First National Park!

We left the Hollywood KOA early in the morning with a goal to get to our next destination by 10:00 a.m.: Everglades National Park.  We have visited many National Parks together and apart, but Everglades National Park is our first National Park visit together while full-time RVing (hence the more than 50 photos below🤷).  Pat is old enough to have purchased the senior pass, which costs $80 and allows for free entrance to all National Parks for you and one guest for your lifetime!

We arrived at our first stop in the Everglades National Park at about 10:15 a.m., Shark Valley, which is located at the northern part of the National Park.  Shark Valley has a sawgrass prairie that floods during the rainy season and becomes a marsh but dries out during the dry season.  Thus, it is home to various species of wildlife, including alligators; ibis; white-tailed deer; black bears; great egrets; great white heron; anhinga; and many others.  

Our plan was to take the Shark Valley Tram Tour, which has a tram leaving every hour on the hour from the Visitor’s Center.  When we arrived, all of the oversized vehicle parking at Shark Valley was taken and we were told to try again in the afternoon.  We left and began to drive down the highway adjacent to the park entrance when we noticed a Native American Gift Shop, run by the Miccosukee Tribe, with a huge and empty parking lot.  We parked in the lot and ventured into the gift shop, where we made a few purchases and asked if it was okay to leave our RV parked in the lot for a few hours while we walked the quarter mile back to the Shark Valley entrance to the Everglades National Park to take the tram tour.  They graciously said it was okay to leave the RV parked there for a while, but thought we were crazy for walking to the Shark Valley entrance from their gift shop.  The walk was only a quarter of a mile along a highway that had bike lanes, but at one point, there was a narrow bridge with no shoulder.  We literally had to run across the bridge for a few minutes, from one side to the other; so, we waited until we did not see any vehicles coming from either direction and ran!  Pat had never run so fast in his life!  Luckily, we made it safely to the Shark Valley Visitor Center and bought our tickets for the two-hour tram tour.

The tram tour did not disappoint.  Our driver-spotter and naturalist guide, Woody and Rick, were truly knowledgeable about the Shark Valley and the wildlife within.  Rick’s witty banter added to the fun.  We saw many alligators, and even two crocodiles, which are not native to Shark Valley since it is mostly composed of fresh water and not saltwater; however, Rick explained that saltwater seeps into the marshes of Shark Valley at some points, making the water brackish.  We also saw egrets, white heron, anhinga and of course the white ibis.  Halfway through the tram tour, we stopped at a 45-foot-high observation deck, where we could see 20 miles in all directions.

At the end of the tram tour, we walked (and ran) back to our RV and drove to the entrance to the park where we would be camping: the Flamingo Campground.  The Flamingo entrance to the Everglades National Park is located on the southern-most side of Florida, between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, which is about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Shark Valley.  We arrived about an hour before sunset.  The campsite only has electrical hookups, no water or sewer hookups, but we had prepared for this by ensuring that our freshwater tank was full.  

On the second day of our visit to Everglades National Park, we walked the one-mile Guy Bradley trail from our camping area to the Flamingo Visitors Center.  The trail runs along the Florida Bay.  At the Visitor Center, we bought tickets for the Backcountry Boat Tour; a 90-minute tour that ventures up the Buttonwood Canal through Coot Bay and Tarpon Creek into the mouth of the Whitewater Bay.  Our ship captain and naturalist, Nick and Mitchell, pointed out unique plant and animal life found in the waters.  We saw more alligators (including some baby alligators) and various bird species.  Mitchell was very knowledgeable about the plant life in the waters, including cypress; buttonwood trees; white, black, and red mangrove; and, bromeliads.  We enjoyed the boat ride itself, as the weather was pleasant.  After the boat tour, we headed back to the Visitor’s Center, where we bought the first of what we hope will be many souvenirs from National Parks (we are trying to limit our souvenir purchases to National Parks and Presidential Libraries) and got our first stamps for our National Park Passport Books.  Then we took the one-mile Guy Bradley Trail back to our RV site before sunset.

