Blue Spring State Park

My wife and I decided to stay at a Florida State Park at least once a month, beginning in May, 2011. Our first choice was Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, Florida, just a few miles off busy U.S. 17. Orange City is adjacent to Deland, and just north of Sanford, a fairly densely populated area about 35 miles northeast of Orlando. The trip would be a little over 200 miles, about four and half hours travel time. Ilse had changed her yoga class schedule - she's the teacher -  to allow us to have more time at campgrounds, and this would be the first of our series of four-day camping trips.

Scuba divers gather at Blue Spring

Ilse was home from her Saturday morning class by 9:30am, and we rolled out of our driveway with our pre-loaded travel trailer, headed north at exactly 10:30 am. The dogs were quiet and well mannered, acting like old hands at this. The temperature was typically May in Florida, comfortable in the middle 80's. By 1:00 pm, however, the thermometer had climbed to 95 degrees. 

Lovebugs were everywhere! This was the end of the second week of the bi-annual lovebug infestation and by now they should have been on the wane. Nope. We stopped a a gas station to tank up, at $3.89 a gallon, and spent 10 minutes cleaning the bugs off the windshield of our GMC Jimmy. The camper was an absolute mess! Splattered lovebugs all over the front of our once- pristine camper. No way to get to the top of the camper, it would just have to wait until we got home.

We planned our trip from Port Charlotte to avoid both I-75 and I-4, the most direct route, in favor of state and county roads up through the center of the state. We decided to jaunt across southwest Florida using state roads to Avon Park and pick up U.S. 27 for the main portion of the trip, remembering the route from days-gone-by. We were immediately introduced to the 21^st century where the U.S. 27 corridor is a major growth area of the state and is a major bottleneck to expeditious travel. Scratch any future travel plans with U.S. 27! The trip was mostly stop and go, and the mileage really went from bad to worse. We finally got onto State Road 44 headed for Deland, just a few miles from our destination before we actually settled down and got to drive for any extended time without hitting the brakes. It took us almost six and a half hours to make the trip to entrance to the park.

Elevated boardwalk to the spring-head

The first indication things were a little different at this campground came as we tried to turn-off the two-lane access road into the park entrance. We were stopped by a park ranger while still on the county road. She politely asked if we were registered campers before allowing us to drive up to the park entrance. A second ranger held up a group of young motorcycle riders coming toward us on the dirt segment of the road to let us go first.  I parked on the far side of the park entrance - there is room for only three RVs there - and I walked back to the gate office to confirm our reservation and pick up our vehicle pass. I left the engine running with the air-conditioning on as it was now 96 and very uncomfortable.

The rangers told me this was one of Florida's busiest parks, especially on weekends. Bicycles and motorcycles were everywhere, so I didn't doubt them for a moment. I walked back to the Jimmy, hung our pass on the mirror, and carefully pulled back out into the roadway. I braked as I made the gentle turn and the brake pedal went to the floor! No brakes! I pumped furiously, but they didn't come back. I reached down to the trailer controller and turned it up full, using the trailer brakes to slow us down. The engine temperature came down as we started moving, and after 15 seconds or so the brakes began to come back. By the time we had traveled the two hundred yards to the campground turnoff, they felt as solid as ever. The engine never overheated or gave any sign of trouble, but the heat coming out of the engine bay was intense.

As we started into the camping loop, we were struck by the scrub look of the campground, Kind of a raggedy-looking campground with sites that didn't appear to be flat or even. They weren't! Most of them seemed barely suitable for tent camping, which appeared to be the primary type of camping at the campground. Very few RVs, but tent campers everywhere. Children of all ages filled the roadway.

Blue Spring meets the St. John's River

After we passed the first few campsite, we realized we couldn't find any site markers! There were no stakes, or posts, or any kind of sign with numbers! We knew the approximate location of our assigned site, but we couldn't see any indications until we caught a glimpse of a number embedded in the asphalt in front of the site. They were badly faded and mostly covered with sand! At least we now knew where to look. When we slowly approached our site, we did a double take as there was a car parked in what we thought should have been our site. I stopped and got out and verified our site number in the roadway. Sure enough, the squatter was indeed in site 20, our reserved site.

