Florida 2026

January 15-31, 2026

January 15: We dewinterized yesterday because the temperatures were in the 50s and we wanted to have water on the trip. We also realized that the temperatures were going down into the teens on our first night at a KOA in Enfield, NC, much colder than we had anticipated. We searched the web for information about how to keep a dewinterized van warm in the cold and found that we would need to run our gray tank heater and the furnace over night. We also decided not to hook up to water that first night to minimize freezing pipes. 

With this in mind, we left home around 8:30 AM, had a very uneventful and easy drive to the Enfield KOA for our first night. We tried to walk around the campground but the cold was biting and we spent the evening in the van. As the temperature dropped into the 30s, we ran a space heater. Then as the temperature continued to drop, we turned on the furnace. The problem with our furnace is that it runs by our heads and every time it turned on, we woke up. We will need to switch our heads to the other side of the bed next time we need to run the furnace. 

January 16: Luckily our bed is VERY warm as we use an unzipped down sleeping bag as a duvet, and we managed to stay warm throughout the night. And our pipes remained unfrozen as well! We woke up early, made a quick breakfast of toast, and without showering as planned (because we didn’t want to go outside in 18 degree temperatures), headed south toward Florida. 

We drove another 7-8 hours without incident to our Harvest Host stop in Yulee, FL. On the way down, we saw black pigs on the side of the road in South Carolina, as well as sandhill cranes flying. The HH was on a farm with miniature horses and cows, and ducks, chickens, goats, and sheep (one of which was very friendly as she had been bottle fed and liked people). We walked around the farm and neighborhood, purchased some jams from the farm store, and then headed into the van for the night. The weather was much colder than normal for Florida, dipping into the mid-30s. But at least we did not worry about our pipes freezing as we had the night before. 

January 17: After a very good night’s sleep on the very quiet and dark farm, we woke up, had pancakes for breakfast, and headed the three hours to our friends’ house in Orlando, Fl. We stopped at a Love’s along the way to dump our tanks. This is the first time we have used a Love’s dumpstation, so in addition to sleeping in freezing weather, this was a second new experience in our adventure. We arrived in Orlando to milder and sunny weather, finally feeling some of the warm Florida sun. After taking a short walk around the neighborhood and spotting white pelicans, great blue herons, anhingas, and other birds, we enjoyed the evening with our friends, eating dinner at Hawkers, and hanging out at their home. 

January 18: We thought it might rain in the morning, but the morning turned out to be sunny and warm. We took a trip to the Orlando Wetlands where we saw a black snake cross our path, and lots of birds in the water and trees including huge wood storks and amazingly pink roseate spoonbills. We also saw many alligators, some of which were sunbathing along the trail we were walking, which was a bit unnerving. Just as we were finishing our walk, the wind picked up, the temperatures dropped, and the sky darkened. Happy to be back in the car, we drove home, made sweet potato and black bean burritos for dinner and cookies for dessert. We also tried “Mom Water” that our friend brought which was surprisingly bland. We watched some TV and headed to bed. 

January 19: The day started with vegan Birch Bender pancakes. Then we packed up and headed to pick up a rental car in St. Pete and then drove to Fort DeSoto Park Campground to spend the next five days. The campground was beautiful, as was our waterfront campsite (22) but it was very windy and chilly still. We walked around the campground, looking for manatee (no luck). Then we took showers in the bathhouse. The showers were hot with good pressure, but not a great set-up for getting changed. After returning to the van, we watched the sunset from inside the van, and ate a pesto dinner with a beet salad. While the weather is well above freezing, we braced ourselves for a chilly night with temperatures going into the 40s, far below what is seasonal for central Florida this time of year. 

January 20: After a very good night’s sleep, we ate toast for breakfast and ran the space heater to warm up the van. We decided to go into St. Pete today as this was going to be the coolest of the days. We drove the short 20 minutes into town, parked on MLK street and walked down Central Avenue, visiting the Florida CraftArt, and then walking to the water, onto the St. Pete Pier (again not seeing manatee), but seeing many crows and parrots in the trees. We got chai latte at Merchant Purveyor and later a mushroom sandwich at Paradeco Coffee Roasters, both of which were very good. We walked past the Dali Museum, considered going in, but realized that the day was getting late and we needed to stop at Walmart to pick up some items and get back to the campground. One of the items we purchased was an electric single burner to see if that might work during times when we can’t open the roof vent due to rain or when it’s very cold out. We can’t use the propane stove top without venting, and sometimes the rain or cold makes opening our Fan-Tastic Vent difficult. 

Once back, we drove around Fort DeSoto Park, and came back to the campground to shower. Then we sat outside to watch the sunset in much less windy and warmer weather than yesterday, had a stir fry dinner, listened to our audible book (Hamnet), and wrote this blog. 

