Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs, Florida October 20 – 28, 2025

We left Evans County Public Fishing Area outside of Claxton, Georgia on Monday, October 20th for a three-hour drive to the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs, Florida. We were here previously in early 2022, back before we started this blog.

Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park

The Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park campground has 45 sites with 30-amp electricity and water, spread out in 3 loops with restrooms, laundry machines and a dump station. Most sites are back-in, but a few are pull-throughs.

We had a fairly-level pull-through site with water and 30-amp power, so we had to use our adapter plug. Sites are semi-private and we were hoping no one came into the site next to ours while we were there because it was right on top of our site, as you can see in the map photo. A tent camper and a car camper stayed there during our time and fortunately no one was in it when it came time for us to leave since their driveway was right in our departure path.

Power Problem

We got all set up and though we were plugged into the power pedestal, we had no AC power in Nomad. The Electrical Management System we had plugged into the pedestal said everything coming out from the park power was fine, it just wasn’t making it into Nomad.

Then, about 2 hours later, everything came on like it was supposed to.

And stayed on until 4 am when power went out again, waking Cindy and I up from a restful sleep.

I got out of bed and went outside with a flashlight to check the connections. When I came back in Cindy said that when I moved the 50-amp plug going into the receptacle on Nomad the microwave beeped a few times as I was finagling with the plug. Like it was making a partial connection and trying to come on.

But still, we had no power.

Afterward, I laid there in bed thinking about what she said and wondered if there was a loose wire in the cord or receptacle before I drifted back to an uneasy sleep. I was worried about a spark causing a fire while we slept.

Tuesday morning I got up, went out around 9 am and moved the plug around again. This time I could hear faint crackling and popping sounds and smelled burnt wires. I asked Cindy to come out and she heard and smelled it too so I completely unplugged the power cord and took Cindy’s advice to call a mobile tech. I found one nearby and arranged to meet him at the trailer shortly after 12 noon.

Loose Dogs

In the time before our appointment we took Bella for a hike on a trail near our site. On the way back we were confronted by two loose dogs, a pit bull and a border collie. I picked up a broken tree branch that was about 6 feet long and 3 inches in diameter from the side of the trail, and they ran off as I brandished it at them. Meanwhile Bella kept trying to go after them as Cindy hung on to her leash for dear life. Because, even being in stage-three kidney failure, Bella is still quite strong when she wants to defend her peeps. To this day we have no idea where they came from or where they went to when they ran off.

Probably our biggest complaint about our fellow campers over the years has been those who do not keep their dogs leashed. It is aggravating as hell when their dogs charge us or Bella. I’ve yelled at them (the dogs AND their owners) kicked them away, hit them with a walking stick and, at times, come close to blows with their idiot owners.

It’s very simple (as well as a rule at every campground we’ve ever stayed at); keep your dog leashed and under control. I can never understand why some people feel this doesn’t apply to them and their dog(s).

Power Problem Solved

Back at our site, the mobile tech arrived right on time. I had already removed the receptacle from its housing on the side of the trailer for him because time is money. He got it taken apart and immediately found a loose wire that was burned from the power arcing in the loose space. Fortunately it had not affected the contacts in the receptacle, so he trimmed the wire back to a fresh section, checked all the other connections, got everything tightened back down and we were back in business within an hour.

As soon as he left our site we left to pick up prescriptions, get our annual flu shots, stop by Camping World for a few things and do some grocery shopping.

Wednesday we were recuperating from our flu shots, so it was pretty much a “nothing” day. We DID walk Bella around the campground loop in the morning and the evening, but both times I just left my sweat pants and t-shirt on while also wearing a hoodie to keep my crazy-looking bed head hair from scaring everyone.

We were feeling much better on Thursday and it’s a good thing because it was 47 degrees when we got out of bed that morning. This is Florida, damn it!

I did two loads of laundry at the park’s laundry room and removed/replaced the covers for the steps going into the trailer with the new ones we bought at Camping World. You can see the before and after photos in the album.