Ilse rolled down the window and informed the young, overweight woman who was still wearing a bathing suit, that we had reserved the site and were going to park there. The girl shrugged her shoulders and started giving us a story about her boy friend shouldn't have parked there, she didn't have the keys, blah, blah, blah, as she continued brushing her wet hair. I turned on my emergency flashers and we shut down right in the middle of the one-lane road. I told our squatter, “No problem, we'll call the rangers and they can tow you out.” Somehow, the keys magically appeared and she was in the car, a little front-wheel drive Honda, gunning the engine like mad. She dumped the clutch and the front wheels spun furiously in the sand. I watched as the little Honda sank down to the body panels in a cloud of white sand.

I walked over to her her as she sheepishly looked up over the steering wheel, a dusty cloud of sand slowly settling over the car. She looked at me without saying a word, waiting for me to react. I told her to put the car in reverse, turn the steering wheel ever so slightly, and SLOWLY try backing out of the rut she created. The little car got traction and slowly climbed back up on higher ground. After getting her to slowly drive around the ruts she created, she took off like a woman possessed.

An escape attempt from the gift store

After filling in the ruts, we finally backed into the site, but it was very difficult to unhook the trailer as the site sloped badly downhill. It was uneven to the side as well, but I corrected for it with the stabilizer jacks. Then we realized we couldn't find the water connection. The concrete post next to the electrical box was absolutely barren. The water spigot was at the front of the site, and luckily I didn't have to move the trailer to reach it and the electrical connection simultaneously.

We finished un-mounting the bicycles and leveling the trailer just as the first large drops of water started coming down. It rained hard and solid for the next several hours, so we tuned the TV antenna, broke open a bottle of wine and just relaxed. At least until the ground began to rumble and our trailer began to vibrate. The blast of a diesel train horn just hundreds of yards away was startling, to say the least. A quick check of the map noted “CSX transportation” adjacent to the park boundary. A major trunk railroad with plenty of traffic both day and night would make this stay really, really memorable.

The park itself is really nice. It is famous for its winter visitors to the spring: manatees by the hundreds. Weekends can be a test as the park is filled with children, teenagers, picnickers, kayakers, and certified scuba cave divers. There were so many waders and tubers in the shallow river on Sunday that the constantly flowing water was actually stirred up so badly you couldn't see the bottom of the spring basin. Monday was a different story, with mostly Australian, German, and other tourists taking snapshots from the boardwalk with only a handful of people in the 72 degree water. The thick foliage over the elevated boardwalk is beautiful, and the park is clean and well maintained.

Blue Spring State Park

We decided not to bring our kayaks with us this trip, and planned on renting kayaks from the park if we decided to paddle the spring. Paddling the shallow creek to the spring is out as they have a warning sign and ropes across the mouth of the spring, which is only several hundred yards in length. The kayaking is actually done on the St. John's River, and we decided we really didn't need to paddle that badly.

The two shower/toilets in the campground are old, but well taken care of. They were spotless, even after the hoards of children that parade endlessly through them on weekends. The camp hosts stay on top of the situation. The toilets, though, are hard to find by way of the primitive, unmarked footpaths through the underbrush. After walking the long way around on the paved road, we decided to try one of the paths for the return trip and only made one wrong turn.

On Sunday afternoon, a pop-up camper pulled into the site adjacent to us. The nice, middle aged couple approached us the next morning and asked us incredulously if we had known about the trains! The trains had blared their way through all night, giving only a couple of hours of respite. One night was enough for them and they headed for a different campground shortly after breakfast. One that wasn't located next to a train track, I'm sure.

The original Thursby house at Blue Spring

Dear friends drove up from Orlando to spend a very special day with us, strolling the short, paved path to the spring, and enjoying a nice, almost quiet, dinner. The park is a marvelous place to do just that.

Ilse and I spent the next day reading and writing, sitting in lawn chairs that we drug to whatever sparse shade we could find under the one oak tree at our site. We did enjoy ourselves, trying to guess which way the trains were headed by how far away we could hear the rumble.

We broke camp late on Wednesday morning and headed back down our old traditional route of FL 19 from Eustis to FL 33, then down a couple of cutoffs to bypass civilization and finally hitting U.S. 17, south back to our neck of the woods. The return trip took exactly four and a half hours, two hours less than the trip up. More lessons learned.

How do we rate Blue Spring State Park? A really nice day park, especially in the winter. We don't care much for the campground, however, as we really aren't into trains.

