We have mentioned several times on this blog that we find county parks to be the hidden jewels of public campgrounds in terms of natural beauty and value.  So when we needed to stay at a place close to The Big Kahuna, friends and family, and the town of Sanford, All Stays revealed two Volusia County parks positioned perfectly for our needs, with prices well below the private options nearby.  Unfortunately Gemini Springs County Park is tent/dry camping only, but for the same price Lake Monroe County Park offered power and water even closer to our desired location.

After taxes, the sites are only $17 a night!  With only 25 total spots, this is an intimate little place with nearly every site situated under an oak canopy and surrounded by nature and wildlife.  There is a bath/shower house, boat ramp and dock to the large lake, pavilions, a playground, and a couple of hiking or bike trails that cross through the park.  Site quality varies, but some of them are huge, and all but a few could accommodate our 35′ rig with room for Loki.

Is it perfect?  No, there are some downsides that didn’t bother us overmuch but might convince other RVers to go elsewhere.  First, while we enjoy camping under trees rather than in trimmed lots like you find in many private resorts, this time of year in Florida that means acorns, and lots of them.  Multiple times a day and through the night you will have the surprisingly loud knock on your roof from the falling seeds as wind, squirrels, and natural processes dislodge them.  Second, the electrical connections on more than half the sites are on the wrong side, while all of the water connections are correctly positioned on the right as you are facing into the site.  So unless you have a particularly long shore power cable, you may need to pull in forward to some of these sites and use an extra length of hose for the water.

Lastly, management, including maintenance, is a bit loose.  This means that the bath and shower facilities are not in great repair, the entry gate is locked with a manual combo lock each night rather than with an automatic entry code system, and the rules about site cleanliness and animals are very loosely enforced.   Our neighbors kept their pet dwarf pig tied up outside all day, even when they were gone, for instance.  At $17 we were happy to deal with these minor issues, and will likely return when we need to be positioned similarly.

As for why we needed to be positioned near Sanford: we found another farmers market with no significant barrier to participation, and no vendor fee at all!  Saturday morning had us making the five mile drive to Magnolia Square for the Downtown Sanford Market where we set up alongside roughly 25 other vendors: mostly arts and crafts, a couple of actual produce sellers, but only a few other jewelry vendors.  Technically running from 10 to 3, most everyone was set up before 9 AM with potential buyers already browsing.

This was a somewhat longer event than we are used to, but sacrifices must be made.  Sales-wise, it was definitely slower than we expected given the size and location.  We made out OK, and multiple other vendors assured us that most Saturdays this time of year were busier and more lucrative, so we look forward to participating again this season.  We also got a visit from my Aunt Judy and her friend Marcy from Atlanta, who accounted for no small percentage of our daily sales.  Finally, we got a line on a couple of other markets in the region at which we might participate later this month, so even with slower than expected sales, the day was a clear win.

We were in the Sanford area for Veteran’s Day this year, and took full advantage of the local restaurant’s offers to all the active, reserve, and veterans.  For years I have been seeing lists of free meal deals sent out, but have never been in a position to really enjoy the benefits.  This year, being retired and without other obligations, that Thursday and Friday, we visited a slew of eating establishments throughout the day.

I can give a solid thumbs up to a few surprisingly good options.  We will seriously consider eating at Tijuana Flats after enjoying their oversized steak burrito with the works; clearly a meal sufficient for two.  The Chipolte Chicken Flatbread from Chile’s, Lasagna from Olive Garden, and the Lobster and Shrimp pizza from Red Lobster were all far better than expected.  Thanks to all the restaurants that participate in this event, I know it must be a huge PITA for the staff.

We also marked Pad Kee Meow’s adoption day, which we are also counting as her birthday since the  documentation we have suggests we picked her up very close to her one year point.  No lit candles, apparently cats don’t appreciate fire, but we made her dress up for an extra helping of her preferred wet food.

After this stop we headed up to Ocala for a few days, but will be returning to Lake Monroe Park soon as we continue to deal with selling The Big Kahuna, and plan on being at this weekend’s Downtown Sanford Market, as well another nearby market on Sunday.  Anyone in the area is welcome to come see us!

After our four day stay in Coral Springs we headed back north towards Central Florida.  As long as The Big Kahuna is stored there while up for sale we are trying to bias our time in that vicinity to support showings and deal with a few glitches in the house systems.  We are not in a rush so we can work our way up the coast at leisurely rate.  Passport America helped us find another low cost two day stay 90 minutes along I-95, the Port St Lucie RV Resort.

