March 23 – April 14
Summary – detailed reports/posts coming soon.
After traveling far north to Alaska last year (Chatanika AK, 65ºN), we decided to go as far south in Florida as we could (Flamingo FL, 25ºN) – 4000 miles away straight line (?). Two trips, 125 days, 17000 miles of driving.
This time, our main destination was National Parks: Everglades, Biscayne and Congaree – we added 3 to our list of visited Parks (new total 39 out of 63). Did not make it to Key West, as originally planned. On this trip we spent more time than usual visiting several cities and museums, but also did many short day-hikes and spent a lot of time watching wildlife: birds, alligators, crocodiles and of course manatees. We are becoming bird-watchers (beginners) – on this trip we watched, photographed and identified 37, others flew by too fast. Spent almost full day at Kennedy Space Center.
We drove 3600 miles and stayed in 16 places, 8 campgrounds and 8 motels/airbnbs. Joanna had a good plan where to go and what to see, but we made specific decisions each day. We left cold weather in Chicago and arrived in sunny Florida with temps reaching 90ºF – April is already beginning of low season here – some sites were preparing to shut down for the summer (too hot). We avoided big crowds, but were still able to observe a few manatees in the wild. No problems finding places to overnight (campgrounds were mostly empty).
As for Subaru camping, additional moonroof ventilation would be good on hot nights, but we did not have anything to use as insect screen. No car mechanical problems this time.
Completed itinerary
| Destinations | Overnight | |||||
| Mar | 23 | Sun | 1 | Chicago-Nashville, I-94, I-65 | IL-IN-KY-TN | Nashville Music Row airbnb |
| 24 | Mon | 2 | Nashville | TN | Nashville Music Row airbnb | |
| 25 | Tue | 3 | Birmingham, Montgomery | AL | Montgomery airbnb | |
| 26 | Wed | 4 | Montgomery | AL-FL | Tate’s Hell State Forest Cash Creek CG | |
| 27 | Thu | 5 | Manatee Springs | FL | Manatee Springs SP Magnolia 1 CG | |
| 28 | Fri | 6 | Manatee Springs | FL | Manatee Springs SP Magnolia 1 CG | |
| 29 | Sat | 7 | Crystal River, Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park | FL | Tarpon Springs Quality Inn & Suites | |
| 30 | Sun | 7 | Big Cypress National Preserve | FL | Monument Lake CG | |
| 31 | Mon | 8 | Big Cypress National Preserve | FL | Monument Lake CG | |
| Apr | 1 | Tue | 9 | Loop Road (Big Cypress), Everglades National Park | FL | Long Pine Key CG |
| 2 | Wed | 10 | Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park | FL | Long Pine Key CG | |
| 3 | Thu | 11 | Everglades National Park | FL | Flamingo CG | |
| 4 | Fri | 12 | Everglades National Park | FL | Flamingo CG | |
| 5 | Sat | 13 | Miami | FL | Miami River Inn | |
| 6 | Sun | 14 | Miami Beach | FL | Miami River Inn | |
| 7 | Mon | 15 | Miami murals, Pineda Beach, Cocoa Beach | FL | Travel Inn of Titusville | |
| 8 | Tue | 16 | Kennedy Space Center | FL | Anastasia State Park CG | |
| 9 | Wed | 17 | Anastasia State Park, Saint Augustine | FL-GA | The Isetta Inn | |
| 10 | Thu | 18 | Savannah | GA-SC | Best Western Charleston Inn | |
| 11 | Fri | 19 | Charleston | SC | Poinsett State Park CG | |
| 12 | Sat | 20 | Congaree National Park | SC | Brick House CG | |
| 13 | Sun | 21 | I-26, I-40, I-75 | SC-NC-TN-KY | Berea Comfort Inn & Suites | |
| 14 | Mon | 22 | I-75, I-275, I-74, I-65, I-94 | KY-OH-IN-IL | Chicago |
Snapshots…
