Robert R. Payette

We’ve been here in Florida now a week and a day…having arrived July 17th with bag, baggage, three cats and one Spaniel to our new town-house digs. Moving doesn’t change a lot of things….you still cook, clean, establish new routines, meet new people and catch-up with old friends but this has been an exciting and unusually hectic period in our lives. Alice has been doing a lot of the grunt work and organizing the kitchen stuff, clothes and other high effort, low-reward things that just need doing. I can retreat to my computer and pay bills, organize our life digitally and do some cooking….but I know who’s making that all possible, for sure!

A main reason for our deciding to move South was my health, which is not great. Here I’m very close to the Veterans Administration clinic in Viera and I spent a good part of yesterday there doing orientation along with some blood work. I’ll meet my primary care team the first week of August. Here in Titus Village it’s a joy to wake up early (5:30-6:00ish) and walk Kincaid in this wonderful urban environment. Rural life has its charms, but walking down a 500 foot gravel driveway to an unimproved country road gets old quick when your legs don’t work as good as they used to!
A few days back we spent some time at the local Brevard County Tax Collectors office(s) where we registered the car here in Florida and obtained Florida drivers licenses. Joanna seems to be settling in nicely with her new position in Merritt Island….it’s not perfect, nor her first choice, but it’s a starting point from which to build.
We thought we might have an issue with the holding tanks on the rig, and to be sure things were running clear we brought the rig to Manatee Hammock this morning where we pumped out, did a black-water rinse and then topped off our fuel on the way back to Christmas. All systems are go . The Hammock sure looks different in the summer than in the “high tourist” season of January thru March! Now it’s all local Floridian’s whereas in the winter tourist season it’s totally filled with folks from the Northeast, Michigan and Canada.
My only regret is we didn’t make this move a long time ago, as both Alice and myself are in hog heaven here in Titusville. If you have been thinking about a major move, but have been afraid to do it……just do it. Life’s not a rehearsal as they say.