James Island County Park

We stayed at the James Island County Park campground in Charleston, South Carolina. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice county park.

Dates:

Check in: 2025-03-16
Check out: 2025-03-23
7 nights

Weather:

A mix of rain and partly sunny
High temps 63-73°F, lows 45-54°F
Some wind, gusts to 33 MPH, but sheltered by trees

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
Little neighbor noise
Occasional plane noise

Site:

#29, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
Somewhat level site; high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 110 feet long by 12 feet wide
50 feet to neighbor on passenger side
25-50 feet to road on driver side
Tall trees between sites
Picnic table
Fire pit
Clean site
Elevation 10 feet, front facing NE

Utilities:

50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
75 PSI water, conveniently located
Unthreaded sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 50 Mbps down, 6-13 Mbps up, 30-45 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: 6 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 90-160 ms ping
T-Mobile: 13-23 Mbps down, 0.25 Mbps up, 70-130 ms ping
AT&T: 30-270 Mbps down, 0.1-0.3 Mbps up, 100-220 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 45 ms ping (our SIM has 5 Mbps max)

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters and recycling
Water park

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice park close to Charleston

This campground is in the middle of a large county park and close to everything Charleston offers. Our site was unlevel side-to-side, but not too bad. The tree cover made getting Starlink reception tricky but not impossible, and it was the best coverage of any of the cellular networks. The roads to the park were a bit dicey for a big rig–very narrow and with lots of big trees close to and over the road. We camped at Campground at James Island County Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

Park map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site, a very long pull-through amongst trees:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

Other sites; there was an Airstream rally going on, so there were a lot of them around:

Other sites

Games:

Games

Bathrooms with outside laundry:

Bathrooms with outside laundry

Bike hire:

Bike hire

A nice park. We’d be happy to stay here again.

Travel from Saint Marys, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina

We drove our coach 214 miles, about five hours of driving, from Saint Marys, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:

Route map

An interactive map:

Joining I-95 North:

Joining I-95 North

Bridge:

Bridge

Buc-ees under construction:

Buc-ees under construction

Rest area:

Rest area

Paladin on the driver chair:

Paladin on the driver chair

Rainy:

Rainy

Having a snack while watching the map showing lightning nearby:

Snack and lightning nearby

US Air Force plane outside an Air Force museum:

US Air Fore plane

Heavy traffic:

Heavy traffic

Welcome to South Carolina:

Welcome to South Carolina

Rest area:

Rest area

Charleston exit:

Charleston exit

Arriving at James Island County Park:

Arriving at James Island County Park

Check in:

Check in

Arriving at our site:

Arriving at our site

Driftwood Beach

We visited Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island in Georgia. When we think driftwood, we think logs, but this beach has whole trees.

An interactive map:

Driftwood Beach:

Driftwood Beach

An interesting place.

Crooked River State Park

We stayed at Crooked River State Park in Saint Marys, Georgia. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A pleasant stop on our way north.

Dates:

Check in: 2025-03-09
Check out: 2025-03-16
7 nights

Weather:

Partly sunny, some rain
High temps 62-76°F, lows 48-62°F
Some wind, gusts to 32 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
Little neighbor noise

Site:

#62, back-in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
Mostly level site; a little high on rear passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 70 feet long by 20 feet wide
30 feet to neighbor on passenger side
75 feet to road on driver side
Trees and shrubs between sites providing good privacy
Picnic table
Fire pit
Lantern hooks
Tall trees
Clean site
Elevation 20 feet, front facing due West

Utilities:

50 amp power, fairly conveniently located
45 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 28-38 Mbps down, 9-10 Mbps up, 32 ms ping
AT&T: 115-127 Mbps down, 13-20 Mbps up, 50-85 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 35 ms ping (our SIM has 5 Mbps max)
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
River

