Podcast link

Living from the Bottom to the Top This is my latest podcast episode. 

Quick update

I can see it has been a while since I updated this blog but I did warn you that I might not be able to keep up with everything. 

With that said last August I started a podcast called Living from the Bottom to the Top. I also have a YouTube channel by the same name. 

The podcast is a weekly glimpse into my life while I am living in my vehicle in the middle of the Mojave Desert in Southern California. 

I need to make a better post but this is just so others know what is going on. 

I have a couple of support pages that have the links to my podcast and videos.

Here on Ko-Fi I have several posts and I also have a shop here. https://ko-fi.com/rogueliving

One buy me a coffee I also have several posts and linked to my podcast.  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/RogueJo

Rogue Out

Dating, Friends, Budgeting

April 15,

Left C's on Wednesday and made it to Pennsylvania at 9:30pm boon docked in the Wal Mart parking lot. Bonus was that Wal Mart now has free WiFi Used that to let people know I had made it to my destination.

Visited with a friend most of the day on Thursday. She's a farm girl and when I left I was gifted fresh eggs, homegrown sausage, and bread. Yum! Stopped at my storage locker to drop off a few things to make room in the van easier to stretch out when there isn't so much stuff in the way.

Today I faced one of my biggest fears. Using a propane stove. I am absolutely terrified of gas but I made C a promise to work to over come the fear. It took me about fifteen minutes to get enough courage to turn the knob and put a match to the burner but I did it not once but twice. Life will be a bit easier now that I can deal with a propane stove. Still terrified but that is sometimes part of being a traveler.

The local park has pavilions that have electricity which for the most part are unused at the back of the park. So I can work on my sewing, writing, and my taxes. In the front of the park not only do the pavilions have electricity there is also free WiFi so I can actually send my tax forms via the Internet and update the blog, talk to people, and promote my items for auction on Facebook.

As the profile states I had started this blog to be about dating. While the main focus changed it still will include the dating or at least connecting with women who are interested in dating.

With that said I do belong to a couple of dating sites and have talked to a couple of woman there but nothing beyond that other than they were younger than what I had listed on my profile (39-61) and after one or two conversations just wanted to cyber.

So I was kind of surprised when a gal started commenting on my posts in the group I belong to on Facebook. It took me a while to realize they were actually flirting with me. I can be slow at times. Lol I decided to message them about a comment that felt unfinished.

Come to find out they were trying to work up the courage to message me lol both of us are shy or is that guarded when it comes to opening up because we've been badly hurt?

I am enjoying the openness of our talks and the flirting although I think I suck at that part pretty bad. It is comfortable talking to her about pretty much anything. I am glad that age to me is just a state of mind and I tend to like older better lol.

We talk almost daily, which I look forward to, and we have a standing date for when I make it to a certain northern state. I can't promise anything beyond friendship at this moment but we shall see where things will go.

I'll be in PA for a while with maybe a side trip to see a friend in upper New York on the western side. I need to downsize my unit from the 10 x 10 to either a 5 x 10 or the ultimate no unit at all which would be the best for my budget.

The fur kids need to have their annual check up and shots where I will ask our awesome vet for a recommendation of a vet in AZ so I won't have to make this trek every year. Not that my friends here would mind but until I win the lottery it does impact my budget pretty hard.

Speaking of budgets if you are deciding to be come homefree you had better understand just what that will entail for your pocket book.

Gas: price of gas is not guaranteed to be the same everywhere you go. It can be higher or lower than what you budgeted for. Right now in PA it is $2.29 a gallon for regular and summer is just around the corner so it could go up higher.

A full tank for the van costs me anywhere from $40 to $60 and I get 450-550 miles per tank. So my budget is around $120 -$180 a month.

Insurance: We all need it if we are driving any sort of vehicle on the road. The cost will depend on the type of insurance you have. For the moment my insurance costs me $35 per month and that isn't full coverage. Something I am working towards.

Food: Unless you have great friends that make sure your pantry is stuffed beyond full you will have to figure out just how much you need and the cost will vary from place to place. Right now my food bill is basically milk (mostly powdered), and bread. So around $20-$40 a month.

Pet Food: Depending on the pet this can get expensive. For me it is $40 a month for ferret food and $20-$30 for cat food. Then you add in litter for the cats and potty pads for the ferrets the combined price is about $45 a month.

