A two-part video, with the route and photos, then a timelapse, of riding around Long Pine Key Campground within Everglades National Park.
Author: David
Long Pine Key Campground, Everglades National Park
We stayed at Long Pine Key Campground within Everglades National Park, in Homestead, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A basic no-hookups campground within the national park. A little short for our coach, but we made it work.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-01-21
- Check out: 2024-02-02
- 12 nights
- We were going to stay 14 nights, but left early to avoid some nasty travel day weather
Weather:
- Mostly cloudy
- High temps ranging between 69-84°F, lows around 48-70°F
- Little wind, gusts to 23 MPH, fairly sheltered by trees
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train noise
- Negligible neighbor noise
- Generators during the day
Site:
- #6, back in, asphalt
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
- A little unlevel, high on right and front; used hydraulic leveling
- Asphalt driveway about 36 feet long by about 10 feet wide; had to back into shrubs
- Passenger side grass to hedge of trees between site about 30 feet
- Driver side grass to road wedge-shaped, maximum about 30 feet
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
- Clean site
Utilities:
- No hookups
- Used generator and solar for power
- Used water bladder and pump to refill fresh water tank
- Used dump tote and macerator to empty gray and black tanks
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 45-60 Mbps down, 16-22 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
- AT&T: 145 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
- Verizon: 25-41 Mbps down, 20-27 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
- T-Mobile: 3 Mbps down, 35 Mbps up, 37-437 ms ping
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- In Everglades National Park
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Basic campground in the heart of Everglades NP
Pros: Beautiful, large, private sites within the national park.
Cons: Most sites much shorter than listed and facing the wrong way depending on your configuration (motorhome or trailer) so you have to think creatively to get orientated.
Neutral: No hookups of any kind, so be prepared. We camped at Long Pine Key Campground in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Not really long enough for our coach:
I got my bike out, for the first time in months (we sold Jenn’s a while ago):
A path to the nearby bathroom block:
Dish washing sink:
Inside the men’s bathroom:
We were staying inside Everglades National Park, and did a sailing trip in Biscayne National Park (posts coming on those in the next couple of days), so we added those stickers to our coach:
A snake on the road:
Entrance and dumpsters:
Info sign:
There were some solar-heated showers:
An interesting way to park a coach; perhaps a bit against the rules, but a good solution to cope with the sites being too short for big motorhomes:
Other sites:
Tent sites:
The campground had a path to an amphitheater, where they did ranger talks (with my bike in the foreground):
The Long Pine Key lake:
A nice campground, despite the lack of hookups. We’d be happy to stay here again.
Video: Clermont to Homestead, Florida motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 289 miles from Thousand Trails Orlando in Clermont, Florida to Everglades National Park in Homestead, Florida, including a picture-in-picture from the 360 camera on the truck being towed behind the coach.
Travel from Clermont to Homestead, Florida
We drove our coach 289 miles, about 5 hours of driving, from Thousand Trails Orlando in Clermont, Florida to Everglades National Park in Homestead, Florida.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading south along Florida’s Turnpike:
An interactive map, showing potential stops:
Leaving TTO:
Toll plaza:
Sinclair Road:
Toll plaza:
Entering the Florida’s Turnpike toll freeway:
Service plaza rest stop:
Our coach in traffic cams:
Service plaza lunch stop:
Earl of Sandwich; it was a very nice sandwich:
We bought and activated a Sun Pass toll transponder for our truck:
Another traffic cam shot:
Florida’s Turnpike:
Fuel stop, alongside another Tiffin Allegro Bus (slightly newer):
Hard Rock guitar building:
End of the turnpike:
Entering Everglades National Park:
The entrance station, with a lot of traffic (other times we went through only had one or two cars):
The ranger in the booth loved seeing Paladin on the dash:
The turn to the Long Pine Key campground:
Campground entrance:
Our site:
Roof AC inspection
Another thing we did in Red Bay was get a couple of our roof AC units looked at, as the rear and mid ones were not performing well. The units were apparently fine, but they cleared out some debris from the ducting, which solved the issue; they’re working much better now.
We did this at Bunkhouse Conversion:
They had an excellent way to get onto the roof; no dealing with ladders, they used a cherry picker truck as an elevator:
A quick and easy appointment, but well worthwhile.
Universal Studios Florida Theme Park
On the other two days, we visited the Universal Studios Florida Theme Park.
The Simpsons characters:
Spongebob Storepants:
Jenn in a pineapple under the sea:
Coming soon:
Springfield:
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter:
Knight Bus:
Diagon Alley:
San Francisco:
New York:
On another day, we started at Starbucks for some coffee:
The Brown Derby Hat Shop:
Beverly Hills:
Kings Cross Station:
Diagon Alley:
We did the Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts ride:
Frozen butterbeer:
Diagon Alley dragon:
Back to the Future:
Finally, we got some Voodoo Doughnuts on the way out:
More fun stuff. We’re not so interested in Universal properties, other than Harry Potter, so we basically went to the parks just for that, but enjoyed exploring the other areas too.
Universal Islands of Adventure Theme Park
While staying in the Orlando area, we spent four days at two of the Universal theme parks. Two of the days were at Universal Islands of Adventure Theme Park.