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Lovely state park

Not all campsites here have full hookups, but we were lucky enough to get a reservation for one. Our back-in site was plenty long enough for our 40-foot motorhome and tow vehicle. All the connections were good, and the campground hosts were on the ball, cleaning sites as soon as they were vacated. The campground is peaceful, with lots of nice, easy trails to enjoy. Note that the boardwalk has been removed from the loop behind the nature center, and we had to hop around some very large puddles to get around. Despite signs warning of snakes and gators, we saw neither, but we did see an armadillo, which was exciting as I’d never seen one that wasn’t roadkill. We camped at Crooked River State Park in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Jekyll Island (Driftwood Beach) and Fort Frederica National Monument are both worth a daytrip. Locals Dockside had excellent seafood, and historic St Marys is a cute little town.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

Pollen on our truck:

Pollen on our truck

Other sites:

Other sites

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

The first time we’ve seen a live armadillo:

The first time we've seen a live armadillo

Venomous snake country:

Venomous snake country

Little library:

Little library

Mini golf:

Mini golf

Cabins and screened picnic area:

Cabins and screened picnic area

Shelter building:

Shelter building

Dangerous cliff:

Dangerous cliff

A nice park; we’d be happy to stay here again.

Travel from Wauchula, Florida to Saint Marys, Georgia

We drove our coach 273 miles, about five hours of driving, from Wauchula, Florida to Saint Marys, Georgia.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:

Route map

An interactive map:

A tight corner leaving the campground, made more tricky by vehicles parked close to the road, but we didn’t have any difficulties:

Tight corner leaving campground

I-4 East:

I-4 East

Rest area:

Rest area

Heavy traffic and an RV on the side of the freeway:

Heavy traffic and RV on the side of the freeway

RV on the side of the freeway

Traffic cams with our coach:

Traffic cam with our coach

Passing downtown Orlando:

Downtown Orlando

I-95 North; we appreciate road markings on lanes to make it very clear where we need to be:

I-95 North

Snuggly Paladin:

Snuggly Paladin

Handy rest area truck parking spaces available sign:

Handy rest area truck parking space available sign

Rest area:

Rest area

I suspect they don’t want anyone parking there:

I suspect they don't want anyone parking there

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

$296.20 of diesel, before our discount:

$296.20 of diesel, before our discount

Rainy:

Rainy

The Napoleon Bonaparte Broward bridge aka Dames Point bridge in Jacksonville, lost in the clouds. Apparently some Floridians are scared of this bridge, because it’s so high (and Floridians aren’t used to high places, being such a flat state!):

Bridge lost in the clouds

Thank you for visiting Florida:

Thank you for visiting Florida

Welcome to Georgia, state of inconveniently-placed poles:

Welcome to Georgia

Sub outside Kings Bay Sub Base:

Sub outside Kings Bay Sub Base

Crooked River State Park:

Crooked River State Park

Our site:

Our site

Thousand Trails Peace River

We stayed at Thousand Trails Peace River in Wauchula, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

We had some concerns about staying here, based on reviews, but were pleasantly surprised.

Dates:

Check in: 2025-03-02
Check out: 2025-03-09
7 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny, a little rain
High temps 68-82°F, lows 43-63°F
A little wind, gusts to 25 MPH

Noise:

Negligible road noise
No train horn noise
A little neighbor noise

Site:

#C50, back-in, grass
Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
Very level site, surprisingly; used hydraulic leveling
Grass site about 55 feet long by 40 feet wide
Just grass between sites
Picnic table
Fire pit
Tall trees
Somewhat clean site; a bottle and a few other bits of trash (TT doesn’t clean sites)
Elevation 40 feet, front facing North

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
45 PSI water, conveniently located
No sewer connection; pump-out service available (one free per week, $15 for extra)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 10-26 Mbps down, 11-16 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
T-Mobile: 290 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
AT&T: 435 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool
River

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Better than expected

We were somewhat skeptical before our stay here since the reviews weren’t all that great, but we decided to try it anyway and were pleasantly surprised. There were sites available in the full-hookup section, but opted for a w/e-only site since they offer one free pump out per week. The full-hookup sites are smaller and at the front of the park, closer to the highway and noise. The sites closer to the river were much quieter and spread out, so the slight inconvenience of no sewer was a fair trade. Since the hurricane that blew through a few years ago, all sites have been upgraded to 50A (the previous lack of 50A was our main hesitation based on earlier reviews). The campground got a bit busier and noisier (up in the full-hookup section) on the weekend, but it was otherwise a peaceful stay. We camped at Thousand Trails Peace River in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site, in the non-sewer section; more spacious and quieter than the sewer section:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

