During our previous four years of full time RVing we alternated between a clockwise circuit of the western half of the country and a counter clockwise tour of the east.  Per this pattern, we were due to head back west this year, which is exactly what we planned right up until March.  We thought we would leave Key West about two weeks into that month and head west, aiming straight for New Mexico and Arizona, followed by Colorado and/or Utah, and then California and Oregon, with the weather determining our schedule and specific route.

All of that, by the way, would have been our March through June plan, in and effort to hit the national parks we missed in previous years, and to revisit the ones we loved.  Then it would be a couple of week on Whidbey Island in Washington, with uncertain plans after that to see Western Canada or Montana and Wyoming before sprinting east to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

But we are not doing any of that this year.  Our Cuba trip came up, which would have delayed our departure from Florida by several weeks as well as put a strain on the budget.  Also, it had been a while since we had been able to visit some of our East Coast friends and family, and so after careful consideration we have chosen to go east again this year.  The shorter distance means less costs, the more leisurely pace counteracts the later than planned start, the timing works perfect for family stops, and we get to revisit some of our favorite places (Coastal Maine, Nova Scotia, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula) and explore some new ones.

Specifically, we left Florida in early May, and over the next 3 1/2 weeks worked our way up the East Coast.  We will spend the bulk of June in Maine and about five weeks in Canada, focusing on Nova Scotia, Quebec, and, hopefully, Newfoundland as well.  August and the first week or so of September we expect to be in the U.P. enjoying the Lake Superior shore and attending a bunch of markets to get our finances on track.

We will spend the rest of September and the first half of October leisurely working our way down to Florida, with stops in Iowa and Georgia, and tentative plans for some places in Minnesota and Wisconsin as well.  If you check our Where Are We Now page you can see how far we have gotten (we are in Ellsworth, Maine, just outside of Bar Harbor as of this post.)

A year ago we visited Cousin Rob, Colleen, and the twins in Gainesville on our way out of Florida.  We stayed one night at O’leno State Park and River Rise: It was fine, but the water and swimming conditions were… not great.  Rob told us we should try to stay at Gilchrist Blue Springs, Florida’s newest state park, and we made a mental note of that for our next swing through the region.  It was a fantastic recommendation; we absolutely loved our stay there in October as we re-entered Florida.

The main spring.  The jumping platform used to be just to the left of the snorkler.

While Bahia Honda State Park is probably our favorite in the state, and Wekiva Springs is our go to location in Central Florida, Gilchrist has become our favorite freshwater based park in Florida.  Don’t get me wrong, it is quite difficult to secure a weekend stay; even with our “check the website every day multiple times a day for cancellations” method, which usually works, we were unable to get our preferred days.  We settled for three nights, Sunday through Tuesday, with Rob and the twins able to join us on Sunday.

Our site among the pines and oaks.

The main spring is a beautiful swimming and snorkeling hole, crystal clear, shallow in most spots but with a 20′ deep section for those inclined.  Not thrilled with the crowds, especially on weekends?  Take a stroll a hundred yards down a trail to the secondary spring, which most visitors apparently don’t know about.  There are a few other even smaller springs on the property, but they are less accessible and not at all “swim friendly.”

The secondary spring.  As you can see, we had it all to ourselves.

The Florida State Park system continues to make changes to this formerly private attraction, with most of them aimed at reducing liability rather than improving things, I am afraid to say.  Rather than repair it, they removed a large section of the boardwalk (it used to go all the way down to where the spring run dumps into the Santa Fe River) and since our last stay the likewise took out the 8′ “jumping” platform over the main boil.  I wish they would focus on making the two mile entry road less bumpy, the campground loop less rutted, and the sites a bit easier to maneuver into rather than taking the fun things out, but c’est la vie, and regardless of these changes the place is still fantastic.

The nearby small town of High Springs provided us a bit of distraction as well, particularly the one Mexican restaurant in town, El Patio.  We did our traditional Cinco de Mayo meal and margaritas there, and it was quite decent and affordable.

I am going to start putting exactly how many days behind we are on this blog at the end of each post in the hopes that it will motivate me to keep pushing until we catch up.  As of now, counting from when we left Gilchrist until when we arrived at our current location: 4 1/2 weeks.  Closing that gap!  Next up: our plans for the rest of 2019.