Florida Campgrounds to Key West

TXBobcat

Fulltime
We are on our way to the Florida Keys. I was asked to post information about the campgrounds we stayed at on the way.

When we left Reed Bingham in GA we planed to stay at Lake City Campground in Lake City FL. When we arrived there were no attendants. They are only there a few hours in the morning and in the evening. If you arrive early they will charge you for another day. The regulations are confusing. Only specific sites for motorhome's and trailers and if you have a big dog or small dog. There were RV's in the wrong place as if they had not read the instructions. We left and decided to go to one we passed by to get to Lake City Campground. It was right by the freeway and looked nice. So we stayed at Oaks 'N Pines RV which is a Passport America campground.

We were escorted to a site in an open area. The sites are close but useable. If you put out your awning you would be very close to your neighbor's slide. Fortunately the campground did not have a lot of people staying there so the site next to us was empty. The campground owner was very adamant about keeping everything within the area of your camp site.

Here are a couple of pictures...
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When we left Oaks 'N Pines we went to Sanland RV Park, Lakeland FL
This is a nice park and quite large. Some of the sites are sand and grass. It looks like they are trying to work on some of them and add a concrete pad. Further in the back, we're in site #383, the sites are all concrete and quite long. I could park my truck in front or behind the Bighorn with no problem. The price is quite good also.

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Tomorrow we are on our way south. Plan to stay somewhere around Sunrise FL. Have a place picked out but not sure what it will be like...

BC
 

Rrloren

Well-known member
If your headed thru Marathon in the Keys I found a new Campground that isn't in Trailer Life yet that looked quite nice and I booked it for a week in Feb. It's called Grassy Key RV Park @ Mile Marker 58.7. If you see it or stay there would be good to hear your comments. Looks very nice on the web.
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
We already have reservations at Bluewater further down the Keys. I will try to go by and take a look at it. It is about 38 miles north of where we are staying...

BC
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
RollingHome
I don't see your Location on your posts.. When we get to the Keys we are going to head up to Maine. We will be traveling up through PA. Want to see some of the founding things about our country. Plymoth rock, Liberty Bell, Independence Hall. Statue of Liberty, Empire State building and anything else. Would like to see Central Park in NY. Some of these I would like to see just once just to say I have been there.

I will post more as we travel around Florida. We are going on a day trip tomorrow around Miami Beach and some of the other things to see. We are staying at Markam Park off I75 & I595.

BC
 

cjhicks

Well-known member
If your headed thru Marathon in the Keys I found a new Campground that isn't in Trailer Life yet that looked quite nice and I booked it for a week in Feb. It's called Grassy Key RV Park @ Mile Marker 58.7. If you see it or stay there would be good to hear your comments. Looks very nice on the web.
We stayed at Grassy Key for a month this pass winter. It is a very nice small RV Park <35 Sites> it is very well maintained, there is no grass or sand as the whole Park is landscaped with blue stone roadway and white stone on the sites, with a heated pool and nice laundry room. With the park being small you can get to know just about all of the people that are staying there. Our site was a waterfront site and we needed a longer 50 amp. cord to reach the electric hookup, which the campground has several to lone out. Be sure and check out the Dolphin Research Center located just up the road from the campground and if you have time go to Big Pine Key and find the "No Name Pub " great Pizza and Grouper Sandwich, put your names on a dollar bill and staple it to the walls or the ceiling. Have fun and we hope that it will be warmer in Florida this winter !!!
 

RollingHome

Well-known member
Bob, as you come back north and get closer to PA, hit me back, I could offer some suggestions to this area. i.e. travel daylight hours only in Philly... it's safe, ya just gotta be smart... Also, ya might want to hit Lancaster, PA and Bucks County, PA. etc. Ya might want to nail down a camp site (or two) to use as home base i.e. Yoggi Bears camp ground in Quarryville PA ($54.00/nite). or my place for free (no frills). Welcome to PA., dude, you'll have a good time and the folks are warm... no stuffed shirts or whacko's in our immediate turf. Tom
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
Rrloren
cjhicks answered your question for me. It was at MM 58 and I was staying at MM14. To far for me to drive just to view a campground. When going back north as I got to Grassy Key the roadway is under construction (going to be nice when they are through. Shouldn't take to long), I couldn't pull off into the campground. But as best I could see is what Rrloren posted above.

BC
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
Tom
Thanks for the information about PA. I will look you up as we get to your neighborhood. There are a lot of places I want to see this year.

BC
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
If anyone is intrested in some of the photos of campgounds and some of the places we have been you can go to my Photobucket for this year.

