Lest I take the reader unaware, let me be clear: we are not "roughing it" in a primitive campsite by any means (although, Pio Pico felt like it.)
We are currently residing at the Bay Landing campsite within the Thousand Trails system at Bridgeport Texas. I have to say, for $545 a year, so far it has been worth every penny, even in a tent. If we had a trailer, a membership would be worth its weight in gold. Our current tent site is a bit primitive; the bathrooms allocated to it work, but not well (lack of water pressure) and parking is limited and can be a distance from your tent site. We happen to have the entire tent area to ourselves so it's fine facilities wise, and we are parked right next to our tent, but I can see where it might be troublesome. We have laundry facilities here (which happen to not work well), but the bathrooms on either side of them are REAL bathrooms--with multiple showers, multiple toilet stalls, multiple sinks, and concrete and tile floors. And they're air conditioned.
The biggest drawback (and it's just me, set in my ways) is living out of a backpack. While we were in the hotel, I dumped mine out and rolled all clothing for "a day" as a set, together. So now instead of digging through the backpack to find lingerie, a shirt, socks etc., I just pull out one roll. Toiletries for the entire family are in one clear plastic shoebox. "Lunch" fixings (peanut butter, plastic ware) are in another plastic shoebox. We broke down the other day and bought a styrofoam container to contain ice, water, juice and boxed almond milk.
We charge electronics either on the road in the car, or at the clubhouse. I have small solar panels which will charge them also, but we have yet to spend a full day out in the sun, unless we are at 6F.
The hardest thing for me (not my kids) has been getting to sleep. I am noise and light sensitive, and nature comes alive at night! So it is 1 or 2 AM before I am able to fall asleep, and because I am light sensitive, I am usually up at the crack of dawn, literally. I haven't figured out a good solution for that yet. Benadryl knocks me out, so I am tempted to take a couple when we pull in at night.
We rented a post office box, so now we have a "permanent" address for the next 6 months. It only cost $33, so it is a small price to pay to have an address for job applications etc. We set up a google voice mail with a Dallas area code before we left California. Our cells work too (more or less. The countryside is not TMobile friendly), but it's nice to have a "local" number we can call into, or which messages to our emails. It's a good option for a person or family who doesn't have, or can't afford, a monthly phone bill.
Today we are going to go rent a storage unit in Bridgeport. I'm hoping they won't cost much. I am ready to not travel with everything we own. This is an expense with a trailer, we wouldn't have. And we could do without it, it's definitely a luxury which I'm willing to purchase.
We have nixed the idea of going up to the Gordonville campsite "just to see what it's like." It's just shy of the Oklahoma border, and it's too far from the DFW metroplex for us to realistically commute for work. We swapped out to Lake Tawakoni. This is the area where our home was supposed to be, and I have to tell you, it's unfortunate that this didn't work out. What a HUGE lake. Oh well, we have day use access with our membership.
Well it's time to get a move on. DS19 is going to check out the volunteer fire department here in Bridgeport and find out if there are any EMT openings. I have two job interviews tomorrow, possibly three.
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