I mentioned in the last blog post that we are spending a month in Titusville at a resort called The Great Outdoors (TGO). This place is big - 2800 acres with 1,625 RV properties. It is has an 18 hole golf course, big clubhouse, exercise center, tennis courts, pools, hot tubs, pickle ball courts, restaurant, stocked ponds, a large off leash dog play area, a golf cart sales and service center, an RV sales and service center, post office, church, activity center, hair salon, nature center and miles of hiking trails. There are numerous clubs and groups that cover just about any interest from books, to quilting, to photography and more. Each site includes cable TV and high speed internet, water, sewer, lawn maintenance and trash pickup. One big selling point for me was the impressive woodworking shop that one of the residents showed us around. If you’ve been following us on our travels, this type of place is about as far from our norm as we could find.
You Have Arrived at TGO
The TGO Sawdust Club - Woodworking Shop
Pond and Fountain
So what prompted us to pick a place like this to explore the Space Coast area of Florida? Well, we are debating about purchasing an RV lot somewhere and we have heard good things about TGO. Does buying a lot mean we are nearing the end of our full time travels? Not at all but there are a few factors that are causing us to lean towards owning a RV lot.
We have split our winter travel destinations between the southwestern US (southern Arizona and California) and Florida. During the warmer summer months, we have traveled north to cooler areas from Pacific Northwest to Maine. Having a flexible travel schedule with no set pattern to our journeys has worked well for over seven years. The downside of a lifestyle with variable travel destinations was highlighted this past summer when we decided to visit our former doctors in western New York for a wellness checkup. When we tried to schedule doctor visits, we were told that since we hadn’t been there in more than 3 years, we would be considered new patients and there was a 5 month wait to get in. That got us thinking that if we had some set location we could come back to every year or two, we could establish doctors and dentists to help with regular health visits.
Another factor is the increasing difficulty in getting camping spots in Florida during the winter months. If we wanted to come back to the same campground every winter, we could likely come up with a spot that works for us and allows us to have a consistent landing spot. But these typically would require us to be in Florida EVERY winter. If we decided to head west to Arizona one winter, we would lose our place at that campground and need to cross our fingers and hope we can get in the following winter. This exact situation happened to us this past year. We had a nice resort we stayed at in Brooksville Florida for two winters in a row, but when we headed west last year and stayed in southern Arizona, when we attempted to get a spot back in the same resort, we were told they were full but we could be placed on a waiting list - we’d be number 42!
The upfront cost of buying a lot in an RV resort is not inconsequential but if we chose a location that has lots of turnover, we would likely be able to sell it in the future for nearly the same price if it turns out our lifestyle changes and we no longer want or need the lot. Most private resorts will have some sort of Home Owners Association (HOA) fees and by owing real estate, there will be some property tax owed. It was these ongoing expenses that made me reluctant to go for buying a lot at first because those costs (approximately $5000 or more per year) would be there whether we are staying on our lot or not.
We knew we had no intention of staying in Florida year round - the heat and humidity of Florida summers does not appeal to us. So we could potentially spend 5 to 7 months there each winter and spreading those costs over half a year would be a rather reasonable price for a nice camping site in Florida during the high season. But there would likely be some years where we end up out west for the winter and I didn’t like the idea of spending several thousand dollars each year for something we aren’t using. During those years when we aren’t here, we could rent out our site but the thought of being a landlord didn’t really appeal to us.
TGO offers the ability to place your RV lot into a rental pool that is managed by staff at the resort. They deal with booking the sites, collecting the money, paying the electric bill and paying the various taxes required by Florida for rental property. We got the data from the rental office with the average income lot owners received over the past few years. If we are here for 6 months over the high season and gone during the summertime, we will end up paying under $23 per day during those 6 months. During those years we happen to be gone for the full year, the rental income is adequate to cover all our HOA fees and property taxes for the full year. From an economic standpoint, owning a lot at TGO seems to make sense.
The other aspect of TGO that is somewhat unusual is the wide variety of lots that are available - from simple RV pads with the basic utility connections to million dollar homes with multiple bedrooms and baths and a garage big enough to fit the motorhome. As we spoke with a great number of residents during our stay, it seems like a large number of them had been at TGO for many years and have moved from one style of lot to another as their lifestyle changed. I grabbed a few pictures from the TGO sales website of the few different lot classifications so you can get a better feel for the types of lots available. I’ll also include an aerial image of TGO from Google Earth to get a sense of the scale of the place. For reference, it is a little over a 3 mile drive from the State Route 50 entrance to the lots on the far southern end of the resort.
