Birthday Weekend and a milestone...

Back in November I was looking at new moon weekends to book for stargazing and found out my birthday weekend fell right on one!   My first choice of Kissimmee Prairie was surprisingly booked out 3 months ahead of time!   On a whim, I tried Jonathan Dickenson  thinking no way in Feb., but was surprised and got the LAST site back in Nov.  I was a  bonus that it was on the river loop which has always been my fave as the spots had a ton of brush and bramble in between and it almost seemed like each spot was deep in the woods by yourself.   Well they just spent a bunch of money 'improving' it and frankly I was not happy with it.   Complaints include:

1. They reversed the traffic flow of the loop.  Not a big deal, but didn't need to happen.
2. They put in a concrete side walk to go to the bathrooms/showers and it runs right past each of the campsites (flow of traffic = less privacy)
3.  And this