I have to be honest. Florida is not my favorite state. It’s hot, muggy, buggy, spidery, traffic-y, and extremely people-y. However, there are a bunch of folks I love who live there, so we make trips to the Sunshine State quite often.
In RV life, we run into all kinds of people who become fast friends. It’s sort of like living in a sticks-and-bricks neighborhood, but the people next to us change often and the circle of connections becomes much larger. Once those friendships are made, social media makes it extremely easy to keep in touch with the location and activities of our friends.
For example, we crossed paths with Steve and Laura, from The Wandering RVer, three times in the last few months. After following one another’s blogs since we started full-time RVing, we accidentally met for the first time in Arizona (my post about our first in-person meeting is here, and her entry about the same meeting is here). We gathered together again in Texas after their exciting months in Alaska (please check out their Alaska adventures and photographs on Laura’s blog–they are AMAZING). During our stay in the nature coast of Florida this winter, Laura and Steve (along with her Dad, Mike) helped make the visit tolerable by sharing adventures and good food.
The photo above is a card front I made for Laura to thank her for the wonderful adventures while our paths intersected in Florida. I’ll have some blog posts coming up with photos of some of our misadventures, which includes manatees, gators, kayaks, and even a hippo.
Thank you, Laura and Steve, for reminding us that life on the road is not only filled with experiences we live individually, but how much those adventures are enriched when shared with friends and family. We learn this over and over in almost every spot we stay.
It’s here I’ll close with the phrase “Happy Manatees.” It’s an inside joke between Laura and me, but I promise it means love, robust laughter, and memorable times which bring a smile.
Do you find that RV life opens up more social interaction with our ‘neighbors,’ or do you find sticks-and-bricks a higher opportunity to forge ‘community?’
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Our chance meet up and our comfortable friendship is definitely one of the highlights of our life on the road. While we have met lots of people, not everyone enriches our life by being in it. I love our adventures and misadventures. You have no idea how much your handmade card means to me. Live, love and Happy Manatees until we cross paths again. Most!
Can’t wait to share more misadventures. Can’t wait until we cross paths again. Happy Manatees and Safe Travels!
I definitely think RVing lends itself to more social interaction than sticks and bricks. Our home is in the country on acreage, some distance from other homes. And while I have friends and connections with people, most of that was based on my job, my children’s schools, and such, based on my activities. I’ve made more significant connections with people while RVing in the last couple years than for many years before. Similar likes I suppose.
I agree. The relationships seem to be deeper and longer lasting. Thanks for reading. 🙂
What a blessing to have met all of these people and forged friendships.
It is a blessing. It was also one of my biggest concerns when we started on this journey. I was afraid I would lose the sense of community we had in our neighborhood, but the on-the-road connections have been a pleasant surprise.
I too dislike Florida other than all of our family and friends there 🙂 We leave Arizona and head East to Florida next week. Especially once “kids” aren’t in the equation to meet and greet neighborss, Rv-ing is a great way to meet others of similar interests. We plan to keep on exploring, 🙂
We plan to keep exploring, too. Safe travels from Arizona to Florida–that’s a trek we’ve done a few times (Arizona once and Texas many, many, many times over the last few years–even before full-timing). I think I can name almost all of the I10 exits from Houston to Jacksonville. 🙂 Happy Adventures!
That’s marvelous that you have a huge circle of friends all around the country. I love reading about your adventures from my stay-at-home house.
Thank you, Anne! The circle of friends has come as a surprise, but they are such a blessing! I love reading the adventures from your stay-at-home house. You have the special knack for seeing the extraordinary in life’s most meaningful moments.