Okahumpka – Analog Artist Digital World

When I left for Europe for three months, I packed up my studio and put everything in a U-Haul storage unit in September of 2025. It costs me $175 a month to store away my life while I live out of a backpack. The car was more tricky to store. I found a site called Neighbor where people allow you to park your car on their property for a monthly rate. It cost about $60 a month to park mu car in a field in Okahumpka Florida. The owner of the land has a wood workshop and at the time I left in November of 2025, he was working on decorations for a Christmas parade. At the head of his driveway which is a long dirt drive was a wooden gnome and a six-foot-tall silhouette of a big foot. Since he was running a creative workshop, I felt comfortable keeping my Prius there.

I read online article about how to safely store a car for many months. I got a large tarp to put on the ground so that weeds would not grow up into the chassis of the car. I had plastic stakes to secure the corners so it would not blow around in the high winds. I got a car cover, which unfortunately blew off several times. The lot owner said he replaced the cover each time. If or when I travel again, I will need to get rope of bungees to secure the cover under the car, front and back and side to side. I let the gas get very low before I parked and I put an additive in with the oil which is supposed to help when the car sits idle.

I disconnected the car battery which I had never done before so that the battery would not drain. I heard that having a trickle charger was the best option to keep the battery charges, but that was not an option since there was no outlet in the empty field. Besides my Prius there were several campers parked on the lot.

When I got back to the states, I needed the help of the property owner to jump my battery once I had it hooked back up. Despite being unhooked the battery had been completely drained over the three months. When I drove away from the Okahumpka empty field, a warning light flashed on the dashboard. The battery would not get back to a full charge. Since I was in a rural county, the car is super important just to run basic survival errands, so I decided to immediately drive to the dealership to have the car go through an all points inspection. I was advised to replace the smaller battery which is the one needed each time the engine is turned over. This was an unexpected $700 expense to add to my car storage fee on the spreadsheet.

All of my art supplies and studio equipment are still in storage. I lived out of a backpack in Europe and I have been living out of the same backpack since I got back. I almost bought a house in Azalia Park in Orlando but discovered it had termites in the roof rafters. I realized I would not be able to live in the place for about a year while the roof was replaced and major renovations were made. I backed out of the deal after the inspection which also cost about $700.

At the end of this week I will be heading to Sarasota where I am having a hernia operation. I discovered the hernia when I was in Germany and since I got back my primary goal has been to get this diagnosed and taken care of. The surgeon who will perform the operation is the same surgeon who performed the same operation on my sister who lives down in Port Charlotte, Florida. She and her husband have agreed to take me to the hospital and then back to their place to be sure I recover without complications. From there place I plan to look for an AirB&B in Orlando for a month or an apartment. I want to be in Orlando in May so that I can document the Orlando International Fringe Festival. After the festival my plan right now is to drive north. I want to find a place north of NYC where I can commute by bus or train once a week or so into the city to sketch and paint. It is time to put down roots an build back up my studio practice. I have been on the road long enough. Sketching on location keeps my studio set up in my tiny day bag. I should probably start doing more finished works. I doubt I will ever be remembered for my sketches done in car dealerships.

An artist friend suggested we go to sketch a Porsche Road Rats Rally going at Bountiful Farms (27314 County Road 33, Okahumpka, FL). The event was almost over, so we had to rush to get there. I reasoned that men would still be talking about their fancy engines, and chrome with hoods open long after the closing time for the event.

In part, I was right. There is a small outdoor cafe called Bountiful’s Bestro, under a giant 300 year old live oak on the property. The outdoor seating was crowded, presumably full of Porsche owners bragging about their cars speed and many modifications. My ex wife used to drive a Porsche so I know that speed is everything. My artist friend set up near her car to sketch the cafe and huge tree, and I wandered over to sketch the Porches parked on the grass parking lot.

As I sketched, car owner after car owner walked to their car and drove off. A distant Porsche had the car owner come out and open the hood. He showed his engine to a friend. I had to stop sketching when it started to rain. At that point every car owner rushed over and drove off. I went back to find Stella and she was still sketching. We decided to head over to a small fresh market where we brought some produce. I wanted to get some cucumbers since I had recently picked some in a field nearby. The woman behind the counter explained that cucumbers were out of season, which I suppose was true since the crop was now in supermarkets rather than in the fields. There is a weekend farmers market that happens on Bountiful Farms and my friend discussed the possibility of having art for sale at the market. I will have to return to sketch that farmers market some weekend.

By the time we left the fresh market it had stopped raining. We then had a fantastic soup and grilled cheese sandwich lunch under the gorgeous live oak. We had the place to ourselves. The waitress kept offering us free Cokes since we were creating art, but in the end we paid. Despite the brief rain, it was a great outing. We both wished we had spent more time sketching, but it is the experience that counts not how polished the sketch looks. My friend’s sketch of the Bistro and live oak is really good and could easily be finished some weekend. My sketch, as usual is a panicked mess.