Summerdale to Blueberry Hill

Bushnell, FL - Events of Monday, October 31 to Tuesday, November 1, 2016

We headed out on Monday morning on the first leg of our journey from Summerdale to Blueberry Hill RV Resort in Bushnell, Florida. It was a three-hour drive to our overnight stop at Beaver Lake Campground in Quincy, Florida. We timed our departure from Summerdale to arrive in Quincy shortly after 2:00 taking into account we would be losing an hour going from Central Time to Eastern because Beaver Lake reportedly has a very strict interpretation of their 2 p.m. check-in time, and we didn't want to arrive early. Beaver Lake has a few long-term residents, but we were the first overnighters to arrive.

Beaver Lake Campground is basically a row of 10 full-hookup, pull-through campsites in a field behind a gas station with a few back-ins along the sides. As far as we can tell, all sites have 20/30/50-amp electric. The pull-through sites are pretty narrow, and the hookups are side by side (meaning the utility pedestals are shared) so you are really close to your neighbor on the off-door side. There is no Wi-fi, but since the campground is right off the interstate, there is a good Verizon 4G signal. Because the campground is close to the interstate, there is also a good bit of traffic noise. Beaver Lake isn't anything fancy by any means, but at a Passport America rate of only around $20 a night, it's good place for an overnight stop.

Our site at Beaver Lake CG

A Class C motor home pulled in beside us an hour or so after we arrived. By dusk, only two more rigs had arrived so there were fewer people there this time than any of our previous stops at Beaver Lake. The truck camper to the left in the photo below is a long-term resident.

Only a few people at Beaver Lake CG on this stop

On Tuesday morning, we hit the road fairly early on the final leg of our journey to Blueberry Hill. It was a drive of a little over 4 hours that included two stops - a fuel stop at Flying J and a later stop to check hub temps (all good). We pulled into Blueberry Hill around 1:00 and got set up.

Our site at Blueberry Hill

As our regular readers know, we have been spending winters at Blueberry Hill for quite some time (since our second winter of full-timing in 2007-2008). A few years ago, we even signed up for a 6-and-6 deal at Blueberry (6 months of site usage and 6 months of optional, on-site RV storage). We were attracted to the deal by an incentive that included an allowance for a shed, paving and landscaping in exchange for a 2-year commitment. Even though we don't spend a full 6 months in Florida during the winter and even though we don't want to store our rig on the site in the summer, the cost for 6-and-6 is only slightly higher than we were paying for 4 months at the regular rate so we thought having the shed, paving and landscaping was definitely worth it.

Although we love our site at Blueberry Hill, we won't be here much longer. We will soon be moving to the SKP RV Resort in Wauchula, which is a little over two hours farther south.

Back in the late fall of 2007 as we toured around Florida before going to Blueberry Hill, one of the stops we made was at the SKP Florida RV Resort. SKP is an abbreviation for Escapees, which is an RV club we belong to that caters to full-timers. The organization owns campgrounds in numerous locations around the country (mostly in the south and west - Rainbow Plantation where we recently stayed in Lower Alabama is one of them). There are also co-ops that are sponsored by Escapees but are wholly member-owned. The Florida RV Resort is one of those member-owned co-ops.

We liked the co-op in Wauchula when we stayed there, so we inquired about getting a site. At that time, they told us there was a 10-year wait. Although we had no idea what we would be doing in 10 years, there was only a nominal registration fee plus a relatively small, refundable deposit required to get our names onto the waiting list. We thought if we were still full-timing by the time our name reached the top of the list, we might be looking for a home base. Therefore, we went ahead and signed up.

Because we started out at number 185 on the list, the possibility of getting a site was so far in the future we paid little attention to where we were on the list over the years. The economic downturn of 2008-2009 and the anemic recovery that followed apparently caused more people than usual to drop off the list, which resulted in our name rising more quickly than anticipated. We got a call last spring, which was a little more than 8 years since we had signed up, telling us we were approaching the top of the list, and that there would likely be a site available for us by late spring.

The buy-in fee for the Escapees Florida Co-op is fairly reasonable. Not only that, but the original buy-in fee plus the cost of any improvements the member makes to the site are refundable when the member leaves the co-op. With the buy-in fee being fully refundable and with a waiting list of people wanting to get a site, there is no risk of not getting our money back when the time comes to leave like there might be if we purchased an RV site outright somewhere else. In addition, the annual maintenance fee, which entitles us to use the site for the entire year if we choose, is less than half the rent we pay at Blueberry Hill, which is only good for a 6 month stay plus 6 months of RV storage. Therefore, when we were officially notified a site was available for us, making the decision to buy into the co-op and move to Wauchula made so much economic sense we couldn't pass it up.

Unfortunately, we had already committed to another year at Blueberry Hill when we found out we would be getting a site at the co-op. As we said, however, the maintenance fee at the co-op is very low so we'll be able to recoup the extra money we'll be paying out this year in a fairly short amount of time starting next year.

The sites at the Escapees Co-op are about the same size as the ones at Blueberry Hill. They are a little narrower, but they are somewhat longer. Our new site has a paved driveway, parking pad and patio. It also has a shed. There is a very large Sabol palm at the front of the site and two smaller palms (Paul thinks they are pygmy date palms) and a red bottle brush shrub on our site outside our door. The neighbors on the off-door side have a couple of citrus trees, which will not only provide some shade for our rig on hot days, but they have an intoxicating scent when they bloom in late winter and early spring.

Our new site at SKP RV Resort

Some of the landscaping on our new site

Our plan is to stay at Blueberry Hill for a week or so where we'll be doing a little weeding and maintenance so our old site is presentable in our absence. The maintenance staff at Blueberry will mow when we're not there, but we're still responsible for weeding and trimming as long as our names are on the lease. Eating at a couple of our favorite restaurants in the area is also on the schedule. In addition, we'll make a couple of day trips to Wauchula because Paul wants to pressure wash the pavement, and that will be easier to do if the 5th wheel isn't parked on it. We'll also reconnoiter to see what else may need to be done before moving the rig to Wauchula for the remainder of the winter.

We’ll definitely miss Blueberry Hill and our friends there, but Wauchula is only about two hours away so we may pop in for a visit now and then. We'll be spending the upcoming winter making new friends, investigating new restaurants, looking for new places to shop and seeking out new sightseeing opportunities. Stay tuned.

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Comments

[Marsha]

WOW...I didn't see this coming. Do you get anything back for the improvement you did on the Blueberry Hill site?

Your new site looks lovely. We did not stop to check the Wauchula park. Everyone that stays there just loves it. We both wish you the best of luck in your new home.

[Cheryl]

Your new place looks great, can't wait to see the improvements you make.

(Paul, I didn't see one bug on the truck, nice ride)

[Bob & Jo Baskerville]

Also WOW here, good luck in the transition.

[Gerri Jones]

What exciting news!! Your new site looks great and I love the landscaping.