The Wild Side

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Trouble in Paradise

Lovely little spot, Paradise is.






Stuck in the middle of nowhere, 20 miles to the closest town, and by extension, any shopping at all. How could I get into trouble here?














Paradise Park is a nicely laid out Airstream community. It is small in comparison to the last Airstream park we stayed in, but has many of the same amenities, and each lot comes with a level concrete pad to park on. And your own personal palm tree.











We landed here at the best time possible. March in southern Florida is hot and sunny. I made good use of both the outdoor pool and their extensive library.

Unfortunately, hubby wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I did. He was called away for a family emergency, leaving me as sole occupant of our trailer for 11 days.

I was so absolutely devastated by having time to myself that, upon dropping him at the airport, I promptly splurged on an hour-long spa pedicure. I also stopped at the grocery store to pick up lots of salad makings - I am not the cook in this partnership.







This wasn't the first time I have been left to entertain myself at home. There was a whole summer where hubby worked in another city and only commuted back on weekends. In that case, we were at a campground that held a full mix of residents: families, singles, young, and old. So my protective partner did his best to hide from everyone that I would be alone and vulnerable. As if.

Here, however, in an exclusive retirement community, he told everyone he met that I would be by myself, and could they keep an eye out for me? The irony was, as soon as he left, it became obvious that these seniors just didn't remember that conversation. Many of the neighbors he had spoken to wondered aloud to me later why they hadn't seen my hubby around.




But they saw me. I walked, and biked, and swam. I joined aerobics, played bingo, and watched movies. I joined the golf crowd for lunch at the Airstream trailer turned into a cafeteria kitchen.

I even managed to pull out the big awning when the sun was unmerciful at heating up my tin can.

And, only when I absolutely had to, I dumped the holding waste tanks.







But, as with all good things, this too had to come to an end. The hot sun, loved and appreciated by me, wasn't so nice to my home. Although the awning kept the heat off the windows, the aluminum roof was exposed and warmed the glue that held up the pretty vinyl on my ceiling. A mere day before hubby was due back, I had a sagging ceiling to contend with. I tried spray glue, and smoothing it out with a rolling pin, but it would not stay.

I guess I can get into trouble in Paradise.






Well, in the end hubby got home just fine, temporarily fixed my ceiling, and now manhandles the awning by himself again. I even got him to enjoy some pool time.


It really is more fun to get into trouble together.

W

Aluminum City

Aluminum was the name of the game this week.

According to the singer/comedian who finished off the 5 evenings of entertainment, we are living in semi-precious metal.

Aluminum was all around us at this rally.  We were surrounded by Airstreams, about 120 of them. Big ones, little ones, old ones, new ones.

They parked us in the field of the Sarasota Fairgrounds. Being the shy, retiring types that we are, we learned our neighbors’ names in record time. On one side we had a couple from Michigan with their large, docile dog; an intriguing mix of standard poodle and Newfoundland. On the other was a couple from our own province, who live barely more than a ferry ride away from our summer site.   Ain’t life funny?

The utilities were scarce, as this was not a regular campground, but a fairground.  They hooked our entire line of 15 trailers to one water spigot with a technique called a “daisy chain”, requiring two hoses and a plumbing Y per rig.

 The first hose is attached to the source, the Y put on the end, and then another hose goes from one side of the Y to their trailer. The next trailer adds a hose to the other side of the Y, puts his Y on the end of his first hose and uses his second hose for his personal supply. This goes down the entire length of the line. 

Also, our electricity had to be shared among three trailers, meaning the 15 amp pedestal, divided up, gave us 5 amps each. That is not enough to run the coffee maker, but if you turn off the radio you can make toast.  Life is all about adaptation.

We didn’t have to make our own coffee anyway. Morning coffee was served each day from a little Airstream Café. It sure tasted better that way.

Seminars were held during the week on subjects like travelling and maintenance. I learned a few steps of Tai Chi, while hubby was shown how to make an old trailer sparkle in the sun. 

I see new tools in our future.

The organizers did their best to educate us on our chosen lifestyle. We learned about solar panels and batteries, the proper way to hoist your awning, and living well off the grid.

I’ve never met an Airstreamer who was not as proud as punch of their rig. So on the last day, they held an open house, where you could walk around and visit inside any trailer with their door open. These people are not modest. They are happy to brag about all the work they’ve done and any alterations they’ve made. Others are quick to point out all the original and “vintage” features on trailers as old as I am. One even had its first icebox still in it.

Guess that tells you how old I am, eh?

With all these goings on, we didn’t get much chance to explore Sarasota. But we did make the effort to see the winter training grounds of the famous Royal Lipizzaner Stallions. Despite a rainy day, these gorgeous animals were taken outside to practice their drills and ballet moves in front of an appreciative audience. 

We even got a chance to visit the stallions in their stalls.

Other than that little side trip, we lived and breathed aluminum all week. Even the entertainment was centered on trailer life, with songs and comedy routines frequently referring to it. Vendors pushed sparkly tops with Airstreams designs and Airstream jewelry was on sale.

Aluminum may only be semi-precious as a metal, but for this group, it’s as good as gold.

W