This January was the month we’ve been waiting for since we left our home base back in September. Of the two major events we have on our itinerary this travel season, the Tampa RV Show was one of them. Was it worth it?
We started January where we ended December, at Eastbank Campground near Bainbridge, GA. We’ve visited this campground before and enjoyed our two-week stay here. The campground offers water/electric hookups with a dump station, restrooms with flush toilets, and free hot showers. The weather was great during our first week so we took advantage of it and launched our kayaks on the lake for a peaceful paddle to watch the birds.
The girls and I spent a day at Florida Caverns State Park, about a 45 minute drive west of our campground. Although we didn’t explore the cavern we did enjoy a picnic lunch followed by hiking the trails around the park.
Our next stop on our way south was Big Scrub Campground, an OHV campground located in the heart of Ocala National Forest. This campground was so quiet during our week-long stay, even with the OHV enthusiasts that gathered on the weekend. The road in was rough, but not so much so that we were uncomfortable towing our trailer on it. The campground itself is a wide open space with a picnic table and fire pit at each site and a few water spigots scattered throughout. It is entirely dry camping so generators are allowed, and flush toilets and hot showers are provided as well.
If you don’t have anything to ride the trails there is not much to do here but it is worth the drive if you are looking for an inexpensive, quiet place to camp in central Florida.
Once we left Big Scrub Campground we headed to Edward Medard Conservation Park in Plant City, FL. We chose this campground for its proximity to the Florida State Fairgrounds and our good friends Ben and Kellie.
Edward Medard Campground is a lovely campground within the conservation park, which boasts water/electric sites, a dump station, and restroom facilities with flush toilets and hot showers. The park also has hiking trails, a playground, boat ramp, and pavilions. We really enjoyed the Singing Bluff Trail that brought us through a black vulture roosting area and offered opportunities to spot several alligators. The boardwalk also gave us great views of the reservoir and several alligators.
One note about the campground itself: The roads within the campground are very tight. I would not recommend a rig larger than 35-feet or so attempt to camp here, at least in the loop with sites 19-43. We are about 50-feet total between camper and truck and I found it nerve-wracking to navigate. We had reserved site 32 and it took me a few tries and much back-and-forth to back our trailer in.
Our main reasons to camp here were to visit friends we had met camping several years before, meet up with my son who was flying down to visit us, and attend the Florida RV Show. We were so glad we could spend time with friends, enjoy a couple dinners out, and meet up with other friends at the Tampa show.
Only my oldest daughter and I wanted to attend the show, so I took a day off to take her and explore what it had to offer. We are in the market for a newer trailer so we went with that in mind. However, we did not find much to amaze us or draw our attention. Most of what we saw was either geared toward couples or toward families with larger rigs. We definitely want to stay under 33-feet and we just didn’t see much that appealed to us. This was probably that last year we’ll attend the show unless our priorities change.
Although we wished we had more time to spend with our friends we know we’ll get to see them again in a few months, so we left Florida and headed to Reed Bingham State Park near Adel, GA for a 6 night stay. This campground has been one of our favorites and we certainly will be back when we’re in the area again.
Reed Bingham State Park has full hookup sites, restroom facilities with flush toilets and hot showers, a playground and mini golf, and some great hiking trails. We loved how quiet and peaceful it was here.
As we were looking forward to our next campground we were disappointed to see that the weather was not changing in our favor. Since it was going to be wet and cold no matter where we went on our journey north to the Carolinas we decided to stick with our plan to head to R Shaefer Heard Park on West Point Lake, right on the Alabama/Georgia state border. Our stay here has been pleasant and very quiet since the campground is nearly empty. Despite the very cold temperatures we don’t regret our stay here and look forward to visiting again when it is a bit warmer.
R Shaefer Heard Park has water/electric sites, a dump station, restroom facilities with flush toilets and very hot showers, plus a coin-operated washer and dryer which we were happy to use. Had the weather been more favorable we would have launched our kayaks here.
Overall this January has been a great start to our year. We look forward to continuing our travels up to North Carolina and then back down the coast to the southern tip of Florida.
Did you attend the Florida RV Show this year? Or have you visited any of the campgrounds we stayed at this month? What did you think? Let us know in the comments! You can also find us on Instagram and Facebook @simplejoyfuljourney, or email me at alicia@simplejoyfuljourney.com. And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of the page before you go. Have a great week!