Category: 2025

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2025 Road Trip – Poverty Point SP – 5/22-5/23

We departed from Fort Pickens Campground at 9:00AM CDT. On the way through Gulf Breeze, FL we stopped at a Publix grocery store to stock up on supplies. We stopped for fuel at a Love’s Travel Stop in Hattiesburg, MS ($2.73/gal). We got stuck in terrible construction traffic on I-20 East of Vicksburg which cost us 30 to 45 minutes. I-20 was shutdown to one lane in both directions.

We pulled into Poverty Point Reservoir State Park in Delhi, LA at 4:30PM CDT (347 miles). Beth decided that the I-20 traffic East of the Mississippi River was quiet enough to take her first drive. She drove the last hour of the trip. This is a very nice State Park campground with full hookups and very large sites.

Beth’s First Experience Operating Lucy
Site #29
Site #29
DeviceDownload MbpsUpload Mbps
Campground Wi-Fi0.391.97
Starlink11215
AT&T Hotspotn/an/a
US Mobile – Brian (AT&T)841 (not a typo)42
US Mobile – Beth (AT&T)n/an/a
TVQuality
AntennaWeak – 4 Channels (FOX Affiliate)
Campground Cablen/a
DISH Satelliten/a
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2025 Road Trip – Fort Pickens Campground – 5/21

We departed from A Stone’s Throw RV Park at 10:15AM EDT. We stopped for fuel at a TA Travel Center in Marianna, FL. We had tried to use our discount diesel card yesterday (which we hadn’t used since 2021) and the pump said our card was inactive. Beth worked with the provider via E-Mail this morning and got our card reactivated. We purchased $3.75 diesel fuel for $3.12/gallon (Yay!!!).

We pulled into Fort Pickens Campground within Gulf Islands National Seashore (West of Pensacola Beach, FL) at 2:30PM EDT (232 miles). Beth’s brother Dick had stopped here on one of his trips West and highly recommended it, so we thought we ought to check it out. I’d pay the entry fee just for the drive out to the campground. The best part is that now that I’m 62 years old, I was able to purchase the National Parks Lifetime Senior Pass. I’m set for life (at least 40 years).

Before setting up at the campground, we drove out to the Visitor Center and toured one of the batteries the Visitor Center is located in. We had a nice conversation with one of the volunteer guides who provided a lot of interesting information about the fort. Afterwards we went into the store and purchased a couple of trinkets (T-Shirt and Coaster).

Fort Pickens Visitor Center
Site #C45
Site #C45
DeviceDownload MbpsUpload Mbps
Campground Wi-Fin/an/a
Starlink3945
AT&T Hotspotn/an/a
US Mobile – Brian (AT&T)73.5
US Mobile – Beth (AT&T)n/an/a
TVQuality
AntennaGood – 49 Channels
Campground Cablen/a
DISH Satelliten/a
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2025 Road Trip – A Stone’s Throw RV Park – 5/20

We started heading West today from Jetty Park in Cape Canaveral. We got started at 10:00AM EDT and stopped for fuel at a WaWa in Alachua, FL.

We pulled into A Stone’s Throw RV Park (just East of Tallahassee) at 3:30PM EDT (285 miles). This is a convenient place to stop along I-10 (where US-19 intersects I-10). We’ve stopped here on two other occasions (2020 and 2021).

The entire front of the RV was covered in love bugs upon arrival so as soon as we got the RV setup we broke out our cordless pressure washer and some car washing soap and removed them all in the 95 degree heat. Hopefully we are done with them. We gathered most between Cocoa Beach and Gainesville.

Site #21
Site #21
DeviceDownload MbpsUpload Mbps
Campground Wi-Fin/an/a
Starlink39417
AT&T Hotspotn/an/a
US Mobile – Brian (AT&T)210.5
US Mobile – Beth (AT&T)n/an/a
TVQuality
AntennaGood – 25 Channels
Campground Cablen/a
DISH Satelliten/a
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2025 Road Trip – Thunder on Cocoa Beach – 5/15/2025 – 5/20/2025

Today we made our first big drive in our new RV. We left our house at 10:45AM EDT and arrived at Jetty Park Campground in Cape Canaveral, FL at 2:00PM EDT. We stopped for lunch at the Rest Area on I-4 and ate the remaining halves of our PJ’s Subs (an annual summer trip start tradition). On the way into Port Canaveral we stopped to pickup some steaks at Canaveral Meats and Deli. We will be hanging out at our friends, Todd & Melissa’s place, on Cocoa Beach for the annual Boat Races and plan to have steaks for one of our meals.

