First of all we have a new updated logo! We thought that as it has been almost two years since the start of our journey and we have a specific destination state in mind we should make it Alaska centric. We are proud of it and hope you like it!
On to our story……
Our Last Preparations in Tampa & Lakeland
Unlike the start of our original journey in Rochester, NY this portion was leaving from about as far away from Alaska as possible, Tampa, FL. We loved being in Tampa over the winter, so much so that we decided to live there permanently after our Alaska trip is over. That being said we had quite the travel ahead of us.
Day one of our trip started by packing everything we could into my little Jeep Wrangler and heading out to our RV storage facility in Lakeland, FL. Here we packed everything into Bubbles before checking out of the facility and driving back to our apartment in Tampa. Once back in Tampa we packed all of our remaining items such as food, toiletries as well as anything else that was too big to pack in the Jeep. From there we said goodbye to Tampa and finally hit the road.
As we didn’t hit the road until almost 4pm our first stop was two hours north in the town of Ocala. We have stayed at the Ocala North RV Park a few times and it has become one of our favorites. It’s set amongst Florida’s horse country with the RV park being literally sandwiched between two horse farms. It features massively tall oak trees with Spanish moss hanging down. With the late day sun shining through the oaks when we arrived it was a great site to see and a great first stop.
Ocala, FL
Even though this was the 3rd time staying in Ocala, we had never actually ventured into the town itself. Timing had worked out perfectly as when we had left Tampa our good friend Byron originally from Rochester was in the Ocala area as well. Byron is a traveling yoga instructor and staying at an ashram just north of the town. We would see Byron normally twice a year and hear about all of his travels and the different ashrams that he had been teaching and living at. We finally had an opportunity to check one out. Knowing this we decided to stay in Ocala two nights to check out the town and see Byron as well.
The next morning we woke up and headed into Ocala. The town turned out to be small but cute at the same time. The historic downtown district was only a couple of blocks but it did feature a great town square and a few good-looking restaurants, shops and bars. As we had already made plans to eat in town with Byron that night we decided to have our 1st lunch in the van and see another one of Ocala’s most famous sights, Silver Springs State Park. Silver Springs is one of Florida’s original tourist destinations. Way before Disney, Universal, Sea World or Busch Gardens people came (and still do) to see Florida’s natural springs. Silver Springs is Florida’s largest grouping of artisanal springs.
It was pretty neat walking into the park. It felt like you were walking into something from the 1960’s as the entrance fee was $2. From there you walked down a path and almost immediately saw the beginning of the springs. From the greens and tans of the plant life around it to the light blue, white and crystal clear water of the springs it was pretty neat to see. One of the main features of the park (and something that they have had in one form or another since the early 1900’s) are glass bottom boats. Julie and I paid the small fee and climbed aboard. The ride was half an hour and fascinating just about every minute. There are over 30 springs as part of Silver Springs with Mammoth Springs being the largest. These springs produce an average of 880 millions of gallons of water per day that stays at a constant 72 degrees. We saw plenty of fish, plants as well as a few boat wrecks and movie props (a few James Bond movies were filmed in the springs). All in all it was a great experience.
From the springs we drove up to see Byron at his ashram called Amrit Yoga Institute. For those that don’t know an ashram is a spiritual place, generally located in natural surroundings where people go do mental or spiritual exercises such as yoga. Amrit is located in the Ocala National Forest directly on Lake Kerr. Byron showed us around letting us see where people slept, ate as well as did their yoga or other spiritual exercises. It was pretty neat to see as Julie and I had never been to or seen anything like this. It was a very peaceful place and one that we would both consider spending some time at.
From the ashram Julie, Byron and I headed back to downtown Ocala. First we stopped for some wine at the Ocala Wine Experience then going to dinner at Brick City Southern Kitchen. Both places were awesome with the three of us getting almost every BBQ meat (including catfish!) at Brick City. After dinner and good conversation we said goodbye to Byron and headed back to the campground for the night.
Tallahassee, FL
The next day we packed up and hit the road. Today we were heading north to Tallahassee for the night. To get there we drove through the Big Bend area of north Florida stopping at Steinhatchee Falls State Park for lunch. Julie had found it on Google Maps and so we went. After about a mile of driving down a sand road we were at the falls and eating lunch. As this was Florida where there is not much elevation change the height of the falls was only about 2 feet but they were nice nonetheless. From the falls we drove on to Tallahassee staying at the Tallahassee RV Park, which we had stayed at previously. As we had already seen the city this was just a spot to rest for the night.
Thomasville, GA
We woke up the next morning ready to go again. Today we were heading further north taking all back roads. Our first stop of the day turned out to be the cute little town of Thomasville, GA. We decided to park Bubbles and take a walk around. After driving for an hour in the woods it was pretty neat to find an upscale small town as our first new stop of the trip. After walking around for a little we stopped into what we thought was a small cheese shop called Sweet Grass Dairy Cheese Shop but it turned out to be a full restaurant. We were asked if we were coming in for lunch and said sure as we were both a little hungry. We decided on a small charcuterie board and some local beers. After a short wait one of the kitchen staff came out and explained all the cheeses and smoked duck breast that we had ordered. Needless to say everything was delicious! From the cheese shop we walked on exploring a few other shops before hopping back into Bubbles and continuing northwest to our stop for the next few days in Columbus, GA.
Columbus, GA & Phenix City, AL
We had heard about Columbus from two of our friends who had been in Columbus for very different reasons. Charlie, who was stationed at a nearby Army base and Jen, who had traveled here to escape a hurricane from Florida; both gave it great reviews. So as it was on our way northwest from Florida we knew we had to check it out. After a great sleep we drove into the city and found parking. One of the best activities in the city we found was biking. Columbus had built a 15-mile riverwalk from downtown to Ft. Benning south of the city. We grabbed our helmets and bikes and we were off. Starting downtown along the river we stopped at an overlook, which overlooked a few of the rapids on the Chattahoochee River. Here there is a 2.5-mile long whitewater course, which is the longest urban whitewater course in the world. We didn’t see anyone going down the rapids today but we did see lots of people fishing (and fish trying to make it upstream through the rapids). From there we biked south going about 4 miles before turning around and heading back into town.
After lunch in the van we decided to walk around the main commercial area in town. After stopping in to the Iron Bank Coffee Company for an iced coffee we decided to walk across the bridge to the adjacent town of Phenix City, Alabama. We had found a local brewery there online called Chattahoochee Brewing Company and wanted to check it out. It was only about a 15-minute walk across the bridge and before we knew it we were at the brewery’s steps and sharing a flight of beer. We shared four small samples and also found out that the city’s name of Phenix City was pronounced like their much larger Arizona cousin of Phoenix. After our beers were done we walked back across the river to Columbus and hopped back into Bubbles.
One of the recommendations that Charlie had given us was to eat at a Korean restaurant called Koreana Restaurant. This place turned out to be amazing. It was Korean BBQ, which means if you want to you can order which meat you want and there is a small grill in the middle of your table. They turn on the grill and you grill up your meat. We opted to get Bulgogi, which is thin, marinated strips of beef. This came with rice and a few other small veggies. We also decided to get a noodle dish and when it came it seemed like a lot of food but we somehow found room and left the restaurant very happy customers. From Koreana we headed back to the campground for the night.
The first few days had started out a bit challenging readjusting back to van life but by now we were excited and ready for our adventure to come. Alaska (in due time) here we come!
Next up…… We head to Rocket City USA – Huntsville, Alabama!
