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| Atlantic Ocean |
There is one thing that I've noticed...
We have Florida license plates and so does most everyone else.
Most places we go we are obviously tourists, I'd like to think that gets us a little slack when we're in the wrong lane.
Not that many would suspect we're locals driving this big old RV through town...
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| Tourists |
Winter in Florida takes planning. The state parks are great but they take reservations 11 months in advance and Florida is a popular place for RVs in the winter!
State parks book up, county parks book up, the COE park we booked at was almost full, we found a handful of connected days.
Commercial RV parks book but there are a lot of them. They do cost a bit more than the state or county parks. Mary's Fish Camp in Weeki Wachee had room but it was a little spendy.
I realize that the old saying, "Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part," is valid.
Our life and plans are fluid at this point so booking for next winter is a tall order. That's how it was last year at this time, so when we made this year's arrangements we had to pay several separate fees to the state's 3rd party reservation company for a week's stay.
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| Not cold in Tampa Bay |
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| Hurricane Damage in Tampa Bay |
Confused? A hypothetical Florida state park: we'd like to stay a week. There is a $6.70 fee for each reservation we make... we can get 3 nights at spot #1, we can the next two nights at spot #27 and we can get the last two nights at spot #235. That takes three separate transactions, 3 separate fees and several (many!) different attempts to find the needed days (looking for someone who cancelled).
That is what happens when we don't plan far enough ahead.
FWIW there is a $17+ fee to cancel a reservation at the state parks (after 24 hrs), as a Florida resident over 65 the camp site only costs us $15.
That's ok, the winter in Florida has been nice!
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| Northern Florida |
Florida looks beautiful through your camera lense. I looked at the rates on your link to Mary's Fish Camp and yep...they are pricey.
ReplyDeleteWith that said you are paying for the location and the wonderful weather. I am sure many people up north after last week's frigid weather would happily pay them as they probably will have to fork out large sums of $$$$$ to pay their heating bill.
Did you all become Floridians to be able to enjoy the lower camping prices? If you did...good decision!
"I realize that the old saying, "Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part," is valid."
ReplyDeleteI laughed so hard when I read this and it brought back memories of the father of a dear friend of mine. He had the same saying but let's just say with a slight sharper language.
She was a co-worker who brought me into her family and her parents would call me "their Houston daughter" and were incredibly kind to me.
Now I am shedding tears...thank you for the memories.
We've been looking for 'deals', places with a week rate or a month. There are several military bases in Florida and I'm retired so we have access to their RV parks.
ReplyDeleteI am really enjoying the views & the weather!
Old memories that flash back are good ones...