Vet care: unless you have a fund already set up you need to add it in as a monthly expense. Just for this month the vet will probably cost me $500 for all four fur kids unless I can get Boyd and Dood their shots at one of the local low cost rabies clinics offered monthly. Most don't have the rabies vaccination for ferrets let alone the distemper one.

Phone: I use a tracfone but am working to upgrade to straight talk. So at the moment I spend between $10-$40 a month depending on how often I am talking to people. The straight talk will give me unlimited talk, text, and data for around $45 a month.

Storage: My storage runs me $50 a month and thankfully the guy that owns the storage place is awesome as I am behind a little bit right at the moment which will be remedied when I sell some stuff on the auction site and do the weekly flea market here in PA.

Mail: Unless you have someone to pick up your mail at your home base you will either have a post office box or a mail box at the local UPS store. I have the later and it costs me $51 every three months. They will hold your mail up to three months. Which is nice.

Maintenance: Many don't remember to include this in their budget. Oil changes, tires, fluids, and other surprises can be needed on the road. I try to keep a budget of around $100 just encase of need but am working to have a savings of $1000 to be on the safe side but at the moment it is at $0 as I had to use most of that for said oil change and fluids for the van.

Mis: This covers going out to eat, a hotel room, campground fees, and any other thing you might want to do but isn't covered in the other categories.

For me this is often at $0 but am working towards having a small bit set aside.

For the most part my budget is around $540 a month but can go as high as $700 or drop to around $275 depending on the month and what I am doing.

So budget for the higher and if you don't use all of it in the month put the rest into a savings of some sort.

Safe travels,

Jo

So Many Miles Not Enough Internet PT 2

After Rocky Springs I headed North towards Meriwether Lewis Campground. The day was nasty and just got nastier as I drove. Finally had to pull over at Cypress Swamp because the rain was coming down so hard you couldn't see the road.

Nothing to make you realize just how dangerous the roads were like having a corner's van pull up next to you  and waits out the rain with the rest of you.Rain finally let up and I made it to a visitor's center where two lovely older ladies were. I was their only visitor for the day.

 
Can't tell you where it is but it is but the town where it is had a Wal Mart so I could add to my pantry a key ingredients. The rain wasn't stopping and it was getting dark  so I stopped at Jeff Busby Campground where I had been told I could at least get a signal for my phone. 

 


When I first got there it was me and one other person who had a tent set up. They were gone within a half hour. Woke up the next morning to several RVs and Trailers. But I decided to stay one extra day. 

Was told I was a true camper because I made my breakfast outside the van. LOL. 

I also walked the Little Mountain Trail it was a mile long loop. Sometimes it is the little things that make the biggest difference in a new life you never expected. 
Stopped in Alabama and ate lunch before heading to Meriwether Lewis Campground. Beautiful place.

 

Camp host Bruce was nice. The number one rule here he said was to have fun. lol. When it finally decided to stay nice I walked the trails.  If you are like me and have a knack for getting turned around or miss markers. The best thing I ever started doing was taking pictures of the trail map, interesting mainly to me landmarks. I walked from the campground to Meriwether Lewis' grave site and then walked the old trace. The first half of the hike wasn't bad other than a few flooded spots. It was when I got on the old trace trail things got my heart sped up a bit. 

 Remember I HATE bridges and this photo is deceptive as to how high it really is but it is part of the trail so I had to walk across it. Just past this there is a nice picnic area that you have to walk through to get to the next part of the trail. 

The next bit of the trail was slightly over grown but from what I could tell they had trees marked that needed to be removed for safety reason and it is still early in the year for hikers. I was the only one on the trail the whole time.  What is neat about this part of the trail is that ever so often you would be greeted by a sign that told you what a particular tree was. 

 


Great for those of us that learn visually and tactically.

I finally made it to Meriwether Lewis' grave site from the trail you see this

What you don't see is the sign that says Pioneer cemetery. Don't ask me why I didn't make the connection that where there is one grave site there should be more. Might of been the hike and the nice sunny day. But it wasn't until I saw 

 this grave marker that I realized that I was in a grave yard. lol 

on the other side of the grave yard is the Grinder House where he was found dead from a gunshot.  wound.

 

From there I hiked the old trace back to I had hoped to the campground at some point the trail didn't follow the map whether it was due to the rain or that someone had moved the markers. I did start to panic until I remembered I had my backpack which had food, water, light, and fire striker so even if I had to do a night in the woods so be it.

