We were inbetween reservations snagged around the state of Florida in prime winter season, which meant trying out another of Florida’s Free Boondocking locations.
We were excited. A few days in a spot other bloggers had positively reported on this season. Perhaps we’d get some hiking in? Chill out. Relax.
While it was only a couple weeks ago, it now seems like a lifetime.
For this is the place where the world changed for us and many RVers.
When we arrived, it was the era of capped data. And when we left, it was a new dawn of unlimited cellular data.
This post covers February 10 – 15
Dupuis Water Management Area – Indiantown, FL
We had pulled our SUL (Special Use License) to camp at the Dupuis Water Management Area back in early January. It was perfectly located in between Ortona South and our next reservation in Jupiter and would fill in nicely between the stops.
This is one of the many free Florida boondocking areas, much like our stop at Dinner Island a couple weeks prior.
This one managed by the South Florida Water Management District, they officially allow 8-nights per month of free boondocking for RVs in their equestrian center. They not only offer free parking, they also have a bath house with showers, fresh water fill and a dump station.
CRAZY!
We arrived to a party-type atmosphere and were at first a bit intimidated by just how many RVs were there – it was more like arriving to a festival. We however found ourselves a nice little solar-appropriate corner that wasn’t nearly as populated.
Little did we know we had pulled in next to not one, not two, but THREE Technomadia blog readers! None of whom knew each other beforehand.
And they were all super awesome folks. Instant convergence and new friendships made.
We decided to setup the outdoor movie theatre (hey, there WAS a party going on after all on the other side of the campground) and evenings were wrapped up with laughter around a campfire.
Ahhh, after weeks of relative intentional solitude serendipity had provided a much welcomed social interlude.
And in a gorgeous location. As an equestrian center, Dupuis offers miles and miles of trails to explore.
Unlimited Data Mania Breaks Loose
We were all set on a Sunday evening to host another outdoor movie night for our new friends.
Who would have ever guessed, that on a Sunday evening that Verizon would announce UNLIMITED DATA coming back?!?
That meant we had to cancel our plans, and get right to work covering it. We’ve made it our job to cover mobile internet, and this was huge.
As with any new plan offering, there’s always a deluge of misunderstanding – especially when the carrier’s definition of the word ‘unlimited’ differs from the rest of the world.
It didn’t take long for the other carriers to follow suit, all jumping on the bandwagon to match or exceed Verizon’s offering.
And it’s been non-stop long work days for us ever since as we’ve been tracking the news, re-writing our guides, helping our members and creating video content explaining all of these changes.
If you’d like to get yourself caught up on all of the changes, we’ve completely updated our Understanding Unlimited Cellular Data Plans: Network Management, Throttling & Mobile Hotspot Usage guide over at RVMobileInternet, and released this 20 minute video comparing the plans:
What’s Up Next?
It’s probably a good thing that we’ve been so distracted with work these past couple of weeks – because it’s kept our minds off the big impending change coming up in our lives.
As of this moment, it looks like we are track to close on our new-to-us motor yacht in LESS THAN A WEEK!! It honestly hasn’t quite sunk in yet that it’s this close to being real, and there is still a little paperwork level stuff that has to be ironed out before it is.
Once it’s all official, we’ll of course be sharing the details of what we decided on and why.
Assuming all goes as planned, we have a lot of logistics to sort out. But for now, we’re making our way back to the west coast of Florida where the boat is so we can start this new adventure!
It looks like we’ll be basing ourselves out of Punta Gorda, FL for a bit. Anyone around?
It seems like whereever you two go, friendships and fun happen. I am so glad you guys had a nice time at Dupuis. I hope the mosquitoes weren’t too bad. I have so many great memories of that place from nearly half a lifetime ago. It’s cool that they allow dogs now. I was bummed that we couldn’t stay there while traveling Florida in 2013/14.
Congratulations on the purchase of your new adventure craft. It looks killer! My this next leg of your journey be as awesome as the last.
You Guys are Awesome. I wouldn’t have dared even thought about buying a motor home let alone consider living in one if it hadn’t been for the information you share. Thank you!
Kris and I are a little north of Punta Gorda in Lakeland. We’d love to come down and see your new boat when you are ready for visits. We are work camping at Sun N Fun til April 15.
Thanks for your announcement of unlimited data plans! We now have unlimited Verizon, TMobile and grandfathered ATT and finally are fully connected wherever we roam. Note when I called Verizon they would not grant unlimited data to an iPad and wanted to sell me a phone. When I went in person there was no issue as the iPad has a dedicated phone number already. Have noticed that since I started the unlimited plan with Verizon it reverts to 1x (useless) occasionally when using as hotspot, even very early morning (5am) when overall use should be low. A reboot seems to fix the issue and returns to useable LTE.
Took your advice on WiFi Ranger and 4G Cell Booster too. Thanks!
If you are in a 4G area, you should have 10GB of full speed mobile hotspot use per line – after that is used up, it reverts to 128 kbps (super slow speeds).
Assuming you have access to the Myacca River, and that it’s deep enough, a long lunch at Snook Haven may be a real treat. Good lunch spot. Ask a local for their schedule. I think Wednesday is a wonderful banjo band.
WOW to both unlimited internet and your motor yacht. It seems like you just started looking, probably not to you. When you guys make a decision you really move right on it. Congratulations!! And many many thanks for the boondocking in Florida posts. I need to look into this A LOT more. So sick of being tied to Florida and the forced reservations. At least this might lighten one of the loads.
Happy to hear the boat deal is progressing, looking forward to your loop days…
So glad for you that the boat deal is coming together. Looking forward to watching this next phase of your travels. Meanwhile, a super big THANKS for all the work you guys do to keep us informed of our connectivity options.