We💚State Parks

We were headed back to Florida but made a three-night reservation along the way at Reed Bingham State Park in Adel, Georgia, near the Florida state line.  Prior to coming to Reed Bingham, we had been having issues with leveling the RV when we parked it at our campsites.  Many times, we have had to manually level the RV at campsites that aren’t made of cement, because the automatic leveling system was leaving us slightly unlevel and sometimes almost resulted in the tires coming off the ground.  We watched a YouTube video on how to “recalibrate” your jack leveling system and “recalibrated” prior to our arrival at Reed Bingham (while we were on a level cement surface).  It seemed to work well, as our automatic leveling system got us level on the first try on this gravel site (in addition to our automatic leveling system telling us that we are level, we also use our own level in the RV, and our “beer can roll leveling test”).  

On our way to Reed Bingham, we stopped to run some errands.  Tim got a haircut, which he was not completely happy with (Tim says he misses his $65/haircut stylist in Brooklyn but he did get this most recent haircut for $25).  Pat did some shopping for a new pair of jeans; he had PLANNED to always wear shorts for setup and breakdown but the early January weather is not cooperating (even in the south).

Finally, we arrived at Reed Bingham State Park.  The park is laid out so well that we weren’t very close to any other RVs.  Our passenger-side window over the dining area looked out at part of the park that encompasses the Gopher Tortoise Trail and Habitat.

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Our campsite was under a canopy of oak trees with Spanish moss hanging from the branches; so much so that we couldn’t find anywhere to put the Starlink on our entire site to get through the tree limb obstructions!  That was a first.  There were many squirrels around our campsite.  A few of them thought it would be fun to drop down from the branches of the oak trees above and onto the top of our RV to run around, so they had to be promptly chased off with a broom.  There is also an abundance of lady bugs here, many of which got into the RV and had to be humanely captured and set free on the outside.

We took advantage of the hiking trails on the second day of our stay.  We hiked the Gopher Tortoise Trail, the Little River Trail, and the Birdwalk Trail; a total of 2.8 miles.  Gopher tortoises are long-lived reptiles that occupy upland habitat throughout Florida and southern Georgia, including forests, pastures, and yards. They dig deep burrows for shelter and forage on low-growing plants. In Georgia, the gopher tortoise is listed as Threatened; both the tortoise and its burrow are protected under state law. As we hiked the Gopher Tortoise Trail, we saw several burrows that the tortoises had dug for shelter; we did not actually see any of the gopher tortoises though.  The Little River Trail took us into a swampy area, where there were two overlooks with a view of the Little River.  We did not see many birds on the Birdwalk Trail (probably because it is winter), but we did hear some “in the bird family of raptors" and a woodpecker’s pecking.

 

 

  

On the third day of our stay, we took a walk around the lake that forms at the bottom of the Little River, where folks can fish or launch boats.  We also decided to play putt-putt golf on the grounds of the park; we ended up with a tie after 18 holes (Tim made 2 holes-in-one, but it wasn’t enough for him to clench the win).  We also saw two bald eagles flying overhead (cue joke about putt-putt golf and eagles) but couldn’t get a decent photo.

We then headed back to the RV to do some laundry before the approaching storm, which ultimately wreaked havoc in Alabama before getting to us in southern Georgia.  It rained so hard that we could barely hear the television, which we had on to distract us from the storm.  Luckily, we made it through the storm unscathed and left the next morning to head back to Florida. 

Review of Reed Bingham State Park

This was the second state park that we have visited since we started full time RV travel.  We loved our campsite at Reed Bingham under a canopy of oak trees, overlooking the Gopher Tortoise habitat, and a nice distance from the other RV sites that allowed some privacy.  

The park has a lake that is popular with boaters and skiers.  Visitors can also fish or rent canoes or kayaks for a pleasant ride on the lake.  In addition, the park offers guided pontoon boat tours on some evenings.  

There are many covered picnic areas; a fitness pavilion with exercise equipment outdoors; the aforementioned putt-putt golf area; and two playgrounds for children.  You can also rent bikes.  There was a catfish restaurant, Company 5 Catfish House, close by that is only open Thursday to Sunday, so we didn’t have an opportunity to check it out since it rained on our last night there (which was a Thursday).  The laundry room and restrooms were located close to our RV site and although the price was right ($1 for each) the laundry room only had one washer and one dryer.  

We enjoyed our stay at this beautiful campground, but unless we want to return at a time when we can rent bikes, canoes, or kayaks, we have pretty much seen all there is to see at this park.