The new ones, made of a kind of synthetic turf, do a much better job of catching Florida sand before we walk into Nomad.

That night we watched the final episode of the first season of NCIS: Tony & Ziva (though I’m still not sure why they use the NCIS identifier, since neither one of them are members of NCIS any longer). I told Cindy that the first episode really didn’t impress me, but by the time the season ended I found myself liking the show. That wasn’t difficult because I already liked their characters from the NCIS series years ago, but the cinematography and pacing for this series were much different than NCIS and I guess it took this old dog a little time to adjust.

Sealing The Skylight

Remember the leak we had from the skylight in the shower at our last stop? Friday morning I got up on the roof and cleaned all the sealant around the skylight with detergent and water. Then, after it dried, I re-sealed it with the Dicor self-leveling lap sealant we got from Camping World. I used two tubes to be sure and cover every crack, edge and screw hole. You can see the before and after photos in the album.

My left knee HAD been feeling a bit better, but man, being on the ladder for long periods of time was rough on the old joint.

Suwannee Bicycle Association Fat-Tire Festival

Later that afternoon the campground began filling up, which is typical for a Friday. But it turned out this was for the Suwannee Bicycle Association Fat-Tire Festival held each autumn in White Springs. Pretty soon, every site within sight was filled with campers who were there to take part in the Festival.

At one point, I noticed an incoming camper stop on the road in front of our site and spend a couple of minutes there. You know how you get a feeling about something? I felt like they thought they were supposed to be in our site.

Sure enough, about 30 minutes later there was a knock on our door. A nice gentleman who was about our age said he was sorry to bother us but he wondered if we could tell him when we reserved our site. I told him Cindy reserves Florida State Park sites 11 months out since we’re Florida residents.

He understood that, since he was also a Florida resident. He explained that he was trying to figure out what had happened as the group had reserved the entire campground for their members for that weekend and one of their members thought they had reserved the site we were in. He was very nice, thanked us for speaking with him and said he needed to talk to the park manager about the issue so it didn’t happen next year.

And he kindly invited us to join their group if we liked biking. We explained we had no bikes, but thanked him for the invitation.

Later in the weekend, we were pretty sure we saw the camper that had stopped in front of our site doubled up with a camper at another site.

I’m guessing the manager and he had quite a conversation.

Nearby Attractions

As we travel, we like to use the Roadside America app to see nearby attractions that might be of interest in the vicinity of our campground. The app showed a Giant Bat House nearby where you could go at dusk and watch bats by the thousands come flying out for their nightly feeding, and an Abandoned Bridge to Nowhere, so those were our Saturday evening destinations.

We’ve always enjoyed bat attractions, as long-time readers know. We’ve seen bats fly out from under the bridge in Austin, Texas, several bat caves around the country and bat houses as well during our travels.

Unfortunately, the Giant Bat House was in a park that was having a special, invitation-only event and they wouldn’t let us in; not even to just see the bat house. That, I told the woman at the front gate, was a giant load of guano!

Less than a quarter of a mile away was the Abandoned Bridge to Nowhere. That wasn’t quite the case. Only the near side was blocked to cars and trucks, but you could still walk, bike or motorcycle across the bridge to the other side, so technically both sides went somewhere! Lots and lots of colorful grafitti, locks of love (I guess) on the bridge supports and a nice view up and down the river below.

Rain was in the forecast for Sunday night, so early that afternoon we took down Cindy’s screen room table, chair and new mat and stored them away in Voyager to stay dry before our departure on Tuesday. It rained that afternoon around 4:30 pm and throughout all of Monday.

Sunday night we watched the first three episodes of the first season of The Diplomat on Netflix. This series was highly recommended by our friends Kirk and Laura. And they were right!

Monday we were stuck inside by the rain and spent our time getting ready to leave Tuesday morning for our next stop.

Thanks for following The Wandering Wetheringtons.