Here we are, on our third snowbird adventure! This one is primarily taking us to Florida…around the state and all the way to the Keys!

The big news to start with is that we got a new truck! After our trip in October, we had some concerns about the towing capacity of the F-150; it struggled on some of the hills we encountered and we know that we will have more hills to climb in our travels. We always knew that our trailer was at the high end of what the F-150 could handle, and we decided it was time to upgrade for more power!

We purchased a 2024 F-250 Super Duty truck. For comparison, the F-150 had a 2.7 liter engine and the F-250 has a 7.3 liter engine. It’s a pretty dramatic increase, and from everything we’ve heard from others who have the same trailer as us, you hardly know you’re towing anything. It has heavier-duty brakes and suspension, as well, plus it’s brand new so we are much less likely to have any mechanical issues. It is a BEAST – it’s huge, and much higher off the ground. We definitely need the running boards to climb in, but sliding out is pretty easy thanks to gravity! It’s about 15” longer than the old truck, too, so our overall length grew a bit. We would never in a million years own a truck like this if it wasn’t for our need to tow. So we were anxious to set out and see how it performs (while Florida won’t really give us any hills, there will be some hilly stretches en route).

We pulled the trailer out of storage on Friday 1/31 and immediately took it to a local RV dealer so that they could adjust the hitch height to match the truck – this will make sure the weight is distributed correctly. Then it was home to start loading up. It’s always a bigger project for our first trip of the season, after winter storage – we have to put just about everything back in. We spent Saturday getting it all ready, and we hit the road early on Sunday, February 2^nd…first stop, just south of Louisville, KY, about 315 miles from home.

It was a smooth and easy ride, and we were indeed impressed by how easily the truck handles the trailer. We love the huge mirrors which give us tons of visibility and improves overall safety. We don’t love the gas mileage – averaging about 8 mpg when we’re towing. The truck re-calculates the ‘miles to empty’ when we connect the trailer, and it immediately plummets to about 250 miles on a full tank. We were averaging about 10 mpg with the F-150, so it’s a 20% decrease. It hurts a little whenever we fill the tank.

Time travel became very real when we first crossed into Eastern time in Indiana. The truck clock picked up the change very quickly, but our phones/Google Maps took a while, so our arrival time was in the past…hmmm…

As we drove South, we saw several RVs heading North. Puzzling. Where are they camping up North this time of year? Seemed really odd…we hardly saw anyone else heading south (Mark said it was because we were going so fast, they were all behind us!)

We arrived at our campground in Louisville and basically just pulled in for the night – left the truck & trailer connected. And, of course, we had plumbing issues. Our water pressure regulator didn’t appear to be working and it can be really ugly for the trailer if water pressure is too high, so Mark just filled the fresh water tank and we worked off that. He quickly ordered a new regulator from Amazon for pickup at our next stop. And then the kitchen sink wasn’t working. Bathroom was fine. Hmmm. Took apart the faucet and there was buildup in there that was clogging it; cleaned that out and we were finally good!

After a meal and some sleep, we were back on the road early on Monday. Monday was a confusing day…we really never had any idea what time it was – we were crossing between Eastern and Central time a few times on our drive and just gave up trying to keep track of what time it was. We encountered some more hilly terrain on this stretch, and we were both really pleased with how seamlessly the truck handled the climbs. We also love that we can easily and safely go 65 mph in this truck; we used to max out around 62, and those extra few miles per hour are nice!

Our next stop was Trenton, GA which is basically a suburb of Chattanooga, TN. It’s a couple hours north of Atlanta, and we used it as a stopping point to allow us to spend some time in Atlanta (there aren’t many campgrounds in/near the city, obviously). On Tuesday, we left the trailer behind and headed into Atlanta. Our first stop was the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. This has been on our list of places to visit for quite a while, but was particularly relevant given his recent passing. We’ve enjoyed all of the Presidential Libraries we’ve visited, but did find this one to be particularly well-done – easy to follow the timeline of key events, and to clearly understand the key accomplishments of Carter’s presidency. The property is also home to The Carter Center which does amazing work around the world to improve health, strengthen democracy, and advance human rights. The grounds are beautiful, as well…even in the winter.

From there we headed to an Atlanta icon, World of Coca-Cola, to learn more about the company’s fascinating history. I visited there once before, back in 1997 or 1998 when my brother was living in Atlanta, but didn’t really remember much. It’s a really fun tour through the history of Coke and its evolution through the years from one product to hundreds of different types of beverages. There’s so much memorabilia, and as a former marketer, I will always be impressed by the genius of their marketing efforts, from the logo to the bottle design to the many taglines they’ve had over the years. Plus, I do love an ice-cold diet coke!

After the tour, there’s a tasting room where you can try a variety of Coca-Cola products from around the world. The worst one I tasted was Sour Plum from China which truly smelled and tasted like barbeque sauce. Yuck. There were a few yummy ones and some that I’d classify as “interesting”. And, of course, they had some of their freestyle machines to create our own combinations of flavors – I personally love vanilla mixed in with my diet coke!

Our walk back to the truck took us through Centennial Olympic Park, built for the 1996 Summer Olympics. The connection is evident throughout the park…

We had booked a hotel in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, to give us extra time in the city without the long drive back & forth…it was weird because we hardly ever stay in hotels anymore now that we travel with the trailer!

Wednesday morning, we went to a nearby Whole Foods to pick up the Amazon order with our new pressure regulator – really love having options like this when we are traveling and need something quickly!

From there, we went to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site and spent a couple hours learning more about his childhood in Atlanta and all that he accomplished in his short life. His childhood home is under renovation, so we couldn’t take a physical tour but we did get a wonderful virtual tour narrated by a park ranger. We learned a lot, including the fact that he was born Michael Luther King Jr; his father changed both their names to Martin to fulfill a dying wish of his father that his son and grandson be named after his brothers, Martin and Luther.

After lunch, we stopped by the Georgia Tech campus to visit the Museum of Paper Making which was small but fascinating. Who really ever thinks about the history of paper and how paper is made?

With our Atlanta stops complete, we started the trip North again, back to our campground. One more night there in Trenton, and on Thursday morning, we packed up to continue our journey South. Fortunately, Atlanta traffic wasn’t too horrible. We made our way to our next stop, one night at a Love’s RV Stop in Cordele, GA. We stayed at one of these last year in Indiana, but this one was MUCH nicer. It had a pickleball court, playground, and fire pit, along with about 50 RV spots with full hookups. Not bad for being part of a truck stop! It was quiet, safe, and easy in/out – all the things we want for a one-night stay during our travels. Friday morning, we filled the gas tank and pointed the truck South once again…to our first “real” stop, St. Augustine, FL.

We arrived at our campground, Sun Outdoors, around 2pm and were setup pretty quickly. We’ll be here for a full week which is nice after four days of driving in the last six days…it was a LONG trip South, that’s for sure. Saturday was a very quiet day – just a trip to the grocery store and a few things around the trailer that needed to be done. Really didn’t want to spend any more time in the truck just yet…but lots to do in the next several days here in the oldest continuously inhabited city in the US!