Traveling Through Florida – Back on the Road in the Bus

The time and the miles are flying by as we’ve made our way to Texas.  But first, let’s get you caught up on the first part of the trip.

Last we left you, we had just gotten the bus out of storage in Melbourne and hit the road.

First Stop: Silver Springs State Park

We selected Ocala as our first stop, a good day’s driving at 150 miles away.

We had considered a forrest service campground in the national forest on the way, but given that temperatures would be dropping into the 30s (brrrr) and it would be our first stop in the bus since the hurricane evacuation we opted for some hook-ups.

We needed to get the fresh water tank filled and wanted to give the batteries a really good charge.

We had never been able to snag a reservation at Silver Springs State Park before, so when I saw a spot available for a couple nights I snagged it.

It was a great first stop – and we immediately enjoyed getting out on the trails and hiking again. Something we haven’t found too much of with boating, and a reason we love more ‘in nature’ campgrounds.

We also had just enough time to sneak over to the other side of the park to experience the historic glass bottom boat ride – which was way more cool than we anticipated.

At $24/night, this state park is a gem – great sites well laid out, plenty of hiking opportunities and preserving a Florida classic tourist attraction.

We created a video after our last post that combines this stop with our bus preps we talked about previously:

And these next two stops are included in this brand new episode:

Stop 2: Tallahassee Automobile Museum

We had reservations at Topsail Hill Preserve, but had left a night in-between Ocala and Destin as 350 miles is bit more than we’re comfortable committing to for a day’s drive.  There are times may actually do that many miles, but we don’t like feeling like we have to.

We looked at our Allstays, Campendium and Harvest Hosts apps to see what options might be a good stop for an overnight. When the new Harvest Hosts app showed a location right off the interstate in Tallahassee that seemed perfect. Bonus that is was a vintage auto museum!

We called ahead with our Harvest Hosts membership number and there was no problem with us stopping in.

We had a lovely evening, especially after we found a farm to table restaurant right across the street where we enjoyed a delightful glass of wine and locally sourced meal.

In the morning, we toured the museum ($15 per person) – which was an impressive collection of beautifully restored classic cars. Including a 1894 Duryea (the oldest known surviving fully functioning vehicle ever made!).

And then it was time to hit the road and finish the miles to our next extended stop.

Stop 3: Topsail Hill Preserve State Park

We had actually made a 4-night reservation about a month ago once we had an idea of our timing. Our friends Betsy and Nancy of RV-A-Go-Go were camp hosting here this winter, and it would be a perfect opportunity to catch up. Plus, we had never been to this popular park before.

Little did we know this would be a highly social stop for us!

Jen & Deas of Nealys on Wheels had just settled in as last minute fill in volunteers, so it was great to catch up with them too.

And wherever these four go, there seems to be an abundance of awesome folks to meet up with. Plus add in several Technomadia followers who found us in the campground – and it was pretty much non-stop social!

Compared to our relative social isolation on the boat this past year, it quickly became overwhelming for us. I think we got used to being ‘nobodies’ in boating and a little less recognizable than our sweet vintage bus.

We’re also still dealing with some exhaustion post hurricane, boat repairs, work and holidays (we’ve had virtually no down time since August). And if we’re going to survive the RV Entrepreneur Summit with over 250 RVing peers, we need to get our social energy recharged a bit more.

So we bowed out of social for a day and focused on work – as we did have to ramp up for some cellular signal testing this trip.

The park was nice however, albeit pricey at $42/night (on the very high side for Florida options). There’s a great 1 mile walking trail to the beach and some longer trails out to fresh water dune ponds. Formerly a commercial RV resort, the park lacks however the classic Florida State Park feel of well spaced out and separated sites.

What’s Up Now?

We have actually made it to Central Texas (we’ll catch the blog up as soon as we can with adventures getting here) and doing some final preps this weekend before arriving to the Summit.

The main stage events of the summit will be live cast on Facebook (you can get updates on this Facebook Event), and we have confirmation that our session on Saturday the 24th at 3pm CST on Mobile Internet will be included in that.

We encourage anyone with an entrepreneur and RVing mindset to virtually attend the sessions (free), there should be some awesome stuff.

If you’re attending the summit too.. we look forward to meeting you soon!

Also for those who were waiting, all versions of The Mobile Internet Handbook are now available. Print, Kindle, iBooks and PDF.

After the summit, we’ll be hanging around the Austin area for a couple weeks and seeking out storage options for the bus. It’s hard to believe that in about a month’s time we’ll be back on the boat and resuming our Great Loop!

Just where does the time go?