Plan B

It has been exactly a year since we last used our travel trailer, and we have a dilemma: Do we really want to keep the camper or is it time to sell it and find a different way to spend our summers? We reserved four days at Highland Hammocks State Park, near Sebring, Florida, for the Easter weekend to help us make a decision.

It has been ten years since we last camped at Highland Hammocks, only our second campground when we first started RV camping. We have fond memories of the heavily wooded sites and the friends we camped with back in the beginning of our decade-long adventure. Our first hint things have changed came when we tried to make our on-line reservations and found that even though our desired dates – Easter Weekend – were over two months away, there were only several sites left in the entire campground. The new on-line maps are no longer even close to accurate as far as layout is concerned, looking more like modern art than a real map, and we found ourselves far from satisfied with the new online information. We picked site 12, which appeared to be not far from our first site we really liked all those years before, According to the new map, it also appeared to be fairly private.

Watering hole in the dry season - Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park

All we had to do was prepare the trailer for the short 90 mile trip. We decided to pack lightly as nearby Sebring now has all the amenities and stores we would need. Picking Sebring was a chance to spend time sightseeing the area, something we hadn’t done in a while, plus visit with friends who decided to drive up from Miami for a day trip. We would have several restaurants to choose from nearby as the camper gets smaller and smaller as time goes by.

After cleaning and packing, checking tires and brakes, and checking the Toyota Sequoia tow SUV as well, and spending only a day to load the trailer, we were ready to roll. After a pleasant drive through southwest Florida, we pulled into the campground a little before four in the afternoon.

Ranger Laura was friendly and efficient and we were soon on our way from the campground office to our site, which to our dismay, we could not find. We sat looking at the campground map, then looking around the campground as we sat blocking the access road. Site 10 was to our left, and beyond that the next visible marker was site 13. Site 12 had to be somewhere in between the two, but the only markers were the site numbers painted on top of several picnic tables placed close together. A paved walkway to the campground toilet ran alongside the area we assumed to be our site, but not until we tried to back in did we realize we couldn’t even put out our awning without blocking the foot path. It was such a convoluted layout we blocked sites 12, 13 and the footpath simultaneously when I backed into the space crookedly! Back to the park office!

Ranger Laura did her best to find a site available for the next four days to no avail. She called to have a ranger move the picnic table for us, but that wouldn’t have solved our problem. Not only would I not pay $55 dollars to stay there, I would have paid $55 dollars to not stay there.

In the end we did a void and I called our old standby park, still one of my favorites, at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, about forty miles on the other side of Sebring. Only die hard campers or nature lovers stay at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park more than once, but we have a strange affinity for the desolate place and after a quick phone call to the camp office there, we were on our way.

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park

The ranger I talked to on the phone said the park office would be closed by the time we arrived, so just park in the walk-up site – which is not on the reservation system web site – tell the campground host we’re there and just check in with them to pay in the morning.

We soon roll across US 27 and I decide not to fill-up the gas tank because of the crowds waiting for gas. Towing a trailer through a gas station can be demanding enough without impatient drivers who can’t maneuver past you. I decide there must be more, less crowded, fuel stations on US 98. Wrong assumption. The old general store gas station just outside the park is covered in iron bars and cobwebs. OK, Google, where is the next gas station?

“Continue nine miles to US 441 and turn right,” says the generic, female voice from the electronic device made up of silicone, plastic, and minimal amounts of precious minerals. No choice now, I’m showing less than a quarter tank of gas and the park is still fifteen miles away, one way in, one way out. Towing a trailer rarely gets you over nine or ten miles to the gallon, so experience counts here; go get gas. We pass mile after mile of cabbage fields, one eye on the gas tank and the other on the flatbed trucks filled with boxes of cabbage. To make us feel really at home, we are swarmed with Florida’s famed pest, the love bug, as soon as we turn onto US 441.

