We spent the New Year’s Eve weekend camping at Little Manatee River State Park which is only a few miles from home. This is our second stay in this campground. We were in Site #11 which was about 100 yards from the restrooms. We stayed in Site #17 on our previous visit.
We were able to pickup all of the over the air channels on antenna and were achieving 20-30Mbps download speeds on our AT&T MiFi which allowed us to stream although we could have used our DISH satellite system from this site if we had needed to.
Aaron brought the grandchildren over for a visit on Monday (1/2/2023) and he helped them practice riding their new bicycles. We cooked hamburgers, hotdogs, and bratwurst over the fire for lunch.
Little Manatee Site #11Little Manatee Site #11Outdoor TimeLittle Manatee Site #11
The grandkids were supposed to have a three day weekend off from school this weekend so we made reservations at Colt Creek State Park. Aaron had Monday off and he and Alysa were planning to come Sunday night. Unfortunately, Monday was declared a hurricane makeup day for Hurricane Ian so the grandkids could only stay Friday and Saturday nights.
On this trip we were in Site #12 which is on the inside of the loop and just two sites away from the restrooms/showers. We connectivity similar to what we experienced last time in Site #9. Our AT&T hot spot’s downloads were generally in the 5 – 10Mbps range allowing us to stream the with only a little buffering. We did pickup most of the local channels on antenna, but they would come and go at different times of the day.
Colt Creek SP – Site #12Colt Creek SP – Site #12Colt Creek SP – Site #12Colt Creek SP – Site #12Colt Creek SP – Site #12
Once we arrived and got setup Friday afternoon, I took the grandkids with me to purchase firewood from a guy in Zephyrhills. The price was great, but the wood wasn’t as seasoned as we had hoped. It smoked quite a bit and it took a bit of effort to keep it burning. When we got back to the campground the kids played in the gravel with all their excavating equipment while we got a fire going and prepped for pudgy pies. Evie and Chuckie had pepperoni pizza pudgy pies while Penny had a cheese one. After dinner Beth took the girls up to the bath house for showers and I showered Chuckie in the camper. After a full day of school, travel, excavating, and pudgy pies, the grandkids were sound asleep fairly early Friday night.
Friday Night EntertainmentColt Creek SP – Friday Night
On Saturday I took them to a presentation on Owls by pregnant Ranger Heather. Although there was a lot of concern about the fact that there was not going to be a live owl on display the girls seemed to enjoy the presentation and it was the perfect length (roughly 25 minutes) because just about the time I thought I was going to have to remove Chuckie from the scene the presentation ended. They all three got owl stickers and we now know that as of Saturday, Penny has the wing span of your average Florida great-horned owl and Evie has the wing span of your average Florida barred owl (and I learned that barred owl and barn owl are two different things). After the presentation we walked out on the dock of the nearby lake and saw a small alligator which was VERY exciting. If you zoom in you can see it in the background behind Penny and Evie in the pictures (closer to Penny). When we got back to the camper we had lunch. After lunch Chuckie had to go into timeout for throwing gravel. As you can see he didn’t survive his timeout in the lawn chair consciously.
Ranger Presentation on OwlsSpotted a GatorChuckie in Timeout
Our friends Raul and Debbie came to visit Saturday afternoon. They had originally planned to bring their 7 year old granddaughter, but she ended up getting sick. This would have been a disappointment, but Debbie the school teacher kept the kids a hop’n and we have invited her to join us ANY TIME we have the kids. We cooked hamburgers, hotdogs, and brats over the fire for dinner. Once again, after showers and snacks the kids didn’t last long Saturday night.
Fun with a RockDebbie, Evie, and Penny
On Sunday morning I took the grandkids home so they could rest up for school on Monday. Their family minivan had a flat, so we stopped at our house on the way and picked up our floor jack so that Aaron would have an easier time removing the tire. I got back to the campground just in time for the Bucs kickoff.
Chuckie Recovering at Home
With us and the three grandkids in the camper from Friday night until Sunday we had nearly filled the black tank even though we tried to use the public restrooms as much as possible. We dumped the black tank and probably 8 to 10 gallons of the shower gray tank late Sunday afternoon that got us through the remainder of the trip (we left Tuesday morning).
We recently heard about a nearby state park that we were unaware of. Colt Creek State Park is located east of Zephyrhills, FL. Apparently we aren’t the only ones unfamiliar with it because we were able to get reservations on fairly short notice. In fact, we even made reservations to stay there the weekend before Thanksgiving. The park first opened to the public on January 1st, 2007 and the campground was completed in 2018. The campground is very nice. The sites are very long and there is a lot of space between campsites. Since it’s a fairly new campground there is not much shade. Each site has 50Amp power connections and water (no sewer, but there are two dump stations at the entrance to the campground). We had fairly decent reception on our AT&T hotspot. Downloads were generally in the 10 – 15Mbps range allowing us to stream the Rays games with only a little buffering. The TV antenna picked up most of the local channels, but not well enough to watch them.
Colt Creek SP – Site #9Colt Creek SP – Site #9Colt Creek SP – Site #9
There are over 15 miles of hiking/biking trails. We took a 3 mile hike from the campground around the lakes. It was a beautiful day and we saw a lot of typical Florida prairie landscape. They had bear warning signs up, but we didn’t encounter any on our hike. We have yet to encounter a bear in any of our travels here or out west.
Colt Creek SP – Flatwoods TrailBear WarningColt Creek SP – Flatwoods Trail
We wanted to fully test the cold weather capabilities of our new camper so we made reservations to stay at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park near Gainesville, FL. The weather was kind enough to accommodate us. Tonight’s overnight low predicted to be 33 degrees (about our camping limit). So far, at 47 degrees, we are very comfortable with our pretend fireplace set at 70 degrees and our little portable space heater pointed at the bedroom and also set at 70 degrees. We have the gas furnace set at 68 degrees as well and so far it hasn’t kicked on.
As we were backing into our campsite we noticed that our neighbors across the road had the exact same Keystone Cougar camper as we do. After we setup our campsite they came over to visit and we both complimented each other on our tastes in campers. They bought theirs in February of 2021 in Tennessee. It’s a 2021 model and did not come with a solar panel setup. We are both very happy with our camper selection.
We arrived at about 2PM and setup our site fairly quickly. The campground roads are fairly narrow, so backing into the site was fairly tight but not an issue. The site is long enough that we could have kept the Expedition attached to the camper and still fit in the sight, but there was a large palm tree at the back of the site that needed trimming, so we parked the camper about 8′ from the back of the site. This site has a 30 Amp power connection (there are 50 Amp sites in the campground) with water (no sewer). Our AT&T MiFi is getting 35 Mbps download speeds and we are streaming our access to the sports channels with no issues. We are also able to pickup PBS, ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC via our antenna.
Payne’s Prairie – Site #6 – Passenger SidePayne’s Prairie – Site #6 – Driver’s SidePayne’s Prairie – Site #6Wild Horses – Descendants from the Conquistadors
On Saturday we were honored with a visit from a young co-ed from the University of Florida (which is less than 10 miles away). Our friends Todd and Melissa’s daughter, Makenna, is a Freshman there and was ready for a home cooked meal. She specifically requested Troyer PotatoesTM and we were happy to oblige. We also cooked chicken over the fire. We had a great time visiting with Makenna. Beth sent her back to school with a nice care package of chicken and potatoes.
