January 18th, 2020

Days 98-100


Patience and peace. And of course, gratitude. Those are key.

I have been blessed. Very blessed and that zen I was looking for has arrived. Day 98 was another mellow day- although, I went on a search for a new cell phone case. Mine stretched... or something... the soft plastic part got too big. Weird right. Well, of course, there's no S8 cases in the Keys. I will have to order it online or wait until we get further north. For now, I must be very cautious with my phone...I won't drop it... I won't, hopefully. 🤦‍♀️ I often have a dropping problem. I will keep my phone safe.

Day 99 we packed up and moved to our new spot. We were ready to go an hour before we had to leave but didn't want to leave early. You see, checkout time is typically 11am and check in at most places isn't until 1 at the earliest, so we'd already have time to kill since our spot was only a little way up the road.

We arrived at our spot a little after 11 and it was ready for us. Perfect!

But let me back track. We had been staying at Boyd's Key West RV Resort... well, like I said before, it was cramped. The RVs packed in like sardines. Backing in to our spot there would have been a challenge; but, thankfully their staff that helped us had taught trucker school so I did that 90° blind dock with ease and perfection.

Pulling out was much easier. But, before I get there, let me tell you about that place. As you can imagine, having tons of RVs crammed in one place can get noisy. Well, we also happened to be next to the Rec Hall where activities were going all day long (including what looked like jazzercise 😂). So that was often obnoxious. I love almost all music but some songs are annoying... and they played a lot of those. Then, Boyd's is located near the airport AND the naval base was flying jets over us regularly. Some so close to the ground it rumbled our bones (let alone the shaking of the trailer).

So, those things definitely didn't help me find the laid back attitude of island life.

Oh, and the pictures of Boyd's show a beautiful beach (as do our current location). Well, don't be fooled. Boyd's did have a beach, maybe 10ft long 😂 We do not have one here.

But, what we DO have here is quiet. This place is very peaceful and we've met a lot of people already. I backed into our spot (not as tricky as the last but still a tight squeeze) with very little trouble (we tried from one direction, it wasn't working out so went the other way and got in). After we set up, we went for a walk. It is SO quiet and laid back here. We love it.

My patience and peace paid off... yesterday, on day 100 of my travels, I got my first commission project of 2020. I will be taking photos of their adorable fur babies today and see if I can complete the painting before they leave... if not, they're fine with shipping costs but finishing it while they're here would be the ideal way. Less hassle.

That means I must try to complete the paintings currently on my easel. So, I must find that highly productive painter that I was in 2015 and 2016. Wish me luck! 😁

Because I was not stressed, at all yesterday on day 100... and I was truly grateful for what we have here - I think I was finally open to receive. So the universe provided. I wasn't going to go work by the pool yesterday...I was going to stay at home and paint. But, I felt prompted to go. So I went. I sat and wrote in my journal, then I made friends and got business.

Patience, peace and gratitude pay off.

I hope you can find yours! Love you all! TTFN ... I have some painting to do!