A nearly five hundred fifty mile drive landed us at our final few days in Florida. It was spring break for many east coast states and campgrounds were full. We managed to land a single night at Grayton Beach State Park located just west of the town of Watercolor. The location of the Jim Cary film, The Truman Show. After a long day on the road the sugar white sand and a beautiful sunset were welcome sights.

The following day we arose to try our luck fishing in the gulf.

Grayton State Park offers two camping loops, the old one is dirt road offering narrow private sites many of which back up to a large inlet containing a few alligators. The new one offers a paved road and spacious less private sites. We were in the old loop. Evidently that’s where the large raccoons like to hang out as we busted one in the middle of the night trying to break into one of our cargo holds to get at the dogs dry food. They have bandit masks for a reason.

I had sent a text to my fellow road warrior buddy Greg  to let him know where we were. He travels the country taking photos of campsites and writes a blog, Ramblings from the Road,  He was quick to text me photos of spots where we both had stood at Grayton Beach State Park.

On the other side of the inlet is the campground and where most of the alligators live since the water is not as salty. Good to know but not so comforting.

Taking advantage of our short stay here we drove a couple miles east to the town of Watercolor located on the Gulf.

Although we had never been here before it held an eerie familiarity. Come to find out this was the location for the Jim Carey movie, The Truman Show.

The town center, shaped like a closed horseshoe is anchored by an outdoor sunken amphitheater surrounded by a number of low rise buildings around the top of the curve.

There are a half dozen Airstream trailers converted to food trucks on the opposite side behind the amphitheater.

 

While quaint and unique, the town possessed a certain sterility whitewashed in a single sense of character. And they charge through the nose for it.

I did however find my new car here.

Our short drive the following day to Henderson Beach State Park located in Destin, Florida provided one of the most RV friendly state parks we had visited to date.

All the sites were pull through and private. The weather was great and we took advantage with time on the beach. There was a wind swell generating small surf. Gavin and I launched the SUP’s and spent a couple hours riding waves. Blue skies and sunshine with crystal clear and warm…ish water made for an ideal session.

No sooner had we arrived back at camp than the wind turned on shore and the temperature dropped enough to make it chilly.

Good time to crack the books and get some school work out of the way. We had reserved two days here and wanted to stay another but this park was in high demand due to spring break. Arriving at the ranger station on our day of departure I asked if they might be able to accommodate us another night. The ranger said they had one spot available for one more night. It happened to be ours.

We stuffed nearly three months of good times in Florida, it was early March and we were excited for the pending leg of our trip. Georgia and Tennessee, chalked full of family and friends held promise of good times. The weather turned less than perfect providing more incentive to get on the road.

Adios Florida

Heading north through the south east corner of Alabama we landed in an Army Corps of Engineers campground. Located on a lake with spacious, paved pull through sites. It was the eve of my fiftieth birthday and the campground host had placed us in the perfect site. (Site 49)

On our way to Bowdon, Georgia to spend my Birthday with friends and family we stopped in Montgomery Alabama to teach the kids about Rosa Parks and her role in the Civil Rights movement and to pay homage to the one and only Hank Williams.

Off to the party.