More information about the park can be found at: 
https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Blue-Spring


Next: Rainbow Springs, from days past, at:

http://sleepstwo.blogspot.com/2011/06/rainbow-springs-start-park.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 

 

Anastasia State Park

Anastasia State Park is directly on the Atlantic Ocean

We had been in St. Augustine, Florida, during the lighting of the City Christmas lights at the city park several years ago, and decided to travel over and see it once again. St. Augustine is one of our favorite cities and we thought this would a great opportunity to once again wander around the oldest city in the U.S. We found the nearby Anastasia State Park on line and made an optimistic, six-day reservation for late November, leaving the campground the day before Thanksgiving.  Friends of ours planned to met us there, but would only stay four days.

We arrived at the highly rated Anastasia State Park late on a Thursday evening just as dusk turned to night. The ranger at the entrance was still on duty even though the sun had long drifted below the dense canopy of Live Oaks and Red Cedars that make up the welcoming gateway to the park. We called ahead and said we would be arriving later than the scheduled gate-closing time of sundown. After properly identifying ourselves and confirming our reservation, we were given the four-digit code to the gate in case it was closed when we arrived. The gate should probably have been closed when we pulled off Florida highway A1A and made our way to the gate, but the friendly ranger was still there, waiting for stragglers like us. Not only were we running late, but so were the friends we were meeting at the campground. They asked us to also tell the ranger they might also be late. No problem, the ranger was patiently waiting as we pulled up in the fading sunlight.

“Are your friends close behind?” she asked. We didn't know, but Bill and Barb, the couple we were meeting for this camping trip, were actually only a few minutes behind us. They came in from Vero Beach on Florida's east coast, while we drove up from Port Charlotte, on the west side of the state. The timing worked out as we pulled in almost together. Sometimes things just fall in place.

We received our pink campground pass with our checkout date written on it and a map of the park. The ranger gave directions to our preselected site, mentioning that we would pass the three-lane dump station. Wow! Three dump stations lined up side by side, a modern-day RV three-holer! The smiling park ranger at the gate said there would often be a waiting line to dump out, even with the expanded facility. With 139 camp sites just hundreds of yards from the pounding surf of the Atlantic Ocean, this Florida State Park is one of the most visited campgrounds in the state. It is located less than three miles from downtown old St. Augustine, and just several hundred yards south of the famous St. Augustine lighthouse. After spending a week at this fabulous location I could see why this award winning park is so popular.

Wood Storks rest on the lagoon beach

As Bill and Barb picked up their paperwork at the gate, my wife and I, along with Taz and Daisy, our two dogs, drove into the campground looking for the Shark Eye camping loop and our reserved site 47. We hoped we would have enough light to at least back-in and hook up the water and electricity without using flashlights. There just wasn't enough available light! It all went well, though, taking us only 30 minutes to unhook, level the camper, and connect the electricity and water. I had never used a flashlight to setup the camper before, but the darkness proved to be no problem. Our first night landing, so to speak.

We wandered over to our friend's campsite shortly after getting set up. They were in site 50, just around the bend from us. They had set up in a little less time than it took us as they have a Class C camper and really only had to shut off the ignition to be officially “camped.” Actually they hooked up the water and electricity and lowered their landing gear, just as we had. Mundane tasks like setting up the outside sling chairs and putting out the carpets would wait until morning.

We ended up eating dinner separately, but then we took a ride together to the end of the park road where the gift shop is located. We took our Jimmy, of course, as the Class C was parked for the duration of the stay. Again, these are decisions a camper must make before committing to a specific type of RV, or Recreational Vehicle. While we like having a tow-behind that we set up and leave at the camp site, leaving us free to drive our tow vehicle whenever we want, others, such as Bill and Barb, like having a self-propelled, self contained Recreational Vehicle that is far easier to drive and setup than a trailer.

We parked in the brilliant moonlight next to the dormant gift shop and walked the path through the sand dunes to the Atlantic Ocean. Absolutely beautiful! The full moon was still two nights away, but the moonlight was brilliant in in the cloudless sky. The park is located just south of the St Augustine Lighthouse and offers a beautiful, unspoiled view to the north of the wide, sand beach. The mid-November evening temperatures were mild, in the high 60's as we walked to the waters edge. We headed back to the camper reminiscing about the many past beach experiences of our youth, and remarked how long it had been since we experienced a moon-lit walk along the relentlessly pounding surf.

The rental concession on the lagoon beach

It was 8:00 in the evening when I took our dogs out for their overdue potty break and realized how absolutely beautiful the night was! I asked my wife to join me in a moonlight stroll through the Live Oaks. The moon was one night shy of being full, and the sky was absolutely clear in the warm Atlantic salt air. Shadows were so sharp and crisp it appeared as if our colorful world had simple turned to black and white! We walked the half-mile or so to the edge of the campground without once turning on our flashlight. A warm and beautiful Florida night in November.

