F. D. Roosevelt State Park, GA

Robert spent a night at FDR State Park on his way to camp in Florida. He said it was a place we needed to return to, so when we were looking at someplace to camp in mid-March, I suggested FDR. It was further south which was important for warmer weather... or so we thought. Since we were in the Delica, we took the back roads instead of driving on the interstate. The drive wasn't bad at all, although there was one section that was a bit boring. We arrived after 5:00 so we checked in online. We found out the day before we left that we still needed to check in with the office so we could put a tag on our post. (Oops...totally my fault. I thought since I had checked us in online it would be taken care of.) What's a trip to a state park without us getting in trouble for some minor infraction! 

We chose a site on the outside of the campground since the lakeside sites were taken. We weren't sure how close together the inside sites were; we like our privacy. There is plenty of space; however, so we would have been fine with an inside site. Our site backed up to the woods, perfect for our next-door neighbor's golden retrievers. They had plenty of space to run and do their business.

Campsite on the inner side

The lakeside sites are absolutely beautiful. Robert was lucky enough to snag one of these sites when he stayed there. 

All of the sites are level and have electricity and water. Gray water dump stations were numerous. If I had to say anything negative, it's that the only place to throw your trash was in the dumpsters which were quite a walk away. In fact, there are only 2 of them for the entire campground.

In addition, the sites also have a table, a fire ring, and a lantern stand. We opted to set up the tent on the drive instead of on the tent pad; we put the gazebo on the tent pad. 

This campground had the nicest playground I think I've ever seen. 

The bathrooms are very clean. In addition to a regular shower, there is a handicap-accessible shower. We were in area #3; the restrooms in area #1 were updated but they did not have paper towels...they only had hand dryers. When I'm camping when it's cold, I like to be able to make sure my hands are dry before I go outside. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the hand dryers at all. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see these messages in the bathroom. Even if 1 person is helped, it's worth it.

FDR is Georgia's largest state park. It is located right next to Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, GA.  If you haven't heard of Pine Mountain, you've probably heard of Warm Springs, where FDR went for polio treatments. Visiting the Little White House, walking the trails in the park, and visiting Pine Mountain are some of the activities available. We really enjoyed the Little White House, the pools at Warm Springs, and having a picnic lunch on Dowdle's Knob. This is definitely a place we would revisit.

Brick oven where FDR would grill while on Dowdell's Knob

Portsmouth Island (NC): The Third Time's the Charm

Robert tried to get me to Portsmouth Island twice before. The first time there was a hurricane, and then, during our first trip in the Mystery Machine, we had some minor trouble with the van and ended up in Wilmington. This time was the winner!

The people at the ferry allow people to stay overnight in the parking area. It seemed a little strange, and unfortunately, there wasn't a restroom available. So I just had to make do. (Read what you want into that.)

When we first got there, everything seemed great...until the sun went down and the mosquitos came out. Those things don't play around...they bit me through my leggings. (Word of advice...no matter how hot it is, wear jeans.) 

We boarded the first ferry to get to the island and were the only passengers. I wasn't sure how I would like to be on an island with nothing there and supposedly without much cell signal. The man on the ferry told me people either hate it or love it. Great. I was going to be there for 2 nights and 3 days; I certainly hoped I fell into the "love it" category. 

Once we rolled onto the island we were greeted with abandoned cabins and a bathhouse. As it turns out, there are hot showers to be had! The only request is that you clean up after yourself. Not a bad deal at all. 

We drove down the beach in search of a perfect site. Not being sure if I was going to be a lover of the isolation, I didn't want to drive too far down the beach. We ended up getting a decent spot. We set up the gazebo and the Gazelle tent...plus the utility tent.

Yes, I said the wrong name for the Sound...it's Core Sound!

The stars at night were just incredible. With very little light pollution, the sky was filled with stars. 

This isn't a great night-sky picture. It was my first attempt.

One evening, a couple of spinner sharks put on a show for us. We had never heard of them before, but we were mesmerized by the sight of them jumping and spinning out of the water. 

The sunrises were just jaw-dropping. We fell asleep to the sound of the ocean and woke up to this:

We had enough cell signal to text and make calls; I'm not sure if we were further down the beach we would have had the signal. I was actually a little disappointed that we were able to connect with the "real world". 

Walks on the beach whenever I wanted, reading with my toes in the sand...I definitely ended up in the "love it" group. I want to go back and stay longer. 

