Hi there! Thanks for stopping by to check out my blogs. I write about all kinds of things but this particular series covers my mini tour around central Florida. You can catch up by clicking these links:
A Florida Camping Mini Tour – Pit Stop in Gainesville
Mini-Tour of Central Florida – Juniper Springs State Park
Beautiful Juniper Springs – a Mini Tour Around Central Florida
After a great time exploring Juniper Springs, I moved on to the Ormond Beach area (north of Daytona Beach), this time staying in a real RV park. This is my first RV park ever. Between the two camping experiences, I stopped by Publix and Walmart to stock up on food and few other things. Then I made my grand entrance to the RV park. Hello everyone, I’m here!
Well as it turns out, no one really cared that I had arrived. The audacity.
They all had their own stuff going on and get this, no one high-fived me. NOT. EVEN. ONE. The audacity.
First thoughts: Crowded. NASCAR people. This doesn’t seem like my style.
I guess coming from a state park where there were such few campers (who also didn’t high-five me, to be totally honest), this all seemed kind of overwhelming. Add to that: my site wasn’t level, my trailer area was a super tight fit, and because of the unlevel ground, I had to return to Walmart to get some leveling blocks and more chocks. I was a little stressed and annoyed.
But everything settled down once I got back and got it sorted out. Now the camper is level, the truck is parked safely, so the dogs and I head out for a walk. I’m RV-parking it for four days so I want to get a lay of the land, if you will. We scout out the main office area with the pool and bathrooms/showers, and discover the dog park.
Sometimes it felt like an expensive vacation just to have a water, power, AND cable! The lap of luxury, I tell ya.
Some of the differences…
Water. At the state park, I used it sparingly and went to the restroom, shower, or dishwashing station as much as possible to conserve water in the camper. At the RV park you can pretty much forget monitoring everything because it’s all part of the amenities, generally speaking.
Power. Same thing here, state park power usage was rationed – only necessary lights, short use of the water pump, etc. By the end of the 4 days at the state park, I was nearly all out of juice. In the days before that, I turned on the generator sometimes just for the purpose of charging the battery. In the RV park, no such rationing was needed.
The grid. The state park gave me the feeling that I was off the grid. Weak Internet, conserving resources, it was fun each day to manage that stuff. In the RV park, one doesn’t need to think about those things and therefore is able to go sing karaoke or swim in the pool, play bingo or hang out with RV neighbors.
Wrap up. When you’re new (like me) and deciding between an RV park or a state/national park, I’d say try both to help you zero in on what it is you enjoy most. For my preferences, clearly the best spot was a quiet, secluded one. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong. Actually I take that back, read some reviews of any park you choose to know if the parks are safe, clean, etc. Some of them might be a very wrong choice.
Thanks for reading this far. If you’re on the fence about RV park or state park, take a leap…one will fit right with your adventurous spirit and then you’ll have your answer. One good thing about this coastal RV park is that the beach was close by. So what did my dogs and I do? Of course, we grabbed our bikinis and hit the beach! Click here for all that beagle beachness.
Thanks for dropping in, chat soon.
-Out of the Wilderness
Out of the Wilderness 