Category: Park Info

State, Federal and Private Camping Parks information

Myakka River State Park WrapUp

April 3, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

Our last week as campground hosts at Myakka River State Park went about like you would expect. We got a wide variety of unexpected problems that week such as a tornado warning, loud camper complaint after 11:00pm, and a water warning. Of course, about three-fourths of the campground checked out that weekend and over half of them had fires the night before. We got all that taken care of and turned in our keys and hosting manual but before we could leave the temperature light on the RV decided to go to red and stay there. Our fellow campground hosts, a former GM worker, said that it was probably broken because it stayed that way even when the RV was turned off. And we had another bird’s nest in between our RV batteries. Luckily, there were no eggs in the nest yet. We hope to be able to come back to this lovely park sometime in 2015. The bad part of being there was the cellphone/internet service was pretty spotty. They have three camping areas and all three have their charms. Palmetto Ridge is all gravel, large sites with sewers and large new bathhouses. Big Flats camping area is all smaller sites near the Myakka Outpost and lots of shade but little privacy but no sewers on sites except for the campground hosts. Old Prairie has a small older bathhouse, mostly shady sites and no sewers on site except for the campground hosts and the two overflow campsites.

Campground Host Experiences, Funding Your Great Adventure, Park Info, RV and Campers, Volunteer At A Florida State Park, Workamping

Large Parks versus Small Parks

February 19, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

When you think about your camping experiences in Florida State Parks do you recall what you liked about the park?

Was it a smaller, out-of-the-way State Park or was it just outside of a large town and a fairly large State Park?

Do you prefer to stay at a place with lots of activities or do you just want to lay back and enjoy the quiet?

These questions and more you really should ask yourself before you make reservations at any State or National Park. (Please always make reservations as far in advance as you can). The reason being is you will want to get the most bang for your hard-earned, or even retired, bucks. If you haven’t visited your intended park before go online and read the material on their website, check out some videos about the park on YouTube and ask friends, relatives and your Facebook buddies what they thought about the park if they visited it in the before. You want to look at pictures and videos and go online to see what people have said about the park recently. Remember things could have changed if the information is more than a couple of years old. And please make note of some of the rules about camping in your intended parks as well. They are there for the comfort, safety and enjoyment of all the visitors not just to pick on you.

Campground Host Experiences, Camping Resources, Lessons in Camping, Park Info, RV and Campers, Volunteer At A Florida State Park, Workamping

Myakka River So Far

February 12, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

Myakka River so far has been a great experience. The weather has been pretty volatile with cold days, wet days, wet and cold days as well a bright sunny days too. There are a lot of campground host volunteers here during the winter months of January to March. Most are from up north with some of those as far as Canada. This is a very social occasion for these volunteers and they have pot luck dinners, movie nights and bomb fire game nights. Most of these people have been volunteering at this park for years. Being as they have so many volunteers quite a lot can and does get done during these months for the park rangers. There is cleaning of the huge park including all the public restrooms; campground cleaning; volunteers manning the main entrance taking money from new comers and the north entrance on weekends; working in the visitors centers; bird watching teachers; as well as mowing and clear cutting of the surrounding woods to prepare for the annual controlled burn and all the special events. This year the volunteers have agreed to host a weekly morning social hour with coffee, tea, juice and assorting snacks being available for just a $1 donation per person. It is a great chance for our fellow campers to get to know each other, meet the campground hosts and some of the ranger who drop by and listen to some music from some very talented volunteers. This is such a large park with so many things going on that they really need all these volunteers to keep things moving.

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

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.