Hippie Van Travels: Camping on St. George Island

Remembering a wonderful stop along our Hippie Van Road Trip — St. George Island in the Florida panhandle!

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The Difference Between Conchs and Whelks

A Conch by any other name…is probably a Whelk!  Click the pic to discover the difference in the two!

Hippies on Duval Street in the Florida Keys

Okay, so we’d been lingering a lot on Sugarloaf Key and not had too much time for Key West until…  Until we decided we had to know more of the island that our friend T.J. swore to us was ‘much better than we’d so far experienced’.  *not word for word*  We knew we’d have to make a day of it and, once and for all, see it for ourselves; Duval Street…Southernmost Point and everything in between.

In no time at all, Peniki was blaring down Overseas Highway at 55 mph and we were once again on Key West.  This time, we’d left our bikes back at Lazy Lakes and opted to go afoot.  We tried to think like the local Conchs and check out the ‘not so touristy’ spots where, in our opinions, the local-focal were likely to frequent.  In our search, we ended up at a little outdoor bistro with a tropical setting like no other we’d seen anywhere near Duval…complete with talking birds.  One Mango Daquiri later, I was sure we’d made the right decision by choosing to take a more intimate look at Key West and Duval Street.  We were fast becoming friends with the Florida Keys.

Road Trip in a Hippie Van to the Florida Keys

Day 21: Leaving Sebastian Inlet, Headin’ to the Florida Keys–

Up by 8:30 or 9ish, ‘did laundry and packed up the van for the final stretch of our Peniki adventure road trip.  ‘Got on the road late b/c we had hot dogs and good conversation with our neighbors Eddy and Suzanne.  Nice People!  We’ll have to keep in touch.

‘Thinking we’d head straight for Key Largo today; per a tip from Eddy, we decided to  take the Toll Road straight on down and by-pass Miami this time around.  I had really had my heart set on seeing Hollywood Florida, but our new friend Eddy said it’s just a lot of hype, souvenir shops and the like.  Still, I want to see it…someday.

Visited the ATM, bought diapers and wipes, fueled up the van and we went in search of Florida’s Toll Road.  In the end, the toll road proved to be way too fast-paced for our old classic VW.  I was a mess when it came to nerves, but Captain Nic kept it steady and calm; even when we thought we might get mowed down by the crazy drivers who aren’t still stuck in the 70’s…goin’ 55 mph.  :  )  The left side service station exits, right off the ‘fast lane’ really didn’t help our case any at all. At one point, some flaming idiot came past in a fury, yelling some stupid shit!  I wanted to catch up to him and put the Whoopass on him….but the van never could catch the maniac.  LMAO

Finally, after hours and many miles of chaos on the toll road, we rolled in to Key Largo at about 9 pm or so, quickly found a campsite (as fast as we possibly could anyway), and ended up at The Key Largo Campground and Marina…just off Overseas Highway and within walking distance to Publix.  We paid WAY too much for the lot w/ a water view, but at last….we had arrived.  A BIG sigh of relief fell over our camp and ourselves as we went about constructing a partial set-up for the night.

Camp was finally put together and we were more than ready for bed by about midnight.  Luckily, the baby slept through it all.  ‘Will see tomorrow what this place looks like; if it is worth the $$$ we spent, though I doubt it is.

All in all, it had been a pretty good day’s travels.  Peniki had taken us all the way to the Florida Keys and God had blessed us in so many ways.

*Remembering* Nico met a nice man from Haiti who was working at the Key Largo Burger King.  I remember thinking of how much farther he had traveled to a new land, by comparison to our own travels.  I thought to myself: If this brave man can come all this way and make it work, we should be able to as well.  I dared to dream.

VW Westfalia Family Road Trip — Hippies at Heart

Day 20–Mother’s Day:  Flagler Beach to Sebastian Inlet SP

Mother’s Day today!  Woke up around 9:00 or so to a beautiful sunny day on Florida’s East Coast.  Lovely ocean waves in the distance; I can barely hear them from our campsite at Flagler Beach’ Gamble Rogers State Rec Area.  We really do like it here.  The facilities are nice, with clean restrooms right across from us, and a laundry facility as well.  I can see the Atlantic Ocean from our temporary front yard.  ;  )

Nico cooked breakfast, made some coffee and fed Baby too.  Flagler is a very inviting place, but I think we’ve decided to press onward.  We were up and gone by noon, but in our travels, we’ve discovered that A1A Highway along the Atlantic Coastline, is NOT a friendly road!  We were going the speed limit of 55 mph, but cars were still idiotically passing on the wrong side of a skinny two lane road…with no shoulder to pull over if needed.  Crazy Drivers!  We escaped A1A as quickly as possible, and opted to take Highway 1 on down from Ormond Beach.  The SP there was nice, but still not the best we’ve seen.

Stopped near Daytona for drinks/ice/gas, and decided to head for Sabastian Inlet SRA.  [Note to Self: Daytona…YUK!  No Go There Again!]  A little while later, there we were at a nice campsite across from the Gulf side of Florida, watching the sun set over the water.  ‘Met a nice couple from Jacksonville–Eddy and Suzanne Shores–camped out next to us at Sebastian Inlet.  But we quickly realized that the Park Hosts really ‘STINK’ there!

A Volkswagen Westy & Hippies at Heart: Saint George Island, Florida

Day 17:

Had breakfast and got ready for a nice day at St. George Island Beach.  ‘Loaded up the bike trailer to the limit, and we were off!  Fun…fun day!  ‘Found a Pirate’s Booty of seashells!  Yayahhhh!!!

Headed back to camp and started a campfire to grill Bratwurst sausages.  While the fire was stoking, I headed out to buy ice from the camp-hosts and ended up meeting Rob’s wife Anne.  Nice lady!  We ended up chatting for over an hour and meeting other passersby out walking their dogs.

Later that night, Nico played guitar for Nixi and we settled in…after showers.  It had been a good…good day.  Lovin’ every minute of St. George Isle!  No words to describe…