Planning our trip to the Canadian Maritimes/Atlantic Provinces

On this trip we are going to be taking our rv to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador and down through Quebec. We knew this was going to be a big trip for us with many miles traveled along the way. Despite us being frugal Rv travelers, we knew it was going to cost us. How could we cut some costs and still have a great time?


First: money exchange. We determined early on that Canada had TD Banks branches and thus having money in a TD Bank would save exchange/international fees. It so happens that there are also TD Bank branches in Florida and in New York (lucky us)…so we are now TD Bank customers! We can hit ATM’s in NB, NS, NL….but not.labrador. We also let TD bank know that we would be travelling and where so they could mark our records. This was so we would not be shut down.


Second: We noticed that provincial parks and campgrounds in general were going to cost us big time. We had just Purchased a new-to-us 2005 Class C (funmobile) so we decided that we would mostly boondock or dry camp.  Camping really just doesn't need to cost that much when you are self contained.  We were only going to sleep in them...mostly we are hiking other places.  Campgrounds would only be used every 4 – 6 days to dump, do laundry, get fresh water etc.





Third: Food. Food was going to cost us more there (not too many walmarts and ZERO Superwalmarts) So we were going to bring all our own pantry items to supplement our food intake (no we are not resorting to ramen!). Veggies…will I find them (besides potatoes)? I am mostly a vegetarian so this is going to be really interesting…not expecting much in the veggie department (please surprise me). Dinner out would be only occasional and at restaurants that warrant it (tripadvisor reviews).



The two of us sat down and figured out the number of days we could afford to not be working,
Approximated the mileage based on a estimated route and then added more…checked gas pricing (OUCH) and then set an approximate budget (frugal but generous if that makes any sense)…we won’t go over this budget.  We were off an running…over a period of six months we gleaned information as to what to see and do…we are ready to take our rv travelling in Newfoundland, Labrador, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.


Come join us while we take our rv motorhome on an adventure in the Atlantic Provinces with some stops along the way in the Canadian Maritime Provinces!  You don't need a caravan tour to do this trip either!

Tallahassee Rv Park and the trip home

We spent our last weekend in Florida in Tallahasssee at the Tallahassee Rv Park. Having never been to Tallahassee before were were pleasantly surprised. We both expected a larger city.... the surprise was good. It was also hilly (the foot of the Appalacians they tell us).


For this year our winter rving in FLorida is done...there is always next year!

The ride back home to New York is never fun. The ride from Tallahasee to Virgina was fine. Our first night was spent in the Georgia Welcome center which had a somewhat separate area for rv’s…that is always a good thing unless you want to listen to tractor trailer engines all night or sniff fumes. The second night was spent in the Chesapeake
Rest Area in Maryland. Georgia gets the award for the best part of I- 95…three lanes and well surfaced. Viriginia gets the thumbs down award for its share of I-95. It was quite rough and bouncy. Not only that, they are pushing to put tolls on their portion of I-95. Vote no tolls http://www.virginiatollfree95.com/?sid=6244
We chose to begin the trek through the Washington DC/Baltimore Corridor around 9 pm at night and planned it accordingly. Unfortunately, that still wasn’t late enough for me;
Still a lot of cars but no one near the chaos of rush hour. AND, they were doing some construction in both directions but we only got minorly inconvenienced; others weren’t so lucky as evidence by the stop and go traffic.


RESOLVED: next year I am going up route 81 and avoiding the whole mess.
An uneventful ride home.

NOW we work earnestly to prepare for our 63 day trip to the Atlantic Provinces in Canada to commence May 20th

St. George Island State park

We were keen to try a new campground and were going to do a show in Tallahassee so St. George Island State Park was a natural choice. St. George Island State park is located on a barrier island south west of Tallahassee. It has 60 campsites. The sites are behind dunes in a pine forest so there are no ocean views…approximately ¼ mile to the beach from campground. Bring your bike.

The ride from Cedar Key was an easy sleepy ride…no highways just back roads. When we are rving we like those back roads! Arriving on Saint George Island…it had a small tourist section but then quickly gave way to rolling little dunes with houses dotting the island. It was about 8 miles from entering island to getting to our campsite; 4 miles to state park entrance from entering island.




We had selected a nice site and really none of them are bad. Maybe it is the time of year, but it seemed rather lush greenery under those tall pines. Mosquitos were rather aggressive so we
whipped out the thermaCell lantern to make life pleasant again. ThermaCell Lantern works when there is little wind…perfect for this sheltered spot underneath the trees.



