Destin Army Infantry Recreation Campground (U.S. Military FamCamp) - Destin, Florida (April 2024)

This is a campground that assigns campsites when you arrive. We were assigned small sites in the outer loop of the campground on our three previous visits. By the luck of the draw, we were assigned a larger site inside the loop this time. 

Office at the Destin Army Recreation Area, which includes the campground and hotel

It looked like an Airstream rally when we pulled up to our site. There were two other Airstream trailers next to Rosie, our Airstream trailer. Plus, there was another Airstream trailer a few sites over. Two more Airstream trailers arrived a few days later. This was a small campground and Airstream trailers stood out in it. 

Three Airstream trailers in a row!

Most people would describe this as a very tight campground. We were pleased that we didn’t have to ask anyone to move their trucks to give us room to back in. We ended up having to move our truck several times to help our new camping neighbors back into their sites. 

It was easy to see that we were there during Destin's Spring Break season. Traffic around Destin was painfully slow and there was an abundance of children in the campground and in the cottages.

Maybe another Spring Breaker

 

Another reminder of Spring Break was the number of trailers leaving the campground during the weekend so that the kids could be back in school on Monday. It seemed that new campers arrived as quickly as others left bringing with them more school aged children on Spring Break. Well, almost all of the campsites were soon filled. 

Along the shore and pier

The pier at night

This has always been a difficult campground to get reservations in, until this year. There were four to six open sites during this visit. Maybe the recent price increases at this military FamCamp had something to do with the empty sites in this campground. 

It was cold several nights while camping in this park.  Rosie’s heat pumps were welcome and kept us cozy inside. 

One of the things we enjoyed at this park was riding our bikes. There were several scenic areas along the Bay that were perfect for bike rides. 

Selfie along the Bay

Another thing we enjoyed while at this FamCamp was going to the beach. The Florida and Alabama Gulf Coasts have some of the prettiest beaches in the country. 

It appeared that we have a new family tradition of being in Rosie during solar eclipses. We were at the Top of Georgia Airstream Campground during the 2017 eclipse. That park was in the 100 percent coverage area and that was a memorable time for us.

During the 75 percent solar eclipse

This 2024 eclipse was a 75 percent partial coverage in Destin and it paled when compared to the 100 percent eclipse in 2017. To make things worse, it was mostly cloudy during the peak of the eclipse. Still it was worth the experience.  Our favorite moment during the eclipse was the night sounds of the frogs in what we call the frog pond. 

We must have camped in this park close to the same week last year. We remembered that the FamCamp had a fire drill then. It was mostly for the hotel part of the complex, but the campers were told about it. We were told about a fire drill again this year as we registered. Fire drills must be unique to this FamCamp.

As before, we enjoyed our time in this FamCamp. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• We found one loop in this campground
• Our site was a back in
• Our site had some shade
• Most sites had very little space on both sides
• Our site was paved with asphalt and concrete
• Our site was level and we didn’t need use any leveling tools
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• The trash dumpster was at the entrance of the campground. It was easy to walk there with your trash
• There was a bathhouse in the campground. It was very clean 
• There was a laundry room in this campground 
• The park provide WiFi service. It was very slow and frequently required you to sign back in 
• AT&T provided 3 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch CBS, CW, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were H&I, ION, ME-TV, Movies
• The FamCamp provided a cable TV connection. We normally use the antenna and skip the cable connection, but hooked up to it to watch Iowa's Women’s March Madness Basketball games. 
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

Sunset from the park

Selfie at a seafood restaurant

Chick-fil-a delivering orders to boaters in the Crab Island area

It appears that pirates still roam the Bay

Sunset

 

Rosie in Destin Army FamCamp's campground 

Eastbank COE Campground - Bainbridge, Georgia (March 2024)

The start of a new camping season is always exciting as we look forward to having new adventures in Rosie, our Airstream trailer. It also means that we were successful in making camping reservations for the coming year.

Speaking of reservations, the process of getting into campgrounds has changed since the COVID pandemic. Prior to the COVID days, we felt confident that we could find a site in one of our favorite state and federal campgrounds. Not so today. It takes time and effort to find a place to camp near one of our favorite locations. 

The next big shock comes after booking a campsite. It is amazing how much camping fees have risen the past several years. Even military FamCamps have increased their rates into the ridiculous zone. 

Still, we are grateful to be at the start of a new camping season and that we have some reservations. It is wonderful spending time in Rosie. 