The next day we took our two Pungo 140 kayaks with us to the lagoon  for an easy, laid back paddle.  Hauling them to the launch point was no problem. Bill and Barb rented kayaks from the concession on the beach, having left their own kayaks at home, and we all paddled together.  We were soon all on the water, paddling easily, chatting and just taking in the sites. I took my old spinning rod for the first time and rigged up a Gulp plastic bait and waited for a chance to cast for whatever might be in the lagoon. I was curious to see if anything would strike my plastic bait.

We paddled down toward a marina, through a mooring field littered with sailboats of all shapes and sizes. Some were pristine, others were in dire need of tender loving care. The far side of the lagoon was deeper, and porpoises rolled along the far shore.

I cast one time into the lagoon with the porpoises and had a strike almost immediately. After a brief but ferocious battle, well, as ferocious as a ten inch Spotted Sea Trout can put up, I reeled in my first fish of the trip. The season on Spotted Sea Trout was closed, and he was no where near the 15 inch minimum size anyway, so it was in no danger of being dinner. It was still fun to catch, especially from a kayak. As I unhooked the spotted sea trout, my slack mono-filament fishing line began to tauten, as if my loose floating fishing line had snagged a tree limb or some other submerged obstacle. I released the beautiful, undersized trout, called “Specs” over on the west coast, and pulled in the taut line by hand that by now was headed in front of the kayak! My strange obstacle was quite alive! I still had the rod in my lap, and the Gulp-baited jig head in one hand as I finally got enough leverage to swing my “obstacle” back toward the boat. It was a needlefish that had ensnared itself by wrapping its needle-like bill around my fishing line! Two fish on one lure, or more correctly, one cast.

The city park during the Christmas lighting ceremony

My wife paddled over to help me open my tackle box which was solidly wedged behind my kayak seat. She had followed Bill and Barb into the shallow water and had to get out of her kayak and drag it through two inches of water over an oyster bar before she could come to my assistance. Ironically, I needed a pair of needle-nose pliers to untangle the needlefish. Trust me, you can't make this stuff up.  Unwrapping the ten inch needlefish was a task in itself, but finally freed, it swam off as if nothing had happened.

Time was about up on Bill and Barb's rental kayak, so we followed them back to the beach, and twenty minutes later were headed back to the campsite. A quick decision about a beer and a nap met everyone's approval, and we decided to leave for town and the City Lighting Ceremony about 4:15pm. We should have gone earlier.

The St. Augustine Lighthouse seen from the dunes at Anastasia State Park

The lighting ceremony drew crowds from all over the area. We parked in a church parking lot many blocks away from downtown and walked in with a crowd carrying chairs and coolers. We wandered around the crowded center of town, and decided to grab a quick dinner before dark. We settled on a great Cuban restaurant right in the heart of downtown, and after a great dinner, (we all had different entrees), we checked our watches. Dinner had typically run on Cuban time, and we had missed the lighting ceremony! No problem, we headed for the beautifully lit park and joined the festivities already in progress. Next year, we'll just eat earlier!

Next: Our first outing in the new trailer. A trip to Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, FL,at:

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Myakka River State Park

Myakka River State Park, Florida

We decided to take more advantage of our camper while we took our time and searched for a slightly bigger unit. We looked at the calendar and decided to pick a Florida Sate Park that was within a half-day's drive at least once a month. It turns out there are many great state RV parks that make a weekend or three day trip easy to do, no matter where you are in Florida. We picked the Myakka River State Park, just east of Sarasota on State Road  72 for our next weekend trip.

While looking for a longer camper, we have decided there is one feature we really like: The walk-around bed. The bed is mounted in the center of the camper, lengthwise with space on either side to get in or out. After a person reaches a certain age, bathroom trips during the night are not uncommon. Having to crawl over your spouse is not always easy to do, especially if you are trying not to wake her, or him. I usually end up banging my wife in the back during the process which results in groans or grunts and a “sorry, honey!”

