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:
Fixing TV lift
One big issue that we got Davidson RV to investigate was that our main TV lift wasn’t going down reliably; it would often stop partway, requiring pressing the down button several times. They investigated, and determined that the lift controller was bad:
Here’s the TV laying on our bed while they investigated:
They couldn’t get a replacement in time, so as a temporary workaround, they installed a switch to bypass the controller:
I contacted the manufacturer, Venset in Denmark, and they referred me to their US distributor, Wood Technology.
I emailed Wood Technology, and Mike Fisher replied. We exchanged several very helpful emails, photos, and documents, discussing the issue and solutions. He provided me with a replacement controller:
The new controller, installed:
It was super easy to sync our existing remote control to the new controller, then I was able to successfully raise and lower the TV:
Here’s a peek of the lift mechanism:
Another potential issue that Mike discussed was that the curly cord could get tangled, preventing the lift from raising. So he recommended either cutting it out, or detaching the lower portion and rerouting the wire:
I did the latter, bundling the curly cord with the other wires coming from the TV:
That should avoid that issue. And we’re very glad that the lift mechanism is working properly again. Much appreciation to Mike at Wood Technology!
Video: sunrise and tide timelapse at Ho-Hum RV Park
A timelapse of the sun rising and tides going in and out from our waterfront site at Ho-Hum RV Park in Carrabelle, Florida.
Carrabelle
We didn’t really do anything during the three weeks we stayed at Ho-Hum RV Park over the holidays. That seems to be fairly typical for us, just taking some downtime to relax. Especially with some very busy times coming up after this (stay tuned!).
Ho-Hum is in a kinda out-of-the-way area, but near a town called Carrabelle (population 2,778). We did go to one restaurant, the post office, and the local grocery store; that was pretty much the limit of our exploring here. There are definitely a few more things to do and see, e.g. we considered going to check out a couple of nearby lighthouses, but we’ll save that for our next visit.
Here’s an interactive map:
We had lunch at Marine Street Grill:
Next to the post office is the world’s smallest police station:
The Gulfside IGA Plus grocery store is a little small, but had almost everything we wanted:
(There is a Walmart 45 minutes away, for people who use that as a marker of civilization.)
Clock and memorial:
We do enjoy cute little towns, and this is definitely one. We’ll have to make a point of exploring it more when we’re here again.
Ho-Hum RV Park
We stayed at Ho-Hum RV Park in Carrabelle, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A nice casual RV park, with the gulf literally feet from our front door.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-12-17
- Check out: 2024-01-07
- 21 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny, some cloud and rain
- High temps ranging between 52-67°F, lows around 33-60°F
- A little wind, gusts to 42 MPH
Noise:
- Highway noise
- No train noise
- Some neighbor noise, dogs, but few kids
Site:
- #48A, pull in, gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
- Rather unlevel, high on left and front; used hydraulic leveling
- Gravel site about 50 feet long by about 30 feet wide
- Picnic table on gravel
- No fire pit
- Clean site
- Waterfront, facing the water
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 32 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, conveniently located (less than 1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 50 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 48 ms ping
- AT&T: 57 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
- Verizon: 26-42 Mbps down, 26 Mbps up, 160 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpster
- Waterfront (gulf)
- Package delivery to office
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Nothing ho-hum here
We spent three weeks here over the holidays and loved the laid-back vibe and beachfront views. Watching the birds along the shore right from the window of our motorhome was wonderfully relaxing. There is some road noise from the highway, but it is pretty nonexistent at night. Some of the waterfront sites are a bit sloped and could be problematic for larger rigs, but ours was fine enough that our leveling system could cope. The staff were all friendly and helpful and the amenities were well-kept. We loved our stay so much that we booked our stay for the end of 2024 before we left. We camped at Ho-Hum RV Park in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our waterfront site:
It’s been ages since I flew my drone, but this seemed a perfect place to get some aerial photos:
Now that we’d made it to Florida, it was time to add its sticker to our coach:
We stayed here over the holidays, so of course we did our 20th annual The Lord of the Rings movie marathon, watching the extended editions of all three movies (though like last year, we split it over two days; not quite as much a marathon, but more relaxed):
One of the other guests dropped off a little Christmas gift:
We really enjoyed having the beach right in front of our site:
A fishing pier:
As you can see, there was quite a difference between low and high tides; I liked to watch the tide charts; fascinating how the two tides (from the moon and sun) merge and split to create single bigger tides or two smaller tides:
Our neighbor moved from a oceanfront site to one further back:
Most of the RVs on the oceanfront were motorhomes, fronted in, but there were a few trailers, backed in:
I’m glad we didn’t have a trailer next to us, with their door facing ours:
Other sites:
We’re planning to stay here again for the next holidays; this is the site we’ve already reserved for next time:
Beach area:
Dog park:
Rec room:
Entrance and office:
We enjoyed our stay here, and are looking forwarding to returning at the end of the year!
Video: Spanish Fort, Alabama to Carrabelle, Florida motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 257 miles from Spanish Fort, Alabama to Carrabelle, Florida, including a picture-in-picture from the 360 camera on the truck being towed behind the coach.
Travel from Spanish Fort, Alabama to Carrabelle, Florida
We drove our coach 257 miles, about 5 hours of driving, from Spanish Fort, Alabama to Carrabelle, Florida. Our last travel day of 2023. (Yes, the blog posts are a bit delayed; we do things faster than I can post about them!)
Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:
An interactive map, with potential stops marked:
Leaving the state park:
I-10:
Entering Florida:
“No stopping; photo opp in welcome center”:
We did stop at the Welcome Center rest stop for a quick break, though didn’t go into the Welcome Center:
Home of the Blue Angels:
Our coach at the rest stop on a traffic cam:
I had fun spotting our coach via other traffic cams too:
Bridge over Escambia Bay:
More traffic cams:
Another rest area stop, this time for lunch:
Sleepy Paladin enjoying the stacked dining chairs:
An interesting feature of the rest areas was a truck windshield washer:
We also appreciated signs that displayed the rest area truck parking availability (which was also available via the traffic website):
Speaking of, a couple more:
Then we exited I-10, for some highway travel:
Starting with a fuel stop:
While Jenn fueled up, I went in and got some Cokes (to help us stay alert) and snacks:
$284.62 for 77.787 gallons of diesel; we saved $22.17 off that with our discount card:
Paladin watching us from the dash:
Cotton field:
Blountstown mural:
The bridge where we entered Eastern Time Zone:
An uncomfortably narrow road:
A portion was also a little under water; not ideal:
Roadworks to alleviate the flooding; a tight squeeze:
Our destination for the end of the year:
A long drive, but then we were stationary for three weeks.
Tweaks at Davidson RV
We got Davidson RV to help us with a few other issues.
One was to replace our water pump, as the old one wasn’t performing well:
Another issue with fortunate timing was the entry step didn’t fully retract; they lubricated it, and it’s been fine since (I have been lubricating it with silicone lube, but have since purchased some better lube):
Finally, the USB ports on my side of the bed had stopped working, so they replaced them:
I could have done all three of those things myself, but easier to get them to do so while we were there.
USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park
We explored the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama.
It includes exhibits of various military planes, plus a submarine and the eponymous battleship.
Aircraft exhibits:
The USS Drum is a WWII-era submarine, the oldest American sub on public display:
The WWII-era USS Alabama battleship:
Fascinating.