We’ve been traveling RV full-timers for just about two years now. Our first winter was spent crossing the Southern US from Charleston to California. During our second winter, we bounced around Florida from Orlando, to South Florida, back up to Orange City. We knew we wanted to come back to Florida for this winter, but where?

I REALLY liked the Orlando KOA, but it was uber expensive (plus, it’s closing this year anyway). Orange City was less pricey, but there wasn’t much to do around there. We had originally thought to go back to South Florida, but I didn’t want to spend the whole winter at the County campground. The bath houses weren’t great, and there wasn’t much for me to do unless I had my own transportation. Plus, the weather stays pretty hot that far south. What I really wanted were the amenities and planned activities that I had at the KOA, at a more affordable rate. We searched around and found …. Recreation Plantation.

This RV park is located in Lady Lake, Florida, adjacent to the mega-retirement community of The Villages. Recreation Plantation is an “active adult RV community” that takes its activities very seriously! There is a full time activity director that creates an overflowing calendar of options for approximately 1000 resident sites. Do you like sports? You can take part in softball, pickleball, tennis, volleyball, horse shoes, shuffleboard, table tennis, corn hole, or badminton. Like exercise classes?  There’s water aerobics (deep or shallow water), Zumba, Yoga, Dancercise, Walk Aerobics and Line Dancing. You can play games: poker, hand & foot, bridge, euchre, 500, mahjong, bunco, etc. Bingo is on Wednesday nights. Square dancing is Friday night. You can meet to craft with fellow woodworkers, quilters, knitters, and crocheters. There is literally a full slate of activities every single day including regularly scheduled dances,  dinners, and socials. Attendance at the Thursday morning meeting (free coffee and donuts provided) is the only way to keep up with it all!

If you get bored with the park activities, you only have to go a couple of miles down the road to The Villages for additional entertainment, dining and shopping. Each of the three Villages town squares offer free entertainment, every night. There are movie houses ($5 Tuesdays!) and live theater venues. We’ve already caught a several band theater shows: Simon and Garfunkle Story, the Authorized Blues Brothers and The Beatles Abbey Road.

It’s summer camp for grown ups!

Much of Recreation Plantation consists of fixed RV’s or park models, with a couple of sections open for transient RV’ers like us. Our site is grass/sand but it’s level and large. Electricity, cable TV and HIGH SPEED INTERNET is included in our site monthly rate. Yes, real honest-to-goodness high speed internet, sufficient for streaming! I hardly know how to handle that any more. All this for about half the cost of the Orlando KOA!

Most residents here are regular seasonal visitors, with a not insignificant year-round population. Folks here are friendly and welcoming — we feel right at home! People wave as you pass by and folks are always willing to teach you an activity if you’re new. The facilities are nice and, all things considered, it’s a very comfortable place to set a spell.

However, as much as we like it here, we’re not ready to settle down permanently (or even semi-permanently) at a place like this. Looking around, the average age of the population is, like, 75. We are definitely among the youngest here. But for now, we are learning Pickle ball and Line Dancing. I’ve picked up Swedish weaving and am learning how to play mahjong. Our days are full, and we are meeting interesting and active older folks. For this winter, it’s going to be fantastic.

But come spring, it will be time to continue our adventures!