 

Review of Flamingo Campground in Everglades National Park

The Flamingo Campground is located inside the Flamingo entrance to Everglades National Park.  The Flamingo Visitor’s Center (currently being renovated and temporarily located in a trailer), located a one mile walk from the RV campground, offers educational displays and informational brochures.  The marina, located near the Visitor’s Center, has a boat ramp for public use, a general store, and a food truck.  You can also rent canoes, kayaks, and bicycles at the marina; and buy tickets for the boat tours.  The Flamingo area of the Everglades also allows boating and fishing (but no fishing in the Flamingo marina).

There are 61 RV sites at the Flamingo Campground, with only electrical hookups.  There is also tent camping available and “wilderness” camping (most “wilderness” camping sites are only accessible by water).  Although there are no sewer hookups in the RV campground area, there is a dump station located within the area.  About half of the RV sites offer shade; the remainder of the sites (including ours) had no shade, which meant that the RV really heated up in the direct sunlight during the day.  The RV Campground was beautiful and quiet; and the RV sites were very large, with extra space for spreading out if you wanted to put out a tent or picnic area.  We enjoyed our stay at the Flamingo Campground and would definitely consider returning to the Everglades to explore more of the park.

Gambling on…

Our next stop was at the Hollywood KOA in Hollywood, Florida.  We left late morning after taking the time to fill our freshwater tank for our upcoming stay in the Everglades and getting propane before we left the Road Runner Resort.  On the way to Hollywood, Florida, we stopped to get gas, groceries, and cash from a Bank of America ATM.  So, we arrived at the Hollywood KOA late afternoon; and after setting up, we ate dinner and decided to do some laundry before heading to bed.  

The best part of our stay at the Hollywood KOA was going to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood on our second day, about a 10-minute Uber ride from the Hollywood KOA.  The Hard Rock complex is home to the new Guitar Hotel!  We love playing slot machines at casinos, and occasionally a table game, so we were excited to visit the casino.  Plus, the new hotel is so cool looking; unlike any casino hotel we’ve seen outside of Las Vegas.  We enjoyed playing slot machines all afternoon; although, we weren’t that impressed with the selection of slot machines.  Tim won over $200 playing the “high ante” slot machines in a special area of the casino (at the end of the night, Tim was about $160 ahead once you subtract what he spent on the slots…no mention of Pat’s gambling🦗). 

We had dinner at the Hard Rock Café located in the hotel/casino; then went out to the pool area of the hotel for the evening’s light show on the guitar-shaped façade of the hotel.  The Guitar Hotel’s light show rivaled anything we’ve seen in Vegas (we still give an edge to the light shows at Walt Disney World).  After the light show, we did a little more gambling then headed back to the campground since we were leaving early the next morning.

 

 

 

 

Review of Hollywood KOA in Hollywood, Florida

KOA campgrounds have a good reputation for cleanliness and offering nicer amenities than most RV campgrounds.  We have stayed in several KOA campgrounds already and will be staying at more in the future.  Luckily, before we arrived at this KOA campground, Pat informed Tim that this KOA campground had been rated as the worst one in the United States by other RV travelers; so, Tim was not that surprised when we arrived.  Its not that the campground isn’t clean and well-kept, its because it is located within the city of Hollywood, Florida; on a major thoroughfare; cramped with RVs parked almost on top of each other; and offering only the bare basics of amenities (a small store, bathrooms/showers, and a small laundry room).  The street noise is almost unbearable at night (we turned up our white noise machines as loud as possible).  The laundry room had new machines, but two of the four washers had already broken and were out of service.

Hollywood KOA is popular because it is located between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale (thus the street noise on U.S. Highway 441), and not far from the beach.  There is also the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino (& Guitar Hotel) located nearby.  We only waited about 5 minutes for an Uber to the hotel/casino and the ride was approximately 10 minutes.  You could also take an Uber to nearby restaurants, shops, and bars.

Each RV site has a picnic table with chairs, a fire pit, and a grill; however, the sites are located so close to each other that we could not imagine how someone would feel comfortable using the fire pit or grill, and you definitely have no privacy from your neighbors.  We would only return to the Hollywood KOA if we needed someplace to park one night before moving on to our next destination.

