We're fortunate that my family has a farm where we can park the RV, so we're heading that way and plan to quarantine ourselves there until the government deems it safe to travel again. I'll keep on posting as we keep traveling toward that end, but thought I'd go ahead and post this before things change rapidly and the information in the video is out of date!
Showing posts with label Coronavirus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coronavirus. Show all posts
Saturday, March 21, 2020
Full Time RVing & Coronavirus
I imagine some of you are wondering how the Coronavirus is affecting our plans to be full-time RVers. One of the YouTube channels Aaron follows, RV Miles, just released a great episode talking about how this is affecting full-time RVers, so I thought I would post it here in case you wanted to hear about some of the difficulties we're definitely seeing ourselves.
We're fortunate that my family has a farm where we can park the RV, so we're heading that way and plan to quarantine ourselves there until the government deems it safe to travel again. I'll keep on posting as we keep traveling toward that end, but thought I'd go ahead and post this before things change rapidly and the information in the video is out of date!
We're fortunate that my family has a farm where we can park the RV, so we're heading that way and plan to quarantine ourselves there until the government deems it safe to travel again. I'll keep on posting as we keep traveling toward that end, but thought I'd go ahead and post this before things change rapidly and the information in the video is out of date!
Friday, March 20, 2020
Heading North - Florida Edition
Our first stop on our trip north was Bull Creek Campground, a county park in Flagler County. This would be a great campground for anglers - every site (as far as I can see) backs up to an inlet to the neighboring lake, and many campers had their boats pulled up right behind their campsites (there is also an adjacent dock if you prefer). There is an on-site 'fish camp' restaurant with decent food that is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The sites are level and decently spaced and the water views are nice.
The only downside to this campground...no potable water anywhere. There is a water hookup at each site but it is clearly labeled 'non potable water'; the signs for the restrooms say the same. I didn't see any fresh water fill station so I'm not sure what you're supposed to do about fresh water if you don't know this ahead of time (and the booking site did NOT tell us this). The website advertises "full RV facilities," which I find to be a bit deceiving given there is no potable water hookup and no potable water fill station. Fortunately I noticed people commenting on this in the reviews right before we left and Aaron filled our fresh tank about 50% before we left our previous campsite, so we were fine for the two days we stayed.
There were turtles EVERYWHERE in the area. We saw them poking their heads up in water all around the campground.
We also drove the short distance to Flagler Beach and found a plethora of turtles at Wadsworth Park.
Our second stop was Cary State Forest. We stayed here once before when we first came up from Tampa, and returned because we love the campground so much. The campsites are HUGE, each with a nice level concrete pad, a grill, and a firepit with benches. There are a few long hiking trails onsite. Aaron thinks the bugs are a little oppressive...they're a bit obnoxious for sure but I think the pros well outweigh the one con.
This campground certainly allowed us to socially distance ourselves from the world! It felt quite safe and snug in the midst of the pandemic. As we continue our travel north, we continue to narrowly avoid coronavirus-related closures. On our last day at the state forest, they closed the public restrooms (forcibly - with wood!) and marked all the campsites as unavailable both in person and online.
As we departed Cary State Forest we said goodbye to Florida for now.
The only downside to this campground...no potable water anywhere. There is a water hookup at each site but it is clearly labeled 'non potable water'; the signs for the restrooms say the same. I didn't see any fresh water fill station so I'm not sure what you're supposed to do about fresh water if you don't know this ahead of time (and the booking site did NOT tell us this). The website advertises "full RV facilities," which I find to be a bit deceiving given there is no potable water hookup and no potable water fill station. Fortunately I noticed people commenting on this in the reviews right before we left and Aaron filled our fresh tank about 50% before we left our previous campsite, so we were fine for the two days we stayed.
There were turtles EVERYWHERE in the area. We saw them poking their heads up in water all around the campground.
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| Turtle head |
We also drove the short distance to Flagler Beach and found a plethora of turtles at Wadsworth Park.
