I've wanted to keep track of my journey here in Florida but since my journal is in storage at the moment and I don't know where to find it this will have to do.
Let me begin by saying it's never easy moving to a new state. I don't care who you are or how well thought out you may have or think you may have laid your plans carefully because let me be the first to explain that it DOES NOT always go the way you think it should. I'm living proof of this.
Second, I'm not even sure we're supposed to be here. PERIOD! I don't even know why I tried.
The car accident I had back in May should have been living proof that God didn't want us here. We should have kept ourselves at home in Kentucky. But ya'll should know me by now that I'm hard headed and want to do things my own way so I'm guessing God is letting me experience this disaster of a move.
No, I'm not mad at God. This whole thing is entirely my fault alone.
One dreadful thing has happened right after even before we left Kentucky. That should have told me something but as usual I didn't listen.
I can't remember if bad things happened or not when I made the move from Ohio to Kentucky in 1982 with my parents. It all seemed so easy then. NOT!
We had a rental car from where we had our car accident but that was a disaster too. Another bad thing. The man who let us bring it here to Florida decided he wanted to be a butthole. He said that if we didn't get the car back to him he was going to report it stolen. And he did.
The car wasn't due back until June 15 but he started calling us on June 10 five days early. I even had a contract but I guess that kind of thing doesn't matter anymore.
Well, I was going down Ridgewood Ave and about 10 police cars pull us over. I'm like what the heck? Scared me half to death. I didn't do anything wrong but I guess all they had to do was scan the plate to the car. I almost had a heart attack. That's how scared I was.
Fortunately for me the police were very nice. That eased my anxiety some. He made us get everything out of the car we were in and towed the car away leaving us on the streets. That was the beginning of our troubles. How we ever got out that mess I'll never remember. I was in too much shock to think.
Of course, the first thing my dumb ass husband asked where was the car? Duh they took it and I almost went to jail because of you. I couldn't believe it. Well, yes I can. That's the way most men are him included. Made me so mad! This mess was all his fault!
We've lived in one hotel after another since we've gotten here. My the owners of them were extremely rude! DO NOT EVER COME TO THE HERITAGE INN! They have bedbugs galore and the owners are very very rude! Because of them, I ended up at Halifax Hospital here in Daytona Beach, Fl. I didn't come here to live in Florida only to end up in the hospital. I had enough of that in Lexington, Ky.
But, anyway we ended up in the streets down here for 6 days and nights. Not a very good experience. It's how we lost one of our dogs.
I was in the hospital when it happened.
According to my friend and son, Ally chewed through her leash and escaped. She ran across Ridgewood Ave and got run over. The man who ran over her killed her. I was so upset. So now, we're down to two watchdogs. I really miss Alley. She was my favorite of the three. Now, we only have Logan and Maizey left. Since we're on the streets now I'm mighty glad we have them. No one can walk up on us without the dogs letting us know they're there. Guard dogs is what I call them.
Here's Logan and Maizey:
Motel 6 was the same way. Rude. We stayed there for 14 days and all the owner did was complain complain complain. I've never heard such! Don't you think that other people leave their hotel rooms just as dirty and towels everywhere, sheets messed up after they sleep in them? Of course they do. But it seemed like they zeroed in on us and we even left the room clean so they wouldn't have to do much after we left. I was glad to go but we still ended up in the streets here and are still on the streets. Now, I know how the homeless feel but the one thing I don't do is drugs or alcohol. Nasty stuff. I have enough problems of my own without adding this to it.
Yes, let me tell you about what happened yesterday as well. We were sitting at an abandoned gas station on International Speedway and this man comes up and starts laying stuff on the ground in front of us. One of those items was a whole big thing of pot. Me and my friend Carrie looked at each other and she told me not to touch it. Duh, I wasn't going to touch it. I don't even like it or smoke it so why would I do that? I"m not going to get myself in trouble. NO WAY!