RV Buddies

We had been happily anticipating our stay at Road Runner Travel Resort because one of Tim’s childhood friends and her husband (Jade and John) were also staying at the RV Resort.  Jade and Tim went to elementary and Junior High School together in Lafayette, Louisiana.  When we started posting on Facebook that we were going to buy an RV and start fulltime RV travel, Jade reached out, and she and John have been providing us with invaluable advice ever since.  John had been RV traveling for over a decade and is an RV Driving School instructor.  Jade met John in 2016 and has been travelling with John since she retired in 2017; they married in 2021. (Check out Jade and John’s blog at whereyatblog.wordpress.com.)  John has been our troubleshooting resource when we encountered issues with the RV, and both have provided us with a lot of advice and information about the full-timing.  We were going to be in the Road Runner Travel Resort together for 5 nights and we were ready for some in-person time together!

As we drove east toward Ft. Pierce, Florida, on our way to Road Runner, we stopped to get our RV washed at a place called Blue Beacon Truck Wash (our RV was filthy after two months of travel). We had to wait in line with 18-wheeler trucks for about an hour, but the RV looked like new again when we finished!

On our first night at Road Runner Travel Resort, Jade and John made a chicken and sausage gumbo and hosted us at their RV.  There’s nothing better than some good comfort food, and gumbo is a favorite of Tim’s people (Cajuns) in Lafayette!  In fact, every evening that we spent together integrated food, great conversation, laughter, memories, dreams, and advice.  On another evening, we hosted Jade and John at our RV with bourbon chicken on the grill, rice dressing, green beans, and a homemade king cake for dessert!  John and Jade barbecued ribs at their RV on another night.  Saturday was John and Jade’s last night at the RV Resort.  They drove us to a nearby seafood restaurant, called 12A Buoy, for dinner.  We enjoyed our conch appetizer; grilled shrimp stuffed with crabmeat; beer, wine, and cocktails; and lots of conversation.  One of the signs of a good friendship is when there is never a lull in the conversation.  Somehow, after talking for hours on multiple evenings, we never had a problem filling more hours with conversation and laughter.  

Our time at Road Runner wasn’t all about food.  John lent us his car one day and we ran some errands in the city.  Tim picked up a prescription at Walgreens, made a stop at the post office, and picked up a few things at the grocery store.  Pat made a run to a UPS Store to return some items he had purchased on Amazon.  We did laundry on two different days.  We walked around the RV Resort daily, taking pictures of the lake, pool, tennis courts, and golf course.  We had our mail forwarded to Road Runner by our mail service in Livingston, Texas; and spent some time reading Christmas cards and other mail that had been accumulating there since December.  Also, John gave us a bike rack that he was no longer using, and we mounted it to the back of our RV (after watching some YouTube videos about how to properly install it) one afternoon.  We plan to buy electric bikes in the near future and will transport them with us on the bike rack.  

John and Jade were leaving for a 12-day cruise and storing their RV while they were on the cruise.  When you store an RV and aren’t plugged into electricity, you must empty your refrigerator and freezer; so, they brought over a lot of food for us!  We should have enough to eat for weeks now!  We will miss spending time with John and Jade, and hope to meet up with them again somewhere down the road.  

Our last two full days at Road Runner Travel Resort were finally sunny and warm!  We took advantage of the weather by hanging out at the pool for a few hours each day.  Tim grilled some burgers for dinner on our penultimate evening at Road Runner, while we watched football on our outdoor tv.  With Tim’s Dad’s birthday approaching (Tim’s Dad passed away in 2018 and loved to grill and drink beer), Tim got a little sentimental while cooking the hamburgers, thinking of how happy his Dad would have been to see him grilling, while drinking a beer and watching football outside of the RV.

On our last evening at Road Runner, Tim started what he hopes is a new streak by winning $10 playing bingo (his third win in four bingo events on our RV travels)!

Review of Road Runner Travel Resort in Ft. Pierce, Florida

Road Runner Travel Resort is located close to the beach on the Atlantic Ocean side of Florida (their website says about a 10-minute drive to Hutchinson Island Beach), but not really close enough to easily ride your bikes there.  The city is about a 13-minute car ride from the RV Resort, where you can find most of what you might need.  Since we used a borrowed car to go into the city, we don’t know how easy it would have been to take an Uber/Lyft.