Basic Lot with Pad and Utilities
Executive Suite: Pad, Utilities and Small Building
Park Home: Small House without RV Pad
RV Port: Home with Large Covered RV Pad
Resort Home: Large Home with RV Garage
Aerial View of TGO
We spent a great deal of time exploring TGO and the various lots that were currently on the market. We knew at this stage of our life, we were looking for a basic RV lot possibly with some sort of shed. Having a place to keep the bikes out of the rain without needing to constantly lock them to a picnic table at a campsite and cover them up would be a nice perk. Some of the executive suites were nice and would offer additional room to relax with both interior rooms and screened in porches. But the more we thought about it, having a lot with a decent concrete driveway and a simple shed would give us all we need without the worry about owning a substantial structure that could be blown away during hurricane season.
During one of our walks along the perimeter hiking trail around the resort (a 4.4 mile loop), we met a resident that has lived at TGO for just over a year. We got a lot of useful insight from her and a recommendation for Paul in the real estate office. We spend a hour or so with Paul wandering around the resort, looking at properties for sale and asking lots of questions about ownership at TGO. After discussing our thoughts with Paul, he suggested that what we are looking for is a place to put down some “shallow roots”. We liked that term since it concisely states our goal for lot ownership. Paul’s wife, Wendy, runs the rental pool so we were able to get all our questions answered about how the rental pool works at TGO.
A Balance Beam Crossing on Our Walk at TGO
We ended up picking a site that was just down the road from our rental spot on Sunset Drive. This site has a 10’ by 12’ shed with a concrete driveway that is in very good condition. It is about 2 miles to get out of the park. This might seem like a long distance but even the very closest lot is 1.4 miles. The mile we save over some of the lots further back in the resort is even more important when we need to deal with the 15 MPH speed limit in the park which apparently is strictly enforced. The other good aspect of this lot is how far it is from Interstate 95. Some of the lots are less than 400 feet from the expressway, our lot is 1.2 miles away which should help immensely with how much road noise we hear. Chris had been researching lot sales data at TGO for the past couple years, so we had a good idea what to offer on the lot and after a couple of days we had an accepted purchase agreement with plans to close on the property in mid January remotely from our next planned stop this winter.
Our Future Lot
Paul and Wendy were unable to make attend a play in Titusville a few days before Christmas so they offered us their tickets. I’m not big into plays. Years ago we had season tickets to the theater house in Rochester and was turned off to them by a showing of Jane Eyre The Musical. But we decided to give this one a shot since they had seen it in prior years and felt it was a funny (non-musical) play. We don’t do this type of thing frequently but we the theater was rather small and intimate and we had almost the best seats in the house. “A Tuna Christmas” was a two man play based in a small Texas town. There were a lot of jokes about the south but the most impressive aspect of the play was the multitude of costume changes the two performers had to do in order to play the various characters.
The Stage is Set
A Tuna Christmas
We headed out of TGO to explore the surrounding area a bit more. The East Central Regional Rail Trail is about 54 miles long but is shaped like a Y with the cities of Titusville, Enterprise and Edgewater being the three terminus points and Maytown being at the central junction. We weren’t positive the best parking area in Titusville proper, so we started at Chain of Lakes Park just north of downtown to park for our ride to the north. The trail is a dedicated bike path in good condition. The first couple miles are along the rather busy Route 1 but other than several road crossings, it is okay. Once we get north of the town of Mims, the trail is much more rural and we aren’t hearing any traffic. An occasional gopher tortoise might be out along the side of the path but there weren’t very many people out.
Tortoise in the Sun
We hadn’t decided how far we would ride. We knew going all the way to Maytown would make the round trip about 30 miles but we suspected our legs would tell us to turn back sooner. It was a pretty ride but there was very little shade. Fortunately the temperature was such that riding in full sun wasn’t a real issue, on hotter days that might be an issue. There is a power trail of geocaches along this path but we knew if we stopped every tenth of a mile, we wouldn’t get much of a bike ride in. At the county line between Brevard and Volusia counties, we decided to turn back. We had gone 13 miles and still had 1.5 miles to the parking area in Maytown. We grabbed the nearby cache so that we had record of where we left off on the trail. There are some unusual traffic circles along the bike path that occur at spots where there is no cross road. All we can surmise is that they are used as the turnaround points for various distances of races that might be run on this trail. The ride back was fine but the legs were complaining about the 26 miles.