GPS led us astray, taking us down a back road on the wrong side of the park where we could see the place but had no access to it.  It was pretty obvious that we just needed to back track and continue on to the main road to find the entrance, so no big deal, but it does seem like Google Maps has been giving us more entry point errors like this of late.

At $29.50 a night, PSL RV Resort is a solid value for the area, but a bit odd in several ways.  First, the only RV Park Review we found to be accurate was the most recent one from September.  Apparently a change in day to day management has resulted in a lot of improvements.  While the place may not be all that pretty, the upkeep is quite solid, and the amenities were far better than the older reviews gave the park credit for, e.g., contrary to the older reviews, we had solid, though video streaming restricted, wifi at our site, and most of the spots had cable TV available for $1 a day.  This is something we keep an eye out for when using reviews to select between competing parks: the more recent, the more accurate, as parks can improve or degrade quickly based on ownership and management.

Second, there are no lovely views within this park.  It is a big grass field centered on a currently dry retention pond with an oval road around it, RV sites on each side, the whole thing surrounded by a fence and limited vegetation.  There are a handful of large oaks, but mostly smaller varieties spaced at each site that are not large enough to provide much shade yet.  Lastly, Passport America 50% discount is reduced by the separate $4.50 per day electricity charge, regardless of whether you use a 30 or 50 amp connection.  This negative is offset by the inclusion of sales tax into the base price.   So 29.50 all in got us a nice level full hook up, 50 amp spot with cable TV and usable wifi in a well maintained and safe location, though without much to see within the park.  For those that need them, they have a few pull through sites along the entry road as well.

After two days we continued up the coast to Patrick AFB’s Manatee Cove Family Camp near Cocoa Beach.  They had mandated a full evacuation for Hurricane Mathew, and were still sorting things out in his wake.  They had plenty of open spots, but several of the nice ones were being reserved for evacuees who had not yet shown up to reclaim their sites.   We ran into the standard military base problem/GPS problem of showing up at the main gate only to be redirected to the commercial truck entrance.    By the time we figured it out we had to unhook Loki in order to back out of the main entry road.  The airman manning the gate were helpful in getting traffic to cooperate with our manuever, and after a few minutes we backtracked south a couple of miles to the proper gate.

Air Force bases are typically so much larger than their naval counterparts, and we had to circle nearly the entire thing to get to the family camp, but it was well worth it in terms of both value and appearance.  We got a full hook up site overlooking the inter-coastal waterway bay, and were finally able to use one of our five free night passes purchased as part of the Air Force’s Frequent Camper package.  Since Manatee Cove is normally $24 to $30 a night depending on specific site selection, this was the place to use that pass.  While there was no wifi, cable TV, or much of anything in terms of walking distance amenities, the location was excellent and we had all that a large military base has to offer, especially the commissary and the veterinary clinic.

That’s right, yet another subsidized service for military people, including retirees, is access to low cost pet care on bases so equipped.  We had tried to get Pad Kee Meow’s annual check up and shots done at one of our previous AFB stops, but they were full up for our limited stay.  Patrick was able to fit us in with less than 24 hours notice.  Fantastic. For $67 we got her annual exam, one year rabies shot, and three year feline distemper shot. This is important as we are finding that about 1 in 20 places we stop actually wants to see proof of rabies vaccination for pets, and PKM’s had just expired.

We spent each evening having a cocktail on the bay shore enjoying the sea breeze and watching the dolphins and sea birds.  Our last morning we were fortunate enough to watch three dolphin engaging in cooperative hunting as close as 20 feet from the beach.   When passing back through this area again, Patrick AFB will be high on our list of places to stop.

I had not mentioned it in previous posts, but while we were in Central Florida we received the unfortunate news that Rosemarie’s Godfather, Uncle Carlos, had passed away from advanced stage cancer that had not been caught until it was, apparently, too late to effectively treat.  The viewing and funeral were now driving our schedule.

We left Venice after our three day maximum authorized stay and headed south on I-75 towards Naples.  We selected a one night stop at a Passport America RV resort as we were a day ahead of our intended arrival in Coral Springs to stay with Xavier and Joy.  We had a moderate sized back in spot with full hook ups for $24.  This is not a fantastic rate in general terms, but for the region it is quite good.  The price includes cable TV but not wifi.  Since the cable TV there requires the installation of a special converter box, we didn’t bother with it for our one night stopover.

