Dunnellon, FL

At the end of last summer when Andi and I were ready to put our Winnebago View RV into storage, we had a wild idea to keep it in Florida for the winter. We figured doing so would give us the chance to use our RV a few times during the winter, and hoped we’d have an opportunity to explore a few new-to-us states in the southeast part of the United States on our drive back to Wisconsin in the spring.

Fast forward to now! Last Sunday, after a week of sailing in the Abaco Islands of the Bahamas, we rented a car in Fort Lauderdale and drove it two hours west to a RV storage center in Fort Myers, Florida. This is where we left our RV in December 2018 and honestly, we were a little nervous to see what kind of condition the RV was in when we came back it. We’d read horror stories of the Florida sea air rusting the bottoms of campers and sun damaging the exterior of vehicles. Andi worried mice might’ve gotten in over the winter and the very thought of that had my stomach turning. Mice are my nemesis!

Fortunately, our RV was in very good condition when we returned. No rodents, no rust, and very little sun damage. Walking into our RV for the first time felt like being home again! We’ve been traveling abroad for two full months now and the comfort of our own beds, the kids finding forgotten toys they’d left in the RV, Andi’s coffee maker and having “new” clothes we’d left behind last time brought us all so much joy.

The RV battery was dead after being parked for four months, but Andi was able to get it started again. The interior was dusty, but it only took me a few minutes to clean it up and we were back on the road again.

We camped at Koreshan State Park in Estero, FL for our first night. We’ve stayed at this park a few times before and we like it because it’s cheap, clean, and close to the RV storage center. One of our cabin friends happened to be in Fort Myers that evening, so after we got settled into the campground Andi left with our rental car to meet up with them for a drink.

Monday, April 8

Let the RV adventure begin! We had a few housekeeping items to take care in Fort Myers before setting off for Rainbow Springs State Park in Dunellon, FL. We made a quick stop by the RV storage center to pick up packages they'd been collecting for us the past month (the office wasn’t open Sunday night when we picked up the RV), then Andi followed me with the RV to the airport so I could drop off our rental car, and then we stopped at Wal-Mart for groceries. Their grocery pick-up system works awesome for the RV! We place our order online the night before and then roll up and load the groceries directly into the RV the next day. After all that, we were on our way to Florida’s Emerald Coast. First stop, Rainbow River State Park.

There’s no particular reason for our visit to Rainbow Springs other than it being three hours north of Fort Myers on our way to Destin. This state park has three parts: a campground along the Rainbow River, a tube-rental center, and a day-use area with hiking trails and the natural headspring. Lots to see and do here!

We located our campsite and set up our RV, then set off for a walk down to the river. A big rain shower has just moved through, so the park felt empty. Down by the river, we talked to a few kayakers coming off the river. One of the ladies said Rainbow Springs was her favorite place on Earth. That’s a pretty big statement! We were excited to check the park out for ourselves tomorrow.

Back at our campsite, Andi grilled burgers and broccoli on his new portable Weber grill. We ate dinner and called it an early night.

Tuesday, April 9

Now in the RV, we’ve adjusting to a new “normal” again. The biggest challenge of living inside a 188 square ft. box is that once one person is awake in the RV, we’re all awake. There are no doors, only privacy curtains around the beds, and Aden sleeps in the center of the RV on the table converted to a bed. Typically, I like to wake up a few hours before the rest of the family to exercise, blog, and do work for my fitness coaching. Andi usually gets up early, too, and drinks his coffee while he works on his computer. It’s really hard to keep his same routine in the RV.

The night before, I laid out my workout clothes in the bathroom and set my headphones, computer, and my breakfast by the door so I could quietly sneak outside in the morning. I worked at our campsite picnic table as the sun came up. Andi made the kids breakfast while I worked out, and then Tory and I did school on the computer.

Today, we planned to canoe the Rainbow River. Andi unhooked our RV from our site, and we drove up the road about a mile to a different river access point within the park. Immediately, Andi and I were taken back by the beautiful sapphine-blue color of the water. The river was so clear you could see right down to the bottom.

We saw tons of turtles sunning themselves on logs along our river, and we even saw two alligators hiding in the river! It was crazy to be so close to a real alligator in the water.

After about an hour, we decided to turn around and head back upstream. It was a hot, difficult paddle back to the canoe rental site. I wasn’t mentally prepared for that! The afternoon sun warmed everything up quickly.

Back in the RV, we ate deli turkey, crackers, raw veggies, and hummus, and then stopped by a local seafood market in Dunellon called Simply Seafood. Andi ran in quickly to buy some fish and returned with a bag-full. He said the owner was a Minnesota Twins fan and said he wanted to make sure we had a good experience during our time here. Andi bought some giant pink shrimp, ahi tuna steaks, smoked salmon and the owner threw in a free seaweed salad and crab salad to go with it. Great customer service makes all the difference!

From Dunnellon, we drove two hours north to Ochlockonee River State Park in Sopchoppy FL where we’ll stay for the night.