Catching Up with Ourselves

Starting the next leg of our van-life adventure and heading North

By Perri

After two and a half months in the Sunshine State, we are moving on. It was good to spend so much time with our family here, especially as we were able to provide some support as they navigated serious health challenges. While here, we explored the more remote corners of Florida, taught ourselves to stealth camp like pros, and made some lasting friendships.

It was not the winter we had planned. (THAT winter, involved hiking in Big Bend National Park, Death Valley, and desert vistas). But it was a lovely, challenging, tropical Winter just the same. And we did in fact visit the Big Bend, FLORIDA’S Big Bend.

I have read (many times) that nomads’ plans are “written in jello”. That appears to be true…. especially for those of us who don’t plan all that much to begin with.

Now, we turn Steven’s nose northward (northwestward, really) and move on, slowly. Very slowly.

Last night, we parked up in southern Alabama. It was 27 degrees. And, boy did we miss the Sunshine State, even missed that durn Cracker Barrel parking lot we came to know a little more intimately than we’d have preferred.

In the interest in moving forward and starting a fresh new leg of our journey, I’ll try to sum up our experiences in Florida below.

So. Much. Stuff.

There’s so much amazing and so much awful all rolled up into this one hot and beautiful and wacky state. We’ve decided that the state motto should be “Florida: So. Much. Stuff”.

I grew up here reluctantly, after a move from the northeast during my middle school years. Truth be told, I appreciated very little about the sunshine state when I lived here.

After I got my drivers’ license, I spent a good deal of time driving along the Gulf Coast Beaches railing at rampant development and seeking out pockets of wilderness. Come to think of it, I still do this. Guess some things never change.

Anyway, I left Florida as soon as I was able and, though I returned to finish college and taught in the public schools here, I didn’t really like it any better. The state felt crowded and crazy, and it was always too hot. Okay, Florida IS crowded and crazy and always too hot.

But while living a stealthy, Florida “van-life” life these last few months, we’ve discovered that there’s lots of good here too.

The Good Stuff

Wildlife

Nowhere we’ve been rivals the shear fecundity of Florida! Flowers and birds and bugs and reptiles of all sorts…. everywhere.

We were raided by racoons (They opened the latch on our chuckbox and had a party on our picnic table at Fort Desoto County Park), had to detour around snakes on the sidewalk, were visited by lizards (and squirrels) in public bathrooms, met gopher tortoises, gators and turtles while walking the dog, watched fish, dolphins and even manatees from piers and seawalls, and hung out with owls, ospreys, eagles, deer and (many) armadillos. Even with the state’s rampant development (we’ll get to that part later) wild things find a way. We loved sharing space with all these wild things.

Parks

We thoroughly appreciated the plethora of state and county parks in Florida. In our time here, we visited at least 15. All were well-planned, roomy, and stunningly beautiful. Many of them were free.

R. E. Olds Park in Oldmar, Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs and Philippe Park in Safety Harbor became our go-to breakfast spots. Milo enjoyed morning walks in these parks. He got to know the “herd of shelties” that trooped by each morning at R. E. Olds and the gopher tortoises that lived along the nature trail at Fred Howard. At Philippe, we climbed the ancient shell mound and took in stunning views of Tampa Bay. We’ll post more info about these fantastic Florida parks in the next few days.

Food and Drink

There is a ridiculous variety of restaurants in Florida. It can be overwhelming. Also delicious. We ate out way more than we should have here.

But grouper sandwiches and souvlaki, okay? Also, happy hour is a serious thing here. And there are so many dog-friendly places with outside seating.

We discovered a new favorite spot, Tarpon Springs Distillery with live music and great cocktails. And we also Explored St. Pete’s thriving restaurant scene.

We ate Cuban, Caribbean, and Greek food. Also some vegan comfort food and excellent Ramen.

….. And we stopped tracking our monthly budget 🙁

Heat

While most of the country freezes its patooties off each winter, Florida stays pretty tropical. We enjoyed perfect weather through January and February. It never got cold, was rarely too hot. Outside without a jacket and hat? Yes please! Didn’t even rain much.

In March, however, the temperature ramped up and we were all of a sudden, running our van’s ceiling fan all night, desperately seeking out parking lot shade, and afraid to leave the dog in the car for more than, like, a minute. But in winter time, the Florida heat was AWESOME. These reformed snow shovelers highly recommend it.

The Bad Stuff

Traffic

Stop/starting along roads studded with stoplights in a giant, gas-guzzling vehicle is not fun. Especially in the heat. Especially, when overwhelmed by the variety of strip malls and trash along way. There are just so many people here.

Rampant Development & Bad Politics

Having grown up on the West coast of Florida, I have observed firsthand the effect of unchecked development.

Aside from (lovely) local parks, there is no wild land left in Pinellas county. Gone are the hammocks and empty coastlines I used to ramble. Instead, there are many, many (many!) strip malls in varying stages of decay and umpteen housing developments.

Even worse is the intense do-whatever you want …but don’t say gay or teach a more inclusive history ethos of the state. Socially, it is a pressure cooker. They don’t call it the “gunshine state” for nothing. There are “Florida Men” everywhere!

Crowded Campgrounds

Because of all the good stuff in Florida, the campgrounds here tend to be crowded through winter. Reserved months (and months) in advance, by people who are more decisive and have much better executive functioning skills than we do, the state parks are, as a rule, always full.

We were lucky to catch a few cancellations at popular spots, and we snagged a few more on less crowded days of the week. But finding spur-of-the-moment spots is near impossible. In addition, each kind of park (WMA, County, State, etc) has a different reservation system. Many of these are outdated or just more complex than they need to be. Reserving spots is no small thing. And, aside from Cracker Barrel and Walmart, there are precious few boondocking spots.

Heat

Not so awesome when it’s 85 degrees and so humid your van windows drip condensation in the morning. Not so awesome when you can’t leave your dog inside your “home”, even with cracked windows and whirring fan, without worry.

Moving On

So that’s that. Florida is in the rear view mirror now.

We miss our family already, and also the heat and wildlife and all the good stuff. But we are ready to get back to our road routine: traveling, camping, seeking out wild places and interesting stops.

There’s no doubt we’ll be back in the Sunshine State, though. It is home. Sort of.