One thing I am doing is taking photos of all the campgrounds that we stay at. I would like to see a place on the Heartland Server that we can post pictures of campgrounds that we stay at. I have a Photobucket site called BCCampground where I am going to post some photos of the campgounds. This way we can get some actual photos of the places we can patronize.

BC
 
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Delaine and Lindy

Well-known member
The Florida Keys was our first RV trip. It was interesting, we had a lot of fun at Jimmy Buffets and of course we had a Cheeseburger in Paradise. Parking was the only issue while we were in the keys and we had 2500HD back then. It was kinda congestive but interesting place. We did para sailing while in the keys, and that was fun, but when you get up into the air looking down at the sharks you will hope the rope doesn't break. Have fun take lots of money...... GBY
 

RollingHome

Well-known member
Bob, I really like your idea about posting pics and photo's about CG's. This would be a invaluable wonderful way for all HL owners and guest to get first hand knowledge of big rig friendly CG's (and the local route to that CG), the persona of the place etc.. It could be arranged by state... Wow, GREAT IDEA, anyone have any ideas for making this happen ? Could this be a Data Base, WIKI or a sticky ?
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
Something else for those going to the Keys. While on our way back north we stopped at the Sandal Factory. They have a lot of gifts, T-Shirts and stuff. They are right off the roadway. No place for a TV with 5th wheel to park except along the shoulder of the highway. We pulled off on the side of the road. I made sure I did not block anyone from entering or leaving the stores. We went in and purchased some stuff, which took about 30min. When we came out a lady from another business near us, came over and pointed out a yellow piece of paper on our windshield. I took it off and it was a parking citation. She said a motorcycle cop stopped and wrote the ticket. She tried to get him to not write it by telling him that I was courteous enough to not block people in. But he wrote it any way. $29.00 to the Monroe County, Marathon, FL. From what I can figure, there is a bicycle lane on the shoulder and I may have been blocking it.

So when your traveling to or from Key West and pulling your Trailer, don't stop along side of the road...

BC
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
Another thought for those going to Key West. I love to stop and take pictures as I travel, with or without the trailer in tow. The road is not bad but you can not pull off the road when not in town. There are trees and bushes all along the higway until you get to a bridge. You can not stop to take some pictures and could only see some of the water as you cross one of the bridges. Near where we were going to stay there is a bridge called the 7 mile bridge. It is 7 miles long. No where could you pull over and stop to take pictures. Some places if you didn't have the trailer with you.

I modified the link to my Photobucket photos in previous post. This should be easier to view the photos..

This is the link to the Campground Photos. I don't think I can save a lot of photos there but I will try until it fills up, then maybe come up with another idea.
If anyone can come up with a place to store a lot of photos of campgrounds post us an idea.

BC
 

CRLYHDS

Member
What an excellent idea about posting photos of campgrounds. We are leaving next Saturday for a trip to Yellowstone from San Diego. I will post photos of the campgrounds we stay at on our photo web site, http://crlyhds.zenfolio.com. Just select the items campground in the menu. I don't have any photos yet but will soon.
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
CRLYHDS
I went to the website on your post. I persume this is your web site and your photos.

They are quite good. Is this a web site your using or one you developed. Looks nice.

I will check it out as time goes by.

I post about all my photos on Photobucket. Even the bad ones. I get lucky once in a while.

BC
 

Tom of Ypsi

Well-known member
Bob,

Sorry about you getting a ticket. Never had a ticket in 20 plus years going to the keys but been warned many time while in the keys.

There are a couple of places at the 7 mile bridge you could have pulled over to take pics. One is if coming from KW just before the bridge on the right hand side is a small park that you can pull into and across the highway is a boat launch with ample parking. Once over the 7 mile bridge heading towards Marathon is Knights Key on the right hand side. There is an old pullman rail car, 7 mile bridge museum and gift shop with plenty of parking for rv's. You should have bought your sandals and shirts in KW, sandals at the Kino factory and shirts everywhere.
 

cjbearden

Visitor
Bobcat, you might consider using http://www.blogspot.com to establish a blog and post your pictures of campgrounds along with your blog. Easy way to track your daily activities. Many RVers use this and it seems to work quite well. C.J.
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
Another campground here in Florida that we enjoyed.
South Bay RV Campground, South Bay, FL
This is a real nice campground. Good level sights. It is a city campground and is not very expensive. Lots of room between sites. Only problem I had is that they lock the gates in the evenings and on weekends. It is a combination lock on the entrance and exit gates. They give you the combination but I would perfer that they used the card key or key pad. It was raining a lot while here and you can get very wet when trying to open or close the gate in the rain.

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If your in this area this is a nice place to stay..

BC
 
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