Winter in Florida?

[janepete]

Hi all, We are considering taking a trip to Florida to avoid the winter here in Maine for the months of January, February and March. I noticed that there are some places that rent park model campers for reasonable cost. Looks like that might be less than the cost of towing our Sunny down from Maine with gas and tolls. Wondering if folks have experience with Florida? We are newbies to this snowbird thing and are looking for a safe place to live. We welcome any suggestions.

 

[GKLarson]

At first I doubted your claim about saving $ by renting in FL, but after crunching some numbers it looks possible. It's 1500m from Bangor to Orlando. At 10mpg towing, you'd use 150 gal one way, doubled by return trip. A sedan getting 30mpg would use 50 gal each way. That 200 gal round trip difference @ $4/gal leaves you $800 ahead to put toward a rental. When you add nightly camping fees into the costs w/ your own unit vs. they're likely being included if you rent a park model; you could well end up saving $.

Wife & I are snowbirds. Previously wintered in FL but spent last 4 in the SW. Thinking of doing FL again this Winter, however, for a change. (Hope it hasn't filed to capacity in our absence )

I can't give any suggestions for park model rentals but as I assume any such rental would be in a park, likely gated & perhaps patrolled, that safety wouldn't be an issue. In FL we boondocked in the 3 Nat. forests & also camped in state forests, & on federal land like Big Cypress & never feared for our safety although sometimes we seemed pretty "out there" w/o any other campers around.

FL, especially South of Tampa gets hoards of snowbirds & private parks charge accordingly, especially near the coast. Camp prices in keys were sky high 5 yrs ago & likely worse now. Early reservations are a must. Expect to pay double for any campground w/ word "Resort" in their name. It's a huge state, though, & away from the busiest tourist areas you can find a safe & affordable place in the sun.

If you do tow your Sunline down & wanna use it to move around some rather than spending your entire stay in one location, I'd be happy to provide some additional details. Have a great time !!!

 

[janepete]

Thank you Glen, very good ideas. We have been looking over different places but what seems like a good price is usually on a 4 lane highway. No doubt we could stay in our own Sunny for less in a nicer park. Still mulling things over. Glad to hear about the national and state parks. I would be interested in hearing about any parks you might recommend, as that has come back into the picture. Really would like to get out of the snow for a change.

 

[campbugjan1]

Hi..we have been spending winters in Fl. for many years in our various campers. If you pm me I would be happy to give you some places/rates and info on park rentals vs your own unit. Janalee