We decided that we needed to stay on the East Coast until after Josh’s Bar Mitzvah. This meant going to Florida, if we were to have any hope of finding warm weather. It also provides us with the opportunity to visit Carol’s brother and sister-in-law in St Petersburg. Having decided that we searched for a nice place to stay near them and between our magazines and the RV.net forum we decided to stay in Ft Desoto. This is a campground that has ratings varying from excellent to dreadful. Reading the individual reviews leads me to believe it will be fine for us. We will know tomorrow.

But first we have to get there. We rolled out of Hungrytown Hollow mid Sunday morning. Our goal was to continue until it got dark or we got tired and we found someplace to stop. The route was easy, south on US 29 to I 85 to I 77. The roads were clear and with nothing to cause us to pause we soon were entering Columbia, Sc with the sun beginning to set and a Flying J in the offing. We pulled in to top off the propane tank and empty our holding tanks which we had not emptied since arriving at Dan and Malena’s. As we surveyed the parking area it did not look very welcoming so we asked about the nearest WalMart along our route and found that was one “just off the highway.” Five miles of “just off the highway” brought us to a WalMart in a fairly congested area. There were no RVs in the parking lot, not a good sign. I decided that since we were the first I had best ask the manager for permission. The surly customer service person said they didn’t permit it, but she would ask the manager anyhow. Within a matter of minutes the manager granted us permission and we did our shopping and retired to dinner and a good night’s rest. So far we had not stayed in a campground this trip and we were out seven days.

We left Columbia on I 77 which brought us to I 26 which brought us eventually to I 95. At this point I could see that we would make St Augustine with plenty of daylight. We called ahead to Pepper Tree RV Resort in A1A about five miles south of St Augustine. A quick review, it has 17 rental sites scattered among many park models. The sites are tight, but level and acceptable. For a two night stay when amenities were of no interest at all and a 50% off Passport America deal, who could complain? If passing though and needing a few nights rest, I would stay there again. If I were looking for a fancy resort with plenty of things to do on site, this would be my very last choice.

The first thing I did was wash Gee 2, it needed it. Then I washed me and we went to town to see about dinner. After checking out every restaurant within walking distance of where we parked, at least twice, we walked into the nicest surprise that can be found. The Columbia serves a Spanish menu mixed with Cuban and it is excellent and the price was not exorbitant (that become relative having dined in New York City recently). We finished a bottle of superb wine between us and made it home safely. The next day we did the tourist thing with a couple of hours at the Alligator Farm and other tourist wanderings. We had lunch in town and returned to Gee 2 for a modest repast from our own larder for dinner.

To be continued. . .