The problem of course, is that a camper can not be wider than eight feet. Laws are like that. So, the bed must either be small enough to allow plenty of leg room on either side of the bed, or the bed can be as wide as possible with minimum space between the bed and the camper wall. We are looking at one that has a queen size bed, with small cabinets on each side of the bed as well as cabinets overhead. The trade off is a slightly longer trailer than we really want, but it looks like 22 feet is what we will have to buy if we want that style bed. One other feature we think would be nice is the new ducted air conditioning featured on many newer units. The noise reduction of having the A/C unit further removed from the interior would be welcome. But, in the meantime, it's pack and pull time, ready to go again. This time less than 40 miles. The quick jaunt up to the Myakka River State Park would be quick and easy, and besides, the weather was cooling off. At least that's what the weather people on three different channels predicted. Turns out they were all wrong.

Our Campsite at Big Flats Campground, Myakka River State Park

Ilse had passed yet another kidney stone, although this time not while we were camping. She had a doctors appointment that ended up scheduled for the morning we were due to leave, but since we weren't going far and didn't have to leave until later in the day, it worked out great. She was home in time for lunch, and we finished loading the last few items, mostly for the refrigerator. The dogs were nervous as usual, but not as bad as during the first trips. We called the park to make sure the campsites weren't under water, and rolled out a little after 1:00pm. Calling the park before leaving home is mandatory during the rainy season as the park often floods and certain sections have to be closed. 

We took the kayaks again, and the bikes as well as it only takes a few minutes to load or unload them, and two or three good books. As we drove north on the short section of I-75, we noticed the temperature had crept up to 90, then 91, then 92 degrees in just the 40 minutes it took to get to the State Road turn off. So much for cooler weather. 

We turned into the park, one of the oldest State parks in the Florida park system, and pulled up to the modern, up-to-date Ranger station. The turn off is just nine miles from the Interstate. The female ranger opened the window and told us to park in the main lot, then walk back and take care of the details. All of the information was already in the computer system so it was a quick, painless registration.  As we drove through the overhanging live oaks draped with Spanish Moss, we noticed it was becoming cooler. The temperature under the trees was a nice 88 degrees by the time we pulled into the second camping loop called Big Flats.

The campsites struck us as almost abandoned. They were dirt sites, with a solitary palmetto palm tree log laid out as separators between each numbered campsite. There was water and 30 amp electric service, and the sites were level. Each site had a picnic table and a metal ringed fire pit. The dirt road seemed to have no border and the sites just appear to be haphazard in appearance. It had been underwater until recently, so I can understand why dead leaves and debris blanketed each site. The sites are roomy, though, and arranged in a loose figure eight so all are close to the permanent toilet and shower facility. 

Setting up was no problem, and we soon had sling chairs outside and were enjoying the scenery and the solitude.  Except for the not-so-distant hum of a generator.  Not a camper's generator, but a bigger, industrial type. I walked over to the nearby permanent facility which included showers and noticed a water plant just behind the campground. The noise was coming from the water plant. The generator ran 24 hours a day so I assume it powered the water pump that supplied water to the campground. Not really that bad, but it is a constant background noise that detracts from the otherwise tranquil setting. 

After dinner we took a long walk along the main paved road with our dogs. A small Whitetail buck walked up out of the forest and stood not 20 feet away, staring at us and the dogs. The dogs didn't bark, they just stared back. The deer eventually twitched his tail and casually crossed the road in front of us.  The mosquitoes were not as bad as at home! A quick, light spray with repellent and we were just fine. We also took a short drive to the boat basin we would paddle out of in the morning. We had to wait as a flock of wild turkeys casually strolled across the road in front of us, driving our Golden Retriever into a euphoric, almost comatose state. He probably thought he had died and gone to heaven.

We arrived at the boat ramp the next morning a little later than planned. The weather was nice with just a light overcast with the sun just beginning to peak through. Unloading was a snap and we were ready to paddle in less than 15 minutes. I took my trusty video camera for the first time as I had never taped one of our paddles before. I picked a good one to start with. We weren't ten minutes on the water when a pair of Roseate Spoonbills passed overhead. Beautiful pink birds that look like they were from an animated cartoon. I only caught them on tape as they passed away from me. I thought next time I'll just keep the camera in my lap to be ready. 

Ilse coasted up to a large gator, probably in the twelve foot range, laying placidly to the right of her kayak. As she slowly and quietly coasted toward the fearsome looking creature, it slowly began to swim to the other side of the weed-free part of the lake passage. My wife sat calmly with her paddle out of the water as the obvious owner of the lake rather pompously swam across her bow.  Kayaking in Florida is quite different than the mountain lakes of Georgia.  [The video is on YouTube at Myakka River State Park]

After watching at least a dozen or so of the big boys, and paddling for over an hour, it was time to head back. The cloud cover was gone and the sun was climbing higher in the sky.

