Florida 2025: 22-day road trip

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…

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