Florida Camping in the Winter Survival Guide

Camping in Florida

                       In the Winter 

                                        With little advance reservations

Things you can't do in Florida in the winter: 

• Camp without advanced reservations
• Camp for free 
• Find inexpensive camping 

As you will see below; we were able to accomplish all three of these things in some parts of Florida. If you are traveling further south than Orlando or to areas close to the beaches we found that advance reservations (well in advance) are a must and the cheaper/free places are more difficult to find. 

Things we found out by camping in the winter in Florida: 

• The weather is amazing; not perfect all the time but much warmer and overall better than where we have been. 
• Winter is In Season for Florida; the camping prices are higher and less availability but we did find places. 
• Mosquitoes are still a nuisance; when coming from cooler temperatures you forget about the mosquitoes; they are buzzing all around even in the winter. 
• Gas and food prices were higher than other places but that was expected 

1.) Free Camping with Harvest Hosts

Ok, this one is cheating because you have to be a member of Harvest Hosts to utilize the free camping. Check out Harvest Hosts to learn about this interesting way to help save on camping costs. We find it is well worth the membership fee.

                        Staying overnight at a farm                                                                                                                                               and at a golf course

 One of the "rules" of harvest hosts is in exchange of a free place to stay for the night, you make a purchase to support their business. The Satsuma jelly is delicious and we ate breakfast at the golf course.

2.) Free Camping with Florida Water Management

Florida Water Management District Camping

These moss covered trees are all over Florida 

This one is completely free and other than making sure there are not any hunts going on, there seems to be plenty of options. The website updates when the areas are closed for hunting (usually weekends) and we were able to get in the same day, no advanced reservations. There were a few others camping, definitely not crowded. It is dry camping (no hookups) and the one we were at had non potable water but as long as you find water ahead of time and have the tanks empty, it's not a problem for us to dry camp for a few days at a time.



4.) Campendium/ Free campsites 

Campedium    and     Free Campsites

These are apps and websites that can be used to find free overnight stays. We like to use them on our route and find stops; they usually are all dry camping but every once in awhile come across some with hookups and services. They beat having to pay for a quick overnight stop somewhere or wondering if overnight camping is allowed in other places.

This is a spot in Florida we found this way; it was a rainy day and we had to deviate from our plans of going further south because the weather was so bad. Not a bad place to wait out the weather.


3.) Escapee's RV Park: cheap stay
Escapees RV club

 Literally living on Easy street

 Swamp land and lots of Egrets


This is another membership we have but have found it is worth having. We had two free nights at one of their parks in Florida so we utilized that and the other nights were only $24 a night for full hook ups; for Florida that is super cheap! We didn't make advanced reservations here until a couple days before we arrived and we did have to switch spots because they do stay busy in the winter. Someone else had reservations on spot so we could only stay there two nights and then move right around the corner to another spot; it wasn't a bad move. They also have dry camping at this campground so for $7 a night you can dry camp and have access to water, a dump station and a nice bath house with showers. The dry camping was not full so is a great option.



4.) Disney World Fort Wilderness (This one is not free and reservations are required) 

Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground

 Cool Food Truck that looks like an RV; I really thought it was an RV at first

 Chip and Dale every night at the campground

Beautiful paved spots with full hook ups. You can see our neighbor in the back, but the bushes and trees block them for the most part.

This one we did have to have advance reservations and we did not get any type of discount so is not cheap nor free. I am including it here because we did camp there for a week. This was our vacation so we splurged a little. Disney definitely knows how to make you feel welcomed and they do everything top notch; the campground is no exception. It was a beautiful place; definitely not in he middle of no where but the spots were designed where you weren't right on top of your neighbor. Of course, lots of activities and everything Disney. A must do at least once; even for a tourist, crowded place. February is a nice month to go; not too hot (although it did get into the 80's and I did get hot), cooled down at night and the least crowded, although still crowded. I couldn't imagine going to Disney in the summer; this time of year maxed out my crowd limit and heat limit.



5.) Devil's Den Prehistoric Spring

Devil's Den Camping

This is a cool little spot close to Gainsville and I think it is more of a local spot as not too many know about this cool little spot. They have a small RV campground with full hookups, they have primitive camping for tents and they even rent cabins. It was only $120 for the week and you can spend a month for $350 which, for full hook ups in Florida is super cheap! Plus you are right by the spring where you can go snorkeling or scuba diving. They don't allow swimming in the spring, only snorkeling and scuba diving but they do have a pool for swimming.


