Tampa, Fl. area - Montana Owners Club

Montana_2203 · 10-25-2004, 02:06 PM

Interested in info relating to camping in the Tampa or south of Tampa area... within say about 35 miles or so from Tampa... We are interested in going to this area sometime in early January and staying 2 to 3 months... so we want a nice, quiet campground that is close to several of our friends... one friend is in Dunedin, which is just west of Tampa right on the coast and the other friend is south of Tampa in Ellenton. Something in the general vacinity is what we are looking for.... we have a 3400FL (37') 50amp.
thanks for whatever help you all can offer.

Glenn and Lorraine · 10-25-2004, 02:59 PM

WOW That is a tall order. January thru March is the height of the Snow-bird season and winter campground vacancies are tough to find.
Where you want to be is on the peninsula between Dunedin and St Pete. You will see in my signature we are now in St Pete and we are also looking for a winter CG as Robert's RV is already full Jan/Feb.
Yesterday we found one on Rte 19 in Clearwater. 19 is the main north/south route thru the peninsula. You can take it from Dunedin to St Pete and across the Skyway Bridge to I75 and Ellenton. One warning most of the winter 19 is more like a slow motion parking lot but than again so are most of the roads around here.
Anyway the park is Avalon RV REsort 800-300-2998 or 727-531-6124. As of yesterday they still had vacancies. Depending on my doctors visit next week we could very well be staying there ourselves. It was clean and well kept. The couple managing the place could not have been more cordial. He even gave us the grand tour in his golf cart. I really liked Avalon but there are a couple others I want to look into and seeing as how I will be looking anyway, give me a couple days to see what else I can find.

Montana_2203 · 10-25-2004, 03:10 PM

[quote]Originally posted by Glenn and Lorraine

WOW That is a tall order. January thru March is the height of the Snow-bird season and winter campground vacancies are tough to find.>>>>>>>>>>>snip

Northstar · 10-25-2004, 08:29 PM

Yes for sure rv parks in Florida during the winter are very busy. Therefore you need to reserve early as possible. Happyrving..../.

Bob Pasternak · 10-29-2004, 06:00 AM

We just made reservations at 'Shady Acres' in Ft. Meyers for 4 weeks beginning the 7th of Jan., but that might be too far south for you. 'Bout 80 miles from Tampa. Lakeland has a bunch of RV parks and it's only about 25 miles from Tampa. but you'd better call soon.

Montana_2202 · 10-29-2004, 10:14 AM

Has anyone stayed at or heard of "Old Mill Stream" in Umatilla, FL????? If so, please advise. Thanks.

Glenn and Lorraine · 10-29-2004, 02:05 PM

Bill and Gail,
After much searching the only decent cg I can find with winter vacancies is Avalon RV Resort 800-300-2998 or 727-531-6124. Another MOC member has already booked a site for this winter. Lorraine and I will be about 4 miles away at Yankee Traveler. Booked at Yankee for 2 reasons...Hell of a deal on a 6 month reservation and close to where Lorraine may end up working.

vickster · 10-30-2004, 03:33 AM

Glenn and Lorraine -- WHAT???? You're kicking Lorraine out back into the workforce?? Golly gee you must be waking up in the morning with everything of nothing completed!!!!

rames14 · 10-30-2004, 02:43 PM

Glenn -

Saw your comment about the doctor. Hope you are doing okay. Glad to hear you have a place to stay. When Lorraine gets home from work, will you have 1/2 of nothing done or most of nothing done? Inquiring minds want to know. Take care of yourself.

Glenn and Lorraine · 10-30-2004, 03:58 PM

As it stands right now, other than type 2 diabetes, I am fine. We just bought bicycles and are getting plenty of exercise and the diabetes is totally under control and poses no seriuos threat. On Nov. 2nd I have an appointment for a stress test. I feel fine and have no symptons to feel I would fail such a test. The doctors agrees with me but since the cost to me is minimal he feels I should go ahead and have the test done anyway. Also on the 2nd I will be getting blood work done and after that a physical.
Now if everything turns out as we expect I will than be looking for work as well. This fulltiming life is great but it can also be expensive especially when you consider only Lorraine is collecting any kind of pension. We will only be working until next May when my Social Security kicks in. At that point in time we will both be officially retired. At this time only Lorraine is retired while I am retarded. This is no surprise to either of us. We knew last year that this would be the situation come this winter. It was either this way or wait another year to go fulltime. Neither of us wanted to wait another year.