The RV Resort has 452 full hookup RV sites, along with cabins.  It has a heated pool; laundry facilities; bathrooms with showers; and tennis, pickleball, & basketball courts.  The resort has a lake where you can fish (you must throw back what you catch) and a three-hole golf course.  Road Runner RV Resort also has a restaurant and a store where you can buy food, beer and wine, and RV supplies.

The RV Resort has some activities; they gave us a list of a few daily activities when we registered.  The events calendar on the website was not updated but most of the activities seemed to involve exercise classes; crafts; board games; wood working; tennis; golf; and of course, a Bingo night!  There were no activities listed for the weekend.  

There are no garbage bins at the resort.  Instead, they pick up garbage at your RV site, but only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Additionally, your garbage must be out on the curb by 8:00 a.m. on those days, which, as late sleepers, we found aggravating.  The resort had bins for recycling; this is only the third place we’ve stayed where we got to recycle plastics, glass, and cardboard.  

We probably wouldn’t return to the Road Runner RV Resort because there isn’t much to do in the area except going to restaurants or the beach but not without a car.  As “no car” travelers, we could go to other places that have much closer beach access and nearby attractions.  It was a beautiful and quiet resort though, if you are looking for a quiet place to hang out for a while.  

Finally, Pool Weather in Florida

Camp Mars in Venus, Florida, (Mars/Venus pun was intended by the name we think) is the fourth gay campground that we have visited.  We arrived mid-afternoon and immediately met our neighbors in the two closest RV sites, Ross and Cole, who chatted with us as we set up and gave us information about the campground and its activities.  We later met one of the other neighbors near us, Frank.  After we finished setting up, we took a walk around the campground to get our bearings. 

 

The activity for the evening was Bingo, so of course we had to participate; however, Tim’s winning streak at Bingo ended.  Our tablemate for Bingo was Marvin, who had a fun sense of humor; so, we didn’t come away from Bingo empty-handed, we made a new friend.  Immediately following Bingo there was a bonfire near the activities center, where we met more campers, including Trevor and Thomas.

On our second day at Camp Mars, the sun was out, it was in the low-80’s, and the pool was heated.  We took advantage of the sun and laid out at the pool for a few hours.  We retreated to our RV so Pat could begin preparations of his chili for the Chili Cook-Off later that afternoon.  Pat’s chili was one of thirteen entries, being judged on hottest chili; best nontraditional chili; best presentation; and best all-around.  Although Pat’s chili didn’t win a prize, people must have really loved it because it was the most eaten chili that evening!  The winner of the best all-around had beans in his chili, which is a no-no for a Texas boy like Pat, so we gathered the judges thought chili should have beans. 

Following the Chili Cook-Off, there was supposed to be country line dancing and disco, but we only heard the disco music and danced to a few songs.  There was another bonfire that evening, where we met Wendell, who had been fulltime RV traveling for awhile and gave us some recommendations on gay RV campgrounds across the country.  We had very clear skies that evening, so we tried to find the rare green comet that was supposed to make its first appearance since the Ice Age and wouldn’t return for another 50,000 years, but we never saw it.  Ironically, we did find the planet Mars in the night sky, while we were at Camp Mars, because it was the brightest object in the sky.

Our third day at Camp Mars also provided abundant sunshine and 80-degree weather, so we once again hung out at the pool for several hours.  Later that afternoon we took a longer walk around the campground to a boardwalk area with an abundance of trees, including fallen trees (Camp Mars is near Fort Myers, Florida, and was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ian in September 2022).  We returned to the RV, set up the grill, and grilled potatoes and steaks for dinner, while we watched the Cowboys’ disappointing loss to San Francisco in the NFC Divisional Playoffs round.  

We had earlier been invited to a campfire at one of the camp sites, so after the football game we headed out to sit at the campfire with 5 other campers.  We somehow ended up on the topic of transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming individuals; and some of the people at the campfire had some harsh opinions about the use of these individuals’ preferred pronouns and other methods of accommodating these individuals.  We found ourselves alone in explaining that these accommodations were not that difficult to make, and how common courtesy should play a role in how we treat others.  We eventually left the bonfire after we could not sway the other campers with our arguments and too many comments were made that we found to be highly offensive.  The sad reality is that hostility towards trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming individuals can come from gay people as much as it can from heterosexuals.  Sadly, two of the individuals who made offensive comments were a teacher and a flight attendant, who probably interact with these individuals often and should have a better understanding of their situations.  They professed to be supportive of these individuals, but their words did not support that position.

On the early morning of the fourth day of our stay at Camp Mars, we had some heavy thunderstorms pass through and it remained cloudy the entire day; so, no pool time on this day.  Instead, we caught up with emails and writing blog entries.  We took another walk around the campground before sunset, as it was our last night at Camp Mars.  We even had a gator sighting!

Review of Camp Mars in Venus, Florida

Camp Mars is tucked into the back woods of Venus, Florida; the closest bigger city being Fort Myers, Florida.  Camp Mars was damaged by Hurricane Ian in September 2022; mostly a lot of fallen trees and other debris.  We were told that 4 RVs were totaled during the hurricane from falling trees and that part of the roof of the office was blown away.  The camp did not have electricity or water for several weeks after the hurricane until the debris could be cleared; however, the owners have mostly cleared the campground of debris and fully restored water and electricity.  

The only way to get to the entrance of the camp is a dirt road.  Contrary to our prior experience with a dirt road, this one was flat and mostly smooth, so the drive to the entrance was not a bad one.  The camp has full hook up RV camping sites, on mostly flat green pastures, along with cabins, yurts, and tent camping.  We had some trouble hooking up our water, as the camp has placed a water pressure regulator on the faucets that makes it difficult to get a secure connection; we had a constant drip/stream of water at the faucet despite our numerous attempts to tighten the connection.  

Camp Mars has hiking/walking trails, lots of forest, a stream, two ponds, and a boardwalk that ventures into the forest.  The campground has themed weekend activities in an activities center, but there is no bar or café.  The bonfire each evening was a nice touch, but the bonfire was small and not well-attended.  The one washer and one dryer at the campground are not available to temporary campers on the weekend, but we were told that these are available on weekdays (although we did not attempt to do our laundry here).  We enjoyed the heated pool (especially Tim) and were glad that there were themed activities.  

Camp Mars tends to skew a little older than the other gay campgrounds we have visited (we were probably the second youngest couple there) and is smaller, but in some ways that is refreshing.  Aside from our bad experience at a campfire we were invited to one evening (discussed above), the people were very friendly and helpful.  We would not choose Camp Mars as our number one gay campground in Florida, but we might return for another stay sometime.

Tampa RV Supershow (aka... Friends>Frustrations)

Our next major destination was the Tampa RV Supershow at the Florida State Fairgrounds, but we made a few stops along the way.  First, we had to make a trip north to Sanford, Florida (near Orlando), to the dealership where we bought our RV, La Mesa RV.  We bought our RV used, but the previous owner only had it for three months and drove less than 3,000 miles.  In the short time that he had it, however, he managed to break the lever on the driver’s seat that allows you to adjust the seat back and forth to accommodate drivers of different heights and sizes.  We discovered this by having the RV inspected before we bought it (there were a few other minor things wrong that the dealer fixed immediately), but they said they needed to order the part for the driver’s seat mechanism.  When we came back on Labor Day to take possession, they said the part hadn’t arrived, but we took possession with their promise to fix it.  Now, after TWO MORE trips back to the dealership over the last five months (both times they “said” they ordered the SAME wrong part), the issue is still unresolved.  La Mesa manually adjusted the driver’s seat for Tim to drive it comfortably, since Tim is probably going to be doing about 75% of the driving.  This meant, of course, that Pat could not yet drive the RV long distances.  Now, we will have to return to La Mesa AGAIN to get the part installed before we leave Florida at the end of February.  Needless to say, we were very aggravated about this turn of events as our park reservations have already been made through the end of February.  This has been the most frustrating part of our purchasing experience.

When we left La Mesa, we headed to Seffner, Florida, to stay at Lazydays RV Resort, which is located close to Tampa.  Lazydays RV is the worlds largest RV dealership.  This is the flagship location so it has a large RV Park, located across the street from the dealership.  We arrived at the RV Park very late since we left La Mesa so late in the afternoon.  We completed our set up in the dark and then relaxed in the RV for the evening.

The next day, we had arranged to grill burgers for our friends Chris and Steve who live in the area.  Chris and Pat are huge drum corps fans and even competed together (Chris was the founder and director) in an all-aged corps when they were both living in Dallas.  We have not seen Chris since moving to New York, and had not yet met his boyfriend, Steve, who we loved immediately!  We had so much fun at lunch, catching up and getting to know Steve.  Luckily, Chris and Steve were able to block off a few hours to visit even though it was a workday.  We hope to see Chris and Steve again at the end of February, when we go back to the Sawmill Campground before we leave Florida.

After lunch with Chris and Steve, we did some laundry and had an early evening drink at the campground restaurant/bar called “Exit 10.”  Pat accidentally left his credit card at the bar, so we had to return the next day (more on that later in this blog entry as we talk about our evening after the RV Supershow).

Following our second night at Lazydays RV Resort we woke up early to drive to Tampa, Florida, to attend the Tampa RV Supershow.  We had a reservation to park the RV at the Florida State Fairgrounds where the RV Supershow was held.  This brought us our first experience in “boondocking,” which means that you are parking where there are no hookups for electricity, water, or sewer.  For water, we used our freshwater tank as we had done many times already when the temperature dropped below freezing.  We had also not used sewer hookups at other times, either because the temperature was below freezing or there were no sewer hookups where we stayed.  This was our first experience at not having an electrical hookup.  We had run the generator once before when we lost electrical power at the park in South Padre Island, so we knew how to run the generator.  Our RV is also equipped with an automatic generator start (AGS), which allows us to set certain parameters for the generator to automatically start (thermostat, battery levels in the “house” part of the RV, and “quiet hours” at night).  We had not yet used the AGS, so the night before we arrived at the Fairgrounds we studied how it worked and successfully used the AGS system while we were at the Fairgrounds.  This boondocking experience was helpful for the future, as we will be boondocking and using the AGS when we tailgate for football games.

The Tampa RV Supershow is the largest RV show in the world (Hershey PA disputes this so we will have to check that one out too).  We arrived at the Supershow at about noon and quickly walked through as many RVs as we could to see if there was anything in particular in the RVs that we might want to have in the future.  The Supershow also offers educational seminars, tourism and camping information, entertainment, and the latest in innovative RV supplies and accessories.  We spent the entire day at the Supershow until it closed at 6:00 p.m. and bought a few supplies.

Our friend, Michael, who lives in Tampa, joined us at the Supershow mid-afternoon.  Michael is interested in purchasing a Class C Motorhome for travel after he retires.  Class C Motorhomes are most often smaller in size than a Class A Motorhome (the type that we have).  After the Supershow closed for the day, we got an opportunity to show Michael around our RV.  Michael then drove us to Lazydays RV Resort to pick up the credit card that Pat had left in the restaurant/bar there.  Afterward, Michael drove us to one of his favorite Cuban restaurants for dinner, called Capdevila at La Teresita, where we had delicious roast pork, red beans, and salad.  Next, Michael took us to one of his favorite bars nearby before taking us back to the Fairgrounds and our RV.  We were really happy that we got to spend almost an entire day with Michael, and hope to see him again before we leave Florida or convince him to come on a cruise with us.

Review of Lazydays RV Resort

Lazydays RV Resort has over 300 RV sites with full hookups.  It has a screened, heated pool and hot tub; restaurant/bar; golf cart rentals; a 12,000 square foot “rally center” (RV talk for mini conventions); children’s playground; basketball, pickleball and tennis courts; laundry facilities; shuttle service to the Lazydays RV Dealership across the street; and is not far from a Cracker Barrel.  Propane delivery is available to RV sites, as well as an RV washing/detailing service.  We only stayed two nights at Lazydays and didn’t take advantage of many of the amenities except for the restaurant/bar and the laundry facility.  Like some of the other large campgrounds that we have visited, Lazydays is located close to an interstate, so there is a lot of vehicle noise at night.  The sites are laid-out pretty close together but rumor is that a spring remodel will resolve that.  Otherwise, we enjoyed our stay there and would consider going back.

We won’t write a review about the Florida State Fairgrounds parking since it isn’t an actual campground but it was great to get to experience boondocking for the first time.