November 1-15, 2024 Georgia and Florida

We left Richmond Hills, Georgia after a fun night with Tia and Larry at a bar called Flashback. My Aretha Franklin Costume and Greg’s Old Lady Costume were a big hit.

We found a nice park in Brunswick, had some lunch and enjoyed some shade. Greg said the temperature is 20° higher right now than it usually is. A nice shady area is a bonus on days like this.

Our plan is to move in extra slow motion atleast for now.  Extra slow motion is like an hour drive each day. The problem with slow motion weekend driving is that there are NEVER any campsites available to stay at. The other problem is that without campsites, there are no showers unless you are willing to spend the $18 at a Truck Stop, which of course we have done on occasions. But if we can get a cheaper shower, we will usually always take that choice. So we headed towards St Augustine and had plans on going to the Amphitheater. They have a farmers market there on Saturdays with Live music. The place was a mob scene. Lines and lines of cars to get into the parking area. Cops directing traffic. A camper Van nightmare. I didn’t want to go into a tight tight parking area without the ability to turn around or even if the spots are too tight we were decided to bypass the market and go to a State Park a little down the road from there. We asked if there were any openings for a camp spot but of course there were none so we paid the $8 entry fee and decided to spend the day. They have a huge beach lot and lots of trails. First stop was to drive the campground loops and check out the ease of taking a shower without actually being “campers.” We decided to go for it and parked at one of the trailheads and then walked to the showers. There’s no greater feeling than being clean after too many days without a shower. We also noticed while driving around the loops that there were TONS of open and empty campsites. This is the norm now. People paying for sites and not showing up and the campground not releasing the sites to people like us. It’s bizarre. Anyway after our showers we went to the main beach parking lot and had a nice lunch. The breeze was fantastic. It’s super hot right now. Hotter than usual so a breeze is such a bonus. 

Spent the whole day at the St Augustine State Park then drove to yet another Cracker Barrel. Had a nice dinner and settled in for the night along with a bunch of others.

Next day headed about an hour drive south to Juniper Springs Campground. They had plenty of spots at $48 a night. Seems a little pricey for what they have to offer. No electric and crappy bathrooms. We picked out site 15 and then headed out to the springs. The water was 73°. The sun had been behind the clouds all day so we aren’t even remotely hot enough to jump into something that cold. 

Next day we went on a hike. Pretty much every trail is closed and every boardwalk is closed.

So we were about 45 minutes from the Villages which have live music every night of the week with dancing and tons of Happy Hours. So we headed that way and I’m glad we did because the band was so amazing. Everybody was up dancing and singing along. Hundreds of people having a good time in this giant giant town square with the band in the middle. Such a good time……until the rain came and boy did it rain. We found a nice spot in a hotel parking lot and of course I was asleep by eight and Greg took a walk back to the square to enjoy the band some more. The rain stopped and they played 2 more sets. Also everyone here rides around in golf carts. Some of these carts are super cool looking. 

Next day we headed to Lake Griffin State Park which is like 15 minutes south of The Villages. I’d say this was our shortest drive yet. We booked two nights here to settle down and take a nice break from the pavement. It’s a pretty small Park as far as State Parks go but the sites are pretty private and not too on top of each other. We settled on Site 40. This is the place that has the 250 year old Live Oak Tree. It’s HUGE!!

It rained most of the first day we were here and even the rain didn’t cool things off. We had a fun visitor that basically stayed with us all 3 days. We took a walk to the dollar tree to get him some food. Seems there must be a cat colony nearby because there was another cat with a clipped ear which means they are being looked after. 

The checkout time is 1 pm so we are charging up all our batteries before we leave. We have a lot of batteries. Three van batteries, 2 bike batteries and a jackery battery system plus all of our rechargeable gadgets like fans and headlamps. It’s nice to be in a campsite with electric. It also means I was able to have drip coffee 2 mornings in a row. That’s the best.

Traveled about an 90 minutes south. Wondered around an Aldi and then Bass Pro Shops. When the sun was setting we made our way to a Rest Stop on I95 and made steak sandwiches for dinner at the picnic area. Went to bed and woke up surrounded by other vans and car campers. If you can tolerate the noise from the highway, then these Florida rest stops are great. The bathrooms are huge and air conditioned.

We headed a bit further south and spent the day at John McArthur State Park. Did some hiking and spent some time in the air conditioned visitor center. Then parked in the shade and enjoyed the breeze. We had a red visitor to the van that really wanted to come in. And while he was distracting us a squirrel actually came into the van. I wasn’t fast enough with the camera to capture him.

We heard about a drone show happening in Pompano beach so we headed down that way. I went to a 4 pm Mass at St Gabriel’s church which was a 15 minute walk to where the drone show was. So after mass I asked the priest if I could park in his lot overnight and he said “Sure.” This was the best news ever because we had a feeling that the drone show was going to be a mob scene and it definitely was. Soooooo many people on the streets and on the beach. They closed all the roads. We managed to find a spot with the other thousands of people and enjoyed the live music and the drone show was amazing.

After the show we walked back to the church parking lot and despite the heat had a nice nights sleep. I woke up in the morning to check out the sunrise. A church employee stopped me and asked if I had permission to stay and I was so happy to say yes. He thanked me and I was on my way to the beach for the sunrise. 

We left the church parking lot pretty early. It was probably at 7:30 am before the 8 am mass. There’s a Pompano Community Park nearby. It’s huge with lots of activities and lots of shade so we decided to spend the day there. We got a great shady spot with a wonderful breeze and settled in.

We parked by the Giant Amphitheater and the band that was playing that night did a little rehearsal of their songs so we had a free concert all afternoon. Greg decided to take a shower and go for a swim at the aquatic center at this park. The woman’s room was under construction so no shower for me.

We made our way south and had a nice dinner at the Hard Rock Casino. After I went to sleep, Greg went back out to the casino and wound up winning BIG!!!

The next day we headed to another big park with lots of shade. we charged up our batteries and just hung out for the day before having to drive to the airport to get Jim and Laura Jean. 

We got a nice level spot in the Wyndham Hotel parking garage. It’s good to be in the shade but not good for the solar to charge the batteries to keep the refrigerator running. Our first night here we took a walk to the Dania Casino. We all lost except for Greg. Gregs been on a real lucky streak. Next day we sat by the pool and then took an Uber to the Hardrock casino because we didn’t want to lose our spot in the parking garage. There were only a few spots in the 13 foot area. The rest of the parking garage was 7 feet tall so we decided to leave the van in the lot. 

The Hardrock is really a nice casino. We have been there a bunch of times but Jim and Laura Jean had never been there so we took them on a grand tour of the place.

And again we all lost except for Greg. It was a super fun night though. Took another Uber back to the hotel. Next day was super windy plus our batteries in the van were getting low so we decided to head to the Hollywood Boardwalk to park the van in the sun and charge up the batteries. It was way too windy to sit on the beach so we sat by the van instead and watched all the iguanas walking by.

That night we had an amazing fish dinner at The Fish Grill which was next door to the hotel.

Next day we drove to Miami Beach to drop off Jim and Laura Jean on their second half of their vacation with their fun neighborhood friends. We headed back to that T.Y. park in Hollywood and found an awesome spot under the coolest looking tree.

Spent the day there and then at sunset headed back to the Hardrock for some dinner, slot play, and a good nights sleep.

While we were at the Hard Rock, another email arrived from Celebrity Cruises offering us two more free cruises. One of them leaving from Tampa next Thursday so we called to see if there was still a room available and there was!!! So we booked it and will head to the Caribbean for FREE, next Thursday, the 21st. I’ll share all about it in the next blog.