Daytrip to Fort Clinch State Park

Jacksonville, Florida (high 88, low 72)

We only have two days to explore the area, so we got an early start yesterday. We went a lot of places, but for now I’ll stick to our favorite place, which was Fort Clinch State Park.

We had been there several years ago, but didn’t really remember the campground very well.  They have a beach campground and a “river” campground.  I guess there is a river in the area but we never really saw it.

As we drove into the state park, we were immediately impressed.  The roads were wide and paved and there was plenty of clearance for rv’s.

There is camping directly on the beach, but the sand dunes are pretty high in this area, so from your rv, all you really see is sand dunes.

Right over this dune is the water.  You still got the nice ocean breezes.

We really liked this campsite.  #8   Al thought we would pull in forward, and maybe we’d be high enough to see the ocean.

I think we could fit into most all the sites and they were all easy to get into.

There was a nice new bath area with nice private showers.

A short walk over the boardwalk brought you to the Atlantic Ocean.

The beach wasn’t the prettiest I’ve ever seen.  The sand was tan, and not soft like some I’ve been to.  It was firm enough so that walking was not a chore and it was a great place to take a long walk.  I’d love to be there for sunrise.

There were some shells along the high water line.

A nice fishing pier.

The sites were $26 (plus tax) a night for  30 amp electric and water. 

This is the view coming back to the campground.

The other campground area was in a very wooded area.  It was very pretty, but you would have a difficult time with cell or satellite service.  The roads getting in were pretty good, but you’d have to be careful and watch any tail swing.

Several of the sites were huge.

I took these for Sherry and Davis because I know they’d love these sights.

We really liked Fort Clinch State Park and we hope we can stay there some day soon.  There were actually a few available sites in the beach side…made me re-think going back to Tampa. 

I saw this interesting cloud formation on the way home.

We got back to Pecan Park last night to new neighbors.   Jim and Dee from Tumbleweed had parked right next door.   You can see our coach in some of their pictures.

We had sat outside and visited with Dee for a couple hours.  Jim had an important ball game so we’ll see him today.

Al pointed out one of our neighbors.  Apparently, he wasn’t happy with his new 2012 motor home.

Feel free to share these pictures.  Maybe it will all spread these pictures it will help him to get the attention he needs from Monaco.

Notice the slide topper?  Notice the lean to the left?  I don’ t know what his problems are, but evidently they haven’t been addressed.

 

and now…..for my cute kitty  pictures of the day.

Little Baxter is getting big and has outgrown his kitty bed don’t you think?

Here he is taking a nap in his bed on the dash.  He is the furriest thing.  Notice all that fluff on his belly?  

Jacksonville, Florida

Reluctantly, we left North Carolina on Wednesday morning.  It might have been 11:30, but hey…it was still morning!  We sure miss the wonderful cool temperatures and not having to use the A/C.

We got onto I-26 and left the same way we entered the state.  We decided we much prefer going up those mountains, than coming back down. It was pretty stressful and we were certainly glad once we got to flat and straight roads!

When we went down those same grades, it was a little more nerve wracking.  We’re still trying to learn how to drive in the mountains without burning up our brakes.

We have an exhaust brake, and Al tries to use it instead of the foot brake.

We were going down a pretty steep grade with the exhaust brake on.  We noticed a red warning light showing up on the dash, and quickly realized the engine rpm’s were too high.  He applied  the foot brake and the rpm’s came right down.  We think what happened was when he applied the exhaust brake, it brought the transmission down to 2nd gear and I guess that was a little too low.    We’re thinking he should have tapped the exhaust brake instead of applying it steady.  The Allison transmission is supposed to handle all this stuff automatically, so maybe we should have just let it do it’s job.  We sure don’t want a burned out engine like what happened to Linda and Howard of Rv Dreams.   Any suggestions on how we could have handled that steep grade better? 

We drove back to St. George, South Carolina and stayed in the same little Mom and Pop campground that we stayed in on the way.  Jolly Acres is a great stop on the way to Asheville, and it’s right off I-95.

The owners, Larry and Beckie welcomed us back to our same nice, level pull through spot.  We were able to fill up our almost empty propane tank before we left and they even gave us some home made sausages for our freezer!  We much prefer campgrounds that are owned and run by individual’s instead of these big corporate owned campgrounds that are frequently so poorly managed.

We got another late start, but were on the road by 11:30 again. 

We had a little over 200 miles to go to put us in Jacksonville, Florida.

As we got out of the hills and mountains, we were watching the elevation numbers on the GPS.  Once we got into Florida, I had to laugh.  The elevation here is 4 feet!  Quite a difference from the 6600 we were a week ago.    It’s so much more relaxing to drive on flat straight roads!

We found what looked to be a nice Rv park right off I-95.  It was $42 a night, which was over our budget, but then we realized it was a Passport America park.   We arrived during a pretty nasty storm, so we sat in the parking lot and waited it out.

Unfortunately, I didn’t read the Passport America rules close enough.  It turns out, this time of year (until Nov 1) you have to stay a minimum of 3 nights to get the PA discount.  We paid full price for the first night.   

Someone asked me about  Passport America and whether they should get it or not.  I think most full or part time rv’ers use PA. We have found it to be very well worth the $40 some dollars for an annual membership.

You do have to read the rules on each campground, because every park sets their own rules.  Some, like Jolly Acres in South Carolina and Hominy Valley in NC let us use the discount as long as we wanted to. Some campgrounds have a limit to the number of days, and some don’t allow the discount on week-ends or holidays.  They are all different.

Most in Florida have restrictions at least during the high season (winter).  We’re at Pecan Park Rv Resort.  This morning, we decided we’d stay an additional 2 nights if they would allow us the PA discount retroactively.  They did, so we’re staying until Sunday.  There is a lot of interesting places to see in this area, so we’re going to do a little exploring before the afternoon rains come. 

I will take some pictures of the rv park before we leave.  I know how much we prefer to see lots of pictures before we decide on a park.