Sooner or later, every RVer finds themselves traveling I-10 on the way to - or from - Florida. Driving along the Panhandle provides a sobering demonstration of just how big that state truly is. The road seems to go on forever, and you find yourself hoping for a good spot to pull over, get some food, and rest for the night. Someplace easy, a place you can just pull through, dump your tanks and get some dinner without unhitching your rig.
If you recognize yourself in this scenario, Ben Odom has the answer. His new Stay N Go RV Park is designed with transients in mind. Located in Marianna, Florida, about halfway between Pensacola and Tallahassee, the park is just off I-10, tucked behind a fringe of trees, but within walking distance of numerous dining and shopping options. The site is adjacent to Beef o’Brady’s and Sonny’s BBQ with a Walmart Supercenter just across the street.
“It’s a great place to pull off the Interstate,” Ben tells The Buzz. “You can walk to lots of different restaurants, and next to the Walmart is a Lowe’s, so you can get all your shopping done, without having to unhook.”
A bank is part of the complex as well, along with every sort of eatery from Mexican and Chinese to subs, pizza, donuts and burgers. Propane is available, as is liquor. There’s even a hair salon.
“We kept the middle of the park open so we could have pull-throughs for big rigs. Our sites are really spacious, many of them 3,000 sq. ft.,” Odom says. “We actually went back and re-did our model after we got the first 18 sites in and took out four lots to make all the others larger. We’ve never had anyone pull in and not have enough room.”
Waterfall in Falling Waters State Park [Photo: Russell Mick/Visit Florida]
Currently, Stay N Go has 51 sites, including 18 pull throughs, all with full hookups and 50, 30 and 20 amp electrical services available. Odom has planted 30 palm trees to give a tropical feel to the place, and put in a new office with an ADA compatible bathroom. The next phase, he says, will include a bathhouse and Laundromat building.
Odom, who is a realtor and president of CountyLand Realty, with offices about 5 miles away, didn’t actually set out to open an RV park when he bought the property last year. The latest of five generations native to Jackson County, he recognized a prime piece of real estate in a great location and bought it without any definite plans on what to do with it.
“The property was a mobile home park a couple of decades ago, but we thought we might do a hotel, or maybe an office complex,” he says. “But the RV park idea - and the campers - kind of came to us. Some RVers found the property, because of its great location, and were squatting there. So we saw that it was something the area needed.”
The squatters were mostly workers in town to help repair the extensive storm damage the area experienced from Hurricane Michael last year. Their presence turned out to have a silver lining, according to Odom.
“Some of the guys used their excavators to help us dig trenches for the sewer and electric lines,” he says. “We have a great gravity flow sewer system in there now.”
Although Stay N Go RV’s location and facilities are ideal for quick one-night stop-overs, the area has plenty to keep visitors busy for a weekend or even longer. “We don’t have a maximum stay,” Odom notes. “There’s lots to do around here. Folks like to go tubing on Spring Creek and Blue Springs Recreational Area is just five miles down the road.”
The area is especially rich in water recreation resources. Jackson Blue Springs, owned by the county, is a First Magnitude spring, one of 33 in Florida, and a popular spot for swimming, boating and cave diving. The park rents canoes and kayaks and has a mapped paddle trail. The spring’s crystal clear water fills nearby Merritt’s Millpond, renowned for its fishing. World-record shellcrackers (a species of super-sized sunfish) are caught here, along with numerous other types of fish. Other popular fishing spots include Lake Seminole for lunkers and the Apalachicola River and Ocheesee Pond for bluegill and largemouth bass. The Chipola River, location of one of Florida’s most beautiful paddling trails, also runs through the region.
Jackson County and Marianna, the county seat, have a number of other attractions, including a haunted bridge, said to be one of the most haunted spots in Florida, and a driving tour of sites from Spanish colonial days. Marianna’s historic downtown showcases a collection of antebellum and Victorian homes, including the Russ House, considered one of the most beautiful Classical Revival/Queen Anne homes in America, now in use as the Jackson County visitor center.
Several of Florida’s most unusual state parks are located close to Marianna. The unique Florida Caverns State Park, one of the few natural caves in Florida open to the public, is less than 8 miles from Stay N Go. The visitor center and museum have just reopened after sustaining significant damage in the hurricane, and the park resumed its popular flashlight cave tours on July 1. Other state parks in the area include Three Rivers State Park on Lake Seminole, a notable spot for birding, and Falling Water State Park, home of Florida’s highest waterfall.
Ben Odom invites guests to stay as long as they like, and experience all the region has to offer. And, if you’re looking to put down roots, he’s ready to hire a full-time park manager. Find out more on the Stay N Go RV website, or contact Ben at stayngorv@gmail.com.