SNOWBIRDING ASHEVILLE

© Howard McQueen
November 30, 2009
Writing from Lake Rousseau, FL.


In mid-November, I pulled up stake living in Asheville and took
my truck, camper insert and boat on-the-road.

Last night was spent in an Econolodge,
with an outbreak of worries over
“will I ever find a place again to call home”.
Shortly after mid-day today, I signed a lease
and deployed my camper insert.
My residence is now standing on four legs,
Pointed out at Lake Rousseau,
just north of Crystal River, Florida

Ahhh, settled at last, temporarily,
A transient, no longer disguised.

I just made the fifty yard walk to the edge of the lake
and took a seat at one of the benches by waters edge.
Here the lake is about a mile wide
and is much, much longer.
The clouds have cleared,
revealing the nearly full moon.
Next to me is a twenty-foot banana tree.
Not a ripple on the lake
except when a frog or a fish breaks the surface.
This will be a place to drink deeply
of the natural rhythms.
It has been since the spring of 2005,
that I left my home on Maryland’s Galestown Mill pond,
another place saturated with natural rhythms.

I am but an hour from Gainsville, FL
and the Temple of the Universe
I suspect I am less than two hours from Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater.
The rusty squawk of a heron pierces the night,
A very far away dog barks.
My next door neighbor is a retired cop.
Some very nearby neighbor has a cuckoo clock.
The clubhouse maintains a heated pool.
I just signed up for and obtained high-speed internet.
One month rent also paid-in-full,
The successful RV parks in high season don’t let you go on a month-to-month.
You only get your spot for as long as you sign the lease,
And they can book you out of your space, without giving you any notice.
Many new operating rules to become acquainted with,
this first night at the Lake Rousseau RV Park,
I am becoming acquainted with finding heart
On the road, wherever I go.

Back to fiddling with the built in 1982 propane heater.
Very little insulation in this pop up camper.

Good morning.
A bunch of contractors and/or fishermen left the park at 5:30 am.
I noticed that they were running only parking lights,
a courtesy for many of us twelve feet off the gravel roads.

Off to get a shower now and see what the morning brings.
Perhaps some boating and trying out that heated pool ...

Cheers!