Our trip down was pretty uneventful. We left early on a Friday and made it 670miles to Brunswick Georgia, around 9pm that night. We were only stopping for the night and going to be leaving first thing in the morning so we just pulled into a Wal-Mart parking lot. There were already six other RVs there and another one pulled in a half hour after us. They had an area in the far part of the parking lot designated for RVs, and security guards were continuously roving the parking lot. We made our obligatory shopping for some groceries we could use as well as some donuts for breakfast. The next morning we drove the 500miles to Miami and again we weren't going to be staying long, so we stayed for free at the Miccosukee Indian Tribe Casino. I didn't want to push all the way to Key West as I wanted the family to enjoy the Overseas Highway during the day light, but we did need to leave early as I had to be to work the next evening, and wanted to be set up before going to work.
The casino parking lot had a designated area for RV's and there must have been 20 of us. In the casino we ate at the buffet and had a great meal. We aren't gamblers and wouldn't go out of our way to get to a casino (except for free camping), but they gave me $30 in free gaming for being our first time there. I steadily plunked it into a machine and came out with $47 which I got to keep. So in the end we got free camping and were only out $7 for four all you can eat buffets after the winnings were subtracted. Not bad other than now I needed a shower after being near so much second hand smoke.
The trip on the Overseas Highway was windy. Unfortunately that also made the water kinda cloudy. The Crystal Clear water I had been telling them about would have to wait till later in the week, but the bridges and town were for to see. We got to our campsite just before lunch and got settled in on the second row of RV's from the waters edge, but very much in sight. The sights are a little tight as this is a destination for many snowbirds. The campground actually only has full hookups on about a hundred of their sites but in the winter they usually have up to 400 staying there. They use a rotation system to allow people to get a fair share of hookup days but there are plenty of dump stations and water fill sites and generators are allowed from 7am to 11pm (oh good I have one of those). There are no reservations taken and it is usually first come first served so a month in dry camping would be common before being allowed two weeks with hookups. The only exception to this is for Active Duty Military, who can make reservations and go straight into a full hookup sight, unfortunately it too is only good for two weeks then we would be dry camping for the last week of our DET, but shouldn't be a problem.
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| Our Site in Key West |
Our time in Key West was great, with plenty to do. I felt sorry for Mom who was still trying to get some school work in when the kids could look right out at the water calling them. Key West is not really a good Family Destination. I knew that going into it and warned or explained that to my family. There was still plenty to do though, especially water sports, but down town was full of bars and several not discrete novelty shops. We spent plenty of hours in the cool 65degree water, and got to use our kayak again. The water cleared up and we went on a glass bottom boat ride which of course made Mom sick, and even our son too. Spent a day at an old Civil War era fort and park with a beach, and made it to Mallory Square in the late afternoons to watch the street performers and to see the sunsets. We also went to a couple of museums and even a Butterfly Sanctuary, which was easy to see why it was rated so high on Trip Advisor. We also got our required picture at the Southern Most Point. We all had a great time.
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| Butterfly Sanctuary |
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| Daughter looking down through the glass |
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| A look at the reef |
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| Kids kayaking and looking down through the water |
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| Daughter watching the sunset |
After our two weeks was up in the full hookup area we moved to dry-dock, where we were required to use our onboard water and sewer tanks, and our generator for electricity if we wanted it. We could make our water tank and sewer tanks last about four days as long as we were going to the shower house for showers. The temperatures during the days were high enough that we ran the generator in the afternoons for air-conditioning and for school computer use to keep the batteries charged. This worked fine for the first few days with leaving the windows open at night to keep cool. Regrettably the night time temperatures got a little too hot and a little too humid for the last few days we were there. We couldn't run the generator for air-conditioning at night due to quiet hours, and some nights we couldn't even keep the windows open due to the weather constantly giving us a light rain. It was just too warm in the RV at night those last few nights for everyone to get good nights sleep. The fans that I did have that worked on battery, just weren't enough. Now Mom is totally jaded against dry camping and was ready to leave for some cooler temperatures.
Our DET ended on a Friday afternoon and I didn't have to be back to work until Wednesday afternoon. The thought of another night in the heat had the family ready to get on the road even though it was a late start. We left and were still treated to a better look at the clear waters on the Overseas Highway. We just got off the keys at sunset even watching the sun go down as we were on the bridge from Key Largo to the main land. We overnighted at the casino again but we had already eaten as it was so late. The temperatures were cooler so even though it was dry-docking we got a great night sleep. We left early in the morning and made some plans to hang out in our old stomping grounds in Jacksonville for a couple of days.
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| Ice-cream in Key West |
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