After setting up the trailer and unhitching, we took off for a quick jaunt to see the beach on our bikes. We went to the most easterly day use area and found a gated hard sand/gravel road (no cars unless you have a permit but bikes were okay)….off we went to explore.

All I really wanted to see at this point was the beach! It was four o’clock and I was getting hungry. So baited by the thought of seeing the beach, we rode and rode….five miles later we were at the beach (couldn’t give up too soon don’tcha know!). But all along the way we saw great dunes, heard birds, and had a quietly good time. When we arrived at the beach no one was there so we had a nice walk on the beach. Coming back to our bikes, we found a group of young men had ponied up the money to buy the car pass so they were fishing and their chariot would await to take them back…

Note our MIFI services was almost useless here…very, very slow. My tracphone service blinked in an out so I shut it off. David’s phone was a little better and he carry on a conversation. I was able to get maybe four tv stations without a satellite dish.




Saint George Day 2: Before breakfast, we decided to bike off to the ranger station/park entrance area from our campsite. It was nice ride with the wind at our backs…whoopee! Got the information that we were looking for about the hiking/nature trail. On the way back we stopped at the first boat launch area to have a look. (bathrooms here).

Now when I am biking my normal visual area is pretty much the several feet in front of my tires. I think I need to fix that to a broader visual field…like maybe 40 feet. Today, David yelled to me
Stop! He had just zoomed by a rather large snake (5 feet and about 2 inches in diameter and a rust coloring…neither of us got close enough to see its specific markings and it took off after a minute). I would have ran right next to it. David couldn’t stop because by the time he saw it
That would have put him right next to it. The mileage for that jaunt was 10.5 miles.

The nature trail is approx. 2.5 miles one way and leaves from the western end of the campground.
There are benches every ½ mile for those who care. I always like when there are benches to give
My back a break and a stretch.

Needing to get strawberries for our pancakes we located two grocery stores on the St. George Island. Both were on the road leading to the bridge gaining you access to the island…right across the road from each other. One was higher end than the other but BOTH were seriously expensive!
The going rate for strawberries at this time was about $2.00 on sale. One wanted $5.99 and the second wanted $4.99…out of desperation I took the $4.99 ones. So, bring in all your food if you
wish to save any money as from what I saw on other items, they are really overpriced.

We decided midafternoon to go take a walk. We started our walk on the primitive hiking trail accessible from the end of the campground to the day use area and turned left to go on the East Slough Trail (to the day use area). The primitive hiking trail (2.5 miles one way) continues straight were the East Slough Trail turns left (save that one for tomorrow). Again, I thought it would be a very short 1 mile walk but turned out to be about 3 miles. I was walking in crocs without socks (not a wise choice but I survived). It was hot (about 87 degrees…what was I thinking?) and we brought no water (duh!) and those benches I mentioned….every single one of them was in the sun! Got my exercise in for the day. Pass me a cold beer!

It is April and we are staying in Saint George State Park for four nights and it is quiet. Staying during the week, the day use areas are not used much.

SAINT GEORGE DAY 3:

Today we decided to walk the primitive hiking trail (five miles return)…so off we went early to avoid the heat this time…smart choice. As an afterthought, I slathered myself with Avon Skin So Soft due to bug issues in campground. As we were entering trail a women was walking rather
Quickly muttering about mosquitos. David chose to remain bugbait (no repellent). Fortunately aside from a fly or two, he wasn’t bothered. I did catch about 3 mosquitos landing on me.
Nice walk, a few mosquito ponds, just saw two people on trail and one tent at the end. Sand is soft in parts and somewhat annoying to walk on.

Indigo Buntings (blue colored birds for the uninformed) seem to like this campground. It was the first time we have ever seen them and they are fabulous deep turquoise blue. A group of them were playing together all over the campground. David is out there now trying to take photos of them...let’s see what he comes back with as they are not being very compliant

SAINT GEORGE DAY 4:
Today we spent biking down to the east end of the island and hanging out there, walking the beach for a while. Then it was off to the beach for our last day of beaching. A nice way to end our last free day in Florida.

Sunset Isle Rv Park, Cedar Key, FL

 We had a show to do in Cedar Key, Florida so we booked into
Sunset Isle Rv Park. This was our second visit so it was
obviously nice enough for a return. The rv park is located
about 1.3 miles from the town of Cedar Key. The Sunset Isle
RV Park fits a lot of rv's on its plot of land especially
the weekend of the art show. The facilities are old but they
work hard at keeping them clean and decoratively painted.

