I went through numerous campground websites, state park websites, Passport America, RVParkReviews.com, county websites, etc. trying to figure out a good stopping point for the weekend somewhere between Perry, Florida and Gainesville.  I wanted it to be somewhere relatively inexpensive and near some activities we might like.

The state park campgrounds looked heavily wooded and not real easy to get into with a big rig.  Also, I had forgotten how many of the Florida state parks don't have campgrounds at all.

The Passport America parks looked okay, but most only gave the P.A. rate for one night or didn't offer it on the weekends.  I'm okay with the occasional $30 a night state park on the beach, but I don't like to pay $30 a night for a private RV park that doesn't look all that appealing in the first place.  :)

I found some county campgrounds, but couldn't find any information about them other than location.  We won't take the chance if I can't find some information on the web, preferably with photos.

After struggling for a long time, I looked at the FreeCampgrounds.com website just to see if there might be some information about other choices.  FreeCampgrounds.com lists not only free places to park, but places that are $10 a night or less.  I thought perhaps a county campground might be listed.

I happened to come across Ichetucknee Springs Campground just outside of the north entrance to Ichetucknee Springs State Park.  It was listed because it is $10 a night to dry camp.  But for $15 a night they have water and electric hook-ups.

After finding some blogs about December paddling on the clear Ichetucknee River and seeing that several other springs and state parks (without campgrounds) were within an hour's drive of Fort White, I made that our destination.

We got packed up and were just about ready to take off when Paul & Denise ("bluemoon" on the Forum) walked up.  We met them at Life On Wheels in Iowa back in 2006, and they attended our first Rally in Branson last year.  They are now full-timers, and I had been corresponding with them recently about some legal issues with the sale of their home back in Missouri.

Since they were in Florida, we spoke about possibly getting together, but last I heard, it wasn't going to work out.  So, I was surprised to see them.  I did, however, know who they were immediately - that doesn't always happen.  :)

They had just pulled into St. George Island State Park yesterday.  So we got in some hugs and handshakes, and Linda took the opportunity to load them up with some baked goods.  Had we known they were coming, we might have stayed another day or two.  But, as it was, we were all packed up and ready to go.  So our encounter was brief, and they let us get back to finishing our final checklist items.

After hitting the dump station, we got on the road by 10:30.  It was a good starting time for our 180-mile drive to Fort White across U.S. Hwy 98 to Perry where we picked up U.S. 27 the rest of the way.  We had a nice easy trip with good roads and light traffic.

Everything was fine until we pulled into our destination campground.  The road is rough and we noticed the campsites were heavily wooded and rather small.  I had asked about an open site on the phone this morning and whether there was room for us.

It turns out we passed the open site in a big field.  With the prediction of 100% chance of rain, we didn't want to dry camp, and it looked like Site 16 in the field was really our only viable option.  After making sure the ground was solid and we wouldn't sink in after a rain, we asked if we could park pretty much any way we wanted.

We weren't getting much in the way of cell service, so we really needed to park away from the hook-ups a little to make sure we could get satellite internet.  As most of you know, we carry plenty of cord and hoses, so we can hook up pretty much anywhere in a fifty foot radius.  :)

So, here we are.

Out in a field in the middle of nowhere.  And once again, I got the look from Linda with her head shaking while asking "How do you find these places?"  :)

The normal "campsite" is right next to that shelter, but those trees behind it are due south and would have blocked our satellite.  So we improvised and ran fifty feet of cord and seventy-five feet of hose.  :)

We're in for the weekend.  Now we quickly learned that the 30-amp electric isn't all that good, and I'm sure the voltage drop in the fifty feet of cord doesn't help.

Glad we have our SurgeGuard electrical monitor.  We put our fridge on propane to help the electric.  Maybe we should have just boondocked and saved the five bucks a night.  :)

At any rate, we've got a big ol' field to ourselves and it is very quiet.  We're only about a mile from the state park entrance, and we hope to paddle the river Saturday or Sunday when the rain moves out.

The Ichetucknee is extremely popular in the summer for tubing.  And the tubers and canoers are the primary customers of this campground.  It's certainly not designed for big RVs, although the field is fine and there is a dump station.

Anyway, we're settled in for a few days, and we only have 100 miles to go to get to Welaka on Monday.  Hopefully, in addition to some paddling and maybe a little hiking at Ichetucknee State Park, we can check out some other parks and springs while were here.  :)

I got there a little early, but it was worth waiting it out.

After being in shorts and t-shirts the last few days, I wasn't quite prepared for the cold wind this morning.  I had to go sit in the Jeep a couple of times.  :)

But I'm persistent.  :)

And the pelicans kept me entertained as I watched them float in the wind until they spotted a meal.  Then they would tuck their wings back and fall out of the sky crashing into the Gulf with unbelievable precision.

Soon, I was back in the warmth of the RV.

There was no rain in today's forecast, but it was supposed to be mostly cloudy with occasional sun.  I wanted to go visit St. Joe's Peninsula State Park to see what it was like.

Before we got to this area, it was a toss-up between St. George Island and St. Joe's Peninsula as to where we would stay.  From what I could find online, the St. Joe's campsites might have been a little more limited size-wise, so we chose St. George.

We paid our entrance fee and drove into the park.  Within the first half mile we saw a deer by the side of the road and a couple of Red-tailed Hawks.

We drove on through the campground loops.  There are two loops - Gulf Breeze and Shady Pines.

The Gulf Breeze loop is a little more open and can accommodate larger RVs.  However, there are certainly more big rig sites at the St. George Island State Park and the loop at St. George is easier to maneuver.  Also, the St. George campground has 50-amp electric vs. 30-amp at St. Joe's.  But the Gulf Breeze loop is closer to the Gulf - just a short walk over the dunes.

Now, the Shady Pines loop has more character and is far more wooded.  There are plenty of sites that are long enough for big rigs, but those sites are extremely narrow.  Big rigs with slides would struggle to fit and awnings would be unusable in most cases.  Also, getting around the loop would be quite a challenge for larger RVs.

I was sort of hoping something about the park or campgrounds would jump out at me.  But that didn't really happen.

St. Joe's seems to have a more diverse landscape and probably more wildlife than St. George.  But I think I prefer the campground at St. George.  Both parks have beautiful Gulf beaches and both have bay access.

Here is a shot from a boardwalk over the dunes that shows the Gulf on the left and the bay on the right.

Linda thought the clouds sort of matched the swirls in the dunes.  :)

The two parks are different.  But, for us, there wasn't enough of a difference to strongly favor one over the other.  We give a slight edge to St. George, but I can see why others would prefer St. Joe's.  :)

Neither park really has all that much to do.  They are both primarily about unspoiled beaches, and they are both relatively remotely located at the end of islands.  And that's why I like both of 'em.  :)

Anyway, we covered a lot of the Forgotten Coast in the past couple of days, but there is a lot more to explore - we'll save that for another time of the year when the weather is more predictable.  :)

Back home, with tomorrow being the last day that we've paid for here at St. George Island State Park, we had to decide whether to stay longer or move on.   It doesn't look like the weather is going to improve, so we're going to move on. 

I've been looking at next stops quite a bit and haven't really found anything that thrills me.  We could drive on in to Welaka, but Linda doesn't want to make the 280-mile trip in one day.  But we plan on being there by Monday to settle in before Christmas.

So, I've got some more research to do.  Hopefully, by tomorrow, I'll have an answer.  :)