We have officially been in Florida for one month now. That is more than most people can say who do not already live here. Our goal this past week was to begin heading towards the Everglades and eventually the Keys, however, before we reached the Everglades, we stayed at Buttonwood Bay RV Resort in Sebring. This was northwest of the Everglades and the farthest we have ever been from the ocean since being in Florida. While there, we enjoyed the 55+ community of friendly people who lived there part/full time.

Our first few days at this place, we focused on our work and stayed inside mostly, but we made sure to go biking or walking every evening. We enjoyed playing several games of pool in one of their recreation rooms, swimming in both of their two swimming pools, and of course, biking everywhere. Unfortunately, Lora hurt her ankle pretty badly one afternoon when Hunter was trying to teach her to do a canon ball in the pool. It swelled up, but thanks to Hunter’s bandage wrapping skills, it is healing.

From this lovely campground we moved on to…can you guess it? Yep, the Everglades! Neither one of us had ever been there and it was truly an experience, despite the fact that it rained most of our time there. While we cannot say much about the campground we stayed at (Gator Park), we did enjoy being only twenty minutes away from the Everglades National Park. We decided to spend an afternoon at the park and brought our camper and bikes. We started out exploring on foot, hoping with every step that we would run into an alligator (we still had not seen a single one in Florida yet), but we did not.

After walking we decided to take our bikes to a tower overlooking the Everglades that was seven miles away. The path took us along a river the entire way and we were so pleased to see, not just one, but many alligators! They seemed very used to people and did not flinch when we went past.

After enjoying the incredible view of the swampy land for miles, we headed back towards our truck. Before we had even made it one mile down the road, Hunter’s bike broke down. He had gotten part of it twisted somehow in his wheel and chain. It was so bad we could not even walk the bike without it becoming tangled and we were thinking we would have to drag it. We were in desperate need of pliers, but all of the kindhearted people who stopped to offer help did not have any. They did, we believe, tell one of the park rangers about our predicament because shortly after we were offered help a ranger brought a pick up to take us back to the main office. We were and are so thankful for the all the people who were willing to help us out.

Well that is all the information we have for this week, but join us next week as we head towards the Keys…the most southern part of the United States.

Buttonwood Bay RV Resort

Rating

5 out of 5 stars

Comments: We loved this place! I think I may have mentioned that above, but the staff were very friendly and welcoming and so were all of the people who stayed there. This RV Resort had little cottages for the community of 55+ people who lived there either half of the year or full-time, and each cottage had a campsite next to it for people like us. With a pretty reasonable price, full hook-ups, two swimming pools, a pool room, gorgeous lake, and plenty of biking opportunities, you could say were were pretty happy campers.

Cell Signal

Google Fi (combination of US cellar, T-mobile, and Sprint): 3 LTE bars

Verizon: 3 LTE bars

Weather

High was in the lower 80’s

Low was in the mid 60’s

Time of Year

End of October, 2016

Recommended Places to See & Things To Do

Definitely take advantage of the accommodations that the campground offers

Check out some of the cute cafes/coffee shops in the town of Sebring, if that’s your thing

Max/Recommended RV Size

55+

Price Per Night

$30 per night (we only paid $15 with our Passport America membership)

Gator Park

Rating

2.5 out of 5 stars

Comments: We don’t like to give low ratings and we are sure this is a very nice place, but considering its price, it was not quite worth the two nights we stayed there. The customer service was not exceptionally friendly, but who knows, maybe they were having a bad day. It was great to be so close to the Everglades, however, which may also explain their high pricing.

Cell Signal

Google Fi (combination of US cellar, T-mobile, and Sprint): 1 LTE bars

Verizon: 2 LTE bars

Weather

High was in the low 80’s

Low was in the low to mid 70’s

Time of Year

End of October

Recommended Places to See & Things To Do

-Check out the everglades by visiting the national parks, brink a bike if you have one, if not you can rent one

-Take time to see the alligators and maybe even some crocodiles if you look hard enough

-Take a boat tour through the Everglades

Max/Recommended RV Size

45ft

Price Per Night

$30 per night (we payed $25, even with the Passport America membership)

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