So after the man left, Carrie gathered up the stuff using an old sock and put the items in the bag, tied it up and threw them away. I couldn't believe it. No one has ever approached me like that. Shows me Satan is at work here guys. I'm clean all the way. I don't do none of those evil things to myself. I reckon we passed the test because he never came back Thank God! He surely was watching out for us women. Of course, our dogs wouldn't let him get close either. We think it was a set up.
There have been some really nice people too. Extremely few and far between but awesome. Some have even given us money. For which we were grateful for. Some even bought stuff from Speedway for us. Shows me that there are still some good people out there. I think they are God's angels.
It's been a weird experience on that end too. No one wants to help here. All the important people at the resource center wants to do is talk down to you and treat you like poop. I'm referring to the lady at the Salvation Army. Really nasty. It's like she doesn't want to do the job she's hired to do. Especially helping people to relocate. Jeez!! There's really no sense in treating people like that. If you don't want to be there then why are you? Surely there's someone better that can do the job? Hmmm?
There are no feeding places to help with the homeless, no cooling centers at all due to this stupid Covid 19 shit. I couldn't believe it.
Even the Salvation Army for women and children are closed but the men's is open. To me, that doesn't make sense. Men there you have it. It was the same crap in Lexington. All anyone wants to focus on is the men. Stupid men. Nothing but lots of trouble if you ask me. So really, there is no where to go down here at all. Not even a hot meal to be had because of this crap going on. I hate this Covid and it just got worse! That's all I ever hear is Covid Covid Covid.
Which is why I'm glad that Kevin and Michael are working at day labor. They pay daily so we have some money to either stay at motels, have food to eat etc. Might not be what we want but it's something. They don't work weekends. Maybe some Sat but few and far between.
We're just waiting on their SS cards so they can get real jobs. This is just to hold us over until something better comes along.
Now, we have had several dust clouds covering Florida. I've seen them come over us. Makes the sky look really weird and it's hard to breathe outside. Big fluffy orange looking clouds. I'm sitting here, thinking to myself can 2020 get any worse? So far, it's proven to me it can.
The only beautiful thing worth looking at is the ocean. When the sun shines down on it oh my! It's stunning!
Here's a photo of Daytona Beach:
At night, with the full moon over the ocean I think of God and the amazing things He has created for us to admire like this ocean. The sound of the waves is just so comforting. They put me to sleep one time. The stars come out and just wow!
I found some beautiful shells along Florida's beaches. Most of them came from Flagler Beach. Big huge shells too! Not just the bitty ones that are here at Daytona. Those are so small that they're disappointing.
AT FLAGLER BEACH, Florida June 2020
Daytona is disappointing. I thought it'd be different with so many thins to do but there's not. Social distancing yuck! At least they social distance on the beaches here. I've seen that with my own eyes.
But as my granny and mom said " I've made my bed now I have to lie in it." So I will try to make the best of it. I'm the one who wanted to come here.
Oh, let me tell you about the buses before I close out for the time being. Talk about an interesting experience!
These buses don't just run in Daytona. They go everywhere to the surrounding cities too! Deland, Port Orange, New Smyrna, etc. are just some of the examples. A couple of times I got lost and ended up riding the whole route! Which I didn't mind of course. But when you're tired at the end of the long day that's a different story! I have had several anxiety attacks. Not fun! Now Kevin is good for that. I'm glad he was there those times.
Here's a photo of our buses:
Votran is not like Lextran. Lextran only serves Lexington. I miss my children especially my 782. and my favorite driver Brian Durham.
Here's the kicker and this has nothing to do with the buses. It's the cabs. These cab drivers charge $15 extra dollars for " moving fee" they say. I've never heard of that. But at least they know where we're going unlike the bus drivers down here. Most Votran drivers are rude. Whenever you ask them something and instead of anwsering you they say " I don't know" wow why are you a bus driver then? How do you know where you are going if you can't answer my question? Jeez on that one too! 😛