A Road Less Traveled: Hot Time Summer in the City... I Mean Camper

Sunrise St. George Island

The furnace is fixed!!!!!! Nights are still in the low 40s and dang it is nice to have the furnace working. The control board went belly up. So not a Roadtrek issue. The furnace manufacturer covered it under warranty and Roadtrek paid for the mobile RV service to come out and replace it. We are so grateful! Last night should be it for chilly overnights. Lows will now be in the 50s and eeking up into the 60s. Highs, however, will only be in the low 70s, but I will take it!

St. George Island Lighthouse

Our travels continued along Highway 98 hugging the coast. We landed first at St. George Island, a 22-mile barrier island with some of the most beautiful, serene and uninhabited beaches on the Gulf Coast. The island is pet-friendly and outside of the State Park dogs are welcome on the beaches! We stayed for 2 nights at the park so we could go and explore Apalachicola and those uninhabited beaches!

I so enjoyed driving between the sand dunes for 8 miles to get to the campground. This park has an entirely different feel than anywhere we have been so far. Towering dunes and lovely seaside cottages make up the entire island.

St. George Island

Meeting new people because of the ZiOs mobile is becoming a more common experience. People stop and visit wanting to know more about this Roadtrek model. They often get an earful from me. But truth be told as the kinks get worked out, we are really enjoying our home on wheels. We met a couple from Michigan who wanted a tour and we chatted for quite some time. We later hooked up for dinner in Apalachicola.

Up the Creek our dinner establishment

Jerry and Johanne from Michigan

overlooking the Apalachicola River; controlled burn in the background

Apalachicola is the oyster capital of the world. It is one of the most historic towns in Florida. Native cultures inhabited this area as far as 2000 BCE. First Europeans explored here in the early 1500s It was a hub for timber and seafood. The seafood industry is as important today as it was 175 years ago.

Gerard doesn't often like wandering the shops and streets of these little towns, but this time he made a day of it with me. We had breakfast at a sweet Venezuelan cafe that made arepas to die for. We ended the day with Johanne and Jerry at a fun, seafood restaurant overlooking the Apalachicola River.

Wandering around Apalachicola

day tripping partners

Michael Monroe at St. Joe's State Park Beach stole the pic from Deb

The day we pulled out of St. George, we made a breakfast stop at St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, where friends Deb Mueller and Michael Monroe were camped. It happened that Margaret O'Neal, who we met at Manatee Springs was camped there also. Deb and Michael so graciously invited us all for chocolate croissants and coffee. A great treat and wonderful to see Margaret and her pup Max. Wish I had snapped a pic of all of us together. Great conversation a lot of it focused around Abraham and Esther Hicks, whose teachings we are all intimately familiar. I am glad that we made the stop on to this barrier island. I am not sure when or if we will ever get a chance to scope it out in the future.

Topsail Reserve State Park

The final stop for the day is Topsail Hill Reserve State Park. We will be stationary for 2 weeks. Gerard made me promise that we wouldn't be pulling up stakes every couple days. He wanted a couple of the places where we would make camp for two weeks, the total time allowed in state parks. This park is the cushiest of all the ones we will be at. It has 3.2 miles of secluded beach with majestic sand dunes towering over 25 feet tall. The sites here are full hook-up including cable. Our site is in the middle of everything, so not the seclusion I would have wanted. But when I booked this in October, it was the last site to be had for 2 weeks. What I do get in this spot is the internet and none of the other sites have it.

Since arriving on the March 1st, we have taken the time to regroup... laundry, grocery shopping and drive through neighboring communities of Grayton Beach, Seaside, Watercolor, Watersound and Rosemary Beach... each so idyllic.

Row of Airstream food vendors in Seaside, Florida

Row of Airstream food vendors in Seaside, Florida

an establishment worthy of Gerard getting a burger!

perfect afternoon

in Seaside

A stroll through Watercolor, a master planned community where the Southern wood homes feature large wraparound or screened porches, wood columns and siding and a metal roof with deep overhangs, made me wonder what it's like to live here year round. Here I could have fireplace.

Gulf Islands National Seashore

There are many places to explore along the South Walton beaches. We took a drive west through Destin. I wasn't liking the tourist attraction venues or much of the feel of this community, but as you drive along the coast you can exit onto Florida 399 taking you on to Santa Rosa Island where there is a nine mile drive through Gulf Island National Seashore. The Florida District of the seashore is accessible by car and well worth the drive and an afternoon experience of walking the sparkling white quartz sand and playing in the emerald waters