This is a small nature preserve located right behind one of the Walmarts I am camping out at. Some photos from a visit.

This is a small zoo, but it has a pretty nice collection. (I think it is privately-owned rather than city-owned.) It also has a lot of animal interactions available (so I ended up spending more for the day than I had planned). Who DOESN’T want to pet a Sloth?   🙂 Some photos from an afternoon at … More Zoo World

The John Gorrie Museum State Park, in Apalachicola FL, is dedicated to the man who invented the first successful machine for making ice, which led to modern refrigerators, freezers, and air conditioners. In the early 19th century, the southern United States was a dangerous place to live. Tropical diseases like malaria and yellow fever ran … More John Gorrie Museum State Park

If the only thing you see about “vanlife” is on InstaGram or YouTube, you’d be forgiven for thinking that every dweller spends all his time on a sunny beach in a shiny new tricked-out Sprinter, with a blonde girlfriend who looks like a lingerie model and does yoga in a bikini by the campfire. It … More Life in the Van: What’s My Van-life Really Like?

Pier Park in Panama City FL is essentially a giant outdoors strip mall that is located right on the beach. It’s got high-end clothing stores and such, and also touristy things like t-shirts and sunglasses. For me, it’s a nice place to walk around, get lunch, and steal some wifi. Some photos from an afternoon … More Pier Park

Sealab was a Navy-sponsored research program that opened up undersea exploration. In the 1940s, French Navy officer and oceanographer Jacques Cousteau invented the first practical system for a diver to move freely and breathe underwater. Called the “Aqua-Lung”, it became more widely known as Scuba (“self-contained underwater breathing apparatus”). By the 1950s, Scuba had become widespread, … More Sealab

Got here just in time for a cold front. Brrr. 🙂 I’ll be here for 4-5 weeks. After that, I have no idea where I’ll be. I got my second booster shot before I left, so I don’t need to go back to St Pete for that. So it will depend mostly on the weather. … More Greetings From the Panhandle

[NOTE: I’ve blogged all these “how-to” posts before, but am gonna re-run them on occasion, since folks may have missed them, and many of them have been updated or expanded since they were first posted.] There are two basic types of people who live in a camper van: those who have, by unfortunate circumstances, been … More Life in the Van: Why Live in a Van?

Some photos from a walk along the Tampa Bay waterfront in St Petersburg FL.

Some photos (mostly bugs) from a walk at Moccasin Lake Nature Park in Clearwater FL. Pinellas County has a very good public parks system.