A Two Week Stay at Jonathan Dickinson State Park – Jupiter, FL

First of all, huge gratitude for the amazing outpouring of support & excitement over our ‘Change – The Only Constant‘ post. You have warmed our hearts tremendously!

Ok, next – I need to do some speed blogging as I’m three stops behind – and we now own a boat!! Ahhhhhh.  Life is moving fast, and there’s so much to do as we make this transition.

So apologies up front, as I’m sure I’m not going to do any of our past three stops justice in sharing about them.

This post covers: February 15 – 28, 2017

Jonathan Dickinson State Park – Jupiter, FL

In tracking cancellations, we were miraculously able to snag a 14-day spot in one park. We didn’t know what phase of the boat hunt we’d be at when we booked the stay,  but Jupiter, FL turned out to be an ideal location for us.

The Pine Grove campground in Jonathan Dickinson State Park isn’t much to look at – quite honestly. It’s best described as really nice RV Park than the Florida State Park beauty we’ve come to love. The sites are well spaced apart, have full hook-ups and are generous in size.

However the land the campground is located on is a field cleared previously by a hurricane and a wild fire – so offers little vegetation or sense of site separation. And the campground is right along US 1 (some sites even with a view of it.)

But, we were happy nonetheless.

We hit the ground running, first with a much overdue rendezvous with our buddies Nina & Paul who had been wintering in south Florida. Always fabulous to catch up with them!

And then commuting up to Vero Beach for two more days of boat training classes with Captain Chris Yacht Services, another gift from our buyer’s broker Curtis Stokes. This time, all about ‘Boat Systems’ – learning about engine maintenance, plumbing, electrical, air conditioners and more.

After coming off an intense week of covering all of the new unlimited data plans, and then 3 days away from home – we arrived back to the park positively exhausted.

Jonathan Dickinson is located right by Jupiter, FL – giving us ample access to groceries, shopping and dining. A much welcomed relief after weeks in the ‘boonies’.

And the park itself is quite huge, offering a variety of activities ranging from kayaking, mountain biking trails, a watch tower and boat tours. It was certainly nice to get out on the bikes for breaks from some mighty long work days trying to keep up.

My mom also came down to spend a day with us, which was our ‘get out and be tourists’ day. We did the river tour boat within the park out to the Trapper Nelson encampment and visited the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse.

And we had a constant stream of readers at the park from other RVers and locals – always nice to meet folks in person!

Another Fire Scare

It’s been an exceptionally warm winter in Florida this year, and very dry. Wildfires have been quite the problem.

And as if our wildfire scare at Ortona South wasn’t a close enough call …

Our neighbor across the road was grilling lunch, and one of their charcoal briquettes caught the wind and fell into the dry brush adjoining their site.

The wind quickly spread the fire across the field in a blaze (sorry, didn’t capture that excitement – bit distracted getting ready to flee if needed).

Thankfully between the brush being well trimmed around the sites themselves, a retired fireman park volunteer host being first on the scene and quick reactions of campers immediately nearby pulling out water hoses- no RVs were damaged.

But whew.

This one, was really too close for comfort!!

What’s Next: BOAT!!!

This past week has been full of paperwork, and we’re proud to report – we’re now the owners of our very own hole in the water in which to throw money into!!

Meet, Y-Not, our (OUR!!) 1999 Bayliner 4788.

I’ll do my best to get the blog caught up here this week as we juggle a ton of logistics. And then we’ll move into the details of why we selected this model of boat and in particular, Y-Not.

And of course, there’ll be a tour.  It’s all coming, we promise!

(Quick answers to the most common questions we get: Yes, we’re keeping the bus… Y-Not will be our ‘summer’ home as we slowly explore the Great Loop, and the bus our ‘winter’ home for retreating to the warmth. And, we adore the Wynn’s and love following THEIR unique sailing adventures, but no – we’re not following in their footsteps. This has been on our radar from the beginning of our journey in 2006.)