This is the second time we’ve stayed at this campground. The previous visit was in December of 2021. When we arrived they told us they had just lost power and that we could run our generator until power is restored (thank goodness because it was pretty warm).

Jetty Park Campground #209
Jetty Park Campground #209
Rowdy Race Fans
Pink Boat Flipped
Tight Race
Super Cats Along Beach
DeviceDownload MbpsUpload Mbps
Campground Wi-Fin/a – Power Outagen/a – Power Outage
Starlink21512
AT&T Hotspotn/an/a
US Mobile – Brian (AT&T)533
US Mobile – Beth (AT&T)n/an/a
TVQuality
AntennaGood – 27 Channels
Campground Cablen/a – Did Not Try
DISH Satelliten/a

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2025 Ft Desoto – 4/7/2025 – 4/10/2025

Today we checked into Fort Desoto County Park Campground in Pinellas County for three nights. We are in Site #174 which is the first site time we’ve stayed in the “No Pets” portion of the campground (Phoebe the cat is not a pet, she is family). The site is on one of the inner campground boat channels, so we are technically on the water. It’s very warm for April today, but there is a front passing through this evening which should give us very nice temperatures and low humidity for the remainder of our stay. We will be watching Florida vs Houston in the final game of March Madness this evening.

Ft Desoto – Site #174
Ft Desoto – Site #174
Ft Desoto – Site #174

On Tuesday we tried out Red, White and Booze in St Pete Beach (Passe a Grille) for lunch. It replaced the old Sea Critters next to The Wharf restaurant. The food was a little pricey, but very good. I had one of the best Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches ever. Beth’s Cuban was also very good with very good Cuban bread from Ybor City, but the meat was a bit smokier than she likes. We both loved the incredible fries which were shaped like onion peels. Overall, it was a great experience.

Red, White & Booze – Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

On Wednesday, Mom & Dad joined us for lunch at Billy’s Stone Crab. We all ordered grouper nuggets and were not disappointed. Afterwards, we sat outside the camper and watched some dolphins hunt for fish in the bay behind our campsite.

Lunch at Billy’s with Mom & Dad
Hanging Out at the Campground
DeviceDownload MbpsUpload Mbps
Campground Wi-Fin/an/a
Starlink31526
AT&T Hotspotn/an/a
US Mobile – Brian (Verizon)n/an/a
US Mobile – Beth (Verizon)n/an/a
TVQuality
AntennaDecent – No NBC (CH8)
Campground Cablen/a
DISH Satelliten/a

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The Beginning of Another New Era

In the Fall of 2021 we sold our Motorhome and bought a new Travel Trailer. To us, the Travel Trailer life was just fine, but a bit of a hassle on long trips. Basically, we missed the Motorhome lifestyle. Late last year Grand Design came out with their first Motorhome. A Class C on a Sprinter 4500 Chassis. They had just started the assembly line while we were in Indiana last year so we took the factory tour. We liked what we saw and placed an order for one just before Christmas.

All of Grand Design’s Motorhomes are in the Lineage Series, so Beth has named the new Motorhome Lucy (Lucy the Lineage). It arrived at General RV in Dover, FL on Wednesday (3/5/2025) and we picked it up on Saturday (3/8/2025). We only found a couple of issues during our inspection (which they quickly addressed), but fortunately for us one of their technicians noticed an issue with the slide topper and they ended up replacing it with a different model.

We had it home less for than 24 hours, but so far we are very pleased.

Upon Arrival at General RV
Departing General RV
Arrival Home
Living Area & Bed
Kitchen from Bed
Theater Seats from Bed