Dapper Travel Diaries: Week 2
It’s week 2 of The Dapper Travel Diaries!
Here’s Week 1 in case you missed it. This is a new series we created to tell the stories of our RV travels during the Ultimate Golf Road Trip. While Jordan does most of the writing around here, I (Brittany) will be taking over for this series.
So without further ado, here is my favorite (or not so favorite) story from each day last week.
Day 6 – Like a kid on Christmas morning
It was the official first round of The Ultimate Golf Road trip at TPC Sawgrass. And just like a kid on Christmas morning, Jordan didn’t need an alarm to wake him up before sunrise. He jumped right out of bed at 5:30 am to get ready, grab the camera gear and hit the course to snag some stills and video for Episode 1.
He tried his best to be quiet (hard to do in less than 150 sq ft of living space), but his excitement sounded more like a bull in china shop getting ready. Even though I would have LOVED a few more hours of sleep, I soaked in every second of the pure joy I saw on his face all day. Who needs sleep on Christmas anyway, right?!
Day 7 – Have a seat at the kid’s table, please
Ole’ Diego the RV had been having a little trouble starting the past few weeks. And after having to rely on 2 very nice guys to jump start the rig to get us moving (one being a nice manager at a Walmart we slept in overnight, the other a valet at TPC Sawgrass), along with multiple starts from our life saver of a battery power pack
We drove straight from TPC Sawgrass to the Mercedes dealership to sleep in the parking lot overnight (classy) so we’d be there first thing for our 8 am appointment. And when your car is your house and your dog and cat live with you, we all have to leave our house to have it repaired.
Which leads us to this hysterical scene at the dealership. Thank goodness for a kid’s playroom that we locked ourselves in while Diego was being worked on. Otherwise, our crew can get a little rowdy in waiting rooms with other customers who look like they haven’t had their morning coffee yet.
Luckily, it was only the chassis battery that needed to be replaced and not the starter. Our wallet was happily surprised.
Day 8 – Kicked out to get kicked back in
Living on the road and constantly on the move means LOTS of coordinating. One thing that fell through the cracks on Day 8 was where to lay our heads that night after Jordan’s round at Streamsong (see the round in Episode 2). The gorgeous resort is out in the middle of nowhere and by the time I started looking for a place to stay, the few options we had were closed. I did find a County Park that closed the gates 30 minutes prior, so we headed that way with hopes that someone on staff would still be around.
We arrived, looked for someone to help us, couldn’t find a soul and made the executive decision to just park outside the gate with our friend Matt (a fellow full-time traveler) from Golf in your State. He has one of these collapsible hardtop tents
Well I guess someone saw us because a park ranger showed up about 15 minutes later and told us to leave. Then he came back 5 minutes after that to welcome us in. He must have seen the desperation in our eyes with nowhere to park, and graciously let us in to stay the night. What a guy!
Day 9 – Thank you for 3 hot showers (in one day)
A long hot shower as a full-time RVer is gold. But THREE hot showers in one day is like hitting the jackpot. And when you play at golf courses a few times a week, you take full advantage of their sweet locker rooms when you have the chance. That’s exactly what I did at Streamsong on our last day there. 1 shower before the round, 1 before my massage (Thanks Streamsong!) and 1 before my hot dinner date with Jordan at Sottoterra Ristorante (again, thanks Streamsong). To celebrate, I did the bathroom mirror selfie at the spa. It’s the little things!
Day 10 – Friday the 13th – Rise above
Oh Friday the 13th, I had high hopes for you. I tried my best to rise above all the curve balls you threw me, but geeeez. It started off like any other day – you know, taking sunrise pictures while standing on top of Diego the RV. But then you gave me a run for my money.
I have a business I run from the road – Simply for Creatives – and I had a HUGE launch that just went bananas with missing audio and some technical glitches. We discovered it all while sitting in a Walmart parking lot with almost dead laptops and hungry bellies.
Jordan was knee deep in video editing, but so kindly and quickly found a nearby RV park so we could have endless power without the loud generator on, water and a quiet place to focus up. We got it all worked out even with my minor (ok, major) meltdown. Thanks babe for holding down the fort when I can’t seem to rise above.
Day 11 – Meet our new assistant
Ella Griggs (yes, she has an active hashtag on Instagram if you like cute dog pictures) was itching to help me get some work done on our first non-travel / non-golf day of the trip. We all needed some much-needed rest, relaxation, and headspace to get some work done. We were doing really great – gorgeous setting, lots of trails to walk Ella and quiet… until we were startled by the gun range RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET. We had no idea it was there and eventually learned to tune it out for the day.
Day 12 – The day started off too easy…
Life on the road means you have to be flexible and ready for a change of plans at any minute. Well, we weren’t quite ready for Day 12’s changes. We were scheduled to stay in a golf club’s parking lot overnight.
Well along the way, all those plans weren’t communicated to all the right people and we were asked to leave at 9:30 pm – in the middle of Orlando, with no other plans and no Walmart within 45 minutes allowing overnight parking. Oh boy. We tried it anyway and got kicked out of a Walmart at 11:00 pm. Exhausted and at a loss, we slept behind a mattress store with another RVer and just said a prayer for safety. Thankfully, it all turned out ok!
There it is, Week 2 of the #ultimategolfroadtrip. All the fun (and not so fun) moments in between the amazing rounds of golf we share. See you next week!