8/26 Update on My Plans

I've been slowly adding things to my motorhome as it is back in storage.  I may end up selling it in Florida, so I don't want to leave too much stuff in it, so I am focusing on only leaving stuff that is old or that I do not care about leaving.  For example, I had a large toolbox stored at my son's house that I used in my old condo.  When I started full-timing, I put a few things in a canvas tool bag and then moved them to kitchen drawers when I moved into this condo.  I ended up with a lot of duplicates, so I sorted through screwdrivers, wrenches, etc. and put only the older ones in my RV tool bag.  Ditto for kitchen stuff and bedding.  

I've also been looking at some larger fabric dog crates and found a couple that will fold up but fit under my rear dinette in my RV.  They have a lot of ventilation windows so I'll cover those to give the kitty a little cave.  I can get one that is about 24" wide, 30" long, and 24" tall, which will fit nicely under my dinette and give kitty a lot more room than her carrier.  

 Big mistake I made after my last two-day trial run was not cleaning the refrigerator well enough  afterwards.  I went to check on things a couple of days ago and found a couple hundred dead and dying bugs of some sort in the refrigerator.  When I pulled out the fruit and vegetable drawers I discovered that there was old food stuck on and underneath them, plus the shelves were dirty, no doubt attracting all the bugs.  I cleaned it up as best I could, and brought out some cleaner with bleach in it, so I'll do a better job when I have time to open the slide to give me more access next time.  

I also have to ramp up my training the kitten to wear the harness I bought her.  As is typical of cats, the first couple of tries resulted in her thinking I was tying her up and doing horrible things to her.  I have learned, however, that real tuna is her weak spot.  I cannot give her more than a few shreds because of lead and mercury, but she loves even a tiny bit and it keeps her distracted.  She also knows what the word "tuna" means and will come running for it!

 Anyway, got my reservations for Florida arranged for mid-November to just before Christmas, so that is done.  Looking forward to my travels again!  

 

8/8/2026 I'm Back!!!!!!

Some of you may know that after almost 14 years of full-timing, I emptied my motorhome, bought a detached condo in northeast Ohio not too far from one of my sons, unpacked and got settled, adopted a tiny kitten, then had a reverse shoulder replacement. My motorhome was in storage, and my son advertised it for me and showed it to seven potential buyers. All were scared off by the extremely high mileage I had on the engine, and though I got a couple of offers, they were very low. So, about a month ago, I decided that rather than sell it for almost nothing and renting a condo in Florida for a month or so every year and doing some other traveling, I would keep it and use it as a sort of hotel. The outside is losing some of the gel coat, but the original full body paint still looks good, and all of the appliances work well, many of which were replaced in the past two years. I also had it checked by a truck repair place I trust here in Ohio a while back.

So, right now, my plans are to drive it and my new kitten, Maggie, down to Florida in mid-November, spend about a month down there, put it in storage in Florida, and either drive a rental car or fly back here with my kitten. I have four sets of cousins in Florida I am fairly close to, and already have an invitation for Thanksgiving.

I went out a week ago and relined all the shelves and drawers and did some cleaning. I have been sorting out a lot of the old stuff I had had and replaced for my condo, so that stuff also got moved in a few days ago. On Wednesday, I spent two nights in a full-hookup site in a nearby state park where I could flush my water tank to get rid of the old winter antifreeze. 

One son thinks my plans are good ones, the other son thinks I am too old at 83, but is not really fighting me. My shoulder is much better after my reverse shoulder replacement 8 weeks ago, and I feel a lot more enthusiastic about life having something to do and places to go.

The big issue is going to be the kitten!! When I adopted her, they told me to kitten-proof my house! Ha!! If any of you have had an 8-week old kitten, you know that is ridiculous advice. She is now almost 5 months old and weighs a whopping 5.6 pounds, but she can still get into the tiniest of places, so besides her carrier, I am going to look for something bigger to confine her as we drive long days, with a few stops to give her a break. QUESTION: I am thinking of putting a larger dog crate or a wire dog cage under my two-person dinette to give her a bit more room. Any suggestions? She will be 8 months old by mid-November. I am also going to start on leash training.

My two-day test camping trip went well, and kitten managed to investigate every inch of the inside of my motorhome.  She loves to sit and watch out windows or the windshield to watch squirrels.  She makes herself really tall when watching sometimes:

She got really scared one night when it rained and thundered because she is not used to hearing those noises in my house.  She came into my bed and stood on me, so I grabbed her and cuddled her next to me.  I partly covered her up with the comforter and kept a hand on her, so she finally settled down and after the rain stopped, she went back to sleeping elsewhere.  The only problem was all the meowing she did in the carrier on the way and back home, so we are going to have to work on that, as well as leash training.  I did put the harness on her for about an hour, but she got into the "I'm paralyzed and can't move" act for the first few minutes.  At least later as she moved about, she was not able to remove it.  

At least she has learned the favorite napping place for camping cats: