Author: Jolene MacFadden

Semi-Retired former Full-Time RVer, published author, handcrafted bead and wire jewelry maker, who has started another side businesses helping self-publishing authors publish the books and marketing as well.

St Joseph Peninsula State Park WrapUp

January 30, 2014September 15, 2025 Jolene MacFadden

Now that I finally have help with our craft business I should be able to get some articles posted to my various blogs and will try to start posting to Our Great Adventure every week. There is so much to report to you guys that we will start with a wrap-up of St. Josephs Peninsula, then the wrap-up with Dade Battlefield and then an update on our current assignment here at Myakka River State Park. I will be trying to get the movies made for the State Park Reviews and uploaded to YouTube as soon as I can. We have very limited internet service here and will probably have to go down to the Myakka Outpost and use their wireless service to upload the videos once I get them done.

Campground Host Experiences, Florida State Parks, Park Info, RV and Campers, Volunteer At A Florida State Park, Workamping

William J Rish Recreational Park

September 21, 2013September 15, 2025 Jolene MacFadden

William J Rish Recreational Park is a great place to spend time at the beach. The park is strictly for Florida residents with disabilities. Their families and/or care-givers are allowed to come too! “It is named in memory of the state legislator who created it—Representative William Joseph Rish. It’s often called Billy Joe Rish Park, because locals referred to their longtime legislator as Billy Joe Rish.”

Florida State Parks, Park Info, RV and Campers, Volunteer At A Florida State Park

What Else Can Go Wrong

September 1, 2013September 15, 2025 Jolene MacFadden

Have you ever had one of those days where absolutely everything goes wrong? I mean you try to prepare for some things but when mother nature and the cosmos conspire against you what can you do? We thought we were going to have a smooth transition from TH Stone Memorial St Josephs Peninsula State Park to Dade Battlefield Historic State Park. We planned on leaving on the last day of the month, travel about halfway down and spend the night somewhere before continuing on and beginning on new assignment on September 1st. Our last volunteer coordinator even allowed us to have the last two days off so that we could do any last-minute cleaning and get ready to travel. That is when we started having problems.

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Florida State Parks, Funding Our Adventure, Lessons in Camping, Workamping

One Month Down and One to Go

July 31, 2013September 15, 2025 Jolene MacFadden

We have been here at TH Stone Memorial St. Josephs Peninsula State Park as campground hosts for 1 month. It has been rainy, hot, stormy as well as nice breezes off of the Gulf of Mexico. The work is sometime hard but mostly due to the heat. We get up early in the morning before the sun rises to clean two bath houses. This can take us sometimes 2 to 3 hours to do depending on how bad they are and how many interruptions we get. We have been assigned to the Gulf Breezes campground area. Originally, we were assigned to the Shady Pines campground which is on the St. Joe Bay side of the peninsula underneath pine trees and in between the palmetto bushes. Due to the shortage of campground host volunteers during this time of year we were reassigned to the Gulf Breezes side and are responsible for the entire campground 5 days a week. The Volunteer Coordinator is Ron and he seems nice but the manager of the park, Mark, does have some unrealistic goals for the campground hosts.

Campground Host Experiences, Florida State Parks, Lessons in Camping, Volunteer At A Florida State Park, Workamping

Adams Tract WrapUp

June 22, 2013September 15, 2025 Jolene MacFadden

We are starting to wrap-up here at Adams Tract River Camp. It’s funny but we will miss this place. But we also miss being on the road. We have passed the 9 months full-time RVing mark and are looking forward to the next 18 months we have scheduled so far. The hardest part about being here is that we really don’t have the extra money to get out and explore. That was the reason we accepted all these campground hosting assignments in the first place was to be able to save a little money and go exploring more. Sadly, that hasn’t been the case. We will have to work on bringing in an income while we are traveling as well as the retirement payments we have been living on the past couple of months. It makes all the difference if you can bring in some extra income while you are traveling so that you can enjoy those trips to local parks, eat out in a local restaurant every now and then or just be able to have extra gas money to explore the areas when you are not doing your campground hosting duties.

Report From Adams Tract River Camp

June 12, 2013September 14, 2025 Jolene MacFadden

We have Solar Lights Now! Our time here at Adams Tract River Camp is coming to a close. We have about 2 weeks left before we move onto St. Joseph’s Peninsula State Park. We can only hope that they people who work there will be as nice as the ones we have working here at the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail Office as well as the great guys at Troy Springs State Park who have been keeping us in supplies and helping us out with repairs and trash pick-ups. Thanks so much for all your help and we look forward to our return assignment here next summer.

Campground Host Experiences, Florida State Parks, Volunteer At A Florida State Park, Workamping