We left Poinsett State Park with our next planned stop in Heathrow, FL, where we had a few old family friends to see since Tom’s parents had lived there for close to 30 years. We also had the plan to stop at a restaurant in Pooler, GA, which is co-owned by a friend from Belize. So, we got up early, took a last 5 mile hike in Poinsett SP before a stick-to-our ribs breakfast of delicious goat sausage from one of our Harvest Host stops and apple cranberry pancakes with maple syrup from another Harvest Host, and figured that the big brunch would get us to Pooler. Our plan worked, and we got to the Pooler exit around 3PM, although it took us another 45 minutes to go the one mile to the restaurant because of all the traffic getting off 95 to go to the shopping centers. We found the restaurant, and had a yummy lunch. The restaurant is a franchise, Tin Drum Asian Fusion, which was great because I really like Asian food while Tom is a little less enthusiastic, so it was a treat for me to get Asian food that Tom also enjoyed because of the experience.
We left Tin Drum and drove another hour south to a Walmart in Brunswick, GA. If you are ever overlanding, you probably want to avoid this Walmart despite what the overlanding sites say. Yes, it’s RV friendly and neither management nor law enforcement cares if you park there. However, they have some passive aggressive thing going on where they have a parking lot cleaner which is a big diesel truck with a jet engine turbo vacuum which spends two and a half hours between midnight and 2:30AM doing laps around the parking lot. Plus, not to be snobby or anything, but the other campers were a little sketchy, and there were a number of people just sleeping in their cars which made me very nervous because it was cold, so they were running their engines off and on all night, so I spent the entire night tracking the jet turbine and wondering if we were going to wake up to a car full of dead bodies parked next to us.
When the sun came up, we were ready to get on the road, so we had a quick breakfast and headed south. We were only about 3 hours from Heathrow, and didn’t have any reason to get there too early, so we decided to stop at the Timucuan National Park in Jacksonville. We thought it was a small park, and we walked around the trails near the visitors’ center and had a nice 5 mile hike. When we were done, we talked to a really nice park ranger named Herb Hutson, who informed us that the park is actually quite large at close to 50,000 acres, and that it not only has the highest point in Jacksonville, but also encompasses 5 ecosystems. We also talked about traveling in general, and got lots of good tips for other places to see and stay as we tour the US.
We left Tin Drum and drove another hour south to a Walmart in Brunswick, GA. If you are ever overlanding, you probably want to avoid this Walmart despite what the overlanding sites say. Yes, it’s RV friendly and neither management nor law enforcement cares if you park there. However, they have some passive aggressive thing going on where they have a parking lot cleaner which is a big diesel truck with a jet engine turbo vacuum which spends two and a half hours between midnight and 2:30AM doing laps around the parking lot. Plus, not to be snobby or anything, but the other campers were a little sketchy, and there were a number of people just sleeping in their cars which made me very nervous because it was cold, so they were running their engines off and on all night, so I spent the entire night tracking the jet turbine and wondering if we were going to wake up to a car full of dead bodies parked next to us.
When the sun came up, we were ready to get on the road, so we had a quick breakfast and headed south. We were only about 3 hours from Heathrow, and didn’t have any reason to get there too early, so we decided to stop at the Timucuan National Park in Jacksonville. We thought it was a small park, and we walked around the trails near the visitors’ center and had a nice 5 mile hike. When we were done, we talked to a really nice park ranger named Herb Hutson, who informed us that the park is actually quite large at close to 50,000 acres, and that it not only has the highest point in Jacksonville, but also encompasses 5 ecosystems. We also talked about traveling in general, and got lots of good tips for other places to see and stay as we tour the US.
 We left Timucuan and headed for Heathrow, where we spent a delightful evening catching up with our friends Deana and Emery and enjoying a delicious dinner before spending the night in their driveway. In the morning, we took the dogs for a walk on the Seminole-Wekiva bike/hike trail before meeting friends Mary and Sandy for lunch at the Peach Valley Cafe. We picked up some things from Sandy’s house which she had been holding for us since Tom’s dad died over six years ago, and then went across the boulevard to the Oakmount Retirement community for a visit with Tom’s parents’ old neighbor Norma, who just celebrated her one year anniversary there and who is basically running the place, as we expected. We left just in time for her to make it to her dinner, and headed south. |  |
We spent another night at a Walmart, this time in Melbourne, FL:. We were wracking our brains to figure out who we knew in Melbourne, when it dawned on us (somewhat belatedly) that it was our friends Jon and Mari, whose house in Belize we lived in for six months before leaving on this trip. We contacted them because we were thinking of them, and Mari mentioned that if our animals needed any veterinary attention, the practice she left when she moved to Belize was very close to where we were. Our three dogs and cat were due for their annual vaccinations in the beginning of January, so rather than trying to figure out how to take care of that from wherever we are on the road in a few weeks, I took Mari up on her offer to contact her (and our) friend Katrina to get them in the next morning. It all worked out, and we had a quick visit with Katrina, and the three dogs and the cat are now fully vaccinated for another year.
