Have You Missed Us?

Hey everybody! 

We know you haven’t heard from The Happy Campers in a while, but we’ve been hunkered down in Florida escaping the cold and the snow.  We know it was a mild winter, and trust us, we’re very happy about that because it kept our average temperature between 70-80 degrees down here.  Yeah, it’s been a real hardship!!  We’re heading North soon, so we figured this was a good opportunity to give a quick update on what we’ve been up to.

First, a friend of ours had these awesome 98 square feet t-shirts made for us!  They are so adorable, and if you look closely (or enlarge the picture), we're in the windows on the shirt with pigtails....so cute!  Thanks JK - we LOVE them!

Going back a while - we had a lovely holiday season – spending it right on the Atlantic Ocean in Palm Coast (just north of Daytona).  We managed to cook up a 5 course meal and a delicious turkey on our tiny grill for Thanksgiving.   Seriously, it was delicious and we think we’ll make turkey like that every year!! 

Yes, this tiny grill made a
very yummy turkey!

For Christmas and New Year’s we enjoyed sunny skies and an amazing sunrise to start 2012!  We’re not sure anything can top 2011, but it sure was a great way to start off the New Year!

Jan 1, 2012
Sunrise from our camper

We toured through Daytona a few times – honestly, it’s nothing to write home about.  It’s a bit run down, but it was cool to see the Daytona Speedway and take a drive on the beach! 

Little Miss Jeep
on the beach!

For the months of January - March, we moved to a campground in central Florida.   We decided the price was right (ie: cheap!), and it would allow us to focus on whipping ourselves into shape and working on a plan for our next adventure.  So honestly, our lives haven’t been overly exciting!  We actually fell into a little monotonous routine which played out kinda like this:

Monday:  Bachelor night and texting with Bobbie Lu.  Yes, we had many good laughs on Mondays while killing off brain cells watching Ben and Courtney find true love!  Sample text messages went something like this:

A&T:  “Not sure how we recall anything given our brain cell reduction”

Bobbie Lu:  “I have to speak intelligently tomorrow.  Not sure I can pull that off after 3 hours of this shit”

A&T: “Courtney basically lied through her teeth about the other girls”

Bobbie Lu: “She did lie. It’s all for drama.  All I know is I want to go to Switzerland.  Damn”

A&T: “I know, doesn’t it look amazing?  We have no brain cells left”

Bobbie Lu: “We will never get this time of our life back.  IQ dropping rapidly”

Oh dear lord, Mondays have never been so entertaining!  Thanks, Bobbie Lu, for filling our Monday nights with so much laughter these past couple of months!  But please don’t make us watch The Bachelorette!

Yes, we even text messaged each other tabloid
pictures while out shopping!  Major Dorks!

Tuesday:  Tracy plays Bingo!  Yes, Bingo.  And I won $92 one night!  Woot woot!  But the best part was the giant Armadillo that jumped out and scared me to death on the walk back to the camper!  Yes, good times, good times!

Yes, proof of the winnings,
but wish I had a shot of
the Armadillo

Wednesday:  It’s Soup day!  Yes, we all converge in the Club House at noon to eat homemade soup.  Yummy!

We didn't have a soup picture, but here's
a shot of our ice cream social - pretty
much the same!

Thursday:  Amy goes to Crafting Club!  She’s made a bunch of great things and started her Etsy Store.  You can check out her stuff using the link below!

Amy's Store - Chapter Two Creations


Friday:  Library on Wheels shows up!  This rocks!  We’ve checked out so many books, movies, magazines, music, etc.  And it’s all free.  It’s been awesome!  We wish we could bring it with us!

Such a great perk!

Saturday:  After all the weeks’ excitement, it’s time to hit the pool and relax! 

Working on our tans!

Sunday:  While everyone seems to scoot off to church, we do our interval training workout on the grand lawn and crank our music!  We’re sure they think we’re nuts! (That's ok, we're fairly confident they are, too) Or we hit the gym and pump the iron!  Ok, we do this more than just Sundays, but it's the best day to actually see people our own age!