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| Baby softshell turtle |
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| Adult turtle |
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| Flagler Beach |
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| Our spacious and private campsite |
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| Panoramic view from our campsite - forest and more forest! |
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| Boardwalk hiking - my favorite! |
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| Maybe not Aaron's favorite...too many bugs? |
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| Our fire ring & benches |
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| This sign was on all campsites except ours and the one other camper in the park...I'm sure it is on both by now. |
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| Take a good look at that restroom door |
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| Unavailable until April 17! |
As we departed Cary State Forest we said goodbye to Florida for now.
Monday, March 16, 2020
Goodbye Orlando!
Our magical winter has finally ended - this Sunday we finally left the Orlando area. It was a great winter full of Disney, Universal Studios, and the occasional county park full of wildlife. Our last site in Orlando was Winter Garden (Thousand Trails) - a fitting end as this was also our first campsite in the Orlando area. We liked our site quite a lot better this time - it was more conveniently located than our first site and we were nestled between two other temporary campers (rather than the permanent residents who flanked us last time). The site was also very level, always a bonus!
COVID-19 is certainly making big news everywhere and thus far we've managed to narrowly avoid related closures. My sister's birthday cruise occurred just before all cruise departures were canceled. Disney World's last day before closure was the day we left Orlando. The RV park put in some stringent restrictions right as we left.
So far we haven't heard of any closures in the parks we've chosen on our trek back north, so fingers crossed our 1.5 week trip is uneventful. Some of you might have heard that we have been planning a trip to Europe in late spring...of course that is looking less and less likely with every passing day.
Of course, as with the rest of the country the grocery stores in Orlando have been greatly affected. Unfortunately I was legitimately out of toilet paper and toilet bowl cleaner when we went to Walmart...I found a secret stash of toilet paper in a corner of Walmart but had to settle for the off brands remaining for the toilet bowl cleaner. We don't have enough space in the RV to hoard anything even if we wanted to, so it's an interesting conundrum living in an RV during this crisis. Overall though, spending our time in an RV, hanging out at our fire ring in small campgrounds, seems like a good way to try to socially distance ourselves.
Back to happier (sadder? non-virus related at any rate) thoughts...it was hard to leave Orlando - we've had a wonderful time in the area. We made great use of our annual passes, and it is strange to think about NOT just deciding to hop over to a theme park for a few hours for some fun. We FINALLY made it on Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure and it was AMAZING. We also slipped in a ride on the brand new Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway at Hollywood Studios, caught the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival, and rode the rest of the rides at the various parks this week that we hadn't been on yet. We're debating whether some sort of visit to Florida should become part of our annual plans...time will tell. Bye for now though Orlando!
COVID-19 is certainly making big news everywhere and thus far we've managed to narrowly avoid related closures. My sister's birthday cruise occurred just before all cruise departures were canceled. Disney World's last day before closure was the day we left Orlando. The RV park put in some stringent restrictions right as we left.
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| Activities board at the RV resort |
So far we haven't heard of any closures in the parks we've chosen on our trek back north, so fingers crossed our 1.5 week trip is uneventful. Some of you might have heard that we have been planning a trip to Europe in late spring...of course that is looking less and less likely with every passing day.
Of course, as with the rest of the country the grocery stores in Orlando have been greatly affected. Unfortunately I was legitimately out of toilet paper and toilet bowl cleaner when we went to Walmart...I found a secret stash of toilet paper in a corner of Walmart but had to settle for the off brands remaining for the toilet bowl cleaner. We don't have enough space in the RV to hoard anything even if we wanted to, so it's an interesting conundrum living in an RV during this crisis. Overall though, spending our time in an RV, hanging out at our fire ring in small campgrounds, seems like a good way to try to socially distance ourselves.
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| Toilet paper aisle at Walmart |
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| Epcot Flower and Garden Festival |
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| Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure |
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| Goodbye Magic Kingdom! |
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| Goodbye Universal Studios! |
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| Goodbye Epcot! |
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