Plan S Finally Came to Fruition

 

Blairsville, Ga  (high 78, low 58)

For the past 9 or 10 months, I have been working on a plan that would allow us to get away from the heat and storms in Florida in the summer and still care for my Mom.

As most of you know, we have been trying to help take care of my elderly mother. She cannot be left alone anymore. We prefer to keep her in her own home as long as possible, where we know she gets much better care than in an Assisted Living Facility.

My plan was for someone to move into the house to assist in her care, in exchange for free rent. I had someone I knew and trusted that was willing to do it, but she had some serious health issues which prevented the move.  I had to move on to “Plan B”.   I went down the alphabet from Plan B all the way down to what I dub “Plan S.”

One plan after the other failed, but a few weeks ago, my plan worked out and Stacy moved in with Mom.  She will assist my brother and the caregivers provided by her Long Term Care policy (thank God she bought that plan many years ago).

Stacy is a very nice lady who is good to Mom and we trust her.  She is taking our place so that Al and I could get out of town for awhile. 

So, on Tuesday, we headed north towing our little U-haul trailer.   The last time we were here, we purchased a used Fifth Wheel and set it up on our RV lot in Blairsville, GA.   The motorhome was left back in the Tampa area to fend for itself during the approaching hurricane Hermine.

We had serious reservations about leaving town right before a potential hurricane, but decided to go while we had the chance.  It’s a good thing we left when we did, because they got hammered with heavy rains for several days.

We arrived in Blairsville, Georgia on Wednesday.   It was sure good to see our mountains again.

It has been warmer than usual with some daytime temps getting up to 88 or so. Thankfully, it has been cooling down at night allowing for us to be able to turn off the AC for the first time in months!

We’ve been working hard to get this place set up with all the comforts of home.  We took our Directv Genie receivers from the motorhome and had them set up here, so all we have to do is grab the boxes and go.

Being in a small town sure has its advantages.  We went by the local Directv installer in the late morning and had service a few hours later.  We found a bargain on a 40 inch Samsung Smart Tv for $249, so it will live up here in the 5th wheel.

We’ve been busy working in the Cameo, setting up another “home.”  We have managed to squeeze in a few evening golf cart rides/bear hunting excursions.   We haven’t seen any bears, but there have been some pretty cloud formations.

 

We filled the hot tub and had a nice long soak last night.  Boy, did that feel good.  

Our project for yesterday was to attend the annual HOA meeting to elect new board members and then a dinner and bingo tonight.   We took a ride up to NC to the nearest Lowes to pick up a gas outdoor fireplace.

I have been searching online to find LED bulb replacements for the 8 million  “puc lights” we have in the Cameo.  If anyone has any online suggestions for reasonably priced LED lights, please let me know. 

I am sitting here typing this, in my robe and furry slippers.  We were able to turn the AC off for the first time since probably March.  It was wonderful sleeping with the windows open, although we all woke up chilly…..even the cats.

We are very, very glad to be back up in the mountains.  We hope we can stay.  

Big Changes

 

I started this post about two weeks ago while we were up in our lot in Georgia. I’ve been trying to get it finished ever since. 

 

It’s hard to know where to begin. I haven’t written a blog for so long. Until recently, there was nothing to write about.  Some things haven’t changed.  We are still helping to care for my mom.  She is still in her own home with caregivers 7 hours a day, paid for by her LTC insurance policy.  My brother, Al and I are staying with her the rest of the time.

We are trying to find a live in caregiver that will care for her about 15-20 hours a week in exchange for free room and board.   Our friend Cindi who was going to do it, has had some major health issues so that didn’t work out. If we can find the right person, it will allow us to be able to leave town on a more regular basis.

We managed to get away from the stifling heat of Tampa and spend 2 weeks up in the north Georgia mountains on our lot at Rivers Edge.

 

We didn’t have the time for much fun, but Al did manage to get in some fishing and tubing.  You’ll understand why we didn’t have much time to play, when I tell you what else we have been doing. 

Our Florida friends, Heidi and Suzanne (in the above picture) visited Blairsville last fall with the intention of buying some property and a cabin. We found them a RV lot  to rent at Rivers Edge where we own our lot.  They fell in love with the area, the rv park, and in the 2 weeks they were there,  bought a lot on the river and made plans to upgrade the lot with a lovely cabin (She-Shed) concrete drive, and deck.   As it turned out, their She-Shed came in very handy for us.  

 

We took some golf cart rides and some scenic drives.  You notice Al with a dog on his lap?  That is Cindy.  She is a rescue that was brought to the animal hospital nearly dead,  by owners who couldn’t be bothered to care for her.  After weeks of intensive veterinary care, she improved enough to be released.  Heidi decided she needed a good home and she has certainly won the doggie lottery with Suzanne and Heidi.     Oh, and guess who got poison ivy?  

 

 

 

Our plan for going to Blairsville was to purchase a Fifth Wheel that we could leave on our lot.  We had done some looking in person and on line and we had decided what we wanted.

We decided that when we get to travel we will be happier in something smaller than a big class A motorhome.  Since we have  RV lots in the Keys and in the mountains, and we love both places, we know we will spend a lot of time on our lots.  Our plans for the future are evolving, but we now think we will put something permanent on both lots and travel in something smaller.  We’ve looked at a few Class B motorhomes.  Heidi and Suzanne just purchased a new Road Trek Popular Class B, which they love. It’s surprisingly roomy, but I think we need a little more room.  We think we would be happy in a B+ with a couple of slides.  We couldn’t live in something so small, but I think we could travel extensively in one and the B+ with slides have quite a bit of space.  A class B would be for the future when we are free to travel.

When we headed up to Blairsville, we left the motorhome here in Florida with the  intention to stay a few nights in a hotel and a few nights in our cabin.  The cabin on our RV lot is pretty comfortable, but has no bathroom facilities.  We figured, we would use the campground bathrooms. Luckily, Heidi and Suzanne were nice enough to offer the use of their She-Shed while we searched for a Fifth Wheel.   

We had done some Fifth Wheel shopping on line and in person, and found what we were looking for.

It was delivered and set up just a few days before we had to head back to Tampa.  

It’s a 35 foot Carriage Cameo.

 

 

 

 

We got to spend two nights in our new home, but then had to leave and get back to Florida.

So, now that we’re back in Florida, we are working on ways to get back up to the mountains, hopefully for September and October. 

Stay tuned……