March break in Florida with the travel trailer, all the way from Ottawa!

Ever since we have bought the trailer in 2012, we have dreamed about taking the RV down south in the middle of the winter, to warmer climates where the snow does not show as often as it does in our beautiful Ottawa, Canada. The idea of driving south and slowly see the blanket of snow get thinner, and thinner, giving you ample time to appreciate what is happening, the whole trip.


People fleeing the winter blues on a plane get a much shorter "transition" from winter to summer, whereas driving down south in the middle of winter is the best way of fully taking it the transition to a much nicer climate.



Finding the proper timing for such a road trip is no easy task given the challenges of the little time off around the holiday season, all of the family gatherings and having a spouse who is a grade six teacher and for which taking time off during the school year is almost unthinkable.


For some reason, we felt this year was the year this was going to happen, and that if it was not this year, soon enough, our oldest kid would be to old to be wanting to come with us.


We then started to contemplate the possibility of heading down to St-Augustine, Florida for the March break. Back from visiting the Florida Keys in the summer of 2014, we had driven by St-Augustine and we had been struck with how beautiful the city was, with its Spanish heritage. We had promised ourselves to come back one day, and this was our chance. Other destinations further south might have allowed to increase the likelihood of warmer temperatures but the added distance was a deterrent. If we went anywhere, St-Augustine would have to be it.






The break itself being only a week long, it made it a somewhat unappealing trip to consider knowing that Ottawa is a mere 2165 kilometers away from St-Augustine, and that represents around 44 hours of driving for a round trip there. Yes, you heard right! 44 hours of driving with three kids in the back. Who does this?  Especially in the span of 10 days, which was the allotted time we could mustard during the spring break.


The plan was to leave early after work on the Thursday before the spring  break week would start, and hopefully get to St-Augustine on Saturday around lunch time, so driving the distance within less than two full days. The return trip would then have us wake early the following Saturday, and would see us home late on the Sunday evening, leaving us with almost an entire week down in the much warmer climate that Florida is.


Crazy you say? We could not agree more but yet, we were drawn to consider it seriously and by the time we sprang the news onto the kids, it was too late to change our minds and we knew we were committed (and excited!)


(more to follow)

There is nothing more exciting than the prospect of an upcoming week-end of camping with the entire family, where the great outdoors will be conquered and where we all feel more alive, more connected with nature, in tune with our surroundings.


That is the main reason we ventured into the great world of recreational vehicles (RV's) in 2012, when we pulled the trigger on a Jayco X213 2011. This is the RV we have spent a great numbers of nights falling asleep in, far from home, in unfamiliar territory. It has been the home base of these adventures as we call them, these outings where we set out to explore places further and further away from home.


Rv'ing may not be for everyone but when it works for you and your family, it can turn out to be a great way to bond as a family, to have fun, to explore, and to spend quality holidays in the summer.


This blog aims at capturing our experience as a family camping in an RV, the places we have seen, the people we have met along the way, and the fun we have had.


We hope that it can serve as an inspiration for other young families!


See you around!