We pull into the Metro Fuel Center on US 441 just north of the town of Okeechobee amid pickup trucks towing trailers with air-boats and old Mercury's with no rear windows. After filling the gas tank, we decide to head into town to buy the groceries we planned on buying in Sebring. We call the campground office to get the after-hours access code which I forgot to ask for, but they had already left for the day. All we had to do as get there before the Rangers lock the front gate, which they do religiously at eight PM. If you don’t have the after-hours access code, you aren’t getting in until the park opens in the morning. With our cabinets full, we head toward the campground. We make it with an hour to spare.

As we head up the seven mile, dusty, swirling dirt road, we feel a sense of ease and familiarity. We stop at the camp-host, who politely informs us she won’t be on duty until tomorrow. No problem, we back into our site, just glad to be there. The ever present crows welcome us back. A Florida State Park golf cart driven by a campground volunteer – we know because her over-sized, black ball cap says so - slowly drives through the moss draped hammock, stopping as we wave to get her attention. MJ welcomes us and laughs as she fills out a windshield pass for our site.

"You can stay two weeks at this site and nobody can make you move,” she said as she looks through her massive metal clip-board, filling out little papers and cards.

She didn’t take my name even though I showed her my Florida driver’s license, so I wonder if I could eventually just wander off and no one would notice. I know better in other parks as they write down your license plate number just in case a camper gets “forgetful.” We look around our almost private site, bounded by massive Live Oaks, draped with Spanish moss, and think, nope, no reason to move.

We have dinner – lasagna instead of the traditional spaghetti – and as soon as it is dark, walk under the moss-draped oaks to the edge of the prairie, which we discover with a flash photograph, is filled with grazing deer. Tomorrow night is supposed to be a “Pink” full moon and we can hardly wait. I bet the campers at Highland Hammocks will have to elbow their way to a viewing spot.

Our decision whether to keep our camper or not is unexpectedly complicated by the weather. We wake up Friday morning to blustery winds, reminiscent of our first visit here when our camper was brand new exactly eight years ago. It was my first blog about the trailer, and last night was our 470^th night sleeping in it. Yes, I’m either detail oriented or just plain anal, but I have all the financial details since I spent my first penny on camping. Another part of the decision making process.

Ilse meets the camp host while walking Taz, and is informed our area is under a tornado watch. The host appears quite worried. The last place you want to be during a tornado watch is a Recreational Vehicle of any type, I don’t care where you are. She tells us if the winds pick up, everyone should go to the campground toilets as they are safe. Pets are welcome as well. We walk over to the park office to find a sign on the door announcing it’s closed due to an emergency. We’ll try again tomorrow, I don’t think there will be any problems with registration or paying, perhaps just the weather.

The irony of our stay here at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park is our favorite site, site 20, was devastated two years ago by a tornado. Site 20 and the adjacent site, one hosting a Class C self contained unit and the other a fifth-wheel trailer, were ravaged, tossing the campers around like toys. No one was killed, but one of the women suffered severe back injuries. The only reason we weren’t there at that time was the site was reserved before we could get it. We have wondered about our timing ever since.

The rains begin and I scramble to unhook the Toyota so we can have an escape vehicle the way we did in Georgia when Hurricane Irma tore up our campground north of Lake Lanier near Gainesville. No sooner am I done unhooking the truck from the camper than the rains temporarily subside. I finish putting away chairs, mats, and close the camper door just as the rains start again. Ilse gives our sixteen year old Golden Retriever, Taz, a natural tranquilizer and he promptly lays down to watch the show. So far, it has been quiet here, most of the storm has passed to the north of us. We’re not out of this yet, however, as the latest forecast now says the squall line will pass over us in about three hours. More fun while we wait. We slip a DVD from our local library into the player and pass the time watching a movie we realize we’ve already seen. No matter, we watch it again.

By 5 o’clock it is dark enough outside to turn on the camper lights. The wind has been gusting on and off as two campers across from us arrived and erected two huge tents! They haven’t been watching either of the Ft Myers and West Palm Beach television stations we get, if they had, I doubt they would be setting up tents. Thunder in the distance stirs Taz – no amount of tranquilizers will ever stop that – and the rain begins to slam against the trailer. The temperature drops drastically as the squall line approaches. It rains hard for less than twenty minutes and we have a close-by thunderclap

Gradually the storm passes and we’re left with puddles in the access road but no damage, not even palm fronds laying about. The thunder clap was a singular anomaly, just a reminder of how bad it could be. The winds die down and the clouds begin to break, but not enough to see tonight’s full pink moon. By nightfall, almost every campsite is full as campers arrive for the Easter weekend. There are several campfires burning and everything is quiet in the shire. Tomorrow will be beautifully sunny and quite comfortable as the last cold front of the season is upon us.