Rutherford Beach (Louisiana)

 

We stayed at this beach for our annual New Year's Camping Trip in 2019. One of our sons lives nearby, so we decided to turn our visit into a camping trip. Robert found this free place to camp; Mary was skeptical. A free beach on New Year's Eve? She could just imagine the place crawling with drunken teenagers. But, it wasn't like that at all. 

The white speck in the background is Robert's truck.

When we arrived, we drove down (on the beach) to the furthest place we could. We had that whole section of the beach to ourselves. Well, except for a creepy doll attached to a post.

With visions of Chucky dancing in her head, Mary thought it was best to just let it be. So it stayed.

Our campsite was pretty basic. We didn't put the utility tent up since there was no need for privacy. As mentioned above, we had that whole section of the beach to ourselves. 

There is a porta-potty available, but it was at the entrance of the beach. We were as far down the beach as we could get. We felt pretty isolated. There is a field on the other side.

At night we were treated to beautiful sunsets. The oil rigs in the distance did nothing to deter how beautiful they were.

Even from December to New Year's, a screen was an absolute must. The Rhino-Rack saved us from getting eaten alive at dusk.

We had plenty of cell signal. We were able to stream movies, check email, and check social media.

We just put Robert's tablet in the pouch at the top of the tent and we had a perfect place to lay on our cots and watch a movie.

Fires are allowed on the beach, so Mary enjoyed her first-ever beach fire. 

We enjoyed our couple of days here. We were entertained by dolphins swimming close to the shoreline.

There is no water or electricity here so make sure you bring your own or do without. Definitely take out what you bring in. We cleaned up around the site a bit when we got there, but some things had to stay.

Would we stay here again? Most definitely. Keep in mind that our stay was before Hurricanes Laura and Zeta, so we aren't sure what Rutherford Beach looks like today. We found that it was very calming and peaceful to camp on the beach and feel like we were all alone. There were some campers closer to the beach gate, but no more than 10 campers were there. In fact, I would say it was more like 5 or 6 and only 3 of them (not counting ourselves) were right on the beach. The best part about it was the price!

First Time Hip Campers

This year Robert wanted to try something different for our annual Christmas to New Year’s camping trip. He had heard about (and researched) “hip camping” for a while. Because of COVID and our lack of planning way ahead, we weren’t able to find a campsite in warmer weather. Robert was able to find a spot for “hip camping” outside of Ocala, FL. If you don’t what about hip camping, it’s like an Airbnb for campers.

Final preparations included getting the electricity in the Mitsubishi Delica wired up. Even though our site had water & electricity, Robert wanted to try our stay without using the electricity available. After a few difficulties, which only caused a one-day delay, it was done. Instead of leaving on the 26^th, we left on the 27^th. We were able to make up some time by going on the interstate through Atlanta. Yes, we actually saved time going through ATL; we were fortunate that there were no delays on that day.

Our site was right on Lake Weir and we were treated with gorgeous sunsets each night. Mind you, not 
“The Keys gorgeous”, but gorgeous just the same. There was a dock that we could walk farther out but we had to be careful where we stepped because of massive poop and rotting boards.

When Robert first looked at this site, the owner specified that she only wanted RVers. She has an outdoor bathroom and shower; however, they were not available to do COVID. One of the things we didn’t have on our list to bring was the portable shower head. On a quick trip to Camping World, we bought another solar shower. While waiting for it to heat up, the sky turned extremely cloudy and the water never heated up so we headed to a nearby state park, paid $8 to get in, and used their shower facilities. She used the solar shower the next day. While it wasn't as hot as the shower in the house, it was warm enough and seemed to get the job done. 

Mary felt disappointed with this hip camp. It seems that if someone is setting their property up for visitors, you would make sure things are in tip-top shape for them. There was a pile of brush, pieces of stone pedestals strewn around, and an old outdoor cushion from a chaise lounge on another brush of pile. The dock wasn’t very sturdy, and then, there were the rotting boards. All in all, it looked a bit trashy. She really felt like we were just camping in someone’s yard, which we were. The other site was the better one with a bit more privacy. But, that site had to deal with a neighbor’s barking dog. On top of all of that, there was an issue with the highway noise.

Our Gazelle Tent did great once again. For Christmas, we gave each other the Gazelle Gazebo so we would have someplace to sit without the mosquitos eating us alive. When we set it up in our yard for the first time, our son was so impressed with it that we quickly ordered another one for him as a gift.

Hip Camp: Yay or Nay? Robert’s vote: yay; Mary’s vote: Maybe. Now that we know what questions to ask, such as: how close is it to a building and other campers and how close is it to the highway.