6.) Florida State Parks

Florida State Parks

You do have to make well in advance reservations for the state parks; they stay full in the winter but they are a nice price and for residents in Florida they are half off (which is why they stay full).
They usually have full hook ups and a dump station if they do not have sewer and are maintained. The restrooms and showers can vary but they are a nice place to spend a week or two. They are around $20-$25 a night.

Summary of expenses: 

Gas traveling to and from Florida: (price coming, still figuring)
Total amount spent on camping in Florida (not counting Disney): A total of 18 nights: $230 with Disney we spent a total of 23 nights in Florida.


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Full Time Traveling: Home for the Holidays

We left Eastern Tennessee to go home, to South Mississippi for Christmas and the month of January. Luckily, our family lives mostly in the south as we are finding out that south is where we want to be in the winter.

We arrived in South Mississippi right before Christmas.  We stayed on family land until we found a better spot for the month. The family property would have been ok for the month if our generator had not stopped working. Since it is now in the shop, finding hook ups was going to be pretty important; mainly because of me working. We found a quiet campground; Lake Mike Connor which is located between Collins, MS and Hattiesburg, MS and decided we would stay there for the month. There are several camp sites by the lake but we were the only ones camping and pretty much had the place to ourselves most of the time. On the weekends, people would come and fish and there were some who hunted in the woods nearby but it was definitely a quiet and peaceful place to be.

We were able to visit and spend time with family and enjoy lots of food and they typical holiday get togethers. We even were able to celebrate some January birthdays while we were in town. We thought about going straight to Abilene, Texas and spend time with our oldest son and our grandson but he was able to come to Mississippi for Christmas and the experience we had been having with the colder weather we decided we were not in any hurry to stay where it is cold.

So, I decided to to go to Abilene with our youngest daughter, Shelby; our son, Aaron, and grandson, Lane; and spend time with them; help babysit and be able to enjoy the time I wanted with them while I was off from work. I only spent a little over a week and came back to Mississippi so I could concentrate on my work. It would be difficult to get my work done like it needed to be being around them all of the time. I love spending time with them, I love them to death and enjoying my grandson learning who his "nana" is and how much we love him; however, I knew if I had stayed, my work would suffer; I needed to dedicate a specific amount of time each day for my job, the job that allows us to travel, that income is very important right now since it is our only steady income. I enjoy my job and do not want to give it up. Luckily, we have Face Time and I am able to call or Face Time every day and it's still like I am there. Shelby, decided to stay and help out while Aaron is working. Also, I needed my own bed to be able to enjoy some sleep.

January was down time, like being home for a month; well because it was being home for a month.
Some of our tasks:

• Truck Maintenance
• Generator Maintenance 
• Dental visits
• Tax info to CPA 
• Vehicle Tags
• Birthday Parties 
• Lots of Cleaning 
• Lots of Downtime just working and schoolwork 

Unexpected Goodbye

Although we did not travel with our miniature Schnauzer, Roxie, she was still an important part of our family. She has been with us for over ten years and our oldest daughter, Abby had taken her in for us while we were traveling. Abby decided long ago that Roxie was her dog although I originally purchased her for myself. I had a miniature Schnauzer growing up and when I saw a lady needing to get rid of hers (only a few months old) I couldn't resist. Abby loved Roxie and Roxie was her baby. Roxie wasn't eating and had a hard time breathing and Abby had to take her to the Pet emergency hospital. They discovered a tumor in her heart and she had fluid in her lungs already; it was time to say goodbye. We did  not expect this at all and not what we wanted but it was good we were home to say goodbye.

I have a feeling that we will try and make it to our home base in Mississippi every January. I know we do not want to be caught in cold weather and it seems like the best month to spend at home; the best month to get away from the extreme cold and to take care of business.

Why warmer weather?

We have learned after spending some time in the camper in cold weather that we needed to try and stay where it is warmer in the winter for these reasons:

1.) Our living space is small, when it is cold outside it is harder to spend the much needed time outside.
2.) When it gets too cold, there is a chance of frozen pipes, hoses and just water in the tanks; we have learned ways to prevent this and was very careful so we did not have any problems but I can definitely see the problems that could occur.
3.) This was the biggest reason: Condensation!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lot's of explanation marks because if anyone has ever been in a camper (especially a metal framed one) when it's cold outside and you are nice and warm inside; there is a big condensation problem. It is more than just annoying, it causes mold quickly and is a constant problem that has to be addressed daily.
I don't like to be cold and we can cover up, put on extra clothes and extra blankets but we still need some heat. We have heard many others complain about condensation but did not experience it ourselves until we were in Tennessee and the lows were in the 30's and 20's and it barely warmed up during the day. We have the least amount of moisture when we stick to temperatures at night that do not drop below 50 degrees.


So, this is when our plans changed again, we thought about going to Florida after Tennessee but knew we needed to be home in Mississippi so changed plans to go to Mississippi and then straight to Texas where our son lives. Well, we decided to skip Florida and just go to Texas and spend time there and then head west and north. However, one last time, we decided to change those plans again, and decided to add Florida back in to get some winter Florida weather and see how we enjoy it, so we will be spending the month of February in Florida before going back to Texas. We are still learning!

Added Bonus: Can't do a trip to Florida without Disney World!!!

We also decided it's probably a good idea to get a dehumidifier; although we really didn't want to and do not have a lot of space for one, probably will be an important thing to get. There may be times where we can't help but be in colder weather in the winter but we will most definitely try to avoid it as much as possible, but for now, onward South!!

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The Natchez Trace

The Natchez Trace: Camping and The Government Shutdown

Leaving Eastern Tennessee heading home to South Mississippi, we decided to take the Natchez Trace down. When pulling the camper, we never go more than 60-65 mph and there is so much beauty on the trace, it definitely was the best option. There are some great campsites on the trace too; so easy to pull over for the night.

The Natchez Trace is 444 miles but we decided to get off around Jackson and head on into Hattiesburg to spend Christmas Even and the Christmas holidays with family.

The Natchez Trace has beautiful trails and I was pleasantly surprised with the campgrounds. Unfortunately, the government shut down occurred on our second day on the trace. This meant that the campgrounds continued to stay open, the welcome centers and bathroom facilities did not.

We left Pigeon Forge on a Friday morning and headed to Nashville; we ate dinner in Nashville and decided to head to the first campground on the Natchez Trace, Meriwether Lewis on mile post 385 (of the 444) so it was still early on into the Trace and still in Tennessee.

This is a free campsite, paved, well maintained. Fire pits and picnic tables and a very clean (new looking) restroom facility. There were no showers but the restroom was heated (and I am sure cooled in the summer). There are no hook ups but it was a nice, safe place to stay for the night. Being self-contained and having a generator, we didn't need hook ups anyway; we were there only one night. If we did not have a time frame to arrive home for Christmas this was a place we could see us staying two or three nights at. We arrived Friday night and left Saturday late morning and everything was still opened at that time. 

We continued down the Trace and decided to stop for lunch at a nice little historic site. This is where we found out about the government shutdown. This was late Saturday afternoon and the restrooms at this site where locked with a notice about the shutdown. Since there will not be anyone there to maintain the restrooms they decided to lock them all up. 

Lunch spot.

When we got close to Tupelo, MS, my daughter Shelby needed to use the restroom and we were close to a Welcome Center on the Trace. This Welcome Center was a nice one with lots of interactive displays; we had stopped at this center before and I knew it would be a nice stop. Unfortunately, it was closed and the restrooms were locked because of the shutdown. Thank goodness they did not close the campgrounds as we were heading to the next one on the list. We had to drive into Tupelo and find a restroom there to use.

Jeff Busby Campground, mile post 193 in Mississippi

We spent Saturday night at this campground; another nice, well maintained place to camp for free. Again, no hook ups but we did not need them. I was unable to check out the restroom facilities to see how they were since they were locked.

Sunday, we ended up driving on into south Mississippi and stayed on Family property until we got settled into a place by a Lake in between Collins and Hattiesburg. The next month will be spent visiting family before spending some time in Florida and then in Texas as we figure out our route to Montana for the summer.

To Keep up with how the government shutdown is effecting The Natchez Trace and the campgrounds there, here is their website: Camping Along the Natchez Trace



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