1-24-2011, Heading West

Since we had only been to this town for Gainesville Fest, and since that is held in the cool part of town, we didn't know that Gainesville had an “uncool” part. But just past the University, the strip of great, small, locally owned businesses gives way to Sprawl Boulevard, USA. We only discovered this on our way out of town when we took an hour running in circles looking for the oil change garage. Gainesville might come up with some unique names for businesses, but when it came to naming their streets they failed. They're all numbers! 47th Street crosses 47th Avenue, but if you're looking for 47th Boulevard that's between 46th Place and 48th Terrace. It's mind numbing. We drove out of our way to an Avenue before realizing we wanted a Boulevard. Luckily, our appointment at the garage was held, and we got lubed up and on the road.

We were spoiled by Keith's RV Haven, and figured we needed to stay somewhere for the next couple of nights that had electric and water hook ups. This made staying in Apalachicola State Park kind of hard, as Tate's Hell was the most convenient park area, and they only allowed for “primitive” camping. We weren't feeling primitive. Ward looked online for an RV park in the area while Steph caught them both up on US Weekly (OMG, I still can't believe Sandra had to find out about Jesse's engagement to Kat in the newspaper!), and we settled on Ho Hum RV Park, right outside of Carrabelle, FLA. Here's the conversation that solidified our plans:

“Hello, do you have room for us for a couple of nights?”
“Sure do.”
“Great! It looks like your right by Apalachicola State Park. What kind of things can we do there?”
“Um, we're called Ho Hum for a reason. Not much to do here.”
“No?”
“Nope. I mean, you can walk on the beach, or go to the park, or go into town. But there's nothing to do.”
“Put us down for 2 nights, please.”

That was just the “nothing” we were hoping to get into!

When we arrived, it was paradise, we parked for the night facing the water, and made it just in time for an amazing sunset. Inspired by the warmer temperature, Stephanie cooked hot dogs and hamburgers and baked beans and coleslaw, and we watched as the last light sunk into the western horizon. Amazing.