Getting Rosie ready for this trip was different from last year when we stored Rosie in a warehouse with a 30 amp power connection. We parked Rosie in that warehouse for more than ten years and had a solid working relationship with the property's owner. Then he sold the property and retired. 

The new owners drastically increased the storage fee and started parking RVs and cars in the warehouse on a first come, first serve system. We noticed that trailers and motor homes that had shared a space alongside Rosie for years were going elsewhere. It didn’t take long for us to sever ties with that storage facility and move Rosie to the RV storage lot on a nearby military base. We were thankful that we had access to military bases.

Rosie parked in RV storage on a military base

One of the good things about the new facility is that there are armed MPs at the gate and only authorized people are allowed on the base. They don’t mess around! We feel Rosie is very safe in this storage lot. 

The negative is that Rosie is now stored outdoors and we have to be careful about winterizing and we cannot turn the air conditioner on while loading for a trip. 

The low temperature inside Rosie was 16.3 degrees F while stored on an Air Force base.

Prepping for a new camping season meant checking on some of Rosie's general maintenance items. Tires were at the top of that list. We learned the tire maintenance lesson nearly a decade ago when our first Rosie suffered a blowout in Arkansas. RV tires carry significant weight and wear out faster than the tires on your tow vehicle. Rosie’s tires were five years old and we knew they needed to be replaced. It was alarming, but not surprising, how much tire costs have increased since the last time we replaced Rosie's tires. 

The weather forecast played a role in planning for this trip. It predicted that rain was going to fall all day along our route. It isn’t fun to hitch-up and travel in the rain. We called the campground and were able to arrive a day earlier than planned. That meant we lost a day to prepare for our trip and had to scramble to get everything ready on time. We were glad when that we had good weather while traveling. 

We saw three Airstream trailers within 30 minutes as we drove south pulling Rosie to Eastbank COE Campground. They were heading north and we quickly realized that the Airstream Club's Cajun Caravan ended the night before and we were probably seeing people from that caravan heading home. We were on that caravan last year and we knew those Airstreamers had a great time on the Cajun Caravan. 

Sign at the entrance to the campground

Check-in station at Eastbank COE Campground

The site we reserved for the week was occupied, so we went to another for the day. Luckily, it was one of the few pull-thru sites in the park. 

Our first site in this campground was a pull-thru

We immediately saw a problem with Rosie. There was an army of ants inside her. We put out the ant bait traps and that cured the problem. 

We did not have problems with the water, meaning our winterization of Rosie was successful and we didn’t have any damage from freezing temperatures during winter. 

Our site on the lake was available early the next morning. We both remarked that it was a very nice site. The camp hosts helped us move. 

Rosie's site was on the water

Rosie parked in our site

We did find a problem with Rosie's shower. The hot water wasn’t working. A quick consultation with YouTube diagnosed the culprit. We bought and installed a new shower water cartridge to fix that issue. 

This campground was less than a mile to a dam. There was a paved path to it. We were amazed at the number and variety of birds heard along that walk. 

The lake was created by this dam

The campground was also less than a mile from the Florida and Georgia state lines and the Eastern/Central time zones. That confused our GPS and phones. 

Standing on the Florida/Georgia State Line. Georgia was the Eastern time zone and Florida was in the Central. Our iPhone spent the week very confused about the current time.

Of course there was a reason why I selected this specific campground. It was about 30 miles from where my maternal great and great great grandparents were buried and I wanted to visit those graves. We were able to find and photograph them. 

Church cemetery where some great grandparents are buried

There was a big lightning storm one night while we were there. We opened the window shades and enjoyed the storm. It was very cozy inside Rosie.

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were three loops in the campground
• Our site for the first night was a pull-through. Our site for the rest of the week was a back in and located next to the lake
• Most sites could be classified as "full sun" as trees were few and far apart
• Our site had a little shade
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with concrete and we needed to use leveling tools to correct a slight side-to-side lean in Rosie
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site did not have a sewer connection 
• There was a dump station in this park. It was easy to pull our sewage tote to it.
• The trash dumpster was between the three camping loops
• There were two bathhouses in the campground. Strangely, both bathhouses were in the same camping loop
• The park did not provide WiFi service 
• AT&T provided 2 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, CW, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Antenna-TV, H&I, LAFF, ME-TV and Outlaw
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

Bridge near the campground

View of the dam from Rosie

Selfie

Walkway between two of the camping loops in Eastbank COE Campground

Yes, that is Gabby the alligator in the inlet near Rosie 

Sunset