Well, our RV trip has come to a close – all the photos have been loaded on the computer, blog posts have been written and it’s been fun.  I have done ‘wrap up’ blog post in the past, so decided I would try to keep doing that for all of the trips that have multiple stops.

We stayed at a total of 6 different RV Parks during this trip (direct links to blog post are at the bottom).  All but one of these is a state park – Hanna Park in Jacksonville is a county park.

1. General Coffee State Park, Nicholls, Georgia - 2 nights
2. A. H. Stephens State Park, Crawfordville, Georgia – 1 night
3. Hamburg State Park, Mitchell, Georgia -2 nights
4. Fort Clinch State Park, Fernandina Beach, Florida –1 night
5. Hanna Park, Jacksonville, Florida – 3 nights
6. Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, Okeechobee, Florida - 1 night

As I did on our last longer trip, I learned that a campsite comes in many different forms.  Some have a concrete slab, some have small gravel, some have dirt - but they all seem to have electric and water.  Some have sewer connections, some don't.  One new thing I learned – the parks in Florida all had ‘dirt campsite’.  That’s usually not an issue except when it rains.  Then it becomes mud and 3 dogs with mud is yuck – so during that little ‘sprinkle rain’ that made things a little muddy – the dogs stayed inside.

The photographs in this blog post were all taken with my cell phone.  Here's a sunset - and NO it didn't look like this, but it's fun playing with the various camera settings and making the photograph of the sunset look - like - wow!

The tree canopy in the campground of Hanna Park is awesome - some of these oak trees are very old and some have tags on them (I have no clue what the tags are for).

Ollie sitting on the beach at Hanna Park (It's one of the things that I really like about this park - we can walk on the beach with the girls).

A tangled mess of leashes with 3 dogs!

Hanna Park campground - the campsites are "natural" and in this case, it's dirt.  For whatever reason, our dogs love laying in the dirt.

Often Ollie and/or Rue will be laying under the camper - seems to be Ollie's favorite spot.  Curious? Rue has the green harness, Ollie has the red harness.

On this trip, we stopped at our cousin Donald's place.  Now there is something really disturbing about this - the window is boarded up I assume since we have had all the storms in 2024 - and these lizards (bigger than the ones at home) are on the outside of this glass.  Are they alive?  Apparently.  And I didn't notice these until after I was in the bathroom (and praying they were all not able to get inside!).

The 'twins' hanging by the door to the back yard.

Propane Sensor – lesson learned!

Ok – so I’ve known since we got this camper that that little green light at the bottom of the cabinets under the sink is the ‘propane sensor’.  I do know that I don’t want that to ever go off because it means that we have gas leaking somewhere in the camper – very scary to me.

Here’s what I didn’t know – that really isn’t a ‘propane’ sensor.  It’s just a gas sensor – and it doesn’t care what kind of gas it is….go with me here….Abby our large beagle/coon hound dog often sleeps on the floor.  And…sometime with her butt very close to that sensor.  Well, let’s say we know it works now!  Abby let out a big fart at 1:43am in the morning and the sensor went off!  Yep, lesson learned – either don’t let you dog have stuff that gives the gas or keep their butt away from that sensor!!!

Miles.....

This trip, we travelled no more than 280 miles per day and that was a long day for us.  The first day – the one where I am trying to get us out of Florida (assuming we are leaving Florida) is usually the longest drive!

On our trip, we travelled over 1300 miles total through in Florida and Georgia.  All the stops in Georgia were very rural – back country and small towns.  We could tell when we got back in Florida just because of the drivers and the overall population – no longer in rural areas.

Cost.....
 

The cost for all reservations (made in advance) was $358.69 (10 nights) with an average of $35.87 per night. The most expensive campground was A. H. Stephens in Crawfordville, Georgia.. The cheapest place we camped was Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, Okeechobee, Florida followed closely by Fort Clinch State Park, Fernandina Beach, Florida.

Oh, and remember these are senior discount prices that can make camping a very affordable way to see the state parks.

Other facts:

Georgia state parks give a senior discount of 20%  (Senior starts at 62) and military discount of 25%

Georgia state park – online reservation system – does NOT require you to pay the entire amount when you make a reservation

Florida senior discount is for 65 and older – I usually have to ask for it when we arrive and use Jim’s drivers license.  Florida also asked for the license plate of our truck (tow vehicle) a lot of the time whereas other states don’t.

Tips/Things we learned along the way:

1) Still TRUE The dogs were all pretty good in the back seat of the truck without dog beds. They wanted water at almost every stop (every 2-3 hours) - and food was good too.

2) Still TRUE we have adopted this process now…..If you are planning to leave your RV for any period of time while camping, turn off the water to your RV before leaving.  This will prevent any chance of your RV flooding while you are away.

3) The new additions Jim built into the camper – a drawer under the dinette/bench seat.  This gives us some place to store shoes, dog harnesses and dog leashes.  Right next to the door of our camper.

4) Still TRUE We met several really nice people at many of these campsites.  The people you meet are what makes RVing the most fun - seeing new sights, doing things each day and talking with people from everywhere.

5) Quiet times are ok - enjoy the sunrises, sunsets, campfires and rain breaks.

Dog Friendly-our dogs, etc...

1. Our dogs still love travelling – they love the new adventures, smells, etc.
2. Our dogs get tired on these trips – our last night Jim and I went out star gazing and the dogs slept in the camper (zero movement when we got ready to leave – and not a peep when we did).
3. Our dogs can set off the propane sensor!
4. Our dogs get post ‘vacation blues’ when we get home because they don’t go everywhere with us and don’t have someone with them all the time.

What Next?

We are heading over to the pan handle area of Florida.

Hurricane season is over! Yay – no storms for us this year.

Links to all the blog posts from this trip are here.

1. General Coffee State Park, Nicholls, Georgia - 2 nights
2. A. H. Stephens State Park, Crawfordville, Georgia – 1 night
3. Hamburg State Park, Mitchell, Georgia -2 nights
4. Fort Clinch State Park, Fernandina Beach, Florida –1 night
5. Hanna Park, Jacksonville, Florida – 3 nights
6. Visiting Fort Pierce, Florida – 2 nights
7. Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, Okeechobee, Florida - 1 night

And we are home...

On Friday, October 24th we concluded our trip and were safely back at home.  Our cat, Torie, was hiding when we got home – eventually she came out to greet us.  The next few days were spent cleaning up the truck, cleaning up the camper, laundry and whatever until it's done.