Following a short family visit in Monroe GA, I finally headed south. Weather and camper repairs delayed departure by a couple weeks, so the rapidly warming temperatures and advancing calendar dictate that this particular incursion into the state of Florida be shortened. The turn-around point will be St. Petersburg; exploration of the Keys will have to wait for another time.
My intention of “no plans is a good plan” was shown to be problematic by my pre-launch experimental trip to Fort Yargo State Park. A chat with the ranger there revealed that since the advent of Internet reservation systems for public campgrounds, many of the state parks are fully booked on the weekends months in advance. Sunday through Thursday there are still plenty of campsites available, but you are likely to get kicked out on Friday in favor of a reservation. This changes the game somewhat for me, so I will be attempting a bit more advance planning to avoid having to resort to Walmart parking lots. Commercial campgrounds, boondocking on public lands and lesser-known parks run by local government and the Corps of Engineers are options for weekend coverage when reservations can’t be made – a situation I anticipate encountering once the summer vacation season begins.
The first stop of the Spring 2018 Southbound leg was just west of Cordele GA. This is home to the Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park, where my friends at Coral Hospitality manage the lodge and golf course here situated on the shores of Lake Blackshear. It’s a beautify park with immaculate, widely spaced RV sites. The list of amenities includes cable TV hookups at each campsite and laundy machines in the comfort stations, both rare for a state park. I arrived on a Tuesday and had no problem getting a site on a nearly empty back loop, but I had to be out on Friday when the weekends rolled in. I was able to make a weekend reservation for May at the office however, a strategy I may use in the future when I happen to be retracing my route.
A neat feature of this park is the small military museum honoring Georgian veterans, and a fairly large outdoor display of ordinance. The pieces in the collection are not in the best condition – basically yard ornament grade stuff like you see in front of VFW halls. You can get up close and touch them however, so it was a fine opportunity for an artillery and tank nut like myself to geek out examining the engineering details of the old iron. Naturally I took a bunch of snapshots!
After my short stay I decided this park was definitely worth repeat visits, and plan to return here next month while I explore Jimmy Carter’s backyard and hopefully meet the ex-President at church. From here I cross into North central Florida, where the forecast is for sunshine and 80 degrees!
Happy trails,
-GF
Camp local!
I like it….