Tracy's personal best to date
35lb weights! Go baby!

Ok, so we certainly have done more than just the above, but we thought it would be fun to give you a flavor of what happens when you hole up with the Snow Birds (ie: elders) down here in Florida at an RV Park out in the sticks!  Some other exciting things have been:

A giant Rat Snake crawled up the tree just outside our camper – we didn’t like that so much!

The yucky snake!

We hosted a Happy Hour and shared scrumptious Jelly Shots with all our new friends!  Yes, seniors can put some jelly shots away!

Ok, we forgot to take a pic of
the actual shots, but we
got the shot of the alcohol

There are LOTS of dogs, but our two favorites have been Charlie and Bonnie - so cute!

Charlie
So adorable and comes by for
chicken at night! Spoiled!!

Bonnie
Only a face a mother could love -
along with Amy!

Amy’s parents came down and spent February at The Villages – which is a massive golf cart retirement community.  Everyone drives really cool looking golf carts around.  Amy is convinced we’re buying a retirement home there the second I turn 55!  It’s very neat, but WAY too hot to be here in the summer!

Happy Hour in the Square with
Wil and Joyce

One of the cool golf carts
that cruises the Villages!

We discovered (and are addicted to) a show called “Storage Wars” where people buy abandoned storage units.  There’s a good chance we may just take our own Storage unit and sell it to the highest bidder when we get home in April!! Yuuuuuup!

So much fun to watch these people try to screw each other!

And best of all, we landed an amazing Work Kamp gig on Cape Cod this summer!  We’re super excited to spend the summer in New England, and we certainly can’t complain about being on Cape Cod!!  Hopefully we'll have some visitors (hint, hint friends & family) and can take in some Sox games!

Cape Camp or bust...check it out!

I think there’s only one additional thing, as we mentioned, we’ll be in Maine for the month of April.  We’re leaving the warm weather behind (and the annoying caterpillars that make you itch like hell if they touch you) and heading home to tie up some loose ends and visit with friends and family before having to report to the Cape on May 1!   We look forward to seeing many of you very soon!

This is our annoying Caterpillar
Besides being our Bachelor Buddy, Bobbie Lu
has also been our animal consultant. She
identified it as a Tussock Moth Caterpillar.
Then she told us to get the hell outta here and get home!
Ok, Bobbie - we're coming!!

Until the next exit…

Amy & Tracy

Ho, Ho, Ho!

Hello everyone.....it's Christmas Day and we wanted to wish all of you a Very Merry Holiday!!  We certainly missed spreading the yuletide cheer with family and friends this year.....but the Florida sun has lessened the sadness a bit!  Tracy even celebrated with her own little Christmas Day "polar dip" into the Atlantic....check out the video:
http://youtu.be/mGoXX2mrQ0I

We also thought we would share our 2011 Christmas Card & Holiday letter with our readers....we hope you enjoy! 

Until the next exit,

Amy & Tracy

Happy Holidays!

To say that 2011 was an exciting year for us would be a bit of an understatement.  As some of you know, we embarked on a little “adventure” – a term we coined when we started dreaming about this  7+ years ago.  We originally envisioned a fun hiatus from normal daily life to hit the open road and see some amazing sights.  What we didn’t realize is the entire process (from planning to execution) would forever change how we look at life.  I guess you could say we woke up one day, looked around at all the “things” we had accumulated that require a great deal of time, money and space to upkeep and had an epiphany – do we own our “stuff” or does it own us?  Our mantra quickly became “own less, live more” and it led us down an inspiring path of selling our home, our cars and at least 1/3 of our belongings.  We packed the bare necessities into a 98 square foot RV (with the rest in storage), and embarked on the journey of a lifetime! 

Collectively, we had zero experience with how to operate an RV….or much of an itinerary for that matter….but we figured it out as the miles passed.   And we certainly found the “adventure” we were looking for!   After  172 days on the road, we’ve traveled 17,813 miles, visited 32  states, and sat on countless beaches.   We got caught in a buffalo herd in SD, learned to sandboard in the OR dunes, were amazed by hot air balloons in NM, were awed by the Redwoods in CA, laughed hysterically at theme parks in PA and WI, and were inspired by artists in San Diego…the list of memories is truly endless.