The on premises cafe "Ada Blue" serves meals...a decent breakfast
(fattening, of course). Lunch/dinner is sandwiches and hamburgers
and hotdogs. Fudge is made on the premises and we did enjoy some
of it. The rv campsites are CLOSE like any other private campground.
Bathhouse rooms are old but well kept and clean. Laundry facilities
on site.

Cedar Key is a very small community in Florida on the west coast.
The folks that live here survive on clamming, oystering, and other
fishy occupations. I guess you could call it quaint...a sleepy little
town. Last year we spent a week there and that was maybe a long
time even though two days were occupied by the Old Florida Celebration
of the Arts. Nice little show that is usually in April...bring
your wallet. We could call our week... restful and relaxing. It
certainly was quiet. We biked all over and exhausted most options.

Bugs, the no-see-ums were bad the day we arrived. Like stay in your
trailer bad or dowse yourself with bug repellent. We noticed a truck
came through the campground a day later spraying to get rid of the
bugs...glad I wasn't grilling anything...no warning!




We enjoyed our stays in Cedar Key but I wouldn't travel a long distance to spend a long time here.  We found that camping here in our RV for maybe 4 or 5 nights would be long enough unless you are in a REAL need for relaxing.

.

Payne Prairie State Preserve Review

We have been to this campground many times; it is conveniently located to our visits to Florida. It is also one of Florida's least expensive state parks. RV Sites are spaced well enough. We can always come up with some where to walk here...like from the campground to the visitors center and observation tower. This is a multistory...maybe four story tower.  We have hiked to the tower MANY times hoping to see the Buffalo that roam here but only once have we seen some. We have seen deer, horses...the buffalo are elusive.
 The buffao herd has been thinned.  It appears that the grass is always green on the other side of the fence and the big man buffalo's were escaping.  How would you like to go outside and see a big buffalo in your yard??  So the men are gone, the boys have been clipped, and the women remain.



There is more hiking accessible by leaving the park and going to the
north side of the park....La Chua trail  We have seen buffalo in this area...
and gators...just make sure you pick a cooler day as there is no shade.
There are other trails within the park that we have also done..the visitor's
center has all the info for you.

We can bike around the roads in the park or take our bikes to a local bike trail, the Gainesville/Hawthorne bike trail. This is 16 miles long and paved...multiuse trail.  We managed to get 5 - 6 miles riding the park's
paved roads.

Restaurants nearby??? WELL, our favorite pizza joint in all of Florida and beyond is Blue Highway Pizza just south of the entrance to Paynes Prairie on route 441 in Micanopy. They also have another place in Gainesville. We will go out of our way to get this pizza; maybe that
is one of the reasons we go to Paynes Prairie so often...hmmmm.

In the Market for an RV

In the Market for a new or new to you RV...especially the New-to-You part?
Just drive your toad down to Florida packed with all your traveling
paraphenalia. Then get on route 27 in Lake Mary Area and head south
stopping along the way at every RV dealer you see. If you want a particular
make/model/year...well good luck with that. However, if you are open to
exploring, I feel certain you can find something that will meet your needs.
I can tell you that during our travels on route 27 we saw MANY places
selling RV's of all shapes and sizes. Good luck and happy, safe travelling

Over the five years we have been coming to Florida we have zig zagged
across Florida on its lesser used roads. Sometimes Tina (our GPS...female
voice so not TOM TOM but Tina) has taken on some roads that NEVER see
rv's travelling on them..but that is another story. We don't fully trust
her anymore.

We were in Long Key a few days ago and got a call to come do a show in
Gainesville, Santa Fe Spring Arts Festival. So in two hours time were
packed up, dumped and on our way...a rush job for sure as we were not
expecting it but we had time to take our leisurly time. So we opted to
go from the Keys via Krom Ave/997...your first left as soon as you emerge
from the Keys. And by the way get gas at the Raceway right at that
junction and Walmart is just a hop, skip and jump up route 1.
We know you are realling from paying Winn Dixie or Publix food prices.

So here was our route: route 997 to route 27 up to Paynes Prairie. Now
had been on most of it but not the part from Florida Turnpike
around Clermont) to Macintosh. There aren't any services to speak of on
the lower part of route 27 shortly after you get on it. It is a nice ride
...sometimes there are trucks but they are everywhere. The part from
Florida Turnpike/Clermont to Mactinosh was a way too much stop and go
with traffic lights and higher population so next time I would
hop on Florida Turnpike$$$ at Clermont.

