Category: Sights to See

Welcome to Troy Springs

May 6, 2015 Jolene MacFadden

The springs when the river is down — The springs when the river was down

We made it to Troy Springs State Park just fine. We have worked a couple of hours opening and closing the front gate and cleaning the bathrooms once. Then we are off the the next several days. It’s pretty quiet around here as the river is still pretty high and our park ranger, Tina, cannot open the springs up to swimming and diving until the water recedes enough. 🙁 That is both good and bad. Good because we don’t have many visitors so we don’t have to do much in the way of cleaning and bad because we are not getting many visitors to the park so the park is not making much money. We are catching up on some cleaning, posting to our social media pages and writing articles. Hopefully, I will have enough time to add some of our craft items that we have made over the last several weeks on to our online store pages.

This park has two residential park host sites. One is located directly behind the ranger’s office next to the springs area and the other is located on the back of the property in front of the barn. When the park ranger told us we could use the camp site next to the barn I was picturing one of those big red buildings with hay, farm equipment and stuff. Well, it turns out this property had a large horse barn on it when it was purchased by the state. It is in great shape and the park personnel and volunteers have kept it really nice. Sadly, the park cannot allow horses in the park. Which is a great shame as it would bring in more money for this park. They have to get some kind of property easement agreement from one of the local private land owners that are between this park and the Ruth Springs Suwannee River Water Management land area.

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Campground Host Experiences, Funding Our Adventure, Sights to See, Volunteer At A Florida State Park, Workamping

Winding Down Here at Stephen Foster

April 19, 2015 Jolene MacFadden

We are winding down here at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park. The campground is looking better as we, and our fellow volunteers, slowly rake, sweep, clip and blow the leaves and trim the bushes in and around the campground area. We finally found a hand blower that I can start myself and I try to use it every day on the campsites. In the mean time another volunteer couple, Linda and J.T., are trimming the trees, bushes and along the roadways. They pay to stay on their campsite and work all day most of the week to whip the campground back into shape after a long fall and winter season. Our co-campground host couple, Dennis and Liz, are doing a great job as well as we learn to use the “automated” cleaning solutions station that was put into the storage areas of the bathhouses. This is suppose to help deliver the “right amounts” of cleaning solution with water ratios for proper cleaning and to help the park save money in the long run. We are still having to use a watered down bleach solution on the shower areas though as it stays so damp in the bathhouses between the rain and humidity. But, we do our best with what we are given and we are still receiving compliments from our fellow campers about how clean the bathhouses are and how nice the campsites are being kept.

Campground Host Experiences, Funding Our Adventure, Our eBook, Park Info, RV and Campers, Sights to See, Volunteer At A Florida State Park, Workamping

Only Two Weeks Left At Big Shoals

December 17, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

Only two weeks left at Big Shoals State Park and then we move down the road about 6 miles to Stephen Foster Culture Center State Park for the first 4 months of the new year. It has been so peaceful here. Yes, we get a couple of visitors each day and more of the weekend. We have even gotten a couple of visitors who asked questions or just wanted to talk for a few minutes. The work is not difficult and basically only needs doing a couple days a week. All the other times we just are available for the visitors and to close the gates at night. So if you are thinking about volunteering here we hope you will consider it in the future.

The good is definitely the peace and quiet here. The only bad we could say would be the sewer situation. You will have to buy about 80 feet of sewer hose to dump your black water and you can use a regular garden hose to dump your gray water. It would be nice to have a little storage building to use while we are here. But you can use the volunteer washer/dryer at Stephen Foster State Park for FREE. You will have the use of a Gator to run back and forth along the paved trail between Little Shoals and Big Shoals area as well as to explore the various trails while you are here. It has been nice here.

We are looking forward to transferring to Stephen Foster on January 1st. We know that it will be more work, more people and they don’t have sewers on site for the campground hosts either. We may not come back to Big Shoals as we have so many more places to explore. Nor, will we come back to Stephen Foster after we leave there at the end of April for the same reason.

We hope you and yours have a safe and happy holiday season. See you next year!

Campground Host Experiences, Funding Our Adventure, Holidays in the Parks, RV and Campers, Sights to See, Volunteer At A Florida State Park, Workamping

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

Volunteer On An Island For The Summer

May 31, 2014 Jolene MacFadden

Volunteer On An Island For The Summer. What could be more fun than spending a little time on one of our various Islands around Florida? True, most that do have live on-site volunteer facilities run towards a tent or boat camping. But, why not give it a try? We contacted a few of the state parks that are only accessible via boat or ferry and found that a few of them would like to have volunteers this summer. Some of us oldsters may find that being in a tent for two or three months is a little bit too much but for those hardy and rugged souls out there we hope you will give it a try. If you have a boat with sleeping quarters and galley some of these parks has a spot for you too.