Category: Campground Host Experiences

More Rain Ugg

November 25, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

More Rain…Ugg! It rained a lot before we got here and it is raining more still. We have had a couple of days of freezing weather this past week that, hopefully, killed off most of the mosquitoes. In the past several days, our park ranger, Catherine, just informed us that we have gotten another 4 inches that has soaked into the ground but the forecast for today is for another 2 to 4 inches of the wet stuff. Of course, it will get colder here and the sun will come out just in time for our first Thanksgiving holiday that we will not go home for.

Mom and I have decided just to hang around this quiet, little park, and enjoy the sunshine and cook our turkey breast with a couple of our traditional family side dishes. That means no table filled with desserts that my grandmother has been baking for the last 10 days. This year, most of our family members will be spending Thanksgiving with the in-laws and Christmas at granny’s house. My aunt Sherry, from Denver, will be with my grandmother this Thanksgiving and they plan on a quiet little dinner as well. Of course, we will call everyone to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving and catch on all the latest family gossip.

Canoe and Kayak the Suwannee River

November 8, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

Canoeing and/or kayaking down the Suwannee River is a big past time in the north Florida area. We get visitors from all over the state and we have even met some people from up north who participate in organized trips almost every year. October and November are usually pretty great months to paddle down the Suwannee as there is little rain, the river hasn’t dropped to dangerously low levels yet and the bugs are not biting quite as bad with the cooler evenings. Granted, almost every outdoor activity in Florida is better during the late fall and early winter months. And since we are surrounding on three sides by water and have an abundance of rivers in our state canoeing and kayaking is a very popular activity all over and all year long.

My mom and I haven’t tried to canoe or kayak yet but since we have volunteered at two river camps and a state park right on the Suwannee River we have met and talked with quite a few people who do. And really, if you would like to see a fascinating part of the Florida natural environment then paddling down a river will give you that and a lot more. You can see parts of Florida that are only accessible to people in small boats. That means no cars and in a lot of cases no hikers either. Today’s kayak can hold your camping equipment and gear so that you can pull off into a river camp, state park, public boat launch or even a sandbar and spend the night enjoying the sights and sounds of nature. We do suggest that you always travel with bug repellent, seal all your food in plastic containers, and bring lots of bottled water or those little capsule things to make the water safe to drink. We have lots of springs running into the Suwannee and each of the river camps and state parks have potable water. You might even want to bring one of those pull around hammocks that are a combination of hammock and screen to keep you off the ground and those pesky bugs off while you sleep. A tent or tarp is also helpful in keeping the rain off.

Campground Host Experiences, Sights to See

Pioneer Village in the Panhandle

November 1, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

Reading through our Facebook pages last week we came across a posting from one of our fellow Full-Time RVers and volunteer workampers posting about their new assignment. Alisha and her family are volunteering at the Panhandle Pioneer Settlement in Blountstown, Florida. The information intrigued me enough to check out their website to see what she was talking about. After reviewing their information about volunteer workamping I thought I would ask her to send us some pictures and more information. And she agreed!

From what she says and the Village’s website it looks to be a great place to spend a couple of months and volunteer. Who doesn’t love old historical buildings, learning new crafts and watching craftmen and women doing what they love to do. It sounds like a great place and we hope we can fit it into our assignment schedule for the end of 2015 or perhaps not until 2016. Most, non-profit organizations rely heavily on volunteers and this place has gone further and included live on-site spaces. It is pretty great that they are only opened to the public a couple of days and hours per week so that the workampers can get some downtime and enjoy their surroundings. Granted, helping out with the farm animals and harvesting crops, making sugar cane syrup, etc. may not be everyone’s cup of tea but it does sound like a great experience.

Campground Host Experiences, Park Info, Sights to See, Workamping

Our First Month at Big Shoals

October 6, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

Our first month at Big Shoals State Park has been uneventful and some would say even boring. But the weather is getting cooler and we are having a relaxing time. There are quite a few visitors that come every weekend but not so much during the week. We have been having problems with keeping the equipment going and we are no mechanics. The park currently only has one park ranger and waiting on a park services specialist to be hired. The park has a lovely picnic area right next to the river high on a bluff with picnic tables, barbecue grills and one fire pit.

There is a canoe/kayak launch down a sloping path that is overgrown with roots and has railroad ties as steps every so often. There a platform and some steps leading down into the river. There are no canoe/kayak racks for paddlers come down the Suwannee River before the park. Mostly, they come to launch to go the white water rapids area. The river is currently high and running fairly fast. With all the rain we have had over the last 4 weeks all the trails are wet with some even flooded in places. The 3 mile lone paved Woodpecker trail has to be blown off every week but we have only managed it one time since we have been here.

Campground Host Experiences, Park Info, Volunteer At A Florida State Park

Happy Day It Is Done

September 30, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

Happy Day, it is done and available online at Amazon. We have been working on our eBook for full-time RVers who would like to volunteer in one of our many Florida parks including the State Parks, State Forests, Florida Wildlife and Water Management Areas as well as our Florida National Parks, Forests and Seashores. We hope you will try our eBook and give it a review on our Amazon page. We even went ahead and created an author page. We hope to use the proceeds from the sales of this eBook to allow us to keep going to various Florida public parks and volunteer.

If our eBook really starts to sell we will be able to donate a portion of the proceeds to various Florida public lands to keep them going, update equipment, maintain facilities and possibly fund more places to be set up for volunteers all year round. So far, we have only been able to volunteer at Florida State Parks but are working on assignments at some of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Management areas, county camping parks and even a couple of the Florida State Forests. They offer a different volunteer experience than the Florida State Parks we have visited and volunteer for so far. These experiences will be great to experience as well as to report to our readers.

Goodbye Woods Ferry Hello Big Shoals

September 6, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

Goodbye Woods Ferry, Hello Big Shoals! Well, we finally made it to our new assignment. We will miss Woods Ferry River Camp with it’s sewer on-site, being able to take long, hot showers and free washer and dryer. We may even miss the river campers who came almost every weekend and some through the week. Big Shoals State Park has a cement pad park host site with electric and water behind the bathroom building and across from the picnic area next to the Suwannee River. The site itself may seem like it was put in backwards but it works. We had to drive in the wrong way around to pull into the park host site. This small park area has a circular, one-way, paved drive and with the RV utility hook-ups on the drivers side it was easier to come in the wrong way than to back into the site. Luckily, through the week, the park doesn’t get a lot of visitors. Since we don’t own a “Blue Boy” we had to purchase about sixty feet of sewer hose to be able to dump our black and gray water tanks. The sewer outlet is right next to the bathroom building on the side along with an outdoor cold shower. Since, it is a “Day Use” only state park when we lock the entrance gates at night there will be no visitors.

Campground Host Experiences, Funding Our Adventure, Our eBook, Volunteer At A Florida State Park, Workamping