Category: Florida

The grandkids were on Spring Break this week, so we made reservations at Colt Creek State Park. We didn’t want to try to haul the grandkids and the cats simultaneously to the campground, but fortunately Mom & Dad were available to haul the kids and follow us up to the campground on Saturday.

On this trip we were in Site #20 which is on the outside of the loop and just a few sites away from the restrooms/showers. We had 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 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. We didn’t want to miss any of March Madness so we successfully setup our DISH satellite antenna directly behind the camper and were able to pickup all three satellites in the DISH Western Arc. The only negative with this site was that it faces South so we were in direct sunlight throughout the day. On the few days with cooler temperatures this was not an issue, but the first couple of days were fairly warm. We used our pop-up canopy in conjunction with our attached awning to avoid direct sunlight.

The kids immediately started riding their scooters in the street and quickly made friends with the kids in the site across the road. By the end of the evening they had picked up a couple of other stragglers and usually had a crew of 7 or 8 kids playing together. We grilled burgers for supper and Mom and Dad stayed to enjoy them with us. The kids continued to play until dark at which point Beth drug them down to the bath house for showers. Having played all afternoon, they went to sleep fairly quickly after their ice cream. On Sunday the kids continued playing with the neighbors all day and their only breaks were lunch and dinner. It was wonderful getting to see them interacting with other kids. They had a great time.

Since the weather forecast was for rain throughout the day on Monday, Mom & Dad came back to the campground Monday morning and took the kids back to their house so that Aaron could pick them up in the late afternoon following a meeting he had to attend.

The grandchildren had Friday (2/17) off from school so we took them to Alafia River State Park campground. They stayed Friday and Saturday nights. We managed to reserve Site #5 which is closer to the lake on the eastern end of the horse loop (unfortunately there were no horses over the weekend). The site is a pull through on the inner side of the loop. Unfortunately, one of the large trees providing shade from the afternoon sun fell during Hurricane Ian, but we were still able to find shade throughout the afternoon by moving our lawn chairs around. There is a bit of a marsh next to the site, so once the sun set on the first night, which was very warm for February, the mosquitos were formidable. We were able to place the Dish Network satellite antenna far enough behind the camper to pickup all three satellites on the Western Arc. Although we have had good experiences in the past with our AT&T Mi-Fi at this campground, our connectivity from this site wasn’t great.

On Friday we brought the grandchildren to the campground, unhooked the Expedition and unloaded the firewood and other items in the truck so that Beth could zip home and pickup the cats. The grandchildren road their scooters while I finished setting up the site. Our friends Cam & Susan live near the campground and had never met all three grandchildren so they dropped by for dinner. We cooked hamburgers and pork burgers on our grill.

On Saturday morning we hiked through the woods to the trailhead area where all of the mountain bikers park. While Beth and I rested the kids enjoyed the playground. While we were there we all re-hydrated and snacked and then hiked back to the campground. The hike was 2.8 miles round trip and the grandchildren did very well. Chuckie’s legs started getting tired with about 1/2 mile to go, but he gutted it out. When we got back to the campsite they immediately started riding their scooters and really never stopped other than for lunch and dinner (and Chuckie’s 90 minute nap).

On Sunday morning we took a quick 3/4 mile hike around another lake southeast of our campsite and then did some last minute scooter riding before I took the kids home. I got back to the camper just in time to watch Purdue’s basketball team defeat Ohio State.

On Monday we hung out at our campsite and grilled a nice steak over the campfire for dinner. On Tuesday we ate a late lunch at The Outback. I had a blackened chicken Caesar Salad and Beth had the Spicy Meatloaf. Beth had started experiencing a head cold on Monday and by Tuesday afternoon I was feeling it too. We both felt slightly better on Wednesday, but packing up to come home and then unpacking when we got home was exhausting.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 wanted to get more testing in with the new camper and managed to score a site at Jetty Park Campground. This is a county campground that is directly on the canal that all the cruise ships use in Port Canaveral. The weather was great the entire time. Our only complaint was that it didn’t get cool enough any of the nights to test our heater. We did discover one other issue to address under warranty. Our black tank flushing system does not work. I believe they have the back-flow prevention valve installed backwards (preventing water from entering the black tank), but I’ll let Camping World confirm that.

Our friends Todd & Melissa have a condominium in Cocoa Beach that was just a few miles down the road from the campground. Todd was in town to coordinate maintenance on the condominium on our last two days and we managed to get together for lunch at Long Doggers. This restaurant specializes in Hot Dogs so I had to try one. It was pretty good, but not great. Beth had the chicken wings and they were incredible.

On our last night we met Todd at Grills Seafood which is located right on the water at Port Canaveral. We ate at this same restaurant with Todd & Melissa back in 2004 when we had a Time Share in Port Canaveral. On this trip I had the Cheese Steak (which was excellent) and Beth had a Filefish special (which was also excellent).

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We wanted to take our new camper out for a good test run so we took it to Alafia River State Park for three nights. We stayed in Site #21 which we also stayed in back in January of 2011. Florida was still experiencing summer temperatures so we were pleased to verify that our rig’s two air conditioners had no problem keeping us cool inside. We only found a few minor warranty issues (microwave door not opening, solar panel not working, and a power outlet with only one screw).

We had dry weather until it rained the last night (most of the night). Due to the summer rains, out site had a lot of standing water in the morning. We packed to leave in a wet and muddy mess.

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