With 5,000+ pictures documenting our journey, it was almost impossible to choose only 13 for our card!  We tried to pick a fun handful though…..

·         Big Sur, CA – enjoying McWay Falls which crashes directly onto the beach below

·         Nashville, TN – sitting on our 98 square foot doorstep before heading downtown for live music

·         White Sands, NM – such an incredible place!  Who needs snow? We made gypsum sand angels!

·         Yellowstone Nat’l Park, WY – one of our favorite stops where we enjoyed summer days by the water’s edge

·         Napa, CA – a tasty flight of Reds at Frog’s Leap winery

·         Charleston, SC – oh cannonballs!!  We loved this city’s rich history and opulent charm

·         Mt. View, CA – kayaking at Shoreline Park where we also learned how to paddle board

·         Chicago, IL – cocktails on Navy Pier after a walk around the city

·         Carmel, CA – a relaxing day in the sand with Pebble Beach golf course as our backdrop

·         Grand Canyon South Rim, AZ – just hanging out on the edge was very surreal

·         Pismo Beach, CA – reeling in “the big one” while fishing on the pier

·         Custer State Park, SD – pulled over to feed some wild jackasses  we saw while out for a drive

·         Sedona, AZ – a hike to the “vortex” for a great view and spiritual experience

While we miss our family and friends very much, we have thoroughly enjoyed our mobile lifestyle.  When we grow tired of the view out the back window, we simply roll out of town with our little house in tow!  Right now, we’re in Flagler Beach, FL with the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean about 15 steps off our front door…..so we may just stick around for a bit J  Many of you have followed our “adventure” via our blog and/or facebook…..your comments, emails, texts, phone calls and support have meant more to us than a simple Christmas letter can possibly express and we carry you with us wherever we go!  We hope you have the Merriest of Holidays and the New Year brings realized dreams and daily adventures!

Love,  Amy & Tracy

Charmed by Charleston!

Hey everybody, the Happy Campers had a very busy November!!  With the "adventure" part of our trip winding down, we've been putting some focus into where we're going to settle for the winter here in FL.  But before that, we did manage to hit some beautiful parts of South Carolina and Georgia.

After pulling out of Maine and heading south, we picked up 98 square feet in NC and pointed our wheels towards the coast.  

First stop - Charleston, SC.  We absolutely loved this charming little southern seaside community. It was so rich in history and no different than any other town that we loved - we pretty much ate, drank and walked our way around town on several occassions!  And it's a place that we could almost see ourselves living - beautiful ocean, cool downtown, lots of activities, etc.  Of course that means we'd have to pick up adorable southern accents....which Tracy has been diligently practicing!

"Yes, I'm just the cutest southern bell you ever did lay eyes on"  It flows right off the tongue!

Here are the highlights of our coastal trip to this lovely city:
Charleston

Isle of Palms - very cool little island with absolutely stunning beach homes.  We loved starting our day with a walk on the beach and collecting amazing shells that lined miles of beautiful sandy shores. 

 

Just a sampling of the shells we
collected one day!



Miles of beautiful beach to take our morning stroll on

Downtown Charleston - as usual, we found some great pubs with good food and good beers.....and thanks to our handy AAA books, we took a cool walking tour through the downtown area to take in some culture.   The really neat thing about downtown were all the gas lanterns that adorned the streets as their street lights and are also featured on many people's homes - so beautiful and historic.

Balls!  Historic parks had cool war time displays - including
this one complete with Cannonballs!

Historic buildings all through
the area

Gas Lanterns everywhere - such a unique touch
to this historically rich city

Southern charm - huge, old mansions overlook
the parks and the bay.



Cannons once protected this area and supported
the Fort out on the bay



Cemeteries - wow, these were so amazing....tombstones from the 1700's.....really cool expereince!