Florida's southern interior is home to the many field workers that do the
production work for the things that are grown there...Sugar cane, veggies.
It is the place for larger cattle ranches, horse farms. So sometime
when you have time get off the major routes of 75 and 95 and take a look
at the rest of Florida.

.
Donna

Square Grouper Restaurant

Square Grouper Restaurant Review:
Cudjoe Key/mm22.5 on northbound side of route 1


While we are camping in the Florida Keys we always make time to have a
dinner out to see what eateries are new and tastey. We had occasion to go
here with our friend, Terry. She highly recommended it. We chose lunch
so it would be more cost effective and we wouldn't have to wait. At 2:15pm
we were able to walk right in and not wait in line but it was almost full. Note
 they stop serving lunch at 2 pm or so we got in under the wire). It is
brightly decorated/well done. David and I chose small plate items/
she called them appetizers but add sweet potato fries and a shared
dessert and we were full! The carribean chicken was very good as
per David...as we the sweet potato fries. My portobello mushroom and
veggie encroute was delicious. The chocolate brownie dessert shared
by three was fabulous! We were all very happy. It is the kind of place
where you want to go with a group of people and order a whole bunch of
things to try...then share! The Square Grouper is on our must list for
our next visit to the Florida Keys.

Long Key State Park

After Bahia Honda state park, our Rv took us to Long Key State Park. It is a strip of a park with roughly 50 campsites. It was nice to arrive here from a rather crowded Bahia Honda State park. We will have two weeks of quiet (except for the road noise). We might actually get some work done here. If road noise bothers you, go to one of the private parks in the Florida Keys that might be farther from the road. Get your provisions before you go into the park as grocery stores are not around the corner. Marathon is about 15 miles but has just about anything you want (Winn Dixie, Publix, Kmart, etc.) 

All campsites are beachfront so you can plant your kayak at your site and take a spin in it whenever you wish. The beach in front of the campsites can be mucky so be aware of that…like suck your shoes off mucky.
It is one of the quieter campgrounds (not much to do than relax, fish, kayak, etc.) There isn’t a big day visitor crowd like Bahia as the beach here is not a swimming beach…more like picnicking or kayaking (rentals). There is a nature trail that we walk regularly and a shoreline to walk. There is a bike path that goes north and south outside the park. The north portion is rather short; the southern portion is longer.

A word about the bike path in the Keys. Some parts of it are a separate paved trail for bikers and walkers; they are working on parts of it as we speak. Other parts of it you are curb hopping (be REALLY vigiliant of

Cars as they don’t seem to notice us…wear your helmet). The curb hopping part is mostly in Marathon and Key Largo. Still other parts of it you are on the shoulder (which they have not been so generous with). I wouldn’t want to bike next to big vehicles (construction vehicles, fifth wheels, class A’s) as they go whizzing
By at 55 mph in some parts.)

Long Key Story:
One year we were rather late in taking our night walk through the nature trail/Golden Orb Trail and I remarked to David, “you think we are going to finish this before it gets dark (no flashlight naturally)”. He, of course, said, “no problem”. So off we went on a very brisk walk (I did not want to get stuck in there in the dark). We did get out of the treed part before it was too dark to see. Meanwhile we see another couple running past us and thought nothing of it. WELLLLLLLLLL, in about one minute I knew why they were running…serious biting bugs. I took off and yelled to David, see you at the trailer. He doesn’t run but I wasn’t going to be bug dinner either. The for better or worse part of our vows didn’t include this! I outran the bugs behind me but there were more in front to catch me. Neither of us had bug repellant on…



Just the other day David and I were sitting in our campsite facing the water with our feet up on the low height split rail fence...enjoying a beer as the sun was beginning to set. There are quite a few small lizards (think cute) in the keys and we were watching one. All of a sudden he zoomed across the fence and ran over David's legs (not usual at all). As I was marveling David says look.... About three feet away from me was
a black snake about 3-4 feet long and he was heading my way quickly. I had just enough time to fly over David's legs and watch from afar as he slithered
under David's legs looking for that lizard (whom hid in the split rail fence).
Now I don't mind snakes but I like to have a choice as to the distance I view
them. Had he already been under my legs, I would have been prepared to fly
over the back of the chair and onto the picnic table:)  Oh, yeah, I love camping in Long Key!