Tag Archives: roadtrip

Day seven and eight – Ocala National Forest, FL -> Okefenokee Swamp, FL

  By spinetrak | April 11, 2012 - 11:21 am | Images, USA
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We found the paradise. Here is the address: 14753–15021 Salt Springs Hwy, Silver Springs, Florida 34488, United States.

After a minor detour to nothing, we arrived at Fore Lake. Out of 30 sites only five were occupied. We picked the one furthest from the bathroom and the beach. With so much driving, we have not walked much, so a few little strolls in this fairytale forest was much appreciated. Even at night, it was beautiful to see all the fire flys twinkling in the low palm trees and up in the sky the bright stars. So walking to the shower and bathroom was like a mini wonderland trip. The beach had alligator signs posted, but apparently it was safe to swim there. Timofei and Yelisei had a blast, running in and out of the water with me and Renzo. While sitting by the camp fire, we saw an armadillo walking through our site. He looked at us briefly and went on sniffing the ground. The beach was full of animal footprints. But we have not seen anyone else.

It was such a nice place, we stayed for two nights. But the next day the boys were not interested in the beach, but kept asking if we can go take shower, which was clean and warm. I am wondering if we ever go back to backpacking. I am starting to get used to this luxurious way of camping. Eating and sitting on the ground and not takin a shower for a week seems crazy now.

Is there a law written somewhere that says that as soon as you mention any good behavior of your children they turn into monsters? Yesterday, they did not stop screaming! This reason or that, one stops, the other one starts. It was just crazy. They would stop briefly to see the fire flys or for swimming but otherwise it was the worst children day in the best camping spot. Why? Oh why!?

I really liked that area of Ocala National Forest though. It is truly in the sticks. The guy who sold me some kerosine looked like ‘Crocodile Dundee’ – my favorite movie from when I was 12 years old. Everybody has a pickup truck and at the local gas station we were parked in between the two fanciest wheeled pick up trucks I have ever seen. The drivers were some hot studs as well. Very young and very tan. Our closest grocery / gas station had a wall of killed dear with hunters displaying the kill in various ways, including one holding the dead dear by the antlers and holding his eyes open.

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Day six – Fort George Inlet, FL -> Jacksonville Zoo, FL -> Ocala National Forest, FL

  By spinetrak | April 9, 2012 - 3:10 pm | Family, Images, USA
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Camping on the beach in Florida sounded like such a good idea. I was worried that there would not be any spots left. But there were, and in fact a lot of spots, so we had a place to ourselves, with some people in campers here and there, but not too close. I thought that was great!

But then I learned that there might be a flip side to an empty field near the beach. Wind! Cold wind! Though it was warm and we were nice and toasty inside our tent, when you try to cook or eat outside, it is not so much fun with such a wind. But we managed to make some spaghetti with clams and pesto. I wanted to go out to have dinner, but the boys were having so much fun playing on the beach with sand that it would have been useless to drag them out. Also, it was Easter Sunday and most of the good places were closed. While we were driving through Georgia, it was impossible to find a BBQ place in that was open.

Next morning we woke up in the middle of the movie “Birds”. Seagulls were everywhere screaming from all directions. Also, we were across the river from a Navy port where the cranes were working all night. That sounded not very unlike Myrtle Ave traffic, so it did not bother me very much. Besides, the birds in the morning were actually nice. Even the wind stopped for a second. We had our breakfast of oatmeal and coffee and packed as usual for three hours, but this time I was actually enjoying it and so was Renzo.

I thought that we really want to be hiking and backpacking. It is only because of the children that we are doing it by car. Renzo had another theory – that we are looking for a perfect spot and we might find it at the very next national park, so we have to keep driving.

But either way we both agree that our boys are happier than usual and they don’t have tantrums at all, or even minor melt downs. They eat everything in front of them, go sit in the car when they know it’s time to get moving, and are generally quite easy – unlike some days at home in Brooklyn…

Next destination: Ocala National Park, Florida. But first we finally made it to the zoo. Jacksonville, FL has one – it was a very nice and well done zoo! The boys loved the train, they fed giraffes, and they were running all over the place. Another nice day yet again!

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Day five – Sumter National Forest, SC -> Fort George Inlet, FL

  By spinetrak | April 8, 2012 - 11:37 am | Images, USA
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We thought we found a paradise where we could stay for couple of days but at 9:00 pm last night, we were harassed by a very large local man with a trailer and his tiny, wordless, smoking wife. They had apparently reserved the spot by putting a broken chair and a broken cooler on a picnic table. We thought this garbage was left there by previous campers, and we were not going to move at this hour. They naturally called the police…

We thought ‘Oh no, as long as I manage not to curse at the sheriff, we are probably going to be ok.’ (Four years ago I got a ticket while camping at Harriman State Park in NJ, for saying ‘fucking fire’ and had to go to court to fight it…) And then we met the nicest sheriff ever – and he told us it’s ok to stay. And so the large man and his tiny wife with their big trailer moved on to a different area of the campground.

It was a beautiful spot. The kids took a swim in the lake earlier in the day. And you did not hear anything but birds chirping and kids laughing. We had a gourmet dinner of vegetable soup, grilled steak and asparagus and green salad with a bottle of red wine (which the sheriff luckily did not see). Then, after that minor war with the locals, we enjoyed the camp fire and a most beautiful full moon that was casting shadows of giant pines and was lighting the shimmering low fog above the perfectly still lake.

We were finally not cold at night, and I did not need a down jacket in the morning either. Now that we have warm breakfast I realized that Yelisei likes granola and we did not have it. It was very tragic. But he got over it. The morning was so beautiful that I was loving the packing as well as driving. I almost felt like apologizing to the large man, but I stopped myself.

Today we were going to go to the Okefenokee swamp in Georgia, but there was no campground around that looked promising. So we changed our plans and we are going to Jacksonville. FL instead. I don’t have high hopes for a tranquil campsite, but at least the boys will swim play in the sand.

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Day four – Uwharrie National Forest, NC -> Sumter National Forest, SC

  By spinetrak | April 7, 2012 - 1:34 pm | Family, Images, USA
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Someone was asking if we should make reservations at the campgrounds and I said NOOO!! Why would we?? Who goes camping in the sticks where we are going? We found out today that everybody goes! Especially on Easter weekend. Luckily, sometimes people don’t show up… Tonight we are going to South Carolina to a campground with only nine spots, hoping for an Easter miracle.

Last night was not too bad. Hot shower, and drinking water out of a faucet right next to our site in the Uwharrie National Forest, North Carolina. The unfortunate thing was that there seemed to be a monster truck convention nearby. As our site was by the entrance, we watched every model of off-road vehicle parade. Otherwise, it was better than yesterday, but still cold at night. We are just realizing that our expectations were way too optimistic. It did not click in my brain that if at night it is near 40 F, then winter sleeping bags are necessary. I guess it was wishful thinking. And I expected full on summer right outside of NJ.

But for now every 4hr drive south seems to gain us only 1C degree at night. The boys are troopers though! On Friday morning they spend 45 mins in the car warming up and Yelisei kept saying ‘Mama, aw!’ and showing me his red fingers. So I would warm them up with my breath. Only then we figured to turn on the car and blast the heat. Soon we realized that we also forgot to put gas into the tank, so we only have 1/4 left. But that was on Friday. Today everything was much better. Full tank of gas, only 10 mins car warm up. And for tomorrow we got oatmeal and milk, so we will have something warm for breakfast instead of cereal that we have ben having. At night we will put on our long johns and zip our bags together with Renzo. It has been only twice that we put up the tent but we are already talking how nice it would be to have an RV. No packing – just take off the breaks and go.

Also, we took our double stroller, which was unnecessary. The boys nap in the car and we just keep unpacking it and packing it back in. Generally the process of waking up, having breakfast, and packing is three to four hours. The same goes for unpacking. So the way we are set up now, we don’t have much time for anything else. But I was obsessed with the idea of camping along the way and with going south. But so far it has not been warm enough and almost all of our time is consumed by packing and unpacking and driving in between. Timofei has been asking to go to a zoo and I said that if we pass one then we will go. We passed five already and did not stop, because if we did, we would not make it to our next unpacking destination.

That said, it is now 75F and it is totally green and the sky is blue, the air is fresh and my family and I are happy!

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Day two – Harrisburg, PA -> George Washington National Forest, VA

  By spinetrak | April 5, 2012 - 6:32 am | USA
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So far so good. Mama! Horse! Mama! Cow! Mama! Helicopter! Mama! Tank! The Four Wonders of Pennsylvania. Slept in Motel 6 for $54 – can’t complain. Had rice and fish for breakfast that I had packed for dinner yesterday. Kinda not my favorite breakfast, but the kids did not complain and were fed. Then Starbucks for coffee, and off we go for another three hour drive. The boys are napping and I am searching for attractions at our next destination: George Washington National Forest, VA, Todd Lake campground.