Unexpected Roundabout
Nice Flat Trail
The next day we had a rather special event to attend. For the past 15 years, the city of Cocoa Beach has hosted the “Surfing Santa” event. We had watched a few YouTube videos from past years and decided it looked like a fun, albeit unusual, time. The event takes place every Christmas Eve morning just after sunrise. We had read that parking can be problematic so we set the alarm clock pretty early to start the 45 minute drive that morning. We headed to Lori Wilson Park about 1.5 miles north of where the event would be held down the beach. I won’t say we were the first people parking here but we were close to it. It was a rather cloudy and windy morning and there was the chance of rain. It was nearly an hour before sunrise, so it was pitch black. It wasn’t clear where the path to the beach was so we opted to simply walk south along Highway A1A. By the time we made it to the event, there were hundreds of people already on the beach as we watched the sun attempt to rise thru the clouds.
Sunrise at Cocoa Beach
Even though the weather was iffy with lots of wind and rough surf, that didn’t keep the visitors away. There were loads of activities throughout the morning. As the number of people increased, the party vibe ratcheted up a few notches. It didn’t take long for us to realize that by not wearing a holiday costume, we were in the minority. If we make it back in the future, a Santa hat is the minimum requirement to not feel out of place.
A Crowd Slowly Arrives
Surfboard Selection
He's a Believable Old St Nick
One of the more popular events was the costume contest. There were five different categories: babies, kids, groups, adult men and women. From the looks of things, there were many dozens of contestants. A pre-judging took place in an area away from the stage and then the top 5 for each category came up to the stage to try to win over the audience. There was a wide assortment of costumes from Santa and the grinch and even Jesus made an appearance. When asked if he was going to partake in the surfing event, he replied “I can do better than surf, I can walk on water”. Audience noise level helped to pick the winners and the grand prize went to a woman dressed in a robe with hoof marks all over it - Grandma got run over by a reindeer. There was also an auction for a surfboard signed by famous surfers but we didn’t really see the need for us to have it.
The Group Competition
Adult Men Contestants
Kids All Dressed Up
Autographed Surfboard
We're in There Somewhere
We eventually got tired of feeling like a sardine trying to watch the various things happening on the stage so we started to just wander around. The bulk of the estimated 10,000 people were in a quarter mile stretch of beach so even getting away from the stage didn’t get us away from all the other action.
Parrot Attends Event
Some Surfers Out
Crowded Beach
There were over 200 surfers that registered for the surfing competition it it looked like there were many more than that out in the water. The surf was really rough and it was red flag conditions so novice surfers were being asked to not go into the water.
Santas Surveying the Situation
Santa Arrive Via Surfboard
Santa Teamwork
Challenging Surf
There were a few other modes of transportation that were out taking advantage of the wind. One Santa flew by overhead without the use of reindeer and a few other wind powered skateboard contraptions were attempting to run along the beach without running over people.
This Santa Uses Ultralight
Kite Surfer
Getting a Quick Lesson
We did feel sorry for the lifeguards on duty this morning. The winds had setup a rip current pretty close to the event and the dozens of lifeguards seemed to be in a constant state of heading out to check on possible problems. We finally tired of all the noise and crowds and started the long walk back up the beach to the car. This was one of the more unusual and fun events we have ever attended. Below is a link to a YouTube video of some of the event.
Merry Xmas or Scary Xmas?
Lifeguards on the Move
Until 2024
Surfing Santas Cocoa Beach 2023 Video
Since we were at Cocoa Beach, we felt obligated to visit Ron Jon Surf Shop. Their flagship store is just up the road from where we parked. Most of the time I think of a surf shop as some small, hole in the wall place. Ron Jon is about as far from that as you can imagine. We wander around the outside of the building since there are numerous displays and vehicle all decked out for a surfing adventure.
At Ron Jon in Cocoa Beach
Modern Day Woody
My favorite feature of the outdoor displays was the actual walkway constructed of typical concrete pavers. So why would the walkway pique my interest? The layout created wasn’t the typical running bond or herringbone pattern but was more like a wave which was fitting for the location. But beyond the layout to look like waves, the pavers looked like they were placed on an undulating surface with peaks and valleys like an ocean with waves would have. However, the surface only looked to be rippled, in reality the walkway was perfectly flat and even. As I walked along surface, my brain was attempting to warn me about the uneven surface while my body was having no issues with tripping. My picture sort of shows the effect, but seeing it in person is even better.
Optical Illusion Pavers
We head into the store and are amazed by how big it is. There are hundreds of surfboards and skateboards and many thousands of Ron Jon t-shirts. We didn’t find any shirts we needed and were impressed with how expensive some of the boards are.
Surfboards Galore
View of Store from 2nd Floor
We had a rather rainy morning on Christmas Day but by mid afternoon, the sun peaked out and we were able to get a walk in at TGO before enjoying our Christmas dinner.
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