Every once in a while something unique catches us off guard. We were swarmed with Love Bugs as we loaded the kayaks back on top the Jimmy. I mean really swarmed! They were everywhere! Thankfully they weren't mosquitoes, but they were almost as big a nuisance! They were all over the kayaks as we tried to lift the boats on top of the SUV. We finally got loaded and in the car, which by then was also filled with the little black, orange-headed, fornicators. We drove around the parking lot just to get them off the car, and finally opened the windows to blow out their romantic family members that seemed oblivious to the world. 

We ended up sitting outside the camper reading our books in the cool shade of the beautiful Live Oak trees. After another great dinner and a walk with the dogs, we turned in for the night.

Sunday morning broke cool and beautiful, a perfect day for a bike ride. We casually pedaled the mile or so to the forest canopy walkway, a 100 foot long suspended walkway some 25 feet above the ground. The walkway in itself is interesting, only four people at a time are allowed on the suspended part of the walkway that allows close observation of the Tillandsia and other air plants that live in the canopy of the Live Oaks. At the terminus end of the walkway is an observation tower that stands 74 feet in the air. The tower offers an unobstructed view of the park and the surrounding area. 

We were back at the camper by 11:00am and packed and ready to roll by 12:00pm. We only had one other camper at the dump station and we were home again by 1:30pm. A great weekend at a great Florida park.

Next: Anastasia State Park, Florida - One of our favorites - at:

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

Stephen Foster Folk Cultural Center State Park, Revisited...

The Carillon at Stephen C. Foster Cultural Center State Park, Florida

We once again dropped in at the Stephen Foster Folk Cultural Center State Park in White Springs, Florida, this time on our way home. We stopped there for the first time three weeks before on our way north to the Georgia mountains. 

Our original plan was to stop on the way back at the other Stephen Foster park, the one in Georgia, but since we hadn’t made reservations at either one, we decided to do the “drive-in” at the Florida campground.  

We had the kayaks strapped on top of our SUV, but it was just too hot, and we were just too close to the end of our very first ever, three week long vacation to take what would have been a short paddle at the Okefenokee park. 

This time, however, we decided to forego kayaking at the Georgia park and headed instead just a little further south, and just a little off US 441, on the west side, to stay at the Stephen Foster Cultural Center State Park, not far over the Florida state line. Like the Georgia park, it too, is located on the Suwannee River.

We usually travel US 441 rather than I-75 through Georgia as the roads are mostly great and the traffic is a lot less hectic. We usually make better time to Athens, Georgia, via US 441 from north Florida than Interstate 75. The highway also takes us near one of our favorite campgrounds, the Stephen C. Foster State Park, near Fargo, Georgia. The park is right in the middle of the Okefenokee Swamp. 

Time to head home. Besides, the Florida park is just a few miles from the unavoidable Interstate 75 to head to Southwest Florida. The Florida park has easy access, nice clean facilities, and wide, easy campsites that make it a real pleasure to visit.

After a quick, pleasant registration, we headed for our spot, the same one we had used three weeks earlier. Only scattered RVers around the park, we had the campground mostly to ourselves. As we fixed dinner, it began pouring rain, and again we were happy we had passed on kayaking. Something to do another day. 

We went through our pile of brochures and pamphlets and reflected on what was really a great three week venture. The little Jimmy SUV had done well, and we were happy with our Cikira 13FD. Costs were not exorbitant and we actually spent less on campgrounds than we had budgeted.

We had made several decisions that we will follow-up on before we head cross-country to San Diego next year for an Air Force reunion, including tow vehicle and even a slightly bigger trailer, and that will be a study in itself.

The trip home the next morning was uneventful, but again we jumped off of the Interstate near Bushnell, Florida, just to take US 301 through Dade City and Zephyrhills on a “recon” run. We were back on the Interstate though, soon after passing the Hillsborough River State Park. We were home in just over an hour.

Sneaking a quick look at the Internet soon after opening up the house, I came across an email I had to open. It was from a friend about the Stephen C. Foster State Park in Georgia we had decided not to paddle the day before. The Clinch County News had posted a special video about an alligator feeding frenzy in the access canal just beyond the boat ramp at the park. It's currently on YouTube at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CQ1N1mAi9s.

Yes, we’ll go back to the Georgia park to go kayaking. We just won’t put in first thing in the morning. 

Next: Close to home - The Myakka River State Park in Florida:

http://sleepstwo.blogspot.com/2010/09/myakka-river-state-park.html