Once I realized that I was able to focus on the photos I had taken and found where I should be going. I still missed the turn to the campground but once I got back to that bridge I knew where I was and was able to find my way back to the campground.

 camp never looked so good. 

In all it was a nice long hike and I found a bit of myself that had been lost. Being around and in nature is very recharging.

From here I drove to Hopkinsville, KY to see C which is another chapter in my life book that probably won't make it to the blog. A girl has to keep some secrets lol. 

Jo

So Many Miles Not Enough Internet

I've been extremely bad in keeping this updated but I am hoping that will change now that I am back on the main line to my old home state of PA but no guarantees as I go the way the Universe wants me to go. So these updates are as I have written them as I had a chance some will have dates and others may not.

This post will be photo heavy since I have a lot to cover.

February 19th

Odessa, TX proved to be a good destination. From there I found the library and using www.freecampsites.net I found that Andrews, TX just about thirty miles north of Odessa had a free RV spot sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce

It isn't large only has maybe 4 or 6 spots and is on pavement. What is great about it other than free is that it offers you free WiFi, water, electricity, and there is a dump station there. They only ask that you stay no more than three days but they will allow you longer if need be. I would suggest giving a donation if you do stay a bit longer.

The Veteran's memorial is beautiful and there is a lot of history just in the small lot if you walk around. There is also a geocache here my only hint is that it isn't on the Eagle.

 

Now the spots are behind the Chamber and if you walk to the front you will see across the street a small bakery called Sugar High. They have the best coffee I've had in a long time.

I also got a breakfast bagel and a turkey sandwich along with my coffee all of it for under ten dollars and both were delicious.

Got some sewing done and lost my mop of hair. How freeing that was! Just have to invest in some razors or a travel electric razor to keep it gone. I should say in losing the mop I mean I went bald.

Last moments of the mop

Sold some things on an auction page and set my next destination for Tyler, TX. 

February 22

Headed for Tyler, TX but only made it through the Dallas rush hour and pulled over at a lov's for the night.

Next morning was dismal looking and as I was pulling into my spot in Tyler, TX it started pouring. Another basic parking lot but my view was of the lake. How nice that was even with the bad weather.

Got out the bbq and heated up some water to have coffee and some HOT broth. Went to sleep being rocked by the wind. Interesting sensation to say the least.

Next morning it was still pretty nasty but made my oatmeal and coffee and spent the day in the van hand sewing some items to sell. 

Two of the gals from the group I am in decided that Wednesday they were gonna come take me to lunch and welcome me officially to TX lol.

We had a great time at Jul's I highly recommend them. The food was awesome and the waiter was very attentive and cute. The other two would have ate him up if they could have. And the party was actually four ladies (term used very loosely lol).

 

Waking up to this kind of sunrise every morning is something I am grateful for 

and I love how Boyd (white paws) and Dood seem to be having a serious conversation in this photo.

Would have stayed longer at Tyler if it hadn't been for the dude that showed up one morning. He had been watching me for a few days he said and had brought me a couple of cans of sterno. Ok no problem just being nice wanting to help the poor lady out talked a little bit and he went to his car about an hour later he asked if I needed anything from the dollar tree. 

I did need razors so I gave him enough cash mostly change to get me a package he at the time also offered a ride which I politely declined. Mind you there was nothing to say he was dangerous but I sure as hell wasn't getting into that car with him. So off he went and was gone for what seemed like three or more hours before he came back smelling like he had dipped himself in the cologne. UGH! Men women don't like that and it was a wasted effort on me. The package of razors were obviously from Wal*Mart but I thanked him for them.

This is what set off my alarm bells was the fact every time he left he would say "Now stay safe." It just made me go into alert mode every time. The last time he came back it was around 5 pm and he brought his girlfriend to meet me and after doing so just went back to the vehicle leaving him to talk to me, who does that unless she knew I was NOT interested in him, but not before telling me that they would both be back in the morning. The only reason he left when he finally did was because she reminded him that he was going to be late for work.

Sorry between the two my flight response was in full gear the only reason I didn't leave right then and there was because it was almost dark. But the van was packed and ready to go for the morning flight. I was long gone before 7 am with no COFFEE!