A squirrel on our picnic table:

Squirrel

Towards the end of our stay the waste tanks were getting a little full:

Full waste tanks

We wanted to empty them for our travel day anyway, so we went to the office to schedule the free honeywagon pumpout; they gave us this sign to put in our window:

Honeywagon sign

The pumpout truck; quick and easy:

Waste pump

Aerial views of our site:

Aerial view of our site

And the campground; you can see the more tightly packed sewer sites closer to the road, and much more spacious non-sewer sites closer to the river:

Aerial view of campground

Aerial view of bridge

Office:

Office

Playground:

Playground

Pool:

Pool

Courts:

Courts

Walking path by the river:

Walking path by river

Bridge, river, kayak:

Bridge, river, kayak

Kayak on the river:

Kayak on the river

There are a couple of dump stations, but on the wrong side of the road for non-sewer sites to use when leaving, weirdly (without looping around):

Dump station

Cabins:

Cabins

Other sites:

Other sites

As I said, we were pleasantly surprised. We’d be happy to stay here again.

Travel from Clermont to Wauchula, Florida

We drove our coach 68 miles, about 1.5 hours of driving, from Clermont to Wauchula, Florida.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading south (though we actually took the route closer to Lakeland):

Route map

An interactive map, showing our actual route:

Pulling out of our site:

Pulling out of our site

Line to leave TTO:

Line to leave TTO

A gate ranger collecting site tags:

Ranger collecting site tags

Can only turn right out of TTO, so we needed to do a U-turn to head south; we’d done it before, so know it’s easy for us:

Preparing to do U-turn

Another RV doing the U-turn:

Another RV doing the U-turn

Us doing the U-turn; doesn’t look like it here, but there was heaps of room, didn’t even need to go into the bike lane:

Us doing the U-turn; easy

Passing an accident:

Accident

I-4 West:

I-4 West

Route 570 toll road:

Route 570 toll road

Route 98 South:

Route 98 South

Turn:

Turn

17 / 98 South:

17 / 98 South

Paladin on the dash:

Paladin on the dash

An interesting building in Bowling Green:

An interesting building in Bowling Green

Arriving at Thousnd Trails Peace River:

Arriving at Thousnd Trails Peace River

Check in line:

Check in line

Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort

We stayed at Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort in Clermont, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A fourth visit to TTO, the flagship Thousand Trails park. The second of two stays here this year, totaling five weeks, separated by a week in the Disney bubble.

Dates:

Check in: 2025-02-16
Check out: 2025-03-02
14 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny, a few rainy days
High temps 62-82°F, lows 38-61°F
Occasional wind, gusts to 31 MPH

Noise:

A little road noise
No train horn noise
Little neighbor noise
Distant fireworks from Disney most evenings

Site:

#6 Hurricane Road, back-in, concrete
Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
A little unlevel site; a little high on passenger side and front; used hydraulic leveling
Concrete driveway about 60 feet long by 12 feet wide
18 feet to neighbor on passenger side (a mobile home)
35 feet to neighbor on driver side
Just grass between sites
Picnic table on 22 by 10 feet concrete patio
Some shrubs
A bunch of small trash on site
Elevation 120 feet, front facing West

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
40 PSI water, conveniently located
Unthreaded sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 135-165 Mbps down, 16-20 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
T-Mobile: 50-67 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
AT&T: 26-49 Mbps down, 3-11 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters only in a central location
Package delivery to office, for $5 per package (we got a local mailbox)
Pools

See our previous stays here for our review on Campground Reviews.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

Birds and other sites:

Birds

Bird

Other sites

We still enjoy TTO, and will no doubt stay here again next time we’re in Orlando, whenever that may be.

Travel from Disney World to Clermont, Florida

We drove our coach just 26 miles, about half an hour of driving (plus killing a little time at a Love’s truck stop), from Disney World to Clermont, Florida.

