Miles traveled – 2,340
Number of states traveled through – 10 & The Conch Republic
Number of campgrounds stayed at – 17
Number of States added to map – 6
As summer was morphing into fall, we bid farewell to Bar Harbor and pointed Gus south. Our final destination of this leg of our journey was our number one bucket list item… drum roll please… The Florida Keys! Neither Bart nor I had ever been there, and were both very excited. However, we had some amazing stops and adventures planned along the way.
OVER THE BRIDGES & THROUGH THE TUNNELS!
We made it a point to hit the state of Vermont, where we stayed at a campground that full-time RV friends of ours were working at. It was really great seeing them and it was a bonus to put the Vermont sticker on our map. Having lived in New York, we have been to Vermont on multiple occasions, but never with Gus. From Vermont, we made our way to the Delaware seashore. We were able to use Thousand Trails or Trails collection campgrounds the entire way there. In Delaware, we stayed at Delaware Seashore State Park. Our site had an unobstructed view of the bridge, which was beautifully lit up every night! We could also ride our bikes over the bridge as well as to the beach area. While staying in Delaware, we took a day trip to Assateague Island – another bucket list item checked off. I was so excited to visit the island that Bart was worried that I wouldn’t see any horses, but I am happy to say Assateague did not disappoint! It is a beautiful island with wild horses roaming around the roads and beaches! We highly recommend adding a stop to this area to your travel agenda!
From Delaware we continued south, stopping at Thousands Trails at Virginia Landing, which is a quiet and peaceful park in the middle of nowhere! The best way to head south towards Tybee is to take the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and tunnels. After a good deal of research and a couple of phone calls, we were comfortable driving Gus, with Titus in tow, over and under the bridges and tunnels – a little nervous but confident, despite our GPS screaming at us to turn around! I am so glad we did not turn around, as it was a very cool and memorable experience.
While visiting Tybee Island, we stayed at River’s End RV Resort, another RV park we highly recommend. The campground and area are beautiful. There is plenty of beach access, as well as bike riding opportunities. This is a park and area we will definitely return to. Although for the record, we prefer Jekyll Island, especially for the bike riding trails.
SWITCHING RESIDENCY!
After a good deal of conversation, we decided it was time to switch our mail service and residency from South Dakota to Florida. Although we were perfectly happy with South Dakota and America’s Mailbox, we concluded Florida had more to offer us since we spend most of our winters in Florida. We decided it would make more sense to establish doctors there, alleviating the need to return to New York every summer. This would give us the slower paced winter months to take care of all of our medical needs.
We decided to go with Escapees for our mail service and to establish residency. We had set up our address with them while in Bar Harbor and we’re good to go when we hit Florida. All we needed to do was to get our licenses, register our vehicles, and update our vehicle insurances. We gave ourselves a week as we had some doctor’s appointments already scheduled. Everything went smoothly and on the 7th day, as Florida residents, we left Clearbrook RV Resort and excitedly headed to the Keys!!!!
THE KEYS TO HAPPINESS!!!!!!
Our first stop in the keys was a three-week stay at Fiesta RV Resort located in the middle keys between Islamorada and Marathon. We fell in love with the Keys and this park immediately! From there, we crossed the seven-mile bridge on our way to another Encore park Sunshine Key, which is on Big Pine Key. Sunshine Key provided us with easy access to Bahia Honda State Park. We were blessed to spend nine weeks in the Keys, allowing us many opportunities to experience and enjoy much of what this wonderful area has to offer, including snorkeling, feeding tarpons, visiting the dolphin research center and sunset dinners! As I have said before, one of the best things about this lifestyle is meeting up with friends on the road. While in the Keys we had opportunities to meet up with many of our friends, including our boater friends from New York. Because of the amount of things to do in Key West alone, we will devote an entire blog to our Key West adventures.
CAMPGROUNDS WE STAYED AT!
Moody Beach RV Resort (Thousand Trails) https://thousandtrails.com/maine/moody-beach-rv-campground/
Kampfires Campground (Private campground) https://www.kampfires.com/
Roundout Valley Resort (Thousand Trails) https://thousandtrails.com/new-york/rondout-valley-rv-campground/
Timothy Lake Campground South (Thousand Trails) https://thousandtrails.com/pennsylvania/timothy-lake-south-rv/
Spring Gulch RV Campground (Thousand Trails) https://thousandtrails.com/pennsylvania/spring-gulch-rv-campground/
Delaware Seashore State Park https://destateparks.com/Beaches/DelawareSeashore
Virginia Landing RV (Thousand Trails) https://thousandtrails.com/virginia/virginia-landing-rv-campground/ Really off the beaten path!
Cartersville Country Winery (Harvest Host) https://cartersvillecountrywinery.com/ Hookups available for a fee
The Oaks at Point South (Thousand Trails) https://thousandtrails.com/south-carolina/the-oaks-at-point-south-rv/
Rivers End RV Park (Private campground) https://www.riversendcampground.com/rates/
Sunshine Holiday Daytona (Thousand Trails) https://thousandtrails.com/florida/sunshine-holiday-daytona/
Clerbrook Golf & RV Resort (Thousand Trails) https://thousandtrails.com/florida/clerbrook-golf-rv-resort/
Sunshine Travel RV Resort Vero Beach (Thousand Trails) https://thousandtrails.com/florida/sunshine-travel-rv-resort/
Miami Everglades RV Resort (Thousand Trails) https://thousandtrails.com/florida/miami-everglades-rv-resort/ $20 a night fee for members
Fiesta Key RV Resort & Marina (Thousand Trails) https://thousandtrails.com/florida/fiesta-key-rv-resort/ $20 a night fee for members
Sunshine Key RV Resort & Marina (Thousand Trails) https://thousandtrails.com/florida/sunshine-key-rv-resort-marina/ $20 a night fee for members
Our Favorite Places To Visit in Middle Keys!
Lorelei’s Restaurant & Bar- https://www.loreleicabanabar.com/ (Dinner, entertainment & sunset!)
Lazy Days Restaurant – https://www.lazydaysislamorada.com/ (Enjoy a drink by the water)
Robbies – https://www.robbies.com/ (Great breakfast & be sure to feed the Tarpon)
Florida Boy – http://theflboy.com/ (Great Food)
Sunset Grill – https://www.sunsetgrille7milebridge.com/Home (Great view!)
Kikis Sandbar Bar & Grill – https://kikissandbar.com/ (Drinks & Music)
Boondocks Grille & Draft House & Putt – Putt – https://boondocksus.com/ (Absolutely!)
No Name Pub – https://nonamepub.com/ (The Key deer find it, so can you!)
Outdoor World – https://stores.basspro.com/us/fl/islamorada/81576-overseas-highway-3011512.html (Fun place to shop)
Dolphin Research Center – https://dolphins.org/ (Worth the visit even without add ons!)
Islander Girl Snorkel & Tours – https://www.islandergirltours.com/ (Highly recommend)
Pier 68 Boat Rentals – http://www.flkeys-boatrentals.com/ (Great rates & a great day on the water)
UNTIL NEXT TIME…