Hogsmeade:
We enjoy the Butterbeer there:
We did the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride:
We checked out many of the shops, and bought a few souvenirs, including some sweet stuff from Honeydukes:
Dinosaur selfie:
Comic area:
Leaving Islands of Adventure at night:
Another day, we started out with cheese curds and margaritas at Margaritaville:
Then went on the Hulk roller coaster, which was the first time we’ve both ever been on a real roller coaster, with inversions and everything. We survived!
Then we went on a much more gentle ride, Storm Force Accelatron:
A Hulk popcorn snack:
Spiderman ride:
And Skull Island: Reign of Kong:
Natural Selections for another snack:
Hogsmeade:
We were going to go on the Flight of the Hippogriff ride, but they had a major delay, so we bailed:
Time for more butterbeer:
Cat in the Hat and Things:
Hat:
Finally, we enjoyed some Green Eggs and Ham:
Fun times. Tomorrow, the other Universal park.
Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort
We stayed at Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort in Clermont, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)
TTO (as it’s commonly called) is the flagship Thousand Trails park, with over a thousand sites.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-01-07
- Check out: 2024-01-21
- 14 nights
Weather:
- Mostly cloudy, some rain, mostly drizzle
- High temps ranging between 63-80°F, lows around 35-65°F
- A little wind, gusts to 38 MPH
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train noise
- Some neighbor noise, dogs and kids
- Distant fireworks from Disney some evenings
Site:
- #178, back in, asphalt
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
- Rather unlevel, high on right and front; used hydraulic leveling
- Asphalt driveway about 50 feet long by about 18 feet wide
- Passenger side to next site’s driveway about 10 feet
- Driver side to next site’s driveway about 20 feet
- No picnic table (but apparently available upon request)
- No fire pit
- Steep drop-off next to rear of site
- Mostly clean site
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, very inconveniently located; needed to use my extension cord
- 75 PSI water, inconveniently located
- Loose sewer connection, inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 47 Mbps down, 6-14 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
- T-Mobile: 24-30 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
- AT&T: 1 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
- Verizon: 2 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters only in a central location
- Package delivery to office, for $5 per package (we got a local mailbox)
Our review on Campground Reviews:
The flagship Thousand Trails park
It’s good to know what’s what before showing up at TTO. Half the park is older, with rundown pads and a kind of state park feel, and half the park is newer, like a perfectly manicured RV resort. And if you’re used to the usual Thousand Trails “first come first served” rigamarole, you might be confused by how they do things here. I prefer the orderly check-in process with the rangers knowing what sites are available and guiding you to what’s there. This place is so huge, that you’d be crawling the lanes for hours before finding one on your own. I hate having to find a place at other TT parks. Our site was on the “older” side of the park, backed up to some trees, which was nice. There was a bit of a drop-off at the end of our pad, but it was long enough for our 40′ coach, and we were able to park our truck on the grass alongside it. It was kind of downhill in a hollow, so cell reception was not great but Starlink was just fine. We camped at Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
A rather steep drop-off:
I needed to use my power extension cord for the first time ever (other than at Mom’s):
I had fun tossing a ball for this very good boy whenever I went to top up our water tank or dump our waste tanks:
The nearby bathrooms were closed the entire time, but they had portapotties for the few people who needed them (and I did use one once, as we sanitized our fresh water tank while here):
There were a few big storms that rolled through; here are a couple of screenshots of one (with a potential tornado southwest of us!):
Big checkers board:
Rec center:
Mail info; they charge $5 per package, and suggest alternatives:
Group fire pit:
Mini golf:
Pickleball courts:
Boat launch:
Hibiscus flower:
Tortoise:
Grasshopper:
A large crane-like bird:
There were several that roamed the grounds:
Other sites:
One section has buddy sites:
A massive campground. We’ve already been back again since this, and no doubt will be back more times in the future.
Video: Carrabelle to Clermont, Florida motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 283 miles from Carrabelle, Florida to Clermont, Florida, including a picture-in-picture from the 360 camera on the truck being towed behind the coach.
Travel from Carrabelle to Clermont, Florida
We drove our coach 263 miles, about 5 hours of driving, from Carrabelle, Florida to Clermont, Florida. Our first travel day of 2024.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading southeast:
An interactive map, with possible stops:
We pulled our coach out to toad up:
Bye beach:
Look out birds; you can come back to your tasty roadkill after we go by:
We stopped in front of a gas station for lunch:
Gas station lunch; not ideal, but not bad:
Joining I-75:
A traffic cam, showing our coach:
A rest area stop:
Joining Florida’s Turnpike toll road:
The Villages:
“Florida’s Turnpike, The Less Stressway” (maybe if they improved the road surface a bit):
Another traffic cam:
Toll at the exit; our Freedom Pass transponder worked:
Arriving at our destination, Thousand Trails Orlando:
Normally in Thousand Trails parks you roam around to pick your own site, but TTO is different; they have people guide you to a site. We were directed to this parking lot to await a guide:
Guided to site:
Arriving at our site:
Not ideal, but nice to not have anyone behind us:
