I’ve had three days of enormous efficiency and I’m exhausted. Although I think the exhaustion is because for the very first time, I’ve got awful neighbors. Oh, wait, I just remembered some bad neighbors in New York a couple of years ago. But those neighbors were bad because I had to eavesdrop on their complaining; these neighbors are bad because I had to eavesdrop on their late-night fun.
And by late night, I mean that sometime close to 3AM, security showed up and yelled at them, saying that he could hear them all the way down by the security gate, half a mile away. Given that my van is parked about three feet away from their RV… yeah, I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.
I did entertain myself thinking of polite revenge fantasies. My favorite was to set off my smoke alarm at 7AM. I could even do it legitimately — it goes off pretty much every time I use the stove, so I wouldn’t have to burn anything. And I could be very slow to make it stop. And then maybe I could cook something else half an hour later and do it again. I did wind up washing all the dishes at 1:30 AM, because hey, I was awake, why not be productive? so it would have been easy to cook something first thing in the morning. Didn’t do it, however, because I am not really a revenge person. However, if they keep me up all night again — and their music is already playing — all bets are off.
So yesterday’s efficiency was all van related: oil changed, tires rotated, brake fluid topped up. I was finished at the service place around 3, so I looked around for a nearby campground and decided Cabot Beach Provincial Park sounded worth a try. Its selling point was that there was a seafood market/restaurant within easy walking distance.
It’s an interesting place — big green empty fields, sprinkled with pine trees. Apparently there are 163 sites. I’m guessing in summer, it’s bouncing with people. At the moment, there are a half dozen of us in one row near some cliffs overlooking the water and probably another twenty or thirty campers in the section that has full hook-ups. But we’re lined up like parking lots, no separation between sites at all, and that is very much not my favorite type of campground. And the mosquitoes are fierce enough that I’m avoiding the outside and that’s also not my favorite. Not the campground’s fault, of course, but not conducive to feelings of delighted enchantment.
Zelda and I have had several nice walks, though. It’s a reasonably short hike to a nice beach, and there’s also a great walk through fields of wildflowers along the cliffs by the ocean. The walk to the fish market is less appealing — it’s along a road and through a parking lot. And sadly, the market’s on winter hours (4PM – 9PM), so it was closed when we went there at lunch time.
I thought about going back when it opened in the afternoon, but after a long beach walk in the morning, Z seemed to be limping before we reached the market. Not a ton, just sometimes skipping a step or two. I don’t want to make her do a third long walk in one day, so I’d have to pack up the van and drive to go to the market. And before I do that, I’d have to clean up from today’s cooking projects.
And today was a day of many cooking projects. This morning I made oatmeal for breakfast, and ate it topped it with yogurt and honey. And then I baked some granola. And then I made some quinoa. And then I decided that there was no possible way I’d be able to eat all the potatoes I had before they went bad, so I should probably vacuum seal and sous vide cook them. Seven packages of potatoes later, I realized I should do the same thing with the corn and the beans. So basically I’ve been cooking vegetables all day long. I’ve realized that I can’t make the squash soup I wanted to make — there’s absolutely no room in my fridge to store home-made soup. But I definitely have enough vegetables prepped for a whole lot of meals.
Tonight’s quinoa bowl was not as interesting as whatever fresh seafood I might have gotten, but it was tomatoes, fresh corn, spicy garlic wax beans, avocado, cilantro, turkey, a Greek yogurt-lime-garlic dressing, plus mixed greens and quinoa, and it was quite delicious. I ate it outside until I’d decided I’d donated enough blood to the mosquitoes and then I came inside, looked at all the clean-up I should do, and decided writing a blog post would feel productive without requiring me to keep standing over the kitchen sink.
Tomorrow, I’m moving on. I generally like to stay a minimum of three nights at campgrounds, but when I got here and saw the rows of campers, I decided two nights sounded fine. And that does feel like it was the right decision. Good walks do not make up for bad neighbors. But I’m not sure where I’m headed tomorrow, whether it’s back to Campbell’s Cove, which I liked so much, or whether I’m leaving the island. Decisions, decisions. One way or another, though, I’ll need to have the van cleaned up. I guess I should have done that instead of writing this post!
Lynn said:
Thoroughly enjoying your blog – thank you. Have only been receiving it for a week or two and wondered if you live permanently in your van or whether you have a home base. As regards the mosquitoes, my son swears by Neem soap. Bought some on Amazon from India and my husband uses that and Smidge spray. Both work for them so may be worth a try.
wyndes said:
Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll look for them. I’ve got some lovely organic cinnamon stuff that smells delicious, but the mosquitoes don’t mind it at all. It doesn’t seem to attract them, but it definitely doesn’t repel them. As for the van, yep, I live in her full-time, but I still sort of think of home as Florida, since I’ve got family and friends there and that’s where I started from.
tehachap said:
I can so appreciate your leaving the clean-up for later. After everyone left yesterday (I had my quilting group here for a fabric swap and pot luck BBQ), I put away anything perishable and went to sit at the computer and veg for a bit. I left everything until this morning around 5:30 a.m. when I felt rested. Got everything cleaned in less than 30 min. I would not have liked seeing an RV park that looked like a parking lot. Wouldn’t want to stay there at all…
wyndes said:
Oh, it didn’t look like a parking lot. It was just one of those campgrounds where everyone is in neat rows, right up next to one another. I like the kind where there are trees separating the spaces. Less efficient, but a lot more pleasant. And this campground actually did have some spaces like that, but they were the tent spaces and it’s cold enough that I’m liking electricity.
tehachap said:
Ah so… And actually, it was only for a couple of nights, so nothing to get too upset over. I love how you always find campgrounds with water and trees… wonderful!
Barbara said:
Fun post,
wyndes said:
Nature gave me my revenge! The next morning it was in the 40s, and the boys were packing up before 7, in shorts & shivering. I don’t think they anticipated the weather turning and their camper was probably COLD in the night.
Judy said:
Sarah – definitely still enjoying your travel and cooking tales. Sorry I have been so scarce. Going through a health scare with my (40 year old) daughter. I get behind and then find my time to escape into 2 or 3 of your posts. It’s nice.
If you are going to write a second Fen book I want to re- read the first. It’s been a while.
wyndes said:
So sorry to hear about your daughter. I will try to send some good energy her way. And your way, too! And I had to reread Fen, too — it has been a while!