Moving south for the winter

With Nicolas’ camper all ready for the winter, it was time for us to move on toward Florida . . . we’d had enough of that chilly Virginia weather!  We were ready for the warmth and sunshine of Florida!

Our ultimate destination for December was 725 miles away, so we planned 3 stops along the way.

Our first driving day of almost 200 miles got us to Fayetteville, North Carolina, where we stayed 2 nights at the Fayetteville RV Resort.

It was a very nice RV resort with a nice area of transient sites (long pull-thrus) and a large pool, pavilion, and even a miniature golf course.  There’s also a large monthly area – probably twice as big as the part of the campground we were in – with their own pool, bath house and laundry.

We had a long pull-thru right across from the office.

We’d never been to this area before, so we took a drive into Fayetteville to look around.  It’s a small town, with a nice business district in the old center of town.

There were several nice shops around the square, and some cute sculptures around town.

Our next travel day took us an additional 200 miles south, to Walterboro, South Carolina, where we got our first real improvement in weather – open windows in the afternoon when we arrived, and no heat needed overnight!

We stayed at the New Green Acres RV Park, which was a quick stop off I-95 and advertised the “longest and widest RV sites east of the Mississippi!”

They weren’t kidding – those were some big sites!  There were also giant pine cones, and I collected a few to take with me for my Christmas wreath!

In all of our visits to Nicolas in Charleston, and during our stay in Santee last fall, I always wanted to get to Walterboro and we never did.  It’s a cute little town, and although there are quite a few empty storefronts, there were a few nice shops to explore. 

There was a nice Christmas shop where I found a few new ornaments, and an Antique Shop with some really interesting items – this creepy chair was just one example!

Walterboro is also home to the official South Carolina Artisan Center.

It was a nice shop featuring numerous artists from South Carolina.  We looked around, but there’s not a lot of room for art in a motorhome . . .

Our next travel day took us about 180 miles,

out of South Carolina,

through Georgia,

and across the state line into the warm and sunny state of Florida!

Our last stopover was a weekend in Jacksonville, at Pecan Park RV Resort.

The park was very nice, with FHU pull-thru concrete sites . . . but right next to the airport!  I swear our site was right in line with a runway!  As planes took off and landed, they barely cleared our motorhome (or at least it felt like they barely cleared it!) When the Navy fighter jets got going, it really got noisy! 

Fortunately, things quieted down overnight, but I don’t think I would have wanted to stay there for an extended time.

On Saturday, we ran a few errands, and then took a drive out to Fernandina Beach to get some lunch. 

We had been to the beach there last spring when we met Nicolas for one of his 4-day weekends, but we didn’t go into the little downtown area.

Tom was in the mood for seafood, so we ended up at Timeto’s Seafood Shack, which had really good reviews.  It really was a shack – where you ordered at a counter and took your food outside to one of several large picnic tables on the patio – but the food was excellent!  Even my chicken strips were freshly made, and Tom said the grouper basket was excellent.

After our very filling lunch, we walked through the shops downtown – definitely more upscale than the last couple of downtowns we had been to – Fernandina was a really nice town.

It was a great town and a beautiful day, and after strolling through the shops we took a drive out towards the beach.

We drove past Fort Clinch State Park and decided to drive in and take a look around.  A couple years ago, we had an opportunity to volunteer there, but we didn’t take it because we heard that the Verizon signal in the area was weak.  We stopped at the ranger station and asked if it would be OK for us to take a drive through.

Our first stop was at the beach loop of campsites.  Nice!

Bryce just happened to call me then, so I was able to try out the Verizon signal and it was fine. 

We took a walk on the beach . . .

and caught the beginning of the sunset over the St. Mary’s River in the River loop of campsites.

Fort Clinch was a really nice park, and we think we’d enjoy volunteering there, so on the way out we stopped in the Ranger Station again to get the volunteer coordinator’s contact info so we can send him an application.  Maybe we’ll spend a couple months there next year.

After our weekend in Jacksonville, it was time to finish our southern move.  We only had 145 miles to go, so we took our time in the morning and let the rush hour traffic clear before we got on the road.

We took the east beltway around downtown, which was a new route for us, and took us over a very high bridge!

From there we got back on I-95 south, and it was a trouble-free drive to Titusville, and the Willow Lakes Golf and RV Resort.

We’ll be staying here for December and January, and we have a very nice rental site in the resort.

We have a really nice patio, complete with an outdoor kitchen,

and a nice view of the golf course!

I think we’ll like it here for a couple months!  Oh – and it was 83 degrees!!