The next morning it was back on the road as we crossed through the everglades and Miccosukee Indian Reservation on Alligator Alley.  Some find this 80 mile stretch boring, but we always enjoy it; there are so many large bird species to spot, and plenty of places you can pull off to see alligators.  The Tamiami Trail is even better for roadside nature spotting, but it would add a lot of time and mileage to the run, and is a two lane road much of the way and thus a bit more stressful to drive.

We arrived in Coral Springs and pulled Serenity into Xavier & Joy’s driveway, which is just big enough for us, for our four day stay.  We attended Carlos’ viewing at the local funeral home, and two days later the funeral itself at the Methodist church.  Carlos had served in the army during Vietnam, and his family arranged for a burial at a military cemetery.  We drove in the procession up to the his final resting place where another short but formal ceremony was conducted before he was interred.   Funerals are tough on everyone, but it was at least nice to see so much of the family and friends regather in Coral Springs, including Rosemarie’s sister who flew in from NYC for the occasion.

After four days it was time for us to head back north and deal with some more issues related to the sale of The Big Kahuna, but it won’t be long before we are back in South Florida.  We will spend November and December bouncing between SE, Gulf Coast, and Central FL before heading to Key West in January.

We are not nearly as behind on the blog this month as last, two or three posts will catch us up entirely!

The Distance: 1,825 miles, or biggest month this year!  Once we turned south and headed for Florida with only short stops along the way, we new this would be a big mileage month. But in a nice example of how we really have slowed things up this year compared to 2015, that year saw three months with even great mileage.  Our 2016 total is up to 8,231 and it looks like we will be far under last year’s 14,296 miles.  The rest of the year will see us bouncing around Florida, possibly putting us near 10,000 for the year, but certainly not much more than that.

The Places:  We finished up our extended stay at Lebanon Hill Regional Park in Minnesota before moving south to visit my daughter near Des Moines, Iowa.  From there we made a more aggressive run south through Missouri (The Catfish Place Campground,) Illinois (Scott Air Force Base) and Kentucky (Pirates Cove RV Resort.)  Then it was three Air Force Family Camp’s in a row, Arnold, Dobbins, and Robins, before hitting Wanee Lake RV & Golf Resort in Georgia.  We finaly pushed into Florida, making Grand Lake RV Resort in Citra our first stop, followed by a return to Blue Springs State Park near Orange City.  We closed out the month with a stay at Mill Creek RV Resort south of Orlando and few days in the Bayba’s driveway in Venice.

We are up to three straight months without a single moment of drycamping, enjoying full hook ups for 19 days and electric/water connections for 9 (with three days parked in a a realtives driveway while we enjoyed the experience of sleepign in a house.)  We stayed in private campgrounds for 10 days, military facilities for 8, and public parks for ten (8 county, 2 state) and in the just mentioned relatives’ house for 3.

The Budget:   Unfortunately this was a tough month in which we ended up 23% over budget.  We had a notible repair bill, yet another moderate medical bill that caught up with us, and an unusual four full fill ups for Serenity’s 75 gallon tank as a result of our highest mileage month of the year.  And unlike last month when we participated in seven farmers markets, we were only able to attend a single selling event in October, though even that certainly helped.  This puts us a slim 1.4% over budget for the year, and we hope to make that up in the remaining two months of 2016

On the good side, We managed to bring our RV park fees down to nearly $19 a day thanks to the Air Force Bases and incredibly affordable private resorts we found through Passport America.  We enjoyed the 50% PA discount for ten days, and the subsidized low cost rate at military campgrounds for eight.

The Drama:  We experienced an odd electrical problem that was mostly resolved by Horizon RV in Valdosta, GA, though we have some additional issues that need to be addressed before we begin drycamping in Key West later this year.  Since then we are seeing some additional, odd and transient elecrical issues with our 12 volt system that might suggest a pending inverter failure.  More to follow.

The Improvements:  Uncle Dennis fixed our windshield washers (they were simply stuck and needed lubrication) and troubleshot our ongoing electrical issues, suggesting it might be the hosue batteries going bad but had the looks of something more significant.  Armed with what he told us we will be going to another RV repair facility soon.

All of our monthly reports, as well as our first full year report, 2015 in Review, are linked below.

2016 Reports:

• January Report
• February Report
• March Report
• April Report
• May Report
• June Report
• July Report
• August Report
• September Report

2015 in Review

• January Report
• February Report
• March Report
• April Report
• May Report
• June Report
• July Report
• August Report
• September Report
• October Report
• November Report
• December Report

We departed Blue Springs State Park and drove through Orlando to Kissimee,  having selected a park positioned close to our visiting family’s Universal Studios hotel.  Passport America once again helped out, pointing us towards Mill Creek RV Resort where we enjoyed a full hook up spot with fully working wifi and amenities.