We got on the road out of Melbourne shortly after noon. Our original plan had been to get to Key Largo, but we knew that wasn’t happening, so we set the goal of getting to the Walmart in Homestead. We pulled off the highway for a late lunch and a hike at the St. Sebastian River State Park, which is mostly pine savannah and which reminded us a lot of the Mountain Pine Ridge in Belize.
We got on the road out of Melbourne shortly after noon. Our original plan had been to get to Key Largo, but we knew that wasn’t happening, so we set the goal of getting to the Walmart in Homestead. We pulled off the highway for a late lunch and a hike at the St. Sebastian River State Park, which is mostly pine savannah and which reminded us a lot of the Mountain Pine Ridge in Belize.
We didn’t make it all the way to Homestead. By 6:30, it was dark and raining and fairly miserable, so we looked for a place to stop near the south end of Okeechobee Lake. We tried to go to a county campground, but they had closed at 4:30 and didn’t take after-hours reservations. But, they recommended a truck stop just down the road, which wasn’t the most scenic stop we’ve ever made, but which was safe and relatively dark and quiet.
In the morning, we got on the road, headed for Key Largo. We had a sort of a loose plan of seeing if we could find some place to stay on the keys, which was doubtful, and if that didn’t work we had a couple of other parks in mind which would have involved backtracking to Homestead, and if that didn’t work we would Walmart it again. We made a couple of phone calls in the morning, and then drove south. When we crossed the last causeway, we thought we would head for the first state park campground, but Kismet decided she needed to stretch her legs sooner than that, so we ended up stopping at one of the information centers. We owe Kismet a big thank you, because that stop made the timing for out next stop just about perfect.
We left the information center and took the short drive to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park on the off chance that they might have a campsite for a night or two. We pulled off Route 1 into a 20-minute line of cars to get into the park. I was on my phone looking for mainland alternatives for the next few nights, getting my head around yet another night in a Walmart parking lot, and we finally pulled up to the booth. Tom said, “I know this is a long shot, but do you have any open campsites?” The ranger sort of snickered, and said, “This is your lucky day. We just had a cancellation. Pull over and come on in.” Tom and I had a quick conference, and decided that anywhere between one and three nights would be perfect, and Tom went in to talk to them. Turns out the cancelled reservation was for three nights, which was perfect for us. So, we’re in a state park campground right on the beach for tonight until Saturday morning. We took a nice walk around the park this afternoon, are planning on walking, swimming, snorkeling, and bike riding tomorrow, and we’re going to drive to Key West on Friday before leaving Saturday morning. We figure we must have done something right to make the travel gods smile on us for this one!
In the morning, we got on the road, headed for Key Largo. We had a sort of a loose plan of seeing if we could find some place to stay on the keys, which was doubtful, and if that didn’t work we had a couple of other parks in mind which would have involved backtracking to Homestead, and if that didn’t work we would Walmart it again. We made a couple of phone calls in the morning, and then drove south. When we crossed the last causeway, we thought we would head for the first state park campground, but Kismet decided she needed to stretch her legs sooner than that, so we ended up stopping at one of the information centers. We owe Kismet a big thank you, because that stop made the timing for out next stop just about perfect.
We left the information center and took the short drive to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park on the off chance that they might have a campsite for a night or two. We pulled off Route 1 into a 20-minute line of cars to get into the park. I was on my phone looking for mainland alternatives for the next few nights, getting my head around yet another night in a Walmart parking lot, and we finally pulled up to the booth. Tom said, “I know this is a long shot, but do you have any open campsites?” The ranger sort of snickered, and said, “This is your lucky day. We just had a cancellation. Pull over and come on in.” Tom and I had a quick conference, and decided that anywhere between one and three nights would be perfect, and Tom went in to talk to them. Turns out the cancelled reservation was for three nights, which was perfect for us. So, we’re in a state park campground right on the beach for tonight until Saturday morning. We took a nice walk around the park this afternoon, are planning on walking, swimming, snorkeling, and bike riding tomorrow, and we’re going to drive to Key West on Friday before leaving Saturday morning. We figure we must have done something right to make the travel gods smile on us for this one!