Now if I don't get a job I will have to have ALL of nothing done as well as the house cleaning, laundry, dishes and whatever else the Bread Winner needs done. BUT this is only a 2955RL, I can have the house cleaning, including dishes, (We eat out alot) done in about an hour. As far as the laundry? The laundry is less than 50 feet away so I can do the laundry while I am sitting on the patio enjoy the Florida Sunshine.

But, I guess I will have to alter the....

You know you are retired when you wake up with nothing to do
and go to bed with it only half done.

Any one have any ideas how it should now read?

sreigle · 10-30-2004, 04:26 PM

Glenn and Lorraine, we wish you all the luck in the world. You have done what many people would like to do but lack the courage. Good for you!

Glenn and Lorraine · 10-31-2004, 12:07 PM

Thanks Steve. We are determined to make it work as we have grown to love the fulltime lifestyle and you can bet we will make it work. Ain't no turning back!

sreigle · 11-02-2004, 01:07 PM

We're rethinking our winter plans and now are looking at the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. I read through this thread and will do some researching. We'd like to have cable tv and either wi-fi or instant phone along with 50amp full hookups. If anyone has additional recommendations beyond what's in this thread for parks that might have some vacancies for Jan/Feb, please let me know.

Thanks.

Glenn and Lorraine · 11-02-2004, 02:26 PM

Quote:

quote:We're rethinking our winter plans and now are looking at the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. I read through this thread and will do some researching. We'd like to have cable tv and either wi-fi or instant phone along with 50amp full hookups. If anyone has additional recommendations beyond what's in this thread for parks that might have some vacancies for Jan/Feb, please let me know.

Steve and Vicki, That would be great.
Most of the cgs I have found do have cable TV and phone hook ups available. It is up to the camper to make arrangements with the 2 companies. Not sure about WiFi.

I will do a little more searching but don't hold your breathe that I can find much more.

BTW-I passed the Stress Test without a hitch. The physical will be rescheduled.

sreigle · 11-03-2004, 11:26 AM

Glenn, good to hear on the stress test.

We're waffling again. It's between the Tampa area and the Savannah area. We have wanted to spend some time in the Savannah area for a long time. I'm just not sure about the weather in Jan and Feb. Wundergound looks like ave high in Jan is 60, ave low 38. We can deal with that so long as there's no prolonged sub-freezing weather. But we're looking at a park on Tybee Island, not far from the weather. I'm concerned both whether the wind coming off the Atlantic will cool things even more or will cause the windchill to be lower. And, of course, two months in the salt air.

Glenn and Lorraine · 11-03-2004, 11:53 AM

Not sure what to expect this year but I do know that last year they did have some freezing temps in northern Florida. If I recall correctly, a friend near Jacksonville had temps in the hi 20's but I don't think it lasted too long and no freeze damage was done.

I don't want to apply any pressure BUT finding Florida campgrounds with vacancies in Jan/Feb in the month of November is tough and by December it becomes close to impossible. And by late December those that do have vacancies are not always in the best locations for the tourist type camper OR they are just down right unfit for camping.

If you do start looking around the Tampa/St Pete area and need me to check out a particular campground just ask.

sreigle · 11-03-2004, 04:26 PM

Thanks, Glenn. Will let you know. We're hoping to make the decision this week. Vicki actually likes cold weather (she's a little off, ya know??!!). We could handle a few nights of upper 20's but would prefer to keep that to a mininum.

Thanks for the offer. Will let you know if I need some help on this. Appreciate it.

Joyce H · 11-09-2004, 04:02 PM

Steve & Vicki,
We are in Crystal River, Fl. See my post under Who, What, Where. I believe Rock Crusher here has some openings still for Jan/Feb time frame. They do have WiFi as I am using it right now. Tom & I came down early to get settled into a site for the winter. We will be moving to Encore Super Park here in Crystal River tomorrow. We are about an hour from Tampa. Encore has WiFi available at some of their sites and instant phone at others. We really like this area and found it to have better monthly prices than some of the parks closer to Tampa. We also considered Savanah, but after living in GA for several years, decided we wanted to be a little further south. Let us know where you decide to land.

Bob Pasternak · 11-09-2004, 04:51 PM

Steve and Vicki; You might check this place. We'll be there Jan. 7th 'til sometime in Feb. http://www.shadyacresfl.com/

sreigle · 11-10-2004, 09:37 AM

Thanks, JoyceH and Bob. I'm saving this page for future reference in my CG file.

We made a reservation at River's End CG on Tybee Island, Savannah, for two months arriving Jan 10. They also have free cable and free wi-fi. Joyce, yes, the wi-fi is very nice! We've had it in several parks including this one. It's not free here but at $29.95 for a month, I'll take that!

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