We liked St. Pete quite a bit. There were lots of restaurants, stores, pride flags, and even protesters for the national Walk-Out. 

January 21: Today was the first full day of wonderful weather, sunny in the 70s. After a breakfast of French toast and a large white egret visiting our campsite, we drove an hour to the Manatee Viewing Center, part of Tampa Electric, in Apollo, FL. Because the power plant releases warm water, manatee swarm to the area during the winter. How thrilling to see hundreds of manatees in one spot! We also saw black-tipped sharks, spinner sharks, bald eagles, pelicans, and ibis. We also walked to the viewing tower before  heading back to the campground. 

Returning to our campsite, we ate a hummus wrap for lunch and then took a wonderful 12 mile bike ride in the park. Midway, we stopped at North Beach and enjoyed the white sand, warm sun, and beautiful views. When we returned, we finally saw the osprey who we kept hearing in the morning, seeing that they were perched on their nest just near our campsite. We also watched a racoon cross through our campsite, and open and enter a nearby garbage can. We enjoyed another beautiful sunset from our campsite, then had a delicious pizza dinner and settled in for the night. We were thankful to finally have the weather we were hoping for at least for one day. 

January 22: After breakfast, we packed up and moved over to site 49, not a water site but still a nice space. Then we started our drive into into Tampa. We first drove to Ybor City and walked around the main streets. Ybor is a great historic area with an interesting history of Cuban, Italian, and Spanish immigrants, as well as many cigar factories, and chickens and roosters roaming the streets. After drinking some very good Cuban coffee at LongAsh Cigar and getting some vegan ice cream at May Day Ice Cream, we drove downtown and parked by the Museum of Art. We strolled down the Riverwalk to Armature Works, a very cool area with shops, restaurants, and lively vibe. Then we walked downtown via Florida Avenue to Franklin Avenue, ending by walking back along the Riverwalk to our parked car. After driving to the Channel Drive area of town, we hung out at Lighthaus Beer Garden to drink some beer by the water. We ended the day by meeting our nephew at JoToro Kitchen and Tequila Bar for some great margaritas, chips, salsa, guacamole, and vegan enchiladas. Then we headed back to the campground, well satiated and tired after walking about 8 miles in wonderful warm and sunny weather. We liked Tampa a lot, but found it to be more of a city, whereas Saint Pete is more of a town.

January 23: Today was a beautiful day. We originally planned on going for another bike ride, but ended up spending the morning re-evaluating and changing our travel plans for the rest of the trip. After realizing that the Florida panhandle and Alabama were going to be well below freezing over the next couple of weeks, we cancelled our reservations and reserved a campground in Wekiwa Springs State Park near Orlando for after our visit to Jacksonville. While the northeast was under a snow storm watch, a good portion of the US south was also bracing for freezing weather. Our change in plans meant driving a big circle around north central Florida, but we figured our new plans were worth the drive. 

In the afternoon, we rented a tandem kayak, paddling for about two hours around the bayou. The day was beautiful and we enjoyed seeing white and brown pelicans, great blue herons, and jumping fish throughout the trip. Once back at the campsite, we showered, ate dinner, and started packing up, preparing for our departure the next day. 

January 24: Before leaving St. Pete we stopped off at Walmart to park the van so we could drive downtown to deposit our compost at the St. Pete Youth Farm, a very easy process that we were happy to find online. Then we headed to the downtown Saturday Morning Market. We had read online that this was the largest farmer’s market in the Southeast. And while the market had some nice produce vendors, food trucks with Hungarian, Indian, middle-eastern, and other foods, as well as some bread and other items, it was not nearly as big as we expected. Returning to Walmart, we picked up the van, dropped the rental car back off at Enterprise, and headed out of town. 

Heading toward Atlantic Beach near Jacksonville to visit our friends, we took a more scenic route that we had yet to drive, going past Gainesville instead of through Orlando. We arrived at our friends’ house around 4:15 PM, hung out, took showers, and then headed over to The Local for a meal of sweet potato fries, salad, mushroom sandwich, and beer. We were going to ride bikes to the restaurant but it started raining, so we drove instead. Then we hung out at home, catching up on the years past since we last spent time together. 

January 25: We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of our homemade pancakes that we made for everyone. Then we headed to Hanna Park for a lovely walk through the woods, surrounded by palm trees and Spanish-moss laden oak trees. Along the way we stopped to admire the Atlantic Ocean. Then we headed back home, ate lunch, did some shopping and laundry, and prepared for the rest of our trip. Then we settled in to watch the NFL playoff games with some additional friends who came over to watch the games over snacks and an eggplant and quinoa dinner. 

January 26: We left our friends’ house around 9:30 AM after eating oatmeal with fruit and nuts. Then we headed down to Blue Springs State Park hoping to see more manatees there. We were not disappointed! We spent most of the day walking around the park, looking at manatees which are so cool! Then we drove a short 45 minutes to Wekiwa Springs State Park where we planned on spending the next three days. 

