Arriving In & Exploring Jacksonville

Mar 19

Mar 19 Arriving In & Exploring Jacksonville

So we try to follow the 2-2-2 rule of traveling whenever possible. Many would call this crazy, but this makes “moving” days much less stressful.

Drive no more than 200 miles.
Stay no less than 2 nights
Be in your next spot by 2 PM.

The real deal is that 200 miles is about 3 - 5 hours of actual drive time. Gone are the days of 24-hour driving marathon road trips. Since moving around the country is our life, we don’t feel like we have to rush like we did when traveling was only done during vacation time. Anything longer than 4 hours and Russ knows I will be going a little crazy in the Pilot!

We really adopt the second “2” of the rule. There have been very few times that we have stayed someone for a single night. The rare case would be a quick stopover on a long drive. Part of the reason we decided to become full-time RVers was to “See the Country”. It is the first part of our blog name - SEE Simple Love. Even if seeing means a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere. If you stay somewhere one night and have to leave the very next morning - where do you find the time to explore a little? Two nights minimum and we find ourselves leaning more toward 4 - 7 nights. Why rush?

Be to your next spot by 2 PM is always a good plan. That gives you plenty of time to set up shop or should we say ‘home’ before it gets dark or we become hangry! We do tend to move at a leisurely pace on pack-up morning. There is a lot to do, but doing it a relaxed pace helps it from being overwhelming. We rarely get on the road before 10 AM. This means to follow this rule of in by 2 PM, we can’t travel more than 4 hours. That makes me (Betsy) perfectly happy.

Our move from Titusville to Jacksonville followed these rules, making us happy travelers! We arrived at Pecan Park RV Resort and got set up quickly. This allowed us time to relax and enjoy an Irish-themed dinner, Colcannon (cabbage, spuds, & bacon), for St. Patrick’s Day! We met a few of our neighbors and called it a night!

Several people had told us about a large flea market that was close to the campground. What we didn’t realize was that it as literally right next to the campground. There is even a gate in the fence that allows you to walk right over. On Saturday morning, we decided to get our morning exercise in with a walk around the market. We browsed, pointing out unique and fun things we saw in the many stands of “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. Our favorite part was definitely the litter of American Bulldog puppies. From sleepy to playful - oh how cute they were. We walked back to the campground empty handed, just as we expected, but still had fun looking around. We definitely don’t need any more stuff!

Sunday afternoon we decided to check out downtown Jacksonville which is only about 15 miles South of the campground. We didn’t have a big agenda, but did want to walk the Riverwalk that runs along the St. John’s River. It was a fun walk, enjoying the urban vibe created by the big buildings mixed with the relaxing feeling of the water to the other side. There was several dining options along the way and a few museums on the other bank.

We even caught part of the St. Pawty’s Day dog celebration going on at Jacksonville Landing.

We immediately noticed the railroad bridge that spanned the river as it seemed closer to the water than normal. While in the process of discussing whether the bridge was still in operations, we got to experience several trains going by as well as a section of it raising up to allow boats to pass through.