Bushnell, FL to Pine Mountain, GA

Pine Mountain, GA - Events of Tuesday, March 27 to Wednesday, March 28, 2012

On Tuesday morning we planned to hit the road about 9:30 AM and head north, but by the time we got everything packed up and said good-bye to our neighbors, we didn't get out of Blueberry Hill until after 10:00. Northbound traffic on I-75 was heavy, but not heavy enough to cause any delays or slow-downs.

It was about a 4-hour drive plus a fuel stop plus an extra potty stop for Freeway, so we didn't pull into our overnight stop at Wanee Lake Golf and RV Resort in Ashburn, GA until after 2:30 PM. We are usually set up by 1:30 at the latest, so that is fairly late for us.

Wanee Lake has about 25 or 30 sites, all of which are long pull-throughs and all of which have full hookups with 30/50-amp electric. The roads are gravel, and the pads are a mixture of dirt, grass and gravel. The grassy sites are fairly widely spaced.

Our site at Wanee Lake Golf & RV

The campground wasn't very full when we were at Wanee Lake.

The campground is about 5 miles off I-75, which is not far enough to be inconvenient, but far enough that there is no interstate noise. The traffic on the two lane road that passes the campground was light, and there are also no trains. Therefore, the campground was nice and quiet, especially at night.

The web site for Wanee Lake RV says they have free Wi-fi, but it didn't show up on our computer's list of wireless networks. Maybe it is only available in the vicinity of the clubhouse, or maybe it was down when we were there. We did have a strong Verizon 3G signal.

Wanee Lake is a country club, and there is also a golf course, driving range, swimming pool and tennis court. Our site was near the first tee of the golf course. The golf course was surprisingly busy in the evening given the fact Ashburn is the only town close by and it is relatively small.

First tee of Wanee Lake Golf Course from our window

Wanee Lake RV is a nice campground, especially for the Passport America rate of $15 per night plus tax. Unfortunately, there isn't much to do in the area unless you golf. Wanee Lake is a membership country club, but campers at the RV park can golf at members' rates.

We got an earlier start at about 9:30 the following morning for the next leg of our journey. Since we had a drive of a little over three hours, we arrived at F.D. Roosevelt State Park in Pine Mountain, GA shortly after 12:30. We wanted to arrive early because, although we had a reservation, the reservations at Georgia state parks are not site specific. Since the selection of the actual site is on a first-come, first-served basis, we hoped arriving earlier in the day would provide us with a better selection of sites.

F.D. Roosevelt State Park has about 140 RV and tent campsites with water and electricity. Some sites have 20/30 amps and some have 20/30/50 amps. Many of the sites are relatively close together for a state park. The campground is heavily wooded, but now that we have Verizon Broadband, we don't have to rely on our rooftop dish for satellite internet. Therefore, we can go to a more wooded campground and use a tripod for satellite TV.

Pads and patios at F.D. Roosevelt are gravel, and the all the roads in the campground except two small side loops are paved. However, most of the roads are quite narrow with some sharp turns and with trees close to the pavement in some places and drop-offs a foot or more deep on one or both sides of the road in other places. We saw a phone number for a towing service posted on one of the bulletin boards, so it's probably not uncommon for people to get stuck.

Although we wouldn't call F.D. Roosevelt State Park campground big-rig friendly, you can get around in a larger RV if you're careful to watch for the trees, drop-offs, tight turns and low branches. About one quarter of the sites will accommodate big rigs, but we wouldn't advise arriving late on a Friday night in summer with a 40' motor home and expect to find a site. Big rigs can't fit in a smaller site, but smaller rigs can and do take the bigger sites. We saw tent trailers, Class B van campers and even tents on 50 or 60' long, 50-amp sites. Also, many of the sites slope front to back. That may be OK for a trailer or 5th wheel, but not for a motor home.

There were a good many sites that would have fit our rig when we arrived on Wednesday. We found a long, level pull-through with some shade and with a hole through the tree branches big enough that we could still use our rooftop dish for TV. Not only that, but we had a view of the lake from the front window. Unfortunately, the site we found didn't have 50-amp electric, but it was only supposed in the low 80s while we were there. We figured the partial shade we had would help keep the rig cool enough we probably wouldn't need to run the air conditioner, and we almost certainly wouldn't need both air conditioners.

Our site at F.D. Roosevelt State Park

Distant view of our site showing some of the neighboring sites

View of small, lake-front sites across from our site

Lake-front tent site

The campground was nice and peaceful when we first arrived, but it started filling up on the weekend. On Sunday afternoon, a lot of people left. However, the local schools must have been closed since it was the week before Easter, and a bunch of new people arrived so the campground stayed pretty full.

We're happy to report the new residential refrigerator traveled well. The doors all stayed shut, nothing spilled inside, and the fridge didn't break free from its mounting bolts when we hit bumps or stopped short. The Samsung refrigerator is pretty energy efficient, so the motor home's alternator had no problem keeping the batteries charged while the inverter powered the fridge as we drove down the road.

Freeway is an excellent traveler. He is content to be in his crate and nap when we're driving. He can also go a relatively long time between potty breaks, especially considering he is only about 5 months old. And we sure are happy he doesn't get car sick.

Pine Mountain, GA is the home of Callaway Gardens, and that will be our main interest for the next several days. We'll tell you all about it in our next few posts.