The weather today was a beautiful sunny 70 degrees. Tomorrow the temperatures will drop to the 50s during the day and 30s at night. We are still trying to figure out when to head home as the weather here is going to drop below freezing after Friday. We will most likely winterize on Thursday, go back to stay with our friends in Orlando, and leave for home on Friday, staying at a hotel along the way. Until then, we are looking forward to biking, hiking, and maybe kayaking in this park, where there are Florida bears that we hope to see. 

Wekiwa Springs State Park turned out to be a beautiful park and a fortunate find. Our campsite (8) was level faced back into a large field, with a walking/bike path just behind us. And we met a neighbor at the next campsite who was very friendly. After chatting a bit, we told her we might take a kayak ride at some point and invited her to join us. 

January 27: We had toast for breakfast and then walked over to the springs and main office, checking out kayaking options. Along the way, we took the boardwalk and saw a large pile of bear scat. We also saw what looked like beautiful oyster mushrooms. Because the mushrooms were a bit off the trail, we did not pick them, particularly as there are gators, snakes, and bears in the area. Plus, we’re really not supposed to remove anything from a state park. When we got back to the campsite, we ate lunch. Our neighbor mentioned that she thought she heard a rattle snake on one of her walks. We were happy to have missed that. 

After lunch, we rode our bikes around the campground, over to Sand Hill Lake, the Youth Camp, and out the main gate to a nearby Publix to purchase some food and snacks for travel back home. Then we came back, took showers, and ate a pre-made chili dinner. Then we streamed the new Star Trek series on TV (via cell service and Roku box), and settled in for a cold night. 

January 28: Last night the temperature dropped into the low 30s. At some point in the early morning, we turned on the tank heating pad and our space heater. After waking up, we had English muffins for breakfast, and headed out to walk the Volkmarch Trail, about 5 miles through the park, enjoying a bald eagle flying over Lake Prevatt. Then we came home for lunch (chickpea sandwiches), picked up our neighbor, and headed out for a kayak ride. Walking over, we saw a racoon climb up a tree near the rental place. We rented kayaks and while our neighbor turned back after about an hour because she had to do some work, we had an amazing 2 ½ hour paddle all throughout the Wekiva River. We saw lots of turtles, cormorants, anhingas, great blue herons, egrets, blue and green herons, and two alligators. Although the sun was out, it was still only about 60 degrees and we were very chilled by the end. Returning the kayaks, we stopped by the Wekiwa Springs where the water is always 72 degrees and some people were swimming. We warmed our feet in the water for a few minutes and then walked quickly back to the camp, took hot showers, and sat in the van to warm up. Dinner tonight was pizza and salad. 

January 29: We took a leisurely morning, walking to the Youth Camp. Then we cooked for the rest of our trip, dumped our tanks, and winterized. By the time we finished, it was time to depart the campsite so we headed over to Winter Garden, a cute historic town with fun shops and the West Orange Trail, a wonderful Rails to Trails bike path. After walking around town, we biked about 10 miles and then drove over to our friends’ house in Orlando to enjoy their company one last time and spend the night. 

January 30: We left our friends hours at 8 AM and headed north. We were originally going to stop about 8 hours out but decided to push beyond that to avoid more snow in the morning and shorten the next day’s drive home. We ended up staying at a Quality Inn in Emporia, VA. We decided to stay in a hotel rather than the van because the temperatures were going into the teens overnight, with possible snow. We really don’t love dry camping in a winterized van with no water access. The hotel fortunately had all outside access so we just pulled up to our room on the first floor, brought our bikes in with us, and enjoyed our pre-cooked meal (made yesterday) of dumplings and red cabbage and apple salad (from Aldi). Then we took showers, watched a little TV, hung out, and went to bed. 

January 31: We woke up early, enjoyed oatmeal as part of the hotel’s free continental breakfast, and started our 6 ½ hour drive home. Our plan was to minimize the snow in the morning and get home before the storm hit Virginia. Luck was with us as no snow ever came so we enjoyed sunny weather and smooth driving the whole way home. 

Our goal for this trip was to get out of the cold weather for a couple of weeks, which we managed to do, despite finding colder weather in Florida than we had expected or hoped for. We managed to mess a very large snow and ice storm that hit home while we were away. And we enjoyed some beautiful weather while in Florida at least for part of the time. This was also our first trip taking Maude out during the winter, having to dewinterize and winterize again specifically for the trip. We learned how to keep the van warm in cold weather using our tank heaters and furnace. And we realized that having an electric burner would help us cook meals (provided we have an electric hook-up), saving us from needing to use our Fan-Tastic Fan in wet or cold weather. So overall, the trip was a success as we enjoyed central Florida, saw lots of wildlife, and enjoyed hanging out with friends and family!