Skip to main content

Thursday

 We have been so lucky to have such great weather so far.  This was our last day at this campground and even though we really enjoyed the quiet and seclusion, it’s been a few days since we’ve had a real shower and it was time.  We stopped at the dumpster on the way out and a park ranger also stopped and yelled at us for boondocking and the other end of the forest road all week and told us we had to pay for camping.  Just a case of mistaken identity, we had gladly paid our $12.24 for the nights we stayed.  Good info though, we could probably get away with sneaking in after the park closes and leaving first thing and no one would know.  Sites are tough to get in Florida in February.  


We headed to the beach in Venice.  Since we haven’t had power, we have been using a french press for coffee in the morning.  This morning I put the used (used = still full of grounds and maybe a little super strong brew) pot in our beach cooler and set it on the bed.  On our way to the beach the cooler tipped over and the grounds and liquid spilled right in the middle of the bed, through all of the blankets and into the mattress.  I did some cursing and cleaning and Joe loaded up the beach cart.  He has a nice set up to hold the cooler, beach bag, canopy, umbrella, bucket and chairs.  

We spent the morning watching the waves and walking the beach. Everyone else was hunting shark teeth in the water and we needed to be doing that too, so when we went back for lunch we also grabbed the sifter Joe had made after we were here the last time. It’s a 2’x2’ square made out of pvc with a mesh screen in the middle and pool noodles all around the edges.  This addition upped our shark tooth hunting game by at least 80%.  


We left the beach around 3 and stopped at the grocery store for food and to refill water, and also at a thrift store to try to find a colander (using a bucket to scoop up shells to search for teeth is tough.  We found one and Joe found a shirt he liked.  


New campground for the next few days is at Oscar Scherer State Park.  We’ve been here a few times before.  Lots of sites close together but trees and vegetation in between so really not that bad.  Booking this site was a challenge, they release the sites 6 months in advance at 8am and the quickest person wins. We both had a laptop and our phones up and ready, I think it took us 3 or 4 days to finally be able to get a site.  


As soon as we got parked I grabbed our laundry and headed to the washer.  There was no chance we were using those coffee sheets without them being washed first.  The sign said no comforters, so that will have to wait until later, sweet, I love doing laundry on vacation.  Joe did some clean-up in the van. Not a very eventful afternoon but it was still pretty relaxing being outside and warm.    


After dinner we were hanging out at the picnic table and something came tromping through the brush right into our site. I might have jumped up on the table.  It was a racoon who had no fear and stared straight at us as he walked around our site checking things out before moving on.  



Day 6 / Feb 23

Thursday

Grocery

$70.45

Odometer trip start

293762

Shirt & colander

$10.00

Odometer day start

294995

Campsite

$38.30

Odometer end

295029

Laundry

$4.00

Daily miles

34

Daily total

$122.75

Total miles

1267

Trip total

604.32

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Totals

  We spent around $110/day, which is pretty close to what we were expecting based on past travels.  We did start with groceries and fuel, but will end with some food and maybe some fuel, not a full tank though.   Fuel $517.62 Grocery $432.68 Campsite $390.00 Restaurant $80.00 Stuff $71.98 Tolls $25.50 Firewood $20.00 Park fee $13.00 Laundry $8.00 Van wash $2.50 Trip total $1,561.28

Heading north FL to NC

On our way out of the campground, we stopped at an "overlook", which was a surprisingly big ravine.  Too much brush and trees to get a good picture.  Headed towards Jacksonville and then back on the interstate.  Lots of boring driving here.  Van odometer switched to 270k. We could have probably driven a bit further, but decided to stay the night an hour north of Charlotte at Stone Mountain State Park (no, not the one with the people carved into it, this is different and way cooler).  We have stayed here many times before, and our goal was to try to hike to the top and back (probably 2 hours) as soon as we got there.  We got stuck in traffic around Charlotte (no surprise) and by the time we got there it would have been to dark to make it back safely. We drove back into town and had dinner at Skull Camp Brewing.  Their parking lot was a mess, and we parked on a pretty steep hill full of loose and washed out gravel.  "Are we going to get st...

Florida Gulf Coast Part 1

We are staying in the same campground again tonight, just a different spot.  The best thing about the van (compared to tent camping at least) is that everything is pretty much ready to go.  We just have to unplug the power, make sure nothing is going to fall off the counters, and hit up a place to dump out the bucket under the sink that catches the dishwater.  We usually forget to check the counters, but nothing has broken yet. It was a little chilly this morning, not quite 60 at 8am.  We were just a few miles from a few mile stretch of Gulf Islands National Seashore, so headed there first.  We were all ready to give them our parks pass, but before 9am they don't charge to get in.  Neat drive down through the park, and eventually we pulled off and crossed the dunes to the ocean.  Very secluded place, felt like we had it to ourselves.  We walked the beach for an hour.  I was worried it would rain, but stayed dry, just super humid. Next w...