Strolling through these cemeteries
was actually not creepy at all

We found ourselves looking at each one since
dates back to the 1700's fascinated us

 

Southend Brewery - quickly became a favorite, and was supposedly haunted.  The only ghosts we experienced were the ones who apparently kept emptying our glasses!



Even pubs are old...Circa 1880



The Griffon - our kind of place - a dive bar! When we walked in, there was a small wedding party (bride and groom included) on one side and a chic wearing a knit turkey hat on the other side....and the place was covered in dollar bills....Loved It!! 

 

The exact kind of dark, eerie pub you want to visit
when in a town like Charleston!


Sticky Fingers BBQ - no trip would be complete without some delicious southern wings and that's just what we got - the BBQ/Ranch dipping sauce was amazing!!  The drinks were yummy, too

Loved the name - couldn't
resist stopping in!



These went perfect with our
wing appetizer!



Rooftop Bar - had a couple of cocktails with an old friend, Kelly Moran, and enjoyed the incredible view.  Plus, we learned that no building can be taller than the church steeple....yes, religion is very strong down here in the south!  Apparently the Happy Campers forgot to snap some photos!

Cupcake - Like most college towns, Charleston has a collection of neat little shops all around - so when we saw "Cupcake", we knew we had to have one (or two)!  Plus, Martha gave them a thumbs up!  Delicious - and a good laugh since we ate them in the car while parked next to a church as a wedding let out.....nothing like stuffing your face with a chocolate cream cheese frosted cupcake while watching some poor chick squeezed into a wedding dress!



Amy promised to get ONE and we would
split it.  Guess how many came out?
Yep, TWO!


Festival of Lights - Voted in the Top 10 of Christmas light displays each year!  On James Island, they assemble this amazing 3 mile drive of Christmas Lights every year....and just our luck, it opened while we were there!  We couldn't believe how cool it was with everything from deer to animated snowball fights, to an undersea world, to candyland - it was endless with imagination!  The pictures can never do it justice since many of the lights had movement to them....and it's hard to capture the magic that comes with flickering lights via camera. 

This was cool - the dragon swims up as the fisherman
tries to reel in his catch



Snowball fight over the road as snowman family
watches - very fun!



Ahoy Matey!  Crap, here comes a Croc!

All different "lands" lined the streets



The church was cool



Tracy's personal favorite.  Sponsored by Weight Watchers,
Rudolph and Santa are measuring the chimney. 
Seriously made me laugh out loud!

Animals heading to the arc before we head into Candyland



The farm had some charm to it with the green grass














Boone Plantation - the incredible 500+ year old oak trees that line the entrance were the inspiration for scenes in Gone with the Wind.  And the original brick slave houses are still standing and now provide education to folks who visit.  The history of this place was amazing - they've produced everything from cotton, to bricks, to pecans...always adapting to the demands of the area.

500 year old trees greeted us as we drove into the Plantation

Sitting on the deck where supplies would arrive to the
Plantation via boats on waterway channels.
This structure burnt down, and they rebuilt it
to maintain the Plantations heritage



 

Inside one of the Slave Houses



Slave House Row.  It's unimaginable that not long ago,
our great country once condoned slavery.
Reading all the amazing history was truly inspiring.
It's incredible to see the timelines and realize we went from
ugly discrimination to having an African American President
in the last 100 years.  Thankfully , we've come a long way.

The Plantation
This area has been used in the making of
many movies....including The Notebook



Battle of Secessionville was going on when we were
visiting - yep, the South still loses I'm afraid



Can't you just see us dressed up like this?  LOL!



One of the most photographed trees - it's branches
extend out in so many directions.





The Smokehouse
Built in 1750 - the oldest existing structure on the Plantation
It seriously still smells like smoked meat inside! 


As you can see, we really enjoyed Charleston.   If it stayed just a bit warmer in the winter, there's no question 98 square feet would have taken up residence for the next few months. 

Dear, sweet Charleston, I do believe we'll be back one day to take in more of your amazing grace and charm! (said with a southern drawl)

Until the next exit...

Amy & Tracy