Saturday morning breaks with a cloudless sky and 60 degree temperatures. A beautiful day in a park that seems to be on the edge of the universe. Of course it isn’t all that remote – the campers next to us loaded up and drove to town for breakfast – but most of us are content to take in the experience leisurely and enjoy the crows who scold everybody for not leaving enough food on the picnic tables.

I head over to the park office – it was closed yesterday for a family emergency – to pay my fees and see what has been added to the retail offerings of T-shirts and hats. There is an intense conversation going on between the ranger on duty and a couple of visitors when I arrived at the park office. Ranger Frank is furiously thumbing through bird identification books trying to help a lady identify a bird she just saw. He looks up and says, “I’ll be with you in a moment.”

“No problem,” I answer as MJ walks around the corner, her baseball cap pulled down, her short grey hair sticking out from the bottom of her cap. We catch up on yesterday’s non-event just as Ranger Frank decides he’s exhausted his incredible knowledge of ornithology without resolving the sighting mystery and decides to move on, so to speak.

After a few moments of keying and paging through computer screens, we are set for our four day stay. It turns out to be over twenty dollars cheaper than Highland Hammocks, so I have absolutely no problem! Out of idle curiosity, I ask MJ where the closest gas station is. She says “Oh, France’s place, just outside the main gate, on the road back to US 98.”

“Do you mean the place that looks like it’s abandoned?” I ask.

“Oh, it’s being rebuilt or modernized or something, but the gas pump and the diesel pump both work fine. I was just there a couple of days ago.”

“Modernized?” I asked. “The place looks just plain awful.”

“Yeah, wait’ll you see what she charges for gas! Apparently the state or the county told her to clean the place up so she’s fixing the store up best she can.”

More local knowledge to add to the blog.

Ilse and I take Taz on a morning walk through the equestrian section of the campground, chatting with campers along the way, including a couple from Ontario sitting on a picnic table in the “red light” section of the campground who have decided, although they love the solitude, they have no need to return to Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. Ilse and I head back to the camper. The campground is full, except for the equestrian loop, the first time we’ve ever seen this park full.

Another day and a half to go and our dilemma has not been solved.

Easter morning is just beautiful. The weather is cool and sunny, the air crisp and sweet. Campers are already rolling out as Ilse fixes waffles for breakfast. Fifty seven years ago today, Ilse and I had our first “date,” walking through Bitburg, her home town in Germany. Today we walk through a canopy of moss covered oak trees in central Florida, headed for a three mile walk across a flat, shade-less prairie. No crystal ball could have possibly foreseen the future, if it had, it would have picked the wrong campground.

https://sleepstwo.blogspot.com/2020/10/silver-springs-state-park-covid-19-2020.html

George

Charmed

“The third time is a charm,” or so an old saying goes. We were about to find out as we signed up for a four-night stay at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, about thirty miles north-west of Okeechobee, Florida. We made reservations in mid-February for the upcoming Easter weekend in late March. This would be our third stay at this unique campground, and for the second time, we ended up here because every other campsite in the State of Florida park system was already reserved. And once again, we grabbed the last remaining available camp-site. Not that we don't like the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve – we have a strange love affair with this remote place – we just wanted to try someplace we haven't camped before.

Our twenty-foot KZ Sportsmen had been parked for the last five weeks, ready to go somewhere, anywhere, ever since its massive, two-month long rebuild to replace the “spongy” floor. After spending most of January and February working on the trailer, it was time to test our repair work and see if we succeeded in restoring not only the trailer, but our desire to tow it cross country and actually live in it. The upcoming three day Easter weekend was perfect for us to find out.