When the panic final left I realized that I only had a vague idea of where I was headed towards Louisiana but beyond that nothing. So I found a McDonald's to charge the computer and find a campsite to land at. 

I also realized that I would be basically broke and while I had a half a tank of gas I only could take a Leap of Faith as C calls it. So I did leap. Thanks to my goofy GPS that decided to take me to my next campsite via the back way. Meaning I didn't see a gas station for miles. 

I came to Dogwood Campground in Provencal Louisiana with an eighth of a tank of gas and just a few bits of data on my phone. 

Then it was like the Universe thought I needed to have something to think about so it sent me of all things a pastor on a neon orange Harley. We had a lovely conversation about connections and then he blessed me, the van, and my fur kids before riding off into the sunset. 

We were the only one there nice campground even if it is close to the road and seems to be the main route for the semis. 

Set up the tent and let the ferrets have some tent time. They loved it. It allowed them to be out of their cage and gave them room to bounce around which they did for an hour. Long time for a ferret. 

But the upside to being at this campsite was there was a bathroom with a flush toilet (but damn you had to push that button hard), free water, and trash cans.

I had a melt down and freaked out on FB and on C who just calmly asked me "Where do you have to be right at this moment?" Of course he knew I didn't need to be any where I was just having a moment and I needed to get past it.

Once I realized I had food for the fur babies to maybe last until the next week and put out a plea on my Go Fund Page I relaxed a bit. Looking in my pantry I had food for myself even if I was going to get tired of beans. I also had oatmeal, powdered milk, and pancake mix.  So I would be fed as well.

Monday came and so did Sam Elliot's look alike ranger to tell me they would be doing a control burn across the road and not to freak if I saw the flames I laughed and said not going to be an issue.

Wednesday I went to the ranger station just a little ways from my campsite to ask if there had been a delivery for me. There wasn't and we got to talking about my situation and they said they didn't have a problem with me staying longer if I needed to.






I made peanut butter cookies which I burnt the bottoms of lol but they were a nice treat for just learning to relax and finding peace in the now.




















Took some pics of what was around me and the beautiful sitting area just in front of the ranger's station. It is well maintained. There are also two geocaches at either end of the campground. One is inside the cemetery it is both creepy and beautiful.

 


Thursday the rangers came over with a gallon of gas to make sure I could get to the next gas station down the road and put in a little so I could make it to town which was Natchitoches where the gas was cheaper.

This was the sunset for the last night there.




Natchitoches is one of the oldest cities in Louisiana and had a lot of neat shops in the Historic District I would of loved to had an unlimited bank account even though most of the town is closed on Monday's.

One shop that was open was Bathhouse Soapery what a wonderful smelling place that was. They sell soap by the slice and also have smaller samples so you can try just a bit and not have a huge piece if it isn't to your liking.

I bought Black Shea for C and I got Gypsy for myself. It is one of the few soaps that I have found that doesn't have some kind of lanolin oil in it and doesn't dry my skin out.

The Historic District is basically the main street through the town.

 

 

 

 

thought the plaque was a nice shout out to Texas.







Next stop was Mississippi

  These are at the Welcoming Center in Vicksburg. Great people and decent coffee and free WiFi

The bridge I crossed over the Mississippi to get to the state. You have to understand the bridge pictures. I DISLIKE BRIDGES!!!!!!!
So every one like this I try to take  picture to prove that I can do it and get my anxiety to go away.


Found a gas station that also had WiFi so I could check my balance and was surprised by a friend's generousity, again thank you T&J, that allowed us to fill the van's tank and get a few supplies before looking for the next campsite.

That was an adventure. The site I use had the wrong GPS coordinates, which are now corrected, and we drove 40 miles to a tiny graveled road with a locked gate. Turned around and found our way back to almost the starting point where we found a McD's.

After consulting the google maps and talking to my FB group I found where I should have been and just after dark pulled into the Rocky Springs Campground on the Natchez Trace Parkway. It was hard to find a spot as the place was packed, later found out that it was Spring Break in the area.

I had no idea about the Trace as many call it and was interested in the history of this 444 mile long scenic drive. The campground was at the 58.9 mile marker and while I was there I made the decision to drive up the Trace as it took me where I wanted to go.

Rocky Springs was interesting with it's history about the Trace. You could either walk the trail

from the campground or drive up to the place. Being that it hadn't been real good weather I opted to drive up.

 

 

 

To be continued....

Jo