We are over budget this month so a day trip to Disney or Universal Studios was not in the cards, but we did get to spend a day with Linda, Jayson, Amy and the boys at the Cabana Club Resort for Jude’s first birthday.  They have a large pool with a much bigger than average pool slide, and we spent the afternoon lounging there before heading out to dinner.  Since we were on a Universal Studios hotel property we had access to their free bus to the amusement park and “Citywalk,” a collection of restaurants, stores and clubs.

It’s a crowded and chaotic area with airport style security and moving sidewalks that spit you out into a garishly lit and even more crowded thoroughfare.  By pure coincidence, my son Jackson and his wife Andrea had spent the day at Universal Studios taking advantage of their annual passes, so they were able to meet up with us for dinner.  We selected the Mexican option, Antojitos.  The service was excellent, the food and drinks were OK, and the prices were as you would expect at a tourist location.

After a few days we packed up and headed south west towards Venice to celebrate Rosemarie’s mother’s birthday.  Bill and Gloria’s driveway is just big enough for Serenity, and the neighborhood policy apparently allows such a stay for up to three days.  Visiting the Bayba’s is always a treat since Gloria has the bacalaitos (cod fritters) ready the moment we arrive and usually a pernil (pork shoulder) or some other traditional Puerto Rican dish for at least one dinner.  Bill is quite handy in the kitchen himself, and often prepares a gourmet style pizza or rotisserie chicken on the grill.

As is traditional in most American families, I carved her a birthday pumpkin, and we purchased her an asian guava fruit tree.  Both Bill and Gloria have distinctly green thumbs, and are even a bit competitive about it.  Plus their growing conditions and soil are excellent, so plants are always welcome there.  Now they have a guava to match the avocado tree we bought them as a wedding present.

Rosemarie’s brother, nephew, niece,  and future sister in law and her son (Jerry, Daniel, Laura, Kim, Andrew) joined us for Gloria’s birthday.  We had made arrangements for everyone to wear white shirts for a beach side photo shoot before sunset.  We had even rush ordered a universal camera remote on Amazon for the event so we wouldn’t have to deal with the timer function on Rosemarie’s tripod mounted DSLR Nikon.

Afterwards it was back to the Bayba’s for that pernil dinner I mentioned earlier, with Bill’s daughter Bobbi and her husband Steve joining us as well.  The Bayba house might have been a bit louder that night than it is on most.

We closed out the month there, with but a pair of trick-or-treaters coming by on Halloween.  Its not exactly a kid filled neighborhood.  Next up: October report and then on to south east Florida.

So after our sprint south we arrived in Central Florida about three weeks ahead of our original plan.  The primary motivator to get back to the Sunshine State was basic homesickness and the desire to see friends and family again.  The only specific date on our revised fall schedule was Rosemarie’s mom’s pending birthday, but we were ten days ahead of that event.  Serendipitously, Linda and Jayson were just finishing a post Navy retirement cruise out of Fort Lauderdale and would be at Universal Studios in Orlando later in the week.  So our dance card was starting to fill up, but we still had a couple of days to kill.

We elected to go back to one of our favorite Central Florida campgrounds, Blue Springs State Park.  We have stayed once before and made a day trip there last year, both times in the deep winter (Florida version) when the spring is filled with manatees and thus closed to swimming.  This time we hoped to beat the sea cows there and enjoy a bit of spring snorkeling.  October is early enough in the year to be out of peak season, so spots were readily available via the online reservation system, particularly for non-weekend stays.  We locked in the standard power and water site for $30 and change (after taxes and reservation fees) per night.

Going to private RV “resorts” is nice: you get so many amenities, usually have some sort of wifi, and can often take advantage of discount rates.  But they are so often very cookie cutter, with no real nature or views other than your neighbors RVs.  We try not to get locked into a rut of staying at too many of the same type of places during our travels.  Look at our October run by campround type: county, county, private, military, private, military, military, military, private, private, state.  About the only thing missing is a national park stop.  State and county parks provide a different experience than the private campgrounds, usually in much more natural settings with lots of greenery and wildlife.  Blue Springs did not disappoint.

Our site was of a decent size with plenty of separation from neighboring spots.  The facilities have recently been upgraded, with brand new and spotless bathhouses and laundry.  The spring is maybe a quarter mile from the campground; a casual stroll along a well marked path.  Our first afternoon we took it just to enjoy the view of the pristine water, and confirming that as of yet, no manatees were clogging up the swimming hole.

