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.

Adams Tract River Camp

May 10, 2013September 14, 2025 Jolene MacFadden

Now that we are halfway through our first assignment we thought we would create a little movie to show everybody where we are a campground host till the end of June. Yes, we have posted some pictures already but a movie is always a nice thing to share with everyone. We have been having a good time. The work so far hasn’t been so hard. We haven’t really had too many campers till this weekend. With the bad weather, school still being in and the river being fairly high until this week means we haven’t had to do much yet. This weekend is the first time we have a full house. Three boy scout troops from our hometown is staying here this weekend. That is two dozen boys and a couple of scout masters will cause quite a bit of work for us. We have already mowed about 3 acres of grass, blown off all the sidewalks, camping platforms and down the boardwalk. We also refreshed the bathroom and set up a recycle station to collect aluminum cans. The all drove in about 8:00pm this evening dropping off their camping equipment and supplies for the weekend. Tomorrow should be interesting.

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Florida State Parks, Lessons in Camping, RV and Campers, Volunteer At A Florida State Park, Workamping

Being a Camphost

April 18, 2013September 14, 2025 Jolene MacFadden

Most of us “Full-Timers” will, at one time or another, become camp host somewhere along the way. We have taken two camp host assignments so far. We scheduled one for July and August when we first started out because we wanted the experience and who wouldn’t want to camp next to the ocean for two months. Money being tight we have taken an earlier workkamping gig with Suwannee River Wilderness Trail.

Manatees and Other News

March 12, 2013September 14, 2025 Jolene MacFadden

Since our February Park Fees Campaign didn’t do so well we have decided to take more Camp Host positions for the rest of the year. We have had to postpone our southern leg of our Florida State Parks visits until next year. For now we have been granted a Camp host position at one of the river camps located along the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail for three months. We are looking forward to this new experience though with a little bit of trepidation as they had to close 3 of the 6 camps due to the rising water of the Suwannee this past week. But after a quick call to volunteer headquarters today we were told that they hope to have them all opened by this Sunday. That’s good because a lot of the schools will be getting the spring breaks soon. There is nothing like a kayak or canoe adventure to get away from it all that stress for a week or so. We expect to see quite a few people over the Easter Weekend. Phooey, we are starting our assignment on a holiday. :< Come to think of it our camp host assignment at St. Joseph's starts July 1st just before the holiday as well.

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Florida State Parks, Funding Our Adventure, Lessons in Camping, Volunteer At A Florida State Park

Birds We Have Seen

February 12, 2013September 14, 2025 Jolene MacFadden

We have traveled to 17 of the 51 State Parks and Recreational Areas on our list to visit so far. Granted it has taken almost 6 months to see those that we have and it looks like we will not get to all of the others without a little help from our friends. As the saying goes. But the ones we have been to have been rather nice with a few hiccups here and there.

February Campaign

February 4, 2013September 14, 2025 Jolene MacFadden

This month we are trying to raise funds to pay for reserving the remaining parks in advance. We still have about 30 State Parks to visit. Through our travels over the last 5 months we have not been able to stay at all the State Parks we want in the order we need them to keep expenses down. Most of the State Parks in Florida are doing a pretty good business each and every weekend. Some of them are so popular with “Snowbirds” that you cannot get into them without having a reservation made at least four to 12 months in advance.

Our First CampHost Position

January 15, 2013September 14, 2025 Jolene MacFadden

We finally have our first Camp Host assignment. Traveling to all these great Florida State Parks has been exciting and fun. If a little tense at times with some of the money problems and repairs we have had to do in the last 4 months. But we like this Full-Timers stuff and wanted to see what the Camp Hosting thing is all about. We have seen them at every camping area we have been to and have even been able to talk to a few of them. Being a volunteer at one of these parks has a few advantages. One of those is not having to pay for site fees. Another is that most (not all) has sewers available for the camp hosts only. As you may have ascertained from our previous posts that is one thing we really appreciate. There are only 10 RV camping areas in the State of Florida Park systems that offer sewer connections on site and most of those only have a limited amount available. You can see our reviewsabout that to find out more.

Campground Host Experiences, Florida State Parks, Funding Your Great Adventure, Park Info, Volunteer At A Florida State Park