Our first morning in Skidaway Island State Park we woke up in the campground set in the Georigian forest that is teeming with wildlife. None was more excited than Yoda who stared at them all morning long through the wraparound windows behind the dinette wishing she could prowl like a real cat should. Sorry Yoda, real cats don’t take road trips either.
We spent our second night in a row boondocking in a parking lot. This time at a Walmart in Jacksonville, Florida. We intended to find a truck stop, preferably a Flying J, but they are harder to come by when you are near a big city. And a big city Jacksonville is. In fact it is the largest city in the continental United States in terms of the geographical coverage at over 874 square-miles.
Our night in the parking lot of the Flying J just outside of St. Augustine was great. We had obviously no hook ups of any kind but we felt safe and had a great connection with our Sprint Air Card which allowed us to get a bunch of work done. Thinking back, I don’t think we have boondocked in a parking lot since the night before our visit to Sanibel Island at a Walmart in Fort Myers. That was a month and a half ago.
After 4 nights at Fort Wilderness, today is finally the day for us to head out. Even though we are sad to leave the happiest place on earth, especially true for Ava, we are looking forward to head out for some more adventures. After all, we have had the last 20 or so days completely planned out. That is the complete opposite of how the rest of our trip has been and we are looking forward to having a little bit of uncertainly in our explorations.
Today was our last full day at our Disney campground, Fort Wilderness. So we did what we always do on our last day at a site. Live it up. Pool, water slides and plans for a little bbq at our campsite. On a whim, I went to talk to the folks at Fort Wilderness about the sold-out Mickey’s Backyard BBQ. And low and behold, they had a few walk-up tickets left. Ava’s lucky day! And you know what else? It was all you can eat and DRINK. Our lucky day!!
Our trip to Disney World includes two days at any one of the parks and of course, we chose Disneyland The Magic Kingdom. Trying to get through any one park at Disney World in one day is a lot of work. You have to be really dedicated and not to mention in top physical fitness conditions. So for us trailer trash with no gym memberships, we made it a two-day visit.
If you can’t tell by the smile on Ava’s face, today was THE day. The day we go to the Magic Kingdom! We woke and bright and early and headed to the dock. Not only does our Disney campground offer free buses all around Disney World, it also has boats too. In case you didn’t know, Florida is full of water. Don’t tell anyone, but I think Florida is slowly sinking into the ocean. Shhhh. And everyone thinks California will eventually end up under water! Sorry Arizona.
We woke up this morning at the Orlando Walmart parking lot ready to spend the week at Disney World. For almost the last two weeks, we have been telling Ava that we are going to Disney World. Something I do not recommend. Ever since we told her about it, she has been asking for it every day. “Can we go to Disneyland?” “I want to go to Disneyland now.” “When are we going to Disneyland?”
“Today. We will go today. And by the way, this is Disney World.”
Today we needed to head out of Lion Country Safari and start making our way towards Orlando. But not before Dan finally removes the spare tire and puts the new one back on.
Today, we finally had a reason to clean the windows of the van for the first time in a long time. Since the beginning of our trip, we have not yet washed either the van or the Airstream. The occasional rain has help a bit in washing off any big chunk of dirt but if we wanted to get nice pictures through these windows today, they are going to need to be spotless.
Today we had a choice to make. Spend the day at Easterlin County Park or head out? Hmmm. What to do. What to do. Just then Ava walked out of our bedroom with a HUGE mosquito under her eye. That settles it. We are out. Of. Here! See ya Easterlin. Next stop, Lion Country Safari in West Palm Beach!!! Our 2nd KOA of the trip. Finally putting some good use to that annual member discount card we bought back in New Mexico.
After 10 days and 9 nights in the Florida Keys, today is the day to go. Our original reservation at Long Key was a 1 + 2. It meant that we would have to move from one site to another after the first night. Luckily for us, when we got there, a walk-up site was open and we were able to switch to it for the entire stay. That meant that we actually have the option to stay here for up to 14 nights if we chose to. I might have considered it if we didn’t already spend my left arm and right leg on a Fort Wilderness/Disney World visit next week. To tell you the truth, we are ready to see other places. We have been in Florida for about 40 days and most of that have been in South Florida. It is time to move on.
