time.  So off we went. 

The next day we took a break from driving at a natural spring so we could stretch our legs a bit.  There wasn’t much service at this spot, but just before losing cell service I saw that there was a tornado watch issued for our location.  The weather was windy and looked like it could rain, but didn’t look tornado-y.  Soon there was a distant rumble of thunder, so it was time to get Dakota out of there.  I planned my next stop about 30 minutes away but had a back-up plan 15 minutes down the road in case the weather got bad.  Not long into getting on the freeway, my wipers couldn’t keep up with the rain.  I didn’t feel comfortable driving and decided to just go to the 15-minute stop, which I had unfortunately just passed the exit for.  No big deal, I figured I’d just get off at the next exit.  Turns out this next exit was 8 miles away and there were no overpasses to hide under during this entire stretch.  The weather was turning worse and there was lots of thunder and lightning that was so startling, I was shaking as much as Dakota was.  I passed a truck that had hydroplaned into the median and the road was so flooded all you could see was water.  Forrest also acts like a giant sail in the wind so I was doing everything I could to not get blown into the surrounding lanes.  I was driving 35mph and so was everyone around me.  What felt like 10 years later, we made it to the next exit, and I pulled into the truck stop right off the road.  I opened my phone and saw it was now a tornado warning, with a tornado spotted 5 miles away.  Dakota didn’t know what to do, she was trying to dig at the door to get outside and I was preparing to run into the truck stop with her.  Then I looked around and saw lots of calm faces pumping gas and waiting in the huge McDonalds drive through.  Nobody else was panicking the way I was.  Unsure about whether my panicking was justified, I kept an eye on the radar and on everyone around me and I built Dakota a fort to try and make her feel safe.  In a home, Dakota will typically go hide in a bathroom when she’s scared but she doesn’t have a space like that in the van, so I draped my quilt across the kitchen, and she hunkered down below it.  It wasn’t long before the line of storms had passed, and everything got quiet again.  Turns out this was the same line of storms that ripped through Alabama, taking 23 lives.  I’m considering us to be extremely lucky. 

It was time for me to get grounded again.  As much as I don’t mind being Van Girl, I was ready to feel more like Jenny again.  Spending six months mostly alone gives you an amazing opportunity to discover yourself, and I feel like I’ve done a really great job at learning exactly who I am.  It was time to get back to the basics of what makes me Jenny and what makes me happy, and do exactly those things. 

My first step was to get off social media.  Social media is tricky because it’s how I stay connected with my community, keep in touch with friends and family, and share my journey.  It’s also how I waste most of my time, which is leaving less time for the things that actually make me happy.  So, since I have no self-control with social media, I deleted Facebook and Instagram from my phone.  Now any downtime was to be used to sit quietly, plan where we’d go next, or write. 

The next step was to go hiking.  The one thing that makes me happier than anything else in the entire world is following my dog down a trail.  Nothing makes my heart feel like it’s going to burst with love quite like adventuring with Dakota.  So, I found a section of the Florida Trail and Dakota and I had the most soul-refreshing, off-grid, off-leash adventure. 

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This next week off social media has been all about doing the things that Jenny does to feel grounded: running, biking, hiking, writing, and spending quality time with my pup.  I talked to friends off social media and found other ways to feel connected.  If you don’t know what it is that makes you feel like yourself and helps you reset, then maybe it’s time to focus on getting in tune with yourself and your happiness.

We drove a lot that week, skipping over states in an attempt to get back to the landscape I love.  We sprinkled in little adventures here and there, with the ultimate goal of getting to Texas before slowing down again.

The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.

Ralph Waldo Emerson