Florida - Day 7 - into the interior via Daytona Beach

Ft. McCoy KOA, Ft. McCoy

Saturday, 21 January 2023

Jimmy enjoying the view at Tomoka State Park.

Google said today's drive would be less than 3 hours, so I took my time about getting back on the road.

today's route

From the state park, we went back over to A1A and drove farther down the beach, past Ormond Beach, and finally cutting over the intracoastal waterway/Halifax River near Daytona Beach.  I could see fancy houses fronting on the waterway and huge condos and towns jammed next to each other: Daytona Beach Shores (pop. 5,179), Port Orange (pop. 63,815), South Daytona (pop. 12,865) - and then Daytona Beach itself (pop. 70,140).  

At Daytona Beach Shores - "Life Is Better Here" - I saw some 2- and 3-story condos that looked like they'd been built 40 or 50 years ago - and others much taller that were obviously fairly new.  One series of them were called Oceans 1, Oceans 2, Oceans 3 . . . up to Oceans 11.  I learned online that some, if not most, of the condos in these building are available for rent, with a 2BR, 2BA unit going for $1995/month (in case you might be interested).

I stopped at a grocery store (where the check-out clerk said this was a great place to live) and unfortunately missed most of the segment of "Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me!" where US Sec. of State Antony Blinken was a guest.  Bad timing.

In Daytona Beach, I had to guess where the famous speedway was.  It was marked on the AAA map and on Google, but the only sign I saw said Sunoco Stadium.  While I assumed this was a company buying naming rights, I still expected to see something proclaiming the world-famous Daytona International Speedway, and I never saw it.  That "stadium" (which sounds like football to me, not race cars) was huge and unusually shaped.

I've since learned that the original 1959 structure was recently modernized and thoroughly upgraded and now offers wi-fi and escalators and other amenities to entice fans to visit in person.  And Sunoco, Toyota, Chevrolet and Florida Hospital have each kicked in substantial funding for various "experiences" that relate to their companies.

Driving west from town, I passed the turn for "L.P.G.A. Avenue" which seemed odd.  But it seems to be a "world-class golf community" that includes 2 fancy 18-hole golf courses, a club, and houses for sale.  Sounds pricey to me.

I passed through the Tiger Bay State Forest, the Lake George State Forest, and the Ocala National Forest.  Lots of trees in this area.

I started seeing lots of bear warning signs along the road, though sadly I never saw any bears.

Lots of evidence of water: towns named Deleon Springs and Salt Springs, the St. Johns River, lots of small lakes and ponds.  (I overworked the word "lots" but this isn't a novel and it fits.)

I was almost entirely on state highways that were just 2-lane, no-shoulder roads, though thankfully in good enough condition.  Florida is pretty good about posting signs saying which highways I'm on and which I'm coming to.  But the directions to tonight's campground involved turning off FL-19 onto County Road 316, and from there onto 160th Ave. Road (yes, both an avenue and a road).  

I found the state road and the county road just fine, but after that . . . either I wrote the directions down wrong or Google's directions were wrong because I couldn't for the life of me find that avenue-road.  I thought it was supposed to be really soon after I'd turned onto the county road, but I drove 6 miles and couldn't find it, so I went back to the turn, which was at the town of Salt Springs.  I stopped for gas ($3.37/gallon) and pulled to the side and read the directions in the KOA book (which assumed I'd be coming from the opposite direction) and consulted the AAA map again, and drove back for another try.  I finally found the avenue-road 10 miles down that county road, obviously not what I was expecting.

Since not long after leaving Daytona, it had been raining more or less, which didn't help.

And when I finally got to the campground, it was another weird one.  The office wasn't labeled, but a sign and some cones blocked the road that led to a building that looked office-y, and the sign said the "parking lot too small for RVs."  I could see that parking lot and it was by no means too small for my RV, but I didn't have any choice.  

I had to get out in the rain and walk quite a long way up to an unlabeled building that actually turned out to be the office.  The person at the desk didn't bother to extend any sort of welcome to me and seemed affronted when I questioned (very mildly) that business of not being allowed to park closer, though it was perfectly clear they had room both to build a larger parking area and to reroute the traffic to allow RVs to drive through.

Then they insisted on leading me to my campsite, but that "escort" turned out to be one of the residents driving up in his pickup and asking me which site I wanted.  As if I knew.  By then I wasn't feeling at all welcomed or as if I was being extended the usual courtesy, let alone amenities, I expect at a KOA - not even a campground map so I had no idea what my choices were or who this guy was, though he was clearly not a KOA employee.  The whole thing was just bizarre.  And it was still raining.

Poor Dext doesn't much like getting wet (bringing his Labrador heritage into question) but the dog park had trees in it so he could shelter under them a bit.  The campground roads weren't paved so they got pretty muddy to walk on, which Dext also doesn't like much.  Very strange.

However, I have one more kitty photo.

Bucky's on the left, Jimmy's on the right.
They're turning out to be pretty, don't you think?