On The Road

June / July, 2010

Quiet, Simple Living in Old Florida

From Florida's Gulf Coast beaches, we headed inland to Old Florida to regroup before resuming our travels. Small towns, orchards, cow pastures and strip mines replaced luxury residential developments, traffic congestion, beaches and marinas. Gone were the amenities and conveniences of city life. The pace slowed. Options dwindled. Quiet, simple living took hold.

By Rose Muenker

We decided to spend a month at an RV park near Bushnell (90 minutes north of Tampa) and, while there, experiment with dry camping. RVers typically stay in sites with full (electric, water and sewer) hookups. But adventures into remote locations, such as national forests and BLM lands, require the capability to be self-contained. We could wait until the need arose, or we could learn the ins and outs of dry camping in a place forgiving of mistakes. Our decision to dry camp here proved to be a smart choice. We discovered (when they went dead) how long our batteries last before needing to be recharged. We found out how much water we use for different needs (too much if we want to stay in a remote location very long). And we rediscovered how much we enjoy quiet evenings doing non-electronic activities: reading, puzzles, conversation.

Our own cypress swamp

The area for dry camping sat on the edge of a cypress swamp at the back of the RV Park. While others might cringe at the location, we reveled in its natural beauty. Songbirds trilled. Sunbeams danced among the shadows. White ibises strutted among the cypress trees, pecking morsels out of the dark water with their long pointed beaks.

A road, cow pasture and small ranch bordered the other sides of the RV park. The braying donkeys and mooing cattle perplexed our dog Sonya. Were these odd-looking creatures friends or foes? Even more puzzling to her were long-legged sandhill cranes that strutted among the RVs as if they owned the place.

Community of "gypsies"

On our strolls, we picked ripe oranges and grapefruit right off the trees. And we got acquainted with other campers. Most of them were staying through the winter to escape the North's cold. Some did sightseeing day trips or drove to Tampa for concerts and shows. But the majority spent their time reading, playing cards and billiards, and attending the park's social activities. With RVers staying more than a few nights, the park felt like a community.

During our conversations, we learned about "work camping," a popular RV lifestyle to supplement the budget. All ears, we listened to accounts of serving tables at national parks, doing office and grounds work at private RV parks and camp hosting at state parks. In exchange for their work, work campers get an RV site with full hookups or money or both. At an RV show in Tampa, David made several work camping contacts to pursue in the coming months.

Wonderful wildlife

While here, we had our first houseguest, a dear friend with a few days free between conferences in Tampa. Staying in our RV tickled her. It brought back fond childhood memories of family vacations in a motorhome, and she liked the rationing of resources that dry camping requires.

Eager for her to see Florida's endearing manatees, we spent a day at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park (homosassasprings.org).

An underwater viewing area made it possible to watch the resident manatees up close. They ate their meal of Romaine lettuce by using their tiny flippers to push the food toward their mouths and then grabbing it with their prehensile mouths. (Their closest relative is the elephant.) We could even see the fine hairs on their bodies and the individual nails on their flippers.

The park's colorful variety of birds mesmerized me. With mating season approaching, flamboyant flamingos preened and danced about. Here I could see the detailed features of many of the birds we have seen on our travels: roseate spoonbills, barred owls, bald eagles, whooping cranes, wood storks and more. The visit reinforced how wonderful it is to enjoy many of these species every day in our own "backyard."

Moving on

The next step on our RV travels became obvious when David landed a gig to photograph several Alabama state parks. After several weeks of dry camping, we looked forward to water and electricity on demand.

Before hitting the road, we took a final walk around the perimeter of the RV park, saying goodbye to newfound friends. Oddly, none of the animals that had become part of our daily life made an appearance. The donkeys didn't come up to the fence, the sandhill cranes didn't strut across the grass, and the cattle pasture was empty. Even the songbirds hid from view.

They seemed to be telling us not to look longingly at where we've been but to look at the road ahead. Countless new sights and sounds awaited us.

Rose and David Muenker, a travel writer-photographer team based in Denver, are traveling the roads of North America by motor coach. Read about their adventures in every issue of Out of Denver and on their blog davidandrose.com. Email them at DavidandRose.OTR@gmail.com.