Author: Kendra

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Ready To Go – Again

We’ve been in Jacksonville, FL for nearly three month now. Wow it seems like forever. It has been a good time although not where we had hoped to be staying and certainly not for this long. Due to many of the RV parks South of here being full or the majority of them requiring us to be 55 or older we just kind of ended up here. So here we stayed, and stayed.

A lot has been accomplished during our stay. We have finally gotten into somewhat of a daily routine, a budget and started to focus on what’s important to us. We organized, then organized again to the point where things can (hopefully) be found and easily retrieved. We still find ourselves asking, “how’d we get so much stuff?” Such is life I guess? I’ve come to accept that we will forever be organizing and purging all those things that at some place in time we thought we couldn’t live without.

In a few short days we will once again be back on the road and on our Adventure! Can’t wait, I’m almost if not more excited than that first day we left home. A couple stops south then we’ll start making our way North toward Michigan. Taking our time of course, since they didn’t get the memo that it’s now SPRING. For the first time in my life I survived a winter without SNOW and guess what, I didn’t even miss it!

Downtown Jacksonville at night. Note the water fountain is not an ice rink.
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Finally Saw a Manatee!

We left Manatee Springs without seeing any manatee but we eventually caught up with them in Homosassa, FL.

We’re currently in Bradenton, FL. Not a lot to say here, the area is sketchy and we are jam packed in the RV Park.   Seriously we could reach out our window and touch the neighbor’s RV!!!

Sarasota seems nice, we’ve been there a couple times.  Spent a day at the beach in Anna Maria Island.   Took a day trip to Saint Petersburg & Clearwater on Christmas thinking it’d be quiet considering the holiday boy were we wrong!

I miss my friends and family in Michigan but not the snow and cold and they’re getting plenty of both, Sorry guys!

 

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Manatee Springs

 

Today we find ourselves at Manatee Springs State Park.
We spent a couple nights in Panama City, FL that was plenty for us. Just another Spring Break destination in our opinion.

We haven’t see any manatees yet but the place is beautiful and peaceful. It’s a nice change of pace for a couple days. There’s very limited cell coverage and that’s mostly ok with me. Jim on the other hand, not so much!

I can’t believe I’m saying this but being away from the beach has its benefits. One thing we don’t miss are the sand spurs/burrs/ pickers whatever you wanna call them. They’re a PAIN literally and figuratively! Jim ended up having to buy a new tire for his bike because of them and the dogs got them stuck in their paws to the point where they didn’t want to go outside! Evil things!!!

This morning we are sitting outside the concession stand in our park where they’re smoking meats, the smell is certainly hunger inducing. It’s the only place in the park where we can kind of get internet. Jim is trying to get some (Gentex) work done. We are surrounded by vultures, there’s so many of them! It would seem like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie but not really, they are kind of entertaining. They make a helicopter sound when they take flight and they like to bicker with each other. Or maybe it’s just been too long since I’ve had the chance to enjoy nature.

 

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But we just got here!

It’s the end of November, that means it’s time for us to leave Gulf Shores. I can’t believe we’ve been here almost a month, but at the same time we’re ready for a change of scenery.

The State Park has been a great experience for us, the place is a huge!
With nearly 500 campsites and over a mile drive from the entrance to ours, it felt just a bit too far from the places we wanted to go. That being said the park offers a ton of walking/biking trails, a beautiful pool (which was unfortunately closed), a nature center, daily activities and close proximity to the beach. It’s been decided that we would enjoy coming back here but probably not for an entire month again.

Just finished making reservations through the middle of January. Destination Bradenton, FL with a few short stops along the way. Finding campgrounds that were not completely booked, didn’t discriminate based on age, didn’t allow dogs or didn’t cost $1,500+/mo proved to be a frustrating task, but we managed!

Look out Florida, here we come!

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The Gulf State Park Campground

Here we are, a week into our stay at the Gulf Sate Park Campground already. Our site is nice, semi private and quite spacious. There is a small drainage ditch next to us that I’m convinced is full of alligators. Though I haven’t actually seen any yet, something did get into our trash one night. It had to be an alligator… or a bear! I’m sure of it. Weather has been unseasonably warm and humid! Oh the humidity!!!