We decided to minimize packing and preparation and keep it as simple as possible, but we wanted to take a real break from the household chores as well. So, a four-day camping trip was planned, we just didn't take too much with us. We didn't get to pick the destination, that fell to the scheduling gods who once again dictated a one hundred and fifteen mile trip to a spot most people would avoid based on first impressions. We took the last available spot, located in the equestrian loop, and hoped we could move if there was a cancellation on the main loop. The equestrian loop is located in a hammock of stately live-oaks, but the restroom is a simple chemical toilet, as opposed to the spotless shower facilities on the main loop.

Rain was forecast for the entire weekend. How good could it get? A site we didn't really like at a park we didn't really want to stay at, and foul weather forecast for the duration of the trip. At least we would find out if I fixed all the leaks.

Two and a half hours after we pulled out on the highway headed east, we were happier than children who find the golden Easter egg. We enjoyed an easy, dry, uneventful trip into the very middle of flat, cattle-country Florida, where we met Kathleen, the really sweet volunteer manning the reservations desk. She switched us to a really great site on the main loop that had just been made available due to a cancellation. It turned out to be the best site in the campground, and, no, I won't tell you which one. Things were looking up.

To be honest, we really like Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. It is flat as a board, and is the only area I know of in Florida that has nesting Caracaras. In our previous stays we've watched mother alligators with hatchlings right up against the access road, wild turkeys photo-bombing my wife's innocent snapshots, and a cotton-mouth water moccasin known as Maury that did a daily constitutional across the main camping loop access road just a few yards from the camp-host tent. We've seen many deer here, and an occasional raccoon. I even have a photo I took of a confused, defensive crawfish that wandered through our campsite. What could this trip possibly uncover? It only took twenty minutes to find out.

I admit we did something this time we have never done before: we broke a camp-ground rule, a first for us. What happened wasn't the result of that spontaneous decision, it just made our apprehensive decision all the more special. Breaking the rules turned into a real heart-stopper.

It was the very first time we've ever let Taz, our Golden Retriever off leash as we walked the barren one and a half mile dirt road that serves as the main park road. With no traffic to be seen from horizon to horizon – here, that's not a metaphor – we felt safe allowing him his first ever taste of freedom on a camping trip. 

Ten minutes into the walk, a huge, wild boar strutted unconsciously out of the palmetto underbrush and stopped at the edge of the dirt road about thirty feet in front of Taz. The hog appeared to be considering whether or not to step onto the road when it finally realized we were there and looked up at us. Taz and the hog stared at each other while Ilse quickly hurried to snap on Taz's leash. By the time she looked up, the hog was gone. No trace what-so ever of any pig, just our confused Golden Retriever sniffing the air wondering what had just happened.

The following morning we were informed by a park volunteer that the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently conducted a hog removal program in the preserve, shooting the unwanted pigs from helicopters. Visions of Sarah Palin hanging out of a helicopter wildly shooting at wildlife made me root for the hog. Go, hog! We won't tell the state we saw you. In all fairness, the hogs are incredibly destructive and something has to be done to control their dominating expansion across public lands. A sow can have a litter of fifteen piglets, and three months later, they can also breed, compounding the problem their natural predators have all but been exterminated. Still, my heart was with the hog.

We wanted to stay at the highly recommended Lake Kissimmee State Park just outside of Lake Wales, but getting a camping slot at the popular state park is difficult. We met Sam and Sandy while walking through the our campground, and they confided they made reservations at the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park in error. They thought, as many campers do, that they were making reservations at Lake Kissimmee State Park. They were surprised when their GPS brought them out to the middle of nowhere. The Lake Kissimmee campground is 35 miles away, as the Caracara flies, but ninety miles if you decide to drive. Sam and Sandy decided they liked the campground at the Preserve and were very happy to be here, but they just piqued our interest even more.

After walking Taz, we locked the trailer and headed toward Yeehaw Junction on the road to Lake Wales, the shortest route proclaimed by our trusty GPS. Yeehaw Junction is just a few miles from the Fort Drum rest stop on the Florida Turnpike.

The drive on Florida Highway 60 from Yeehaw Junction to Lake Wales is enough to cure a normal person of any urge to do it twice.