That evening we drove to my son Jackson’s house for a cocktail and then dinner at a local gourmet taco joint, Neighbors Artisan Taqueria in historic downtown Deland.  This was a great dining experience and a solid value, particularly since Jackson picked up the bill.  I can strongly endorse the “Hipster Neighbor” menu option if you have any tolerance for mushrooms.

The next day it was “get in the cold water” time.  We pulled out our snorkels and headed down to the spring, encountering  a young female raccoon putting on a show in broad daylight right beside the boardwalk pathway.  A good omen for our day in nature.  We dropped into the water a hundred yards downstream from the spring boil to snorkel with the abundant catfish, gar, and other assorted fish.  After a bit Rosemarie exited claiming frostbite from the 72 degree water.  I continued up stream to make a few dives down into the spring itself.  On my return swim a manatee passed right beside me exploring the head water.   I kicked for the dock and convinced Rosemarie to come back in, just in time for us to watch the animal come back down and pass right beside us on its way out to the main river.  Fantastic.

We topped off our stay with a hawk swooping right by us during our walk back to the campground.  Hard to ask for a better day in one of Florida’s best state parks.  So where are the pictures of all these animals?  Would you believe we forgot both our phones and our waterproof point and shoot during this outing?  Argghhhh!

After a flurry of posts in late October we had nearly caught this blog up, only to fall more than two weeks behind again since we slacked off in early November.  Time to start catching up again! ”

Our repairs in Valdosta were completed by late morning, leaving us plenty of time to continue south to our selected Passport America park, Grand Lake RV & Golf Resort, between Gainesville and Ocala.  This was intended to be a low cost single night stop before we continued towards Orlando to meet up with family and check on The Big Kahuna at his storage location.  The $19 PA rate for a very nice, full hook up, pull through site at a place with plenty of resort style amenities was not, in and of itself, enough to induce a longer stay despite the slack in our schedule.  But a quick bit of research into local farmers and craft markets at which we might vend changed our minds.

Since leaving Wisconsin our pace of travel, family meet ups, a bit of illness, and the need to retrieve and store the old bus had largely precluded participation in any markets. After having done eight of them in a five week period from late August through September, we had not managed to find a single opportunity in October.  But our Friday arrival at Grand Lake Resort prompted research to see if perhaps there was a Saturday market nearby with a loose enough set of vendor criteria and low enough fee such that we might participate.  We found the Market Under The Oaks just 16 miles south, and after contacting the manager, we were cleared to participate at a cost of only $5!  Rosemarie began furiously organizing our stuff while I walked down to the resort office to extend our stay by a day.  At which point I stumbled across another option.

Grand Lake RV Resort runs two park-wide yard sales annually, and the fall event was scheduled for the next day.  This is not a small park, it has nearly 400 sites and the vast majority appeared occupied.  So we were faced with a choice: a welcoming but apparently small local farmers market, or a community wide yard sale, both of which had a lot of unknowns.  Just how small is Market Under The Oaks?  Would it be another tiny little event with six vendors and practically no customers like in Washburn, Wiconsin?  Or might it surprise us with a more robust buyer throughput like the three in Grand Marais or even the Rusk County event?   As for the yard sale: had it been advertised outside of the park?  Or even aggressively within the park?  How many of those nearly 400 “occupied” sites were empty RVs and mobile homes still waiting for their snowbird owners to arrive?

We decided that with so many unknowns, we might as well try the yard sale option, which would entail a far greater degree of convenience and allow an extra hour of sleep.  Accordingly, the next morning we did our standard table set up in front of Serenity, and enjoyed a slow trickle of park residents throughout the morning, interspersed with a handful of potential buyers from outside the park, though almost all of them had some sort of connection to residents.  Sales were slow, but we enjoyed a last minute surge from one family that pushed us into figures beyond any of the three events we had done in Grand Marais, so we counted it a rousing success.

Things might have been significantly better, but we learned that a large portion of the park residents had not, in fact, yet arrived from their winter domiciles, and we were competing with a major flea market type event in a nearby town.  Nonetheless, we think we made the right decision, though we look forward to participating in Market Under The Oaks, perhaps during our northward push in late winter.   Hopefully we can also time our travels such that we can join Grand Lake Resort’s other community wide annual yard sale, which we were told is even better.

As the yard sale wound down, cousin Amy and her sons Elijah and Jude arrived to stay with us for a night during their journey from Virginia to Orlando.  There we would all meet up with Linda and Jayson at Universal Studios.  They had previously camped with us for a couple of days in Maine, and it was great to have them with us again, particularly since Amy brought wine.  Pro Tip: always bring wine.

Pad Kee Meow had, perhaps, her most tense dog encounter to date:  Rosemarie took her on a walk, during which she was on her leash as per the park rules, and a loosely controlled yippy little dog escaped his owners grasp and made a loud and aggressive bee line for her.  She did the standard cat thing, back arched and hissing, and the dog, several pounds lighter than our possibly part Ocelot feline, did the wise thing and pulled up short.  This is something we have to be on the alert for: the overwhelming majority of dog owners in the parks we visit control their pets, and properly introduced it seems like 80 to 90 percent of dogs will tolerate a cat.  But we worry about the outside odds, the aggressive dog combined with an owner lacking control.

Lastly, Grand Lake Resort has a golf course, and given my recent involvement with the links after decades away, one might think I would take the opportunity for a around.  Alas, time was too short, perhaps next time, but I did scoop up a folding pull cart from one of the other yard sale participants for only $5.  This pushes my total golf equipment investment to $18.75.  Fantastic.

We have been experiencing sporadic problems with our house electrical system, most notably since our stay at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.  There it took me half an hour of fiddling with the breakers and shifting from 50 to 30 amp before we managed to get the systems working.  And yet even when it settled out, something nagged at me: during our stay at Thompson’s West End Campground in Washburn, WI, I had reported to the camp host that the 50 amp connection was not working, and that I had switched to the 30 amp circuit.  They promptly sent out a maintenance man who found no problems with their breaker.  Hmmm.  Maybe our problems have been developing and worsening for longer than I though.  Perhaps going back as far as May when we had our odd electrical problem in New Jersey?

Since Scott AFB each campground revealed and clarified the worsening problem.  At of our stop in Robins AFB we could power the rear AC but not the front one, and none of the outlets nor the battery charging system were receiving power, though the water heater was.  As this turned from an oddity into a crisis, I put in calls to RV repair facilities along our planned route, while also consulting with our extended warranty company, Easy Care.  The well rated option near our current location could not fit us in for another three weeks, but they referred us to Horizon RV near Valdosta.  I talked on the phone with their lead service mechanic, who tentatively suggested that our automatic transfer switch was partially burned out and in need of immediate replacement.  Though booked solid, he agreed to fit us in if we could arrive early on Friday morning.

Accordingly, we left Wanee Lake Golf and RV Resort before dawn for the 90 minute drive south.  Upon arrival they promptly got to work trouble shooting, discovering that the transfer switch was just fine; our problem was our shore power cable had a break somewhere in the cord.  I had actually suspected this at one point, but didn’t have an extra cable to check with, and borrowing someone else’s would be uncomfortable: who wants to loan you a power cable so you can possibly mess it up with your broken electrical system?  Anyway, my failure to follow through on the shore power cable suspicion did not end up costing me much money as our Easy Care policy covered the bulk of the bill, and our deductible was not much more than the cost of the new cable.  Thanks to Horizon RV for fitting us in and getting us on the road to Florida within a couple of hours.

Our reviews, whether on this blog or on specific rating sites (RV Park Reviews, Campendium, Trip Advisor, Yelp) are explicitly value based, i.e., it takes a lot less to get a five star review from us for a $20 experience than it would a $70 one.  So when I say Wanee Lake Golf & RV Resort is Five Stars, I mean that it would be very hard indeed to beat the incredible value we got from this property.  For $16 we got a reasonably spacious, full hook up (50 amp) pull through site in southern Georgia on the Passport-America rate.  Think about that for a second: spacious, i.e., no crowded cheek by jowl, slide out against neighbors awning spot; full hook up, i.e., sewage at our site and no extra fees for 50 amp service; and a pull through site, something for which a more recent resort wanted an extra $7 per day.  Now, sure, you can find options in this range on PA, but Wanee Lake has no black out periods, weekend restrictions, or pet fees.  Finally, consider this little amenity: free unlimited golf on their nice nine hole course.  That’s right: Free. Unlimited. Golf.

I don’t know how they make money on this.  In addition to the golf course with chipping, putting and driving ranges, they have a 7 acre lake for fishing, a pool, tennis court, on property bar, locker rooms, and mostly usable free wifi.  I have trouble thinking of any place among the roughly 140 campgrounds at which we have stayed that can match Wanee Lake on “bang for the buck” criteria.   Asburn, GA is peaceful, but it is not exactly a destination spot, so you might cavil about the value as it relates to the location: on these grounds it can’t compete with our ludicrously tax payer subsidized winter campground on the Key West Naval Air Station, for instance.   But given that we have to dry camp there for 75% of our stay and most of the RVer population doesn’t have access to NAS Key West, I would say that in terms of pure amenities vs dollars, Wanee Lake takes the cake.

We arrived in the early after noon following a 90 minute drive from Robins Air Force Base Family Camp.  After a brief discussion with the owner about our priorities, he assigned us a spot right next to the hole #1 tee and the wifi repeater.  Every spot at Wanee is a pull through, which worked out perfectly for us since we had no need to disconnect Loki during our short stay.  Others have clearly honed in on the great deal this park offers, as the campground was nearly full during our week day stay.

Once set up, I spent a bit of time on their practice green trying to regain a feel for putting and relearning basic chipping skills after my fifteen year break from the sport before I hit the links for nine holes near sunset.  The golf is free for those of us walking, but if you want a cart there is, of course, a fee ranging from $8 (nine holes, weekday) to $16 (eighteen holes, weekend.)  I finished a satisfactory round in the mid 50s, with enough nice shots, especially my three wood off the tee, to keep me enthused.  The course has three holes with major water hazards, particularly the ball swallowing 8th that requires a careful lay up short of 200 yards, and then a clean shot across 150 yards of lake and muck into a significantly narrowed fairway and green.

Though this was initially intended to be a one night stop, the next morning we extended for a second day, partially because of the great value, but also because we had developed an electrical problem with our house systems, and our appointment at Horizon RV in Valdosta to get it checked out necessitated a one day delay.  This allowed us to catch up on a bit of TV and blog posts, as well as another hour on the chipping and putting green followed by nine holes.  My chipping is returning to form, and though my score remained in the 50’s, my game felt more consistent.  Had it not been for the egregious 8th hole I would have had a notably better round.

In closing, a couple of points about the discount rate at Passport-America campgrounds generally and Wanee Lake specifically:

• When we find a PA property that works for my timing and location, I realize that the 50% discount is not necessarily providing us 50% off of what I could pay in the region.  In other words, sure, maybe Campground X normally charges $40 a night and I get it for $20, but there may very well be nearby campgrounds just as good that charge $30 a night but don’t offer a PA discount.  When I say that our Passport-America membership has paid for itself many times over, I do so with the understanding that the 50% discount may only be worth 25% compared to regional competitors.   And yet it has still paid for itself many, many times over.
• The 50% PA discount rate offered by Wanee Lake my have a three day limit, suggesting that it is a “get them in the door” marketing technique, except that any days beyond three get a 25% discount for PA members.  Or you can just secure a “no club membership required” week long stay for $141 ($20.14/night) or a full month at $425.  We don’t have much interest in a month stay in this region, but I could easily see a future stop here for a week of relaxation, perhaps after another hard push back toward Florida next year.

So that’s our last stop short of the Florida border.  Next post, our electrical repairs and we finally return to the Sunshine State.  Would love to hear of other great RV and Golf resorts that offers incredible bang for the buck value.

In 2015 we were resistant to military base campgrounds: the added layers of security and rules seemed an unnecessary set of hurdles unless location and price provided a strong advantage, as it did in Key West and Monterey.  But this year we have been significantly more amenable to taking advantage of these highly subsidized campgrounds.  Sometimes they are simply affordable but otherwise forgettable stopover points, e.g. Joint Base Charleston or Earle Naval Weapons Station in New Jersey.  But sometimes they are fantastic deals, like the tiny but glorious campground in Newport, RI.  We stayed in five such base camps during our late spring journey up the east coast, but have not done so since.

All that changed during our recent sprint south with our first stay at an Air Force Base Family Campground, Scott AFB in Illinois.  The location was nothing to write home about, but the price ($20/night), security, and access to low cost base amenities such as the commissary and laundry made it a decent value, competitive with Passport America participants.  So as we researched our short stay options during our route planning towards Florida, I made a point to carefully check into the military campgrounds.  The result of which has been three Air Force Base Bases in a row as we traveled through Tennessee and Georgia.

ARNOLD: The first was Arnold AFB Family Campground in Tullahuma, TN.  This moderate sized campground is located on a ginormous piece of government property.  We had to travel six miles through the heavy forest from the front gate to the recreation center, and then another several miles to the camp itself.  This is what I mean by extra hoops to jump through on military bases: google usually doesn’t know which gate you need to enter by or where the recreation centers are.  You often have to go to a couple of different places and ask at each one.  Regardless, we found the right spot and got settled in.  And if we thought Scott AFB a good deal, this was an outstanding one: a more picturesque setting on a large lake, with far larger individual sites, a robust free wifi, and for only $15 a night!

Was it perfect? No: the gravel sites were not particularly level, the bathhouse and other campground facilities were dirty and in need of upgrade, and it had no camp host to coordinate after hours requirements.  But despite all that, it was a significantly better value and experience than Scott AFB’s offering ($5 cheaper, better views, more amenities) and with just a little bit of work, such as fresh paint and maintenance on the bathrooms and the securing of a camp host to keep them up, it could be outstanding.

The other thing to mention is the golf course.  Like all AFBs, they had a nice set of links.  The old military joke is that the Air Force, upon procuring money for a new base, builds the golf course and amenities first, and when they run out of money for the air strip, they just go back to congress to get that, because, heck, the base is already built and who can say no to a new bomber runway, right?  Yeah, its totally true, they all have nice courses and landscaping, and since I had just bought a $12 set of clubs and bag, I took advantage of the $7 twilight rate to play nine holes on two of our three nights there.  Considering I have not played in 15 years I was not unhappy with my score of 53 for each set of nine.  The group of deer I spotted on the first hole fairway and green each evening was a bonus.

DOBBINS: After Arnold we moved south to Atlanta and Dobbins AFB.  This is an odd one for us to review: we had no small amount of trepidation since they had been absolutely savaged in the RV Park Reviews and received very moderate “damned by faint praise” comments in the Military Campground reports.  And yet this is prime example of reviews being, quite simply, out of date.  The campground has clearly gone through a heavy amount of improvement since most of those write ups, and we found nearly every negative issue mentioned to have been resolved.  It was in excellent condition, with a brand new bath house and laundry facility, each site properly maintained, and the surrounding area quite nice.  Given that this is one of a handful of RV parks close to Atlanta, with the private options in the $40+ per night range, Dobbins is a great value and deserving of far better reviews than you will find on line.

The camp is tiny, only 18 sites, with no reservations accepted, but since we arrived on a Monday we didn’t anticipate a problem getting a spot.  We were surprised to find only one site available upon arrival though, so never assume!  At $14 a night for the electric and water, it was also a better deal than Scott, but with no wifi probably not as great a value as Arnold, depending on what you hold important.  We only stayed one night and did not explore the base, so we can’t comment on the golf course, commissary, exchange, etc.

Returning to my 2015 theme about military campgrounds having additional layers of security and hoops through which to jump, Dobbins drove this home with the requirement to drive to the commercial truck delivery gate on the back side of the base, and there call security at the posted number and wait for a guard to open and clear us.   Not a huge deal, just one more thing, especially since google maps doesn’t seem to have the different gates available for guidance.

ROBINS: Finally, we continued south to Robins AFB near Macon, GA.  After six roughly 200 mile legs in a row since leaving Minnesota, it was nice to have a shorter, three hour run. Unfortunately, the need to find Gate #4 for commercial and oversized vehicles, combined with google’s uncertainty and topped off with confusing directions once inside the base proper, meant for a four hour journey, regardless.

But what we found upon arrival!  The Family Campground office may only be open a few hours each day, but they have a rigid and professional system in place to handle after hours arrivals.  Our reservation and welcome package was posted on the office bulletin board, along with detailed instructions for any non-reservation people that might show up.  And the price and facilities are fantastic!  For $15 we got a spacious, full hook up site on a fully leveled concrete pad in the light woods.  Is that too many services for you?  Then select the power and water only option for $8 a night!

It doesn’t end there: the bath house was clean, and the laundry facility was… free!  The campground boasted a playground, nice office, ponds with docks, recreation room, amphitheater, etc.  In short, it was being managed well and given the funding and maintenance attention it deserved.  And finally, after three strike outs at Scott, Arnold, and Dobbins, Robins actually had the frequent camper package for sale.  At a $40 one time purchase price, we are confident it will pay for itself more than twice over in the first year alone.

The golf course at Robins was better (and more challenging) than at Arnold, but also had a fantastic twilight, no cart rate of only $8 for nine holes.  Had it not been for an electrical problem with our rig necessitating a push south for repairs (more on that next post) we would have stayed three rather than two nights at this great camp.

Of the four AFB Family Camps at which we have stayed, I would have to rate Arnold the best value if wifi is important, but give Robins top honors if it is not or if you can live with electric and water only.  And since the office told me that wifi services are coming later this year, that might give Robins the clear victory.