It’s a little awkward, as check out time from Fort Wilderness is 11:00, and check in at TTO is noon (very strictly enforced), but the drive time between the two is only about half an hour. We considered waiting for a bit in the overflow area at Fort Wilderness, but it was full. We also considered going to a rest area to kill some time, but we noticed a Love’s truck stop on the way, and figured we could spend some time there. Love’s doesn’t usually have parking that works for us, but what with a long time to get through the intersection and a few minutes at the pump, it used up enough time.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:

Map

An interactive map:

Toading up on the way out of the campground:

Toading up

Leaving Disney World (how sad):

Leaving Disney World

Exit to I-4 East:

Exit to I-4 East

Disney-shaped power pylon:

Disney-shaped power pylon

Love’s truck stop:

Love's

Joining the very long line to enter TTO; this was at 12:07 on a Sunday:

Joining line to enter TTO

Almost to the entrance, at 12:18:

Almost to the entrance

Finally on the entrance road, at 12:20:

Entrance road

We knew it’d take a long time to get in, so I made some lunch while we inched forward:

Making lunch in the line

Paladin on the dash:

Paladin on the dash

Welcome:

Welcome

Almost to the entrance gate, at 12:54:

Entrance gate

But wait, there’s more: joining the line to get a site, at 12:56:

Line to get a site

People watching the line:

People watching the line

Almost to the front of the line, at 13:22; I waited in the truck after we untoaded:

Almost to the front of the line

Getting guided to our site, at 13:36:

Getting guided to our site

So yeah, arriving shortly after noon on a Sunday, finally getting to our site an hour and a half later. One day we’ll learn and arrive mid-week, when it isn’t so busy, though we prefer to travel on weekends to avoid impacting Jenn’s work.

Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground

We stayed at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground within Walt Disney World, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A magical campground within the Disney World bubble.

Dates:

Check in: 2025-02-09
Check out: 2025-02-16
7 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy
High temps 79-87°F, lows 59-66°F
Little wind, gusts to 20 MPH, but sheltered

Noise:

A little road noise (including bus on main road)
No train horn noise
A little neighbor noise (kids)
Fireworks most nights

Site:

#555, back-in, concrete
Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
Level site; used hydraulic leveling
Concrete driveway about 55 feet long by 25 feet wide
30 feet to neighbors on both sides
Trees between sites
Picnic table
Fire pit
Tall trees
Clean site
Elevation 100 feet, front facing West

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
75 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (2 2-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 230-300 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 15-35 ms ping
AT&T: 155 Mbps down, 32-55 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Pools
Garbage bin near site
Golf cart rental
Boats and buses to Disney World parks

See our previous stay here for our review on Campground Reviews.

Campground map:

Map

Another map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site, with our rental golf cart out front:

Our site

Not quite as long as the site we had last time, but there was room to hang off the back of the pad:

Our site

Convenient utilities:

Utilities

We rented a golf cart, and decorated it a bit to be festive, and to be able to identify it in golf parking lots:

Golf cart

Solar-rechargeable lights at night:

Golf cart

Other nearby sites in our loop:

Other sites

A squirrel trying to get into a box left on a neighbor site:

Squirrel

Horse-drawn carriage ride:

Horse-drawn carriage

A bus stop near our loop, that we used to pick up our golf cart:

Bus stop near our loop

We could have used the shuttle bus to get from one end of the campground to the other instead of getting a golf cart, but the cart was more convenient:

Shuttle bus

Playground over the road from our site; not as annoying as the basketball court we had next to us last time:

Playground over the road from our site

Golf cart parking:

Golf cart parking

Meadow Swimmin’ Pool:

Meadow Swimmin' Pool

Meadow Snack Bar near the pool:

Meadow Snack Bar

Meadow Trading Post:

Meadow Trading Post

Definitely the best place to stay when visiting Disney World.

Sinclair Trails

The travels of David and Jennifer Sinclair, full-timing in their Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP motorhome.

map

James Island County Park

Travel from Saint Marys, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina

Driftwood Beach

Crooked River State Park

Travel from Wauchula, Florida to Saint Marys, Georgia

Thousand Trails Peace River

Travel from Clermont to Wauchula, Florida

Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort

Travel from Disney World to Clermont, Florida

Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground