Sleeping, eating, and bathing, these are all necessities of life. Not having one of them can get a person really ill or worse. In order to stay healthy everyone needs all three of these. They seem so simple. We are taught how to take care of ourselves at a very young age. However, here in Key West, Florida, we are relearning how to do all three and on a budget.
Down here in Key West, we have been experiencing some of our firsts. We figured the day would come when we had to do this or do that. That day is proving to be now. No longer are we able to rest on the status quo, we're having to change things up.
Since our first day in the Florida Keys finding overnight parking has proven to be a challenge. The local cities and counties are pretty proactive in keeping camping limited to RV campsites and away from the streets. We were able to park for free our first night in the Keys with the help of another couple living in a van in Islamorada, Florida. (Islamorada is a city in the Florida Keys made up of several keys about an hour off the mainland).
That next day we had made it to Key West, and it seemed even more difficult to find a good place to stay. The local campgrounds were charging between $60 to $150 per night for a spot with basic or no hook-ups. This remains completely beyond what we are able to afford. And as such we've had to find other places to park for the night, in order to sleep.
Our first two nights in Key West we lucked out. We found a parking lot downtown that allowed us to park for two nights. They charge $20 per day until 9am the next day. The other city-owned parking lots charged $4 per hour, and didn't permit overnight parking. What a bargain, comparatively! We quickly learned that this location was a block away from the city's party street. As such it was really active and noisy all night long. For our sanity we would have to move on. Down on Key West we don't have the luxury of moving to a Walmart to park and sleep at for free. In fact, there are no Walmarts throughout the Florida Keys. The closest one to us currently is about 140 miles away, back on the mainland, just south of Miami. We'll have to figure out something else.
Being a big tourist location, everything is expensive. As I mentioned, the nightly stay is exorbitant. Similarly, the price of restaurants and bars are high, too. The first night we were in Key West, Orsuré and I went out to Bourbon Street Pub, one of the local gay bars and had a drink. At the end, we were really taken aback at the bill after only a couple drinks. We quickly realized that we can't afford to do this even a couple times a week. So, going out for food or drinks will have to be sometime things.
Regarding bathing, we haven't found any free, public showers. We have found outdoor beach showers, but they are intended for use to rinse off, and not meant to be a place to bathe with body wash soap. All other showers seem to be privately owned, in local gyms and hotels, of which we'd have to pay to use. Similar to no free Walmart parking lot, there are no Planet Fitness gyms in the Florida Keys. We have no access to a real shower.
Now with all the limitations, you might be wondering to yourself what we have been doing. As the title to this journal states, necessity is the inspiration of innovation. We've had to be and continue to learn how to be creative and innovative.
Not able to afford campsites, nor the $20 parking lot downtown for any length of time, we have been forced to discover how to park for free. Sign after sign read no overnight parking, no camping, residential permit parking only, and the like. Then, we finally found a spot that didn't have a sign dictating its parking rules, and the cars parked there didn't have any decals. And, to top it off, it faces the water - only separated by a little sidewalk. Yes, please. Here is our first attempt at free overnight parking.
Through the night we were hesitant that we were too clearly camping there, but decided to try it anyway. Low and behold we ended up not getting that dreaded knock telling us to move. In fact we weren't bothered by anyone the entire night. What a relief! And in the morning we awoke to the most glorious and bright sunrise directly in front of us though our windshield window.
The only issue we did end up having was the smell of the location. During much of the night the seaweed that was piled up on the other side of the sidewalk gave off this sulfuric smell that was negatively intoxicating. In an attempt to lessen the stench we ended up taking a piece of paper towel, soaking it in some fragrance oil we have and hanging it from our open window so as to mask the sulfur smell. Luckily it seemed to work.
That next day we were on the look out for other places where we might be able to park for this and future nights. To date we have found a few residential streets and parking lots that don't have signs about parking, and so have been experimenting. So far (*knock on wood*) we haven't had that dreaded knock or been told we couldn't park there or needed to move. Hopefully our luck continues.
Unable to afford paying for parking, we have gotten more courageous and daring in attempting where to sleep for the night. There is a bit of a thrill of the unknown and exploration of where to call home. And, it's all free!
Moving on to eating. A month and a half ago we were able to get our marine drawer-style fridge. With this we were able to finally keep food for longer than a day, and healthy food at that. What a game changer this wad for us at the time. We have had a lot of cold meals. People ask us if we have a propane stovetop to make hot meals. From the beginning of our build we had decided to go completely propane free. We didn't want to risk any accidental mishaps inside our home with gas and fire. And so, we prepared to be able to cook food using either an electric InstaPot pressure cooker or a single-burner, induction stovetop. Both of which, prior to being in Key West, we had yet to use. Any hot meals we have had along our journey were either deli-store bought or from restaurants.
With an increasing tight budget, and getting tired of making cold meals, we finally pulled out our InstaPot pressure cooker to cook up a hot meal. The sun had just set, which means any electricity we would use would lower our batteries until the next day when our solar panel could recharge them. But, we were really needing a change in our diet, so we were willing to possibly use a significant percentage of our power.
Being the first time attempting to use our InstaPot, earlier in the day we picked up two simple boxed rice meals. All that's needed to make a meal out of these are water, heat and time. Simple first attempts. I quickly washed out the InstaPot, skimmed the manual, skipped over to the rice section, and began cooking. It was as simple as that.
That was by far the easiest rice I have ever made. I just pressed two buttons and the InstaPot did everything else. The box of rice said it would take about 20 mins to prepare on a conventional stove top. In the InstaPot it took only 10 mins. And it was more than ready. It was both incredibly delicious and rewarding to have made our own hot meal.
Like the fridge was when we first got it, the InstaPot is another real game changer in our diets. We finally can confidently prepare hot meals. Now we can experiment using the all the functions of the InstaPot - including its cake function! How cool is that?! We no longer need to only rely on money-consuming, premade meals if we want a warm meal, nor any longer only prepare cold meals in our home. We are becoming equipped to make affordable and delicious hot meals!
And finally, how do we bathe? A few times already we have used some wipes/moist towelettes to clean our bodies with while inside the van, away from stranger's eyes. And once, the other day, we ended up finding a little secluded fishing spot up the highway to another island. We brushed out Ben and then actually bathed outside. This wasn't too bad, but not as ideal as we would have likrd, being only hidden from the highway by a few bushes. We just recently remembered that since Orsuré is a veteran, retired out of the Air Force, he and I have access to many military bases. This means we have access to their workout gyms and locker room showers. Yay, access to showers and gyms! Although we haven't yet tried it, it is nice to know we do have access to some real showers. We have options.
With our increasingly tight budget and the beginnings of feeling stuck and limited, we are discovering we do in fact have many more options than we had first thought. These options take a little work and creativity, but they are proving to be well worth it - and they're almost entirely free! Being forced to do some major budgeting, we have had to be more daring and creative in how we are living. Although having a little spare cash always helps us explore and experience more of the places we are at, we're finding that we make this work with very little. We're excited to say that we're learning how to sustain the lifestyle that we want.
