Travel from Carrabelle to Dunnellon, Florida

We drove our coach 203 miles, about four hours of driving, from Carrabelle to Dunnellon, Florida.

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

Route

An interactive map, with potential stops marked (we actually only stopped once, at Rocky’s 98):

Toading up at Ho-Hum RV Park; we miss that view:

Toading up at Ho-Hum RV Park

Why does their bear sign look like a polar bear?

Why does their bear sign look like a polar bear?

Goodbye Gulf Coast:

Goodbye Gulf Coast

Lunch stop at Rocky’s 98 gas station:

Rocky's

They had convenient big-rig-sized parking:

Convenient parking

A kitchen with various food options:

Food options

We just grabbed some super-healthy stuff for lunch (and fudge for dessert later):

Lunch

Paladin on the dash:

Paladin on the dash

Turning right in Perry:

Turning right in Perry

Paladin was feeling very snuggly on this trip:

Snuggly Paladin

Snuggly Paladin

Snuggly Paladin

Snuggly Paladin

Snuggly Paladin

“Follow That Dream Parkway”:

Follow That Dream Parkway

Arriving at Rainbow Springs State Park; we had to wait for several minutes for another RV blocking the entrance, presumably because they didn’t have the gate code; this park is unusual in that you need a code to get in even before checking in, which they provide via email beforehand:

Rainbow Springs State Park

Check in parking:

Check in parking

Office:

Office

Our site:

Our site

Custom desk tweaks

While in Red Bay we got Cody Poores of Cody’s Custom Cabinets to do a few tweaks to the custom desk he previously built for us.

As a reminder, here’s the pull-out desktop he originally built. It was fine, but had a few things that bothered me:

Old desktop

Firstly, the front edge was flush with the cabinet below, making it harder to open, which also meant that when it was extended the desk chair would have to be on the edge of the carpet. Secondly, the ends of the sliders were exposed, which was untidy. Thirdly, the piece of Corian next to the desktop didn’t match the height of the others:

Old desktop

And lastly, the desktop was sloped towards the back:

Old desktop

He removed the old desktop and side piece, and had new ones made:

Removed desktop

The new desktop addresses all of those issues — it extends four inches in front of the cabinet, so is easier to pull out and the chair doesn’t have to go onto the slide carpet; it has a wider front to hide the slides, it isn’t angled, and it has a lip on the back to prevent things falling into the monitor lift area:

New desktop

Plus the piece to the right of the desktop now also matches better:

New desktop

The desk in use, with the monitor raised:

Desk

Much nicer.

Ho-Hum RV Park

We stayed at Ho-Hum RV Park in Carrabelle, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our second stay here, again over the holidays. Still one of our favorite RV parks.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2024-12-22
  • Check out: 2025-01-12
  • 21 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny, some drizzle
  • High temps 50-69°F, lows 33-62°F
  • Some windy days, gusts to 39 MPH

Noise:

  • Some highway noise
  • No train horn noise
  • Some neighbor noise: dogs, and some kids (this is really not a place for kids, but weekenders will be weekenders)

Site:

  • #45A, pull-in, gravel
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
  • Somewhat level site; high in front and passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
  • Gravel driveway about 55 feet long by 22 feet wide
  • Just gravel between sites
  • Picnic table
  • One tree
  • Clean site
  • Elevation 10 feet, front facing SE

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, conveniently located
  • 30 PSI water, conveniently located
  • Good sewer connection, conveniently located (less than 1 10-foot pipe needed)
  • Dangerously fluctuating power for a day due to a corroded connection; used generator until fixed

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 27-55 Mbps down, 11 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: 7-11 Mbps down, 0.5-3 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
  • Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 55 ms ping
  • AT&T: 6-28 Mbps down, 0.05-0.12 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters
  • Waterfront (gulf)
  • Package delivery to office

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Hidden Gem on the Forgotten Coast

This was our second stay here, and I would happily come back again and again. There’s no better view than watching the water and gulls from the front of our coach. The atmosphere is laid-back and inviting, and the staff is helpful and friendly. There was a power issue part of the way through our stay, but they kept us updated on the status of repairs and understood when we needed to run our generator during the outage. This is not the beachfront place for partying and carrying on; it is the beachfront place for quiet contemplation and chilling. We camped at Ho-Hum RV Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

With RVs on either side, as it was most of the time (often a trailer on the driver side, which is preferred over a motorhome, since their living area is away from us; fortunately we didn’t have a trailer on the passenger side, which would have been facing us):

Our site

View from our site:

Our site

View out our windshield:

View out our windshield

We enjoyed watching the various birds, including sandpipers, pelicans, cranes, ducks, and others:

Birds

Birds

Birds

Birds

Paddling:

Paddling

Gentle waves:

Waves

Waves

Foggy:

Foggy

Sunset:

Sunset

Sunset

Night

Night

Partway through our stay (on New Year’s Eve) our Power Watchdog reported electrical issues, saying the voltage was dangerously low or high (actually both), and neutral reversed:

Electrical issue Electrical issue

I wasn’t sure if it was just us or a wider issue, but talked with some neighbors who also had the issue. So after further diagnostics and talking with the RV park owners, I unplugged the power, and we used the generator. The next evening (New Year’s Day), the electrical company came out and repaired a corroded pigtail; hazards of a waterfront RV park!

Electrical repair

The seawall and sandy strip in front of our site:

Beach

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Dog park and beach area:

Dog park and beach area

Entrance:

Entrance

Bathrooms and such:

Bathrooms and such

Laundry room:

Laundry room

Activity center, where packages are delivered:

Activity center, where packages are delivered

Fishing pier:

Fishing pier

Fishing pier

Fishing pier

You can see our coach near the center:

Fishing pier

We’d be happy to stay here again in the future.

Travel from Ozark, Alabama to Carrabelle, Florida

We drove our coach 155 miles, about three hours of driving, from Ozark, Alabama to Carrabelle, Florida. Our last travel day of 2024.

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

Route map

An interactive map:

US-231 South:

US-231 South

Lots of routes:

Lots of routes

National Peanut Festival:

National Peanut Festival

Big peanut:

Big peanut

“Welcome to the Free State of Florida”, and “Photo Opportunity at Welcome Center”:

Welcome to the Free State of Florida

“Campbellton, Gateway to Florida”:

Campbellton, Gateway to Florida

Entering I-10 East:

Entering I-10 East

Rest area, our only stop for this trip:

Rest area

Blountstown mural:

Blountstown mural

Crossing Apalachicola River, where we entered Eastern Time Zone:

Crossing Apalachicola River

CR-67, a little narrow, but fine:

CR-67

Lake Morality Road, also narrow, but only a couple of miles:

Lake Morality Road

Arriving at our destination for the rest of 2024, Ho-Hum RV Park:

Arriving at Ho-Hum RV Park

Following the coach to our site:

Following coach to our site

Arriving in our site:

Arriving in our site

Extra pantry shelf

While in Red Bay we had Cody Poores of Cody’s Custom Cabinets do a few tweaks for us. One was a minor tweak to a shelf in a bedroom cupboard, to reduce the size of the lip on it. Another was to add an extra shelf in the upper pull-out pantry next to our fridge.

Here’s the pantry drawer as it came from the factory:

Pantry shelves

Since we use it mostly for cans, there was enough room for another shelf. So Cody made one that matches the existing ones:

Pantry shelves

The extra storage capacity is very useful!