I haven’t posted in a while but here we are in Florida for the winter. Yes, that’s right, we are Alabama Snowbirds.
In November we started out in Dunedin, Florida, on the Gulf outside Clearwater for a month, and recently moved across the State to the east coast in Titusville Florida.
I’ll write posts on the campgrounds, the towns, the restaurants, and places we explored all in due time. However, tonight I’ll just talk a little about how amazed I am that we’ve been in a 28 foot Travel Trailer for 35 days and haven’t killed each other.
When we talked about spending four months in Florida for the winter, I was super excited. Even where we live in Alabama it is cold and dreary most of the winter, so the thought of warm weather, beaches and palm trees made me giddy.
But as we planned the trip, especially after our 21 days to Texas in September, I became skeptical and a little apprehensive about living in our small space for four months.
With full transparency, yes there are times I feel we are stumbling over each other. We’ve realized we need to do things separately, sometimes one of us just needs to get outside, as well as we need to go exploring and be active. This latter part is not difficult because it’s one of the main reasons we decided on this winter adventure. At home we are couch potatoes in winter, but here in Florida with this fabulous weather that has changed drastically. We are biking, walking – just getting outdoors more and moving!! It’s wonderful!
Which leads me back to not posting recently. We are looking at rainy dreary weather the next three days so maybe I can write some articles and post photos.
On our three-week Texas trip in October, we had our first Tarantula encounter. This is what horror stories are made of especially if you’ve never seen a Tarantula before. I had not.
Some of our Texan friends and relatives had told stories of how large they were, how they can run fast when frightened or harassed, or how they can jump large distances all of which horrified me. Yes, I have arachnophobia. I watched way too many ‘giant spider’ scary movies when I was a child.
We were in the Lake Travis area north of Austin one night and as we were leaving a restaurant Don spotted it . . . a huge tarantula on the wall. I quickly grabbed my cell phone and shot video of the experience which later has proven to be quite comical. Unfortunately, I cannot post on this Blog because I do not have the premium package 😦 Bummer.
When posted on social media it received quite a few funny comments.
This is a good photo of the brown tarantula which is common in Texas along with an article https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/texas/giant-tarantulas-tx/. The tarantula we saw is not as plump and fuzzy as those in south America or other countries. As you can see in the video and my photo, the legs are thinner. But rest assured it was still huge and creepy!
We discussed getting new tires before we set out on our longest trip ever – almost three weeks to Texas. Unfortunately, we decided we would wait until we got back, after all, we’ve only had our travel trailer 16 months and towed it 4,500 miles. Surely, we didn’t need new tires yet — bad decision.
The First Day of our 19 day trip we blew a tire
outside Laurel Mississippi in 100+ degree weather. Although we were on an
interstate, we had slowed to go through town and fortunately did minimal damage
to our trailer exterior and underbelly.
We pulled into a small nearby tire shop and
found our spare was bad also. Talk about bad luck. The tire shop did not have quality trailer
tires so we opted for a sub-par spare and replacement on the blown tire, and
traveled 18 miles to our campground for the night. (2nd bad
decision)
It had been a stressful afternoon in the
overwhelming southern Mississippi heat so after cooling the camper we settled
down for some rest.
At 3:00 am we awoke to a loud noise and the
trailer shook so hard that the bedroom door closed. Let me tell you, when you
are awakened at 3 am to your travel trailer shaking it’s a pretty scary
situation. In record time (I think 2.2 seconds flat) we made it from our bed to
where I was convinced I heard a noise outside the door and assumed it was
someone trying to get in.
Our first thought was that someone on meth had
run into our trailer because it felt as if a 350 lb linebacker had hit it.
Second and almost simultaneous thought was that a huge tree had fallen on us,
but when we could see no crushed or damaged ceiling we gave up that idea. The
very next question as we looked at each other with sleep swollen eyes was, “Are
there bears here?” followed by could someone have backed their vehicle into us?
In case you are wondering, yes, at this point
we were also looking at each other and stating the obvious, “We left our pistol
in the truck!!” Big mistake!
We were still hooked to our Ram since we were
there for a quick one night stay, so D had the great idea to remotely start the
truck which would cause the lights to come on. This would shed more light on the
area, and hopefully scare someone off if they were our there. Armed with a sharp kitchen knife, as I stood
at the door with a butcher knife, he opened the door, and then ran to the truck
to get our pistol. I watched as he walked slowly around the truck and trailer
with the pistol and flashlight but he found nothing. Nothing – no tree on the
roof, no sign of a bear attack, no damage to any of the exterior walls or
windows. We were perplexed as we stood at the door discussing what in the world
had shook the RV that badly and made that loud of a noise.
And as he stood there, his eyes drifted down to
check under the trailer and he saw it. A second tire had blown – exploded! It
was the rear tire which was directly under the door. That was what I heard that
made me think someone was scratching at the door. We believe it was air, or
some of the rubber pieces sliding to the ground.
We did not go back to sleep. While waiting on
daylight to change the tire, we found a ‘reputable’ tire dealer in Laurel and
as soon as they opened we made an appointment. The morning of the second day of
our 19-day-trip was spent getting four new name brand quality tires put on plus
a spare!
Not the best way to start our
longest-trip-ever, but it could have been worse. We are still thankful there
was not more damage done after two blowouts.
Lesson: when you read about people having new
name brand tires installed on their RV immediately or soon after purchase,
listen to them. I wish we had. Expensive lesson learned!!
I’ve reorganized our dinette numerous times. After all we
use it as an eating table as well as work surface/office area.
Although my husband is a retired CPA, he still does a few
jobs on the side and sometimes when we travel he needs space to do his work. Of
course in our small travel trailer the dinette is the only space available.
I love having a traditional lamp on our dinette (non LED) – it adds ambience (I know, laugh if you want). I’ve had this lamp since we bought the RV and would not travel without it.
We also collect other items on our dinette such as a mini clip fan; computer, phone and fan chargers; glasses; paperwork (usually from the RV Park we are in), not to mention various other items which seem to find their way onto the table. I am constantly trying to keep things corralled to cut down on clutter. Here are some things I’ve found to help.
Craft Organizer (Hobby Lobby) – Journal, Notebook on Campgrounds, Calendar (yes I still use an old timey calendar I write in), Cross-stitch project, pens/pencils, pocket knife, nail clippers/file, Sharpie, hair clips, Reading Glasses (for both of us), daily med boxes (unless children are around and we put in bathroom cabinet – we found we don’t forget meds if we have them on dinette). This organizer lives on the bench seat and takes up little room. If we have guests, it’s easy to place out of the way.
Shelf – the past two trips putting a small shelf on the table has helped with space issues.
Multi-USB charger via Amazon. Last month I nearly had a meltdown about the 4 USB charging cords, the lamp cord, and the computer charger cord all jumbled (is that a word?) together on the dinette area. So, I found this multi-USB charger that has a sticky surface on the bottom which keeps it steady and from falling off the table. It is the perfect answer to the USB chargers – just one device plugged into the outlet yet allows up to 6 items to be recharged. Yes, this leaves only one outlet to be alternated between the lamp and computer charger but we are managing! 😊
USB rechargeable mini fans via Amazon. These little fans are powerful. They are clip-on and originally a family member purchased for their baby stroller. The fact they are USB rechargeable was the selling factor for me, but the round fan part rotates 360 degrees, and has multi-speed settings. I bought a second one to put on my husband’s side of the bed. We keep one in our towing vehicle when driving in case of a “hot flash” , or the fur baby needs extra air.
Phone Stand – Easy and convenient to rest your phone at a reclining position to allow recharging, or easy access to read, and swipe.
We fell in love with this jewel of a park. There are pros and cons but let’s discuss the pros first. We’ll start with 1.5 miles of public beaches that are across from the campground. I estimated a 1/3 mile walk or bike ride to beautiful white sand beaches with wooden walkways and plentiful parking.
There is a beautiful lake next door which is part of Hanna Park with a very nice playground, splash pad, tons of picnic tables, pavilions, etc. Beware alligators of course.
Biking/hiking trails
The park also has many biking and hiking trails clearly marked and we took full advantage.
This campground is full of lush palmetto, palm trees, and huge oaks. We joked that we felt as if we were in Jurassic Park. Seventy percent of the campground’s sites have vegetation buffers in between sites. In fact we could not see the camper on one side of us, and barely see the one on the opposite side or behind us. You can see this in the photos.
We enjoyed the privacy and not sitting at our dinette staring into someone else’s campsite or window. When we were cooking or sitting outside no one was staring at every little thing we did. Let’s face it – some campgrounds you feel like someone is always able to watch you. But for those of you who travel with other camping friends, there are buddy-sites with less or no vegetation in between. You can be one big happy group.
I personally found this campground super friendly; everyone seemed to speak or wave, and I met several people just riding my bike or walking Piper. We’ve been to some campgrounds where not only do you meet no one but few speak.
Now for the Cons: The sites can be difficult to get into especially for larger 5th wheels or Class A’s. With that said, there were lots, and I mean lots of 5th wheels, Class A and Class C RVs in this park!! Although I saw a photo on the website when I made our reservation, when we arrived there was no way our 32’ (bumper to hitch) travel trailer would fit with awning and slide out. But the office was more than accommodating and gave us three options to check out and choose where we wanted to move. We loved the site we chose and it required only one leveling block under the tires on one side. The sites are sandy and you are constantly tracking into the camper, so take rugs to wipe your feet or plan on leaving shoes outside which we did at times.
Breakfast View
There is no wi-fi but we had good T-Mobile phone service.
There is no cable but we got 14 channels using our camper’s antennae.
There is no pool (but a gorgeous beach).
The bathrooms were only average or below. Many times we use the bathhouse showers every other day for a longer soaking shower but chose to use our travel trailer’s shower at this campground. T
he laundry was a screened in porch with two washing machines and two dryers at $2.25 a pop. For a campground with 300 sites I was shocked there was no better laundry area but we washed two loads, the appliances did a great job, and we were happy.
If you like camping in a beautiful wooded area with firepits, privacy if wanted, biking, hiking and a gorgeous beach you would enjoy this campground.
For those who want every amenity and are more of a glamper, you just need to understand there are lesser items offered at Hanna but still VERY much worth it. As for us, we loved it and although we thought this was a ‘one time stop’, we are already planning a visit next year.
Yes folks, there is a place called Christmas, Florida, and I can only imagine what it’s like at Christmas season. We arrived in February to find a 20′ tall tree decorated with Christmas lights.
As you may know it is difficult to find an RV site in Florida in the winter due to so many from the North coming down for warmer temps. But I was fortunate enough to run across this little RV Park.
We had 9 nights in February reserved, and added 2 extra nights since we enjoyed the area so much. $73/night (10% Good Sam Discount is available). All campgrounds are pretty high priced in winter in Florida. The weather was fabulous while we were there and I did not have enough shorts and tank tops with me. I will prepare better next time.
This campground was probably 97% older people and by older I mean older than us – retirement age. But it was a very active campground as you will see below. Lots of people were biking or had golf carts.
(Pros) Very nice heated pool with loungers as well as tables/chairs and couple of umbrellas. 8’ deep on one end and steps at the other end (great for the older folks)
Super clean bathrooms and showers including attractive clean shower curtains and bath chairs. Dressing area outside actual shower stall. Huge handicapped stall and large handicapped shower.
Nice laundry room with nice washers and dryers, folding table, area to hang clothes on racks, utility sink. Wash and dry both were $1.75 (less expensive than most we’ve found).
Very nice meeting/cooking areas. Although we were not there long enough to participate in the picnics, potlucks, etc. when I rode my bike I checked out the different areas – five that I saw.
A couple of large screened areas with grills outside on patios were very nice. A large clubhouse area with tables for cards, very nice reclining sofas, pool table, a table with a puzzle (for everyone to contribute), and a kitchen which had coffee available daily. This area also had an adjoining screened porch and adjoins the bathhouse and laundry as well. It is located beside the pool and joins the campground office, also.
There were very nice game areas – bocce ball, shuffleboard, horseshoes and others. Unfortunately I was not able to participate in the games. I also saw a Calendar of Events with exercise classes, card games, arts and crafts, women’s lunch out, men’s breakfast.
The sites do not have fire pits but there is a very nice public firepit area (below) and we enjoyed meeting a lot of the temporary residents from up north and exchanging ‘snow’ stories.
(Cons)
Biggest con was an odor. I believe the water has a good bit of sulfur content which always emits an odor but also what we believe was the sewage treatment area was directly behind the campground. When the wind blew a certain direction there was an odor at times. (note: I saw a couple of posts on FB about campgrounds along the St. Johns River in Florida that have an odor from the sulfur water.)
Second issue was the roads are made of some kind of finely crushed material (shells?) and although it had a tiny bit of sand mixed in, it was more like a fine mortar (yes cement). Thankfully it did not harden as badly as cement does, however, our truck had to be washed very well TWICE to get it off. This sticks to your shoes so we left our shoes outside most of the time as to not track inside and require constant sweeping and mopping to remove it from the floor. But even then we kept the broom in the doorway and swept constantly. [Note: twice during our stay someone was on a tractor with a scraper blade leveling out the roads. This campground constantly had maintenance people out doing things. Good for them!)
Pool only open 12 – 5. Not a big deal but would be nice if it was open at least later for evening relaxing and swimming.
Summary: This is one of the friendliest campgrounds we’ve been in. People constantly greeted each other, stopped to talk, etc. Many of the guests are 6 mos winter residents so they care about the area like it is their home. It seems to be well managed, and there was constantly clean up going on to maintain the park.
There is a large ranch next door (Cracker Ranch) with cows and buffalo which I enjoyed watching when walking our Piper.
Wild Life Management areas are within 2 miles and the campground is convenient to both Orlando and Titusville/Kennedy Space Ctr/Cape Canaveral. Would be great place to park camper if coming down here for a cruise.
We ate out more than we usually do but there were good restaurants several miles away. Orleans Bistro in Titusville was fabulous. Kays BBQ in Cocoa was very good. Leoncito mexican in Titusville was fabulous. Hit Happy Hour and their delish Margaritas. We visited Mt. Dora – quaint little town with tons of unique shopping opportunities and eateries.
Our most exciting moment was watching a live rocket launch from Kennedy Space Center. It was the coolest!!
DIY innovative ideas I’ve found on Pinterest or Googled.
Our first travel trailer was so crowded in the bathroom there was no room for a trash can. I saw this first photo and bought a plastic cereal dispenser and it fit perfectly between the toilet and tub and a plastic grocery bag fits!
The idea of a shower rod with these hanging baskets interests me also. I like the way it keeps items up high from water constantly splashing on them, and out of the reach of little hands if you have them.
A Critique of a Florida State Park near I-010 in Live Oak, FL
$22/night ($30.90 with tax and state park fee)
We were pleasantly surprised by this campground. We needed a place to stay for one night between Orange Beach, AL and Jacksonville Beach, FL and the price of this location mixed with proximity to I-10 caused us to stop. It was about 10 miles off I-10 (2 miles north, then 8.2 miles west). There were approximately 30 sites on a designated paved circle. The terrain of the State Park was filled with trees and vegetation and the sites were shady /wooded which in summer would be a huge plus! Only 3 sites are cement and very level – I know the one beside us was handicap specified and I believe the other 2 paved were as well. All other sites were not level, sandy, and we had to use leveling blocks but the sites were wide enough to make backing in easy. Ours had two posts and a short clothesline – what a great idea. We had full hook-up and a nice picnic table and fire pit. I hate we were there for only a short time and weren’t able to take advantage of these things. We did, however, take a great hot shower in very nice, clean bathrooms. They had numerous stalls and showers in the men’s and women’s, and a very large designated family/handicap bathroom/shower as well.
Since we’d been traveling all day, as soon as we connected the camper we went on a quick walk down to the river. Recent rains had obviously caused super high water and some flooding. Trails were well marked, and trail signs/maps were large and easy to read. I’m sure when it’s not so cold and has not been flooded these trails are definitely something we would enjoy.
This campground has a boat launch, overflow parking for boat trailers, a very nice playground and cabins to rent. The cabins were new looking and so cute we thought some of our kids might like to rent one sometime while we camped in the travel trailer.
I certainly wish we had more time here and we are putting Suwannee River State Park on our “must revisit” list.
As you can see in the photo below our Puma 28 foot Travel Trailer does not have a lot of kitchen counter space. I didn’t buy this camper because I’d be cooking a lot, and we have an outdoor kitchen which I intend to use a lot more.
However, after a few camping trips it was obvious I needed some type of additional space to put items, or dishes when cooking or cleaning. The photo above highlights an area I could put ‘something’. I was not sure what, but it would have to be mobile and temporary as there are 2 drawers in the side of that lower cabinet which hold dish towels, pot holders, and an assortment of kitchen utensils. So. . . the search began.
Finally I found this kitchen island (and I use that term loosely) on Amazon (Pic courtesy of Amazon)
Let me say this piece of furniture is, well for lack of a better word, cheap (cheaply made). Sorry but it’s true. But cheap also meant lightweight in this case and I did not want a lot of weight added to the camper therefore this will suffice for now. I can’t remember the exact cost – between $40-50.
The Amazon description claims it will hold up to 44 lbs – I doubt I’ll ever come close to that. It has a small drawer in the top where I store items I need constantly – can opener, scissors, a knife. I throw dish towels in the top ‘wire drawer’, and cups or paper plates in the 2nd ‘wire drawer’. I’ve even put a bowl of fresh fruit here.
I put it together with no help from the husband. It comes with little wheels but they were super cheap and kept falling off and since this piece will be placed on the camper bed when we travel, I was not going to be constantly searching for wheels. So Mr. K suggested putting those little felt sticky furniture pads on the bottom of the legs. This made the ‘island’ shorter but it still works for what I need.
Here it is in our travel trailer when I was cooking this week (with only one wing out). I’ve put a dish dry pad on top (with wings folded out) and put dishes on it to dry. I’ve put my small coffee pot on it, and of course used for extra counter space when cooking.
So far it has been exactly what I needed and fit perfectly in this little space!
A Critique of the Alabama State Park on the coast of Alabama
Approximately $53/night in January
This campground is huge with miles and miles of intersecting paved bike trails mixed with above-ground wide, wooden pathways above the marshes and wooded areas. Several trails go to the beach where pathways cross over the busy beach highway.
The bathhouses were clean and nice; laundry had around 12 washing machines and 14 dryers with rolling laundry baskets. The Laundry is across from the well-stocked Camp Store. All of this is in the same area as the Amphitheatre and Nature Center which has both live and mounted animals. Beneath the Nature Center are several live caged owls for viewing. Although it was winter and we didn’t use it, the pool was huge and had lots of nice lounge chairs. The only negative I saw was no playground although they had a playground type swing set. This was not a big deal to us – we found plenty to do with the grandkids when they came to visit.
The campsites are large with lots of space between. Most of them are shaded or at least have some small vegetation and/or a tree but the website has photos so you can choose what you want.
Check out Gulf State Park’s website and online map so you can get the full info on their fabulous walking and biking trails. The wilderness and these trails as well as being just across the road from the beach is what makes this Park/Campground a winner in our book!!
Unfortunately I only have 1 or 2 photos. We were busy with family on our January trip there but you can find plenty online.
Here it is in our travel trailer when I was cooking this week (with only one wing out). I’ve put a dish dry pad on top (with wings folded out) and put dishes on it to dry. I’ve put my small coffee pot on it, and of course used for extra counter space when cooking.
Kelly Kamping & Travels 