While we really appreciated the really great attendant at the main gate at Lake Kissimmee State Park who gave us a 30 minute guest pass and all the camp documentation allowing us to tour the park, we decided we were camped at the better park and headed back. We chose to drive back down US 27 to Sebring, coming back to the park on US 98 from the west side, instead of returning the ten-mile shorter way on highway suicide 60 and US 441.

We made the circuitous 192 mile trip around the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve in a little over five hours and were looking forward to our traditional spaghetti dinner and a glass of wine. We were laughing and talking about how lucky we had been with this trip and commenting on how well Taz had behaved as we headed up the dusty, main park dirt road.

About a mile after passing the main gate, we drove past a large, black bird with a white neck that looked like it had on a bad, black wig, sitting on a post just off the roadway. I slammed on the brakes, then changed my mind and drove to the first place to turn around. We drove back slowly, not expecting the bird to still be there. But still sitting on a power transformer post waiting for us was a Crested Caracara.

 It didn't fly off and Taz didn't bark as we rolled to a stop directly alongside its perch. It simply watched us as we turned on our cameras began snapping away.

It actually acted as if it were posing for us. It turned this way, then that way, and several times stared directly at us. I took enough photographs of the usually reclusive raptor to fill a scrapbook be­fore I made the mistake of whistling and of course, Taz barked. But not before I finally had enough photos of the national Mexican eagle to keep me busy the rest of the evening.

Yep, the third time is a charm. And we still have three days to go.

Next: Tough Little Buggers! At:

http://sleepstwo.blogspot.com/2016/09/tough-little-buggers.html

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, Love Bugs and other Florida Happenings

Love Bug – Plecia nearctica Hardy 
(http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/lovebug.htm)

"With numerous variations, it is a widely held myth that University of Florida entomologists introduced this species into Florida. However, Buschman (1976) documented the progressive movement of this fly species around the Gulf Coast into Florida."

The preceding quote is from the Featured Creatures pages of the University of Florida web site listed above, absolving the Gators from any wrongdoing in the introduction of this odd insect into our daily lives in Florida. Well, twice a year at any rate as they embed themselves into the grill and windshield of any moving vehicle traveling Florida's highways in April and May, and again later in the year during August and September. The common rumor is the University of Florida accidentally released a genetically modified bibionid fly and created this ecological disaster. The rumor is sworn to by any graduate of rival Florida State University.

They are strange insects indeed; they thrive on carbon monoxide and heat, and where better to find that combination than swarming windshield-high over Florida's highways in the blistering heat of late spring and summer. The only month recorded in Florida where one can travel absolutely Lovebug free is November. The U of F web site continues:

"The adult flies are a nuisance to motorists because the flies are attracted to highways and spatter on the hood and windshield of vehicles. Large number of lovebugs can cause overheating of liquid-cooled engines by clogging radiators. They can also reduce visibility, and etch automobile paint as the body fluids are slightly acidic. If the egg mass and body parts are allowed to remain on the vehicle for several days, bacterial action increases the acidity and etches the paint. A soaking with water for about five minutes followed by a scrubbing within 15 to 20 minutes should remove most of the lovebugs without harm to automobile paint."

Massive 18 wheel trucks have been forced off the road by these insidious insects as their splattered bodies pile up in layers on truck windshields so thickly they completely block the driver's vision. European tourists and people from Wisconsin get out of their rental cars and wonder what the devil kind of cloud they just drove through. Gas stations run out of water and soap and windshield cleaning squeegees by two in the afternoon every day. But, hey, other than that, we had a grand time revisiting Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, located just the other side of the Jurassic Time Warp some 33 miles northwest of Okeechobee, Florida, in Florida's real cowboy country.

The entire trailer has been pressure cleaned, but only half has been cleaned by hand...

We celebrated our new travel trailer's fourth anniversary with a three day stay at this oddly different State Park from Sunday evening, April 12th, until Wednesday, April 15th, almost four years to the week since we baptized our Sportsmen 21 foot unit with our very first stay at the Kissimmee Preserve

 http://sleepstwo.blogspot.com/2011/05/kissimmee-prairie-state-park.html

Main road to the camp ground

My secret desire was to get a photo of the Crested Caracaras that are common in the area, one of the few places this magnificent bird nests in the United States all year round. I saw two on the road on the drive in to the park, but I wasn't fast enough to capture any images with my camera as they flew away. No matter, there were plenty of subjects to keep me busy, from crawfish crawling across the campground after a rain, to a Cottonmouth Water Moccasin that simply wanted to cross the road.

Maury the Moccasin 

Sharon, our camp host named the snake "Maury," and seemed relatively unconcerned about her personal safety, just making sure we didn't harm it as one moccasin had recently been killed by a camper, something that is strictly forbidden in the preserve. Maury was successfully removed to a different, unpopulated area of the preserve by Florida State Park Rangers after his presence was made known to them. Any poisonous snake is removed from parking or camping areas by Rangers as standard safety policy.

It is a unique place, not one most tourists would enjoy unless they are looking for absolute solitude, bird watching, or when the conditions permit, stargazing. Well, almost pure solitude. A run to the nearest town, Okeechobee, is a 33 mile trip, Sebring, in the other direction on Highway US 98 is also about 30 miles. In between the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park and Sebring is the Avon Park Air Force Bombing range, and combat jets on afterburners can occasionally be heard during daylight hours. With the new electronic scoring systems, the environment is spared the old explosions from ordnance actually being dropped into the flat, Florida prairie. Never once did I actually see any aircraft, although they could be heard most mornings in the far distance to the west. They didn't deter the abundant songbirds that continuously serenaded us as soon as the first ray of sunlight peeked through the clouds on the horizon to the east.

A Meadowlark serenades anyone within earshot

The trip to the park was uneventful, but we did take a long way round as I had never driven up the west side of Lake Okeechobee and I wanted to see what I had missed. We drove across most of west Florida on County Road 74 from Punta Gorda to FL 29 just outside Fisheating Creek. Highway 74 is an arrow straight road with only one stop sign the entire 45 miles or so. We come back this way from Miami when we want to avoid I-75. A left turn onto Highway 29, then a quick right onto the four-lane divided U.S. 27, and we headed toward Moore Haven. We turned left on to FL 78 before reaching Moore Haven and headed north toward Lakeport. A nice two lane road, but not as scenic as I had hoped. Not much to see except the rim of the flood control dike that rings the lake. We turned onto FL 721 and drove through the Brighton Miccosukee Indian Reservation en-route to the State Park. We were thrilled to find Garmin has corrected their GPS maps to avoid the platted roads that were never built. We saw our first Caracara on 721 just before the park.

The park is unchanged since our first visit four years ago. The campgrounds are clean, dry and well kept. The showers and toilets are spotless as they were last time and once again, we had only three other campers to share the entire campgrounds during our four day stay. We met Sharon, the camp host and after a good evening walk, headed into the camper to avoid a good, solid three hour rain storm. Drainage is great and we had no problem. We did meet a crawdad, or crawfish, that wandered through the parking lot. I'm sure he ended up breakfast for one of the many crows or hawks that were abundant.

We did make one quick trip into the town of Okeechobee, some 33 miles south, but the Toyota was only moved that one time in four days. A relaxing mini-vacation that we'll do again. We just won't wait 4 years to come back. I'll just double check to see if the love bugs are swarming. Either that or we travel at night.

 [Update: On Thursday, April 6th, 2017, the area was hit with a violent, unexpected storm containing a freakish tornado, which ripped through part of the campsite destroying two campers, a 5th wheel and a Class C on pads 19 and 20. Those are the two pads depicted in this blog. Florida State Parks and the wonderful people at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, along with the marvelous volunteers and Friends of Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, have cleaned up and repaired the facility to its original state. We look forward to yet another visit - The only reason we weren't there was the sites were already reserved. George]

NEXT: New campgrounds and State Parks as we head north to the Georgia Mountains once again, at:

http://sleepstwo.blogspot.com/2015/08/experience-and-planning.html

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State park

The warning, “Do Not Follow GPS Instructions to the Park,” is posted some six or seven miles from the entrance to the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park in central Florida. The park, located some 30 miles north of the town of Okeechobee, on the north rim of Florida's largest lake, was our maiden voyage with our new 20-foot travel trailer. The warning is posted so you can see it before making any serious wrong turns while listening to your favorite electronic directional convenience as you approach a T-Intersection on County Road 724, coming up from US Highway 98. It is a reminder of the warning found on the park's web page not to use GPS or Internet mapping programs to find the park entrance. The GPS and Internet maps are woefully wrong as most of their recommended routes are through a planned, platted community that was never built. The roads were laid out years ago, but simply don't exist! The actual wording on the warning sign may be a little different from what I remember, but the meaning is clear: GPS instructions will not get you to the park! Follow the brown, state posted markers and signs instead! The GPS may tell you to go right, but the state sign in front of you says go left! Trust the state of Florida here, they know where their park is. 

Ilse and I finally found a suitable trailer that we both really liked, a KZ Sportsmen 202. It had all the items we were looking for in a travel trailer. It was well built, lightweight, only 20 feet long, and we were able to buy it at the RV show price we had seen three months earlier. The trailer was on display at the Tampa RV show we had attended in November, and we had shown interest in it then. The dealer told us if we took delivery of it at the show, we could have it for a substantial savings. Unfortunately, we weren't prepared to pick it up at that time and had to leave it behind. We spent the next three months looking at travel trailers all over southwest Florida, but didn't find anything that satisfied our needs for a reasonable price. Finally, we decided to sell our little Cikira and put the money toward the best unit we could find.

The park main road.

We put our Cikira on Craig's list, and sold it to the second buyer to check it out. After the normal transactions, we watched our little “Chickee” get towed away with fondness. It had been a great trailer to get us started, but with two dogs, it was just getting too small. After checking RV dealers again, we found the KZ we had liked at the dealer's display up in Hernando County. After driving up to see it again, we were convinced this was the unit we wanted and bought it in middle February.

We wanted to take our new trailer on a short, maiden voyage before towing it up to Georgia and we went on the Internet http://www.reserveamerica.com/) to check availability of campsites at the many near-by Florida State parks. No openings at any State campground within 200 miles until April!

Many years ago, while watching television with my fiancee and her mother one evening in Bitburg, Germany, I had suddenly laughed out loud!  I had finally understood a German joke! I had struggled with my basic German as I tried to process the overload of linguistic information coming from the surprisingly alien medium. I quickly understood the shortcomings of the German language night classes I was taking at nearby Bitburg Air Base, where I was stationed.

The joke? Well, it seems a fellow who lived in Frankfurt was complaining to a friend that he had sold his car the day before. The friend asked, “Why should you be sad because you sold your car yesterday?“ 

His friend answered, “Today, I found a parking space!”

That joke came back to mind after all these years when my wife and I tried to find a camping spot recently for our new travel trailer. We struggled for hours searching the Internet trying to find a spot anywhere in the Florida State Park system for Friday, February 25th. We had hoped we could find a spot not too far from where we were picking up our brand new unit. We wanted to stay overnight close to the dealer should we have any problems. There were no openings at any Florida State Park! None! One single campsite finally opened up at the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, about 70 miles away. One space in the entire state system. And this isn't just for one night, we found there were few openings for many weeks to come!

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park - Site 14

There are really great commercial campgrounds with fantastic amenities as well, but, no matter, they were also full. We aren't great fans of some of the lower-end commercial sites where campers are packed in like sardines and then get charged upward of 40 dollars a night, plus a three dollar surcharge for electricity. We prefer to have a little breathing room, and a little more privacy when we camp, but we would have suffered even a spot at one of those just for a space to park and try our new camper.

We have found that most state parks, and more than a few county parks, offer excellent, inexpensive facilities. One of the most famous county parks is Ft. Desoto County Park, in Pinellas County, but trying to get reservations there during the snow-bird season is next to impossible. The same goes with most of the Florida State parks, and the few U.S. Army Corps of Engineer parks in Florida. If you can wait until after Easter, you might be able to wrangle some time during the week, but don't hold your breath if you want to camp on a weekend.

Ilse and the Carolina Parakeet

The snowbirds descend on Florida annually and fill up the campsites until after Easter. Finally a site opened up at the Kissimmee Prairie State Park and we grabbed it. I honestly don't know if I would have picked this park otherwise, but it turned out to be a great choice!

We rolled out of Port Charlotte a little after 11:45 am, and were checking in by 2:45pm. The weather was clear but incredibly windy! The strong, 20 mile an hour headwind dropped our mileage to a terrifying eight miles to the gallon! We would not be taking any long trips if this were the norm with the new trailer. We had gotten well over 13 MPG bring the trailer back down I-75 from Tampa, and were stunned by the drop in mileage during the short trip to Kissimmee Prairie State Park. We were loaded with food and some water as I usually travel with just enough fresh water in the tank to emergency flush the toilet. The little Jimmy was straining even though we only had our bicycles with us. We rarely went over 50 miles per hour the whole trip.

The entrance to the park is a 5-mile long dirt road, well graded and maintained. Why it is called a prairie is immediately obvious as you can soon see horizon to horizon. There is one turn in the road before you see the campground clustered under the oaks of a nearby hammock. The main gate, which is closed at night, is five miles from the campground, but the first RV site in the grove, or hammock, of live oaks is the campground host. We slowly drove into the campground, looking for registration hints, and stopped abruptly when we heard the camp host yelling at us. We drove right past him without seeing the camp host sign. We picked up our registration tag and a campground map, apologized to the host for not knowing the protocol, and slowly drove on through the small campground looking for our site. We backed into the oak-shaded site with no problem and began to unhook and set up camp. Soon, a golf cart rushed up and the camp host excitedly informed us they needed to see my driver's license to prove I qualified for the discount given to senior citizens. Everything was in order and we were soon walking the dogs through the windy campground. Later, we could not get our barbeque grill to stay lit in the wind, so we decided to save the open air cooking until the weather calmed down.

Count the alligators - Mama Gator and brood

There are two loops at the campground and the prime loop is unique as it is designed for equestrian campers. The park is actually friendly to horseback riding. Pens are available near the wide campsites on that loop.

We were up early the next morning, but the wind was as fierce as the day before. The temperature was cool, and the sky was absolutely clear! We took the dogs for a walk around the campground and found a ditch with just a little water in it, between the two camping loops. After staring at the mud for a moment, I realized I was looking at an alligator's head sticking up in the muddy water! A mother gator was guarding a nest of young hatchlings that were camouflaged on the muddy bank. We counted eight babies, while at the same time making sure the dogs stayed on the other side of the road!

As we walked around the outside of the equestrian loop. I was startled to see a row of telescopes set up along the far edge of the road. The ranged from huge, trailer mounted telescopes to consumer types on tripods. This park is famous for darkness as it is far from any light pollution, and many campers sleep during the day and spend all night studying the heavens from a really great vantage point. Another unique feature of this park not found at the busier, more heavily visited parks.

We saw our first Caracara, a black and white eagle that is the national bird of Mexico. There are several nesting families of Crested Caracara here, as well as a statue of the of the Carolina Parakeet, the last native North American parakeet that once flourished at this park.

We only bicycled in the campground as the shell and sand roadway occasionally was unsuitable for the road tires on Ilse's bike. We walked the short, but pretty trail between the two campgrounds, and drove to the nearby slough to watch a few more gators sunning themselves. Mostly we read and just enjoyed the quiet and solitude.

 We awoke Sunday to heavy fog, soon blown away by the winds as they once again became stronger than normal. We again enjoyed a day of rest and reading, and walking the dogs. We were doing a daily check on the alligator family. Sunday night we prepared the camper to pull out early Monday morning. The trip home was a breeze, so to speak!  With the heavy winds at our back we got 13 miles to the gallon!  I guess we can only travel with the wind behind us.

The shower/toilet facility spotless and easily accessible. The sites were wide, level and clean, and as always, each had a picnic table and fire-pit. The park is unique for stargazers and horseback riders. We may again visit, especially during the Perseids meteor shower later in the year. 

















Next: Blue Springs State Park near DeLand, FL, famous for the Manatees at

http://sleepstwo.blogspot.com/2011/05/blue-spring-state-park.html