We had planned to cook breakfast in the morning over a camp fire but it was too cold to even think about it. We transferred all the stuff back from our front seats and headed to the Sunshine State. We took a scenic back road route through Georgia to get to Huguenot Memorial Park near Jacksonville Florida. Francis put avoid highways on the GPS and the drive was lovely.We saw a lot of small towns, some of which seemed abandoned. They made me think of Old West ghost towns. Georgia is a beautiful state to drive through. We reached our destination around 3pm. We stayed here last year in late December and enjoyed the sun and sand at our waterfront campsite and were looking forward to more of the same during this visit. We paid the nonrefundable $19 for a campsite then went out to choose the perfect site. Unfortunately this time there was no perfect site. It was freezing with really strong winds. Due to the winds, I think it was even colder than the place we just left in Georgia. At this point I am starting to question the wisdom of this camping in January plan! We decided to go further south into Florida in hopes of warmer weather. But first we took nice, long, hot showers in Huguenot before we headed out. Our camp fee was nonrefundable so at least we got much needed showers (our first on this trip). We decided to try Tiger Bay Campground right outside of Daytona based on an internet recommendation but by the time we reached there at 8:30pm the gates were locked. Time for Plan C. So we headed to Ocala National Forest. We were looking for the Hopkins Prairie Campground but got lost in the dark and decided to pull over in the forest and sleep for the night. We honestly didn’t want to pay for a second campsite in the same day so getting lost wasn’t so bad. We completed the gear juggling act as quickly as possible and jumped in the back of the truck for some much needed sleep.
Raptor eating something at Huguenot Memorial Park
Our makeshift campsite in Ocala National Forest

Another view of the campsite