Our Itinerary (Part 1)

Last night I started making reservations at the various campgrounds where we will be staying beginning next week through the end of January. I’ve posted our itinerary for our first couple months on the road below. Unfortunately, I had to change our itinerary a bit.

The first change was also the most painful. During the week of January 14 we were planning on staying at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo, FL. We were looking forward to our stay because we were all going to get the chance to go snorkeling and the kids were going to take a class up the road at Biscayne National Park.

Unfortunately, John Pennekamp is completely full that week (in fact, most weeks during the winter), so we had to find another place to stay. Luckily, I was able to find an open space at the Flamingo Campground in the Everglades National Park. I haven’t had enough time to check into all of the things that are offered at Everglades National Park yet, but I know we’ll be able to go kayaking and fishing. We also could just use the park as a base camp, but the campground is so deep in the park (over 30 miles from the entrance) that going anywhere will be quite a drive.

The other change we had to make was moving from Myakka River State Park in Sarasota, FL to Little Manatee River State Park in Wimauma, FL (between Bradenton and Tampa). Myakka River State Park was filled up during the week of January 21. The worst part about the move is that we will be further away from our niece, Danielle, who goes to school at Ringling College in Sarasota. Thankfully, we will still be able to drive into Sarasota without too much hardship, but it would have been nice to be closer to Danielle.

We are really down to crunch time now. Only eight more days until we start heading south. We have a ton of stuff to pack up and move into storage and we have precious little time to do it. I’m confident that we’ll get everything done in time to hit the road on November 19, but I’m not looking forward to moving all of our stuff.

Here’s our itinerary for the first two-and-a-half months of our adventure:

Week of November 19 – We will be starting our journey by visiting my brother Mike (as opposed to Kim’s brother Mike) in Wedron, IL. Mike is a cook and he claims he has come up with the best tasting pizza sauce known to man. He is going to cook up a pizza for us so we can judge for ourselves. We hope to make it to Springfield, IL by the end of the day on the 19th. We’ll be staying at Sangchris Lake State Park and will be visiting the Lincoln sites. Then we’ll be heading back north to East Peoria where we’ll be spending Thanksgiving with Kim’s family (including her brother Mike).

Week of November 26 – On Monday we’ll be making our way to Cedars of Lebanon State Park in Lebanon, TN. During the week we’ll be visiting with our friends Jerry and Caryl (as opposed to Kim’s parents Jerry and Carol). We’ll be checking out the Christmas decorations at the Opryland Hotel, we’ll be visiting the country Music Hall of Fame, and we plan on taking something called the NashTrash Tour of Nashville. It is supposed to be hilarious. The thing I’m looking forward to the most is attending a concert at the world famous Bluebird Café.

Week of December 3 – We’ll be staying at Oak Mountain State Park in Pelham, AL. The park will be our home base for visiting Huntsville (US Space and Rocket Center, Earlyworks Hands-on History Museum), Birmingham (Southern Museum of Flight, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute), and Montgomery (Rosa Parks Library & Museum, Civil Rights Memorial, W.A. Gayle Planetarium). While we are in Birmingham, we are going to hook up with our friends Neil & Gail Wallace at Area 41 Pizza Company. It’s supposed to be real good.

Week of December 10 – Our home for the week will be the campground at Stone Mountain near Atlanta. This is one of the few private campgrounds we’ll be staying in (and paying through the nose for the privilege). This week we’ll be spending time at Stone Mountain Amusement Park as well as visiting the World of Coca-Cola, the Jimmy Carter Presidential Center and Library, and Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. In addition, well be visiting with our friends Randy Pobst and Kevin & Jackie Walsh.

Week of December 17 through January 13 – We will be spending the time around Christmas and New Year’s with my parents in Port St. Lucie, FL. We have a lot of things planned for our time with my parents including visiting with our many friends in the area. We also hope to try some pizza places we’ve never tried before and maybe catch some live music.

Week of January 14 – We’ll be staying in the Everglades National Park. The week will be filled with fishing, canoeing, and other fun stuff. I still need to do a little research to find out what is available in and around the park.

Week of January 21 – Little Manatee River State Park in Wimuama, FL will be our home base for the week. We are going to visit our niece, Danielle, and tour the campus of her school, Ringling College. We’ll also be visiting the Ringling Circus Museum, the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, and the Pelican Man Bird Sanctuary.

Week of January 28 – We’ll be staying at Cedar Key Sunset Isle RV Park, another private campground. Cedar Key bills itself as being what Florida used to be like. This will be a rather relaxed week of kayaking, fishing, and visiting some of the state parks in the area, including the Cedar Key National Wildlife Refuge).

Beginning in February we will continue our journey through Pensacola, New Orleans, several stops in Texas, and then continue heading west. More on that later . . .