MS, AL, GA In 3 Days, Then Winter In Florida!

The email said in bold announcement: don’t come to Davis Bayou Campground until after 2:00pm! So here is the deal…with check out time in Louisiana, 90 or so miles drive, and check in time in Mississippi, we had a lot of time to kill. So the other day I looked at a map to see what there was along the way to see. I needed to make sure there was a place big enough to get HOWE (footnote 1) in and out as this was a Travel Day. Then I thought of Harvest Host – those are businesses that obviously have parking for RVs.

Walkways Made Of Shells, Jefferson Davis Presidential Library & Museum, Biloxi, MS 12/23

So I looked around and found The Jefferson Davis Presidential Library & Museum. What? Oh yes, we must go. (He was the one and only president of the confederate states.) This place is also called Beauvoir and is in Biloxi, Mississippi. It is where Davis last lived but was owned by someone else. Behind the house and buildings was later built a confederate veterans home, 1903-1956, with a cemetery out back. There was a film about it, with no captions or script for deaf! Fail! 

Interesting to see along this area, such as Gulfport Beach, there are pilings in the water but no buildings. Must have come down in a hurricane and not rebuilt. Quite a few, we see. Also, no waves! Why is that? I googled it and learned there because of the barrier islands and it is shallow there is no waves in Biloxi.

Weird: I saw online that the check in time at Wilderness RV Park, Robertsdale, Alabama, is 9:00am but the check out time is noon. How can that be? What if someone is in your site until noon but you are there at 9:00am? Kevin called and left a message. He tried again and no answer. Finally he got ahold of someone who confirmed the times. Is it a concern when you see the sign “rest area; security provided”? We saw that along the route this day several places. In Moss Point, Mississippi, we saw a guy in a flat bottom boat in the swamps. In Mobile, Alabama, we went through a tunnel that goes under the water. It is 40 ft below water and 3000 ft long. Garmin said we were -22ft (22 ft below sea level) through the tunnel. Saw quite a few cranes for large ships. We weren’t impressed with Wilderness RV Park at all; probably our 2nd least favorite. Glad we were there only one night. We don’t recommend it.

One Of Our Favorite Campgrounds! Eastbank Campground, Bainbridge, GA 12/23

Eastbank Campground, Bainbridge, Georgia: check in is at 4:00 Eastern time so we hung around Wilderness RV Park in the morning. The scenery along I-10 is the same as the “south swamp states” as I just named Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. HAHA We have been pleasantly surprised how nice, how really great and smooth, I-10 has been since we got on in eastern Texas. We heard it is a bad road but if that is “bad” we are in good shape. HA We figure maybe it is bad east of here or in Texas west. Don’t know but we are thankful it has been so smooth. Kevin laughed when we saw where Eastbank Campground is….right over the Georgia line. Well, I said, we need the sticker! LOL (Remember Kevin’s rule: HOWE has to stay the night in a state before we can put the state on our sticker map.)

View From Our Campsite, Eastbank Campground, Bainbridge, GA 12/23

This is a Corp of Engineers campground and is on Lake Seminole. Just down a little ways we see the dam and the small power plant. This lake has 365 miles of shoreline. Our site…couldn’t be better. I had picked A4 and yes, literally backs up to the water. Open space, huge site, green grass, ya got to see the pictures! We got set up and then sat in our chairs along the rocks and lake. We face west and the sunset was breathtaking. So thankful!

View From Our Campsite! Eastbank Campground, Bainbridge, GA 12/23

The next day, midday, we took a walk around our loop of the campground. So many nice people. One couple stopped us and we had a great visit. They are retired, full-time, and from North Carolina. They have a big telescope set up and computers and monitors covered in a clear dome tent like thing. That is to keep them warm. They have a space heater in there, too. They invited us back in the evening to have a look through it. You don’t have to look through the tiny telescope eye piece because it is on the big computer monitor. Fun! That evening it was pitch dark out and our new friends were in the tented-dome with the computers and monitors. It was incredible to see the telescope on the screen. Very powerful and he has amazing pictures that have lots layers. I gave them a tin of hot chocolate mix. The next day they brought us catfish, all filleted, that they had just caught. Very sweet of them.

I Am In HOWE, Taking A Picture, Seeing Kevin, Watching People In A Boat, Eastbank Campground, Bainbridge, GA 12/23

At 11:00am we headed south, through the country roads (only way) to the town of Wewahitchka, Florida to meet up with some full-time traveling friends We met them last year at full-time travelers event in Lake Havasu, Arizona. This is 1/2 way between us, and hour away. Our drive didn’t have the usually town every 7-10 miles, we noticed. Had a great visit with them and get to know them better. As we headed home (footnote 2) afterwards, we laughed at how funny the drive home always seems faster.

Line In Front Of Us At Check In Time, Thousand Trails Orlando, Clermont, FL 12/23

Oh, we were sure sad to leave Eastbank Campground in Bainbridge, Georgia. We were there 4 nights. So beautiful there on the lake and huge campsites. But we were also excited to get HOWE on down the road to Florida. Our campground is Thousand Trails Orlando in Clermont, Florida. We can see Disney World’s fireworks from here every night.

Showcase Of Citrus, Clermont, FL 12/23

After getting set up, we drove to Showcase Of Citrus. Parking was easy along the road and then a short walk passed different animals, including kangaroos! They have 3 food trucks and we planned to eat a late lunch here. We picked cajun sandwich and a cajun sampler. The flavors are delicious! Yes, we like cajun now. Don’t think we had tasted it before. We sat in the huge open-sided “barn” at a table and ate while listening to karaoke. This place has a lot of activities. We went to the country store to got our bag. Hopped on a wagon that took us a little way into an orchard. We picked pineapple oranges. We learned some neat things: this farm is 2400 acres, 40 varieties of citrus, and Florida’s Natural gets 20% of their fruit from this farm. We also picked a few lemons. There is just something about picking your own fruit that excites me. Not like vegetables, but maybe because I haven’t seen lemon and orange trees. I don’t know. But other people have said the same thing.

As we went home, Kevin could hear the fruit rolling around on the flour behind me. Some came out of the bag and one even ended up in the pocket in the door. Too funny!

Winter around the state of Florida sounds pretty nice, sunny, and warm. ☀️

1. “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country.

2. “Home” is where we park it. Home is our 2022 Alliance Avenue, 36 ft, 5th wheel