1st RV Road Trip - Florida itinerary

johnhicks wrote:
Dial that way back. Seems like just a driving trip, guaranteed to leave everyone worn out and grouchy every day.

If you're going to KSC and Canaveral, you need to be at Manatee Hammock, not the backside of Melbourne an extra hour away.

Unfortunately, we do not have the luxury of time. I will try to dial back to much activity, but with kids in school, driving is part of the territory. We only have 9 nights.
Thanks for suggesting Manatee Hammock. I think we can get in there.

Guy Roan wrote:
You say "see the springs at Juniper Springs", but you are going to paddle at Alexander Springs.
I strongly advise if you only have time to paddle one or the other; make sure it is Juniper Springs.
They both are beautiful spring runs, but Juniper is the best

Thanks for your perspective. Another forum has a user who warns people off of canoeing Juniper. He claims it's too hard to navigate and frustrating for novices. Do you think a teenager paired with a capable adult in each of 2 canoes can enjoy the run at Juniper? I don't want to do both. Alexander was an alternative that we'd skip otherwise.

Scottiemom wrote:
We've stayed at Manatee Hammock twice and never had any problem with noise. Oh yeah, let me think. This was right after Hurricane Irma (?) went through and they had a lot of devastation and closed areas of the park. They inherited a young rooster from the storm who was blown in by the hurricane. He obviously was confused about where he was. People fed him and he became very tame. Beautiful little guy and would come running when you called him. Yes he crowed and yes heartless people complained. So the next time we went he was gone. I don't know what happened to him but the office said too many people complained about him so they had to "relocate" him whatever that meant. Poor thing.

The noise I see consistently mentioned in reviews is from trains.

RobWNY wrote:
We are staying at Seasons in the Sun RV resort in Mims, FL. (6 miles north of Titusville). It's a Very nice and clean resort. We've driven through all of the RV parks in and around here including Manatee Hammock Campground in Titusville. None of them are very nice but most would suffice for an overnight stay. Manatee Hammock is not very nice, not clean but would probably be ok for an overnight. The bathrooms were a mess when we checked it out and the pool was filthy. Also, don't even consider the KOA on Rt. 46 next to Seasons in the Sun resort. There's a lot of homeless people hanging around and the police are there quite often for domestic issues.

AllStays reports that Seasons in the Sun is adults only. Is there an age restriction?
Online photos seem to support your estimation of Manatee Hammock. With full hookups we likely would not use much of the other amenities, but it doesn't look terribly appealing except for location.
I was warned away from the KOA from a user elsewhere. Thanks for your confirmation.

BarabooBob wrote:
We frequently do "road trips" for our vacations. Our daughters grew up doing them. three of them still do that type of trips and the other one does not camp at all. She hates being outdoors unless it is in a crowded water park.
I would take the trip and enjoy every mile.
My wife and I now take month long road trips and only stay in the same place in NP's.
Travel the way you want, not the way others think is the "only way" to travel.

I grew up like your kids. Road trips were often the way. But we enjoyed them all and my girls really love adventure, so off we go. We will do the slower paced trips in summer and when they are gone in a few short years. Appreciate the encouragement!

agesilaus wrote:

I assume you plan to run down Juniper run in a canoe/kayak. So far as I know this does not run to Alexander Springs. Both Juniper and Alexander are worth a visit.

Yes, I know that Juniper and Alexander aren't connected. We'd be choosing Alexander as the easier canoeing alternative if Juniper looks too much like an obstacle course.

Mon. 3/23 - Blue Spring State Park ...

Another good springs for swimming, Manatees will probably be gone by then depending on the weather.

If manatees aren't in the spring, we would most likely eliminate this in favor of a more relaxing day.

...

Fri 3/27 - ...

Manatee has trails but they are sandy and boring to us, you may like them more. The canoeing on the river is excellent tho

We were hoping to find manatees here if we do not see them around Merritt Island. Trails are enough if it's a long day. We'll be sure to include the canoeing if we have a few hours free there.

Three rivers is another boating park. We didn't explore the trails tho. Florida Caverns isn't too far and the cave tours are mildly interesting, not much compared to the Federal Caves but better than Russel Caverns.
I wonder if we chose to spend a more slow Sat. and move the driving to Sunday whether Three Rivers or Falling Waters would be preferable. The Florida Caverns park looks to be devastated by the hurricane and not too far into recovery. Maybe it would be worth it for the caves, if they are open. When we drove that stretch last summer, the landscape was very sad.

(We considered spending Fri night at St. George's Island and move Three Rivers to Sat. night but DH would like to have Sunday free to rest. I'm thinking we're not going to make it to St. George this trip.

agesilaus wrote:
Jetty Park in that area is a very nice county park right on the water. You might want to see if you can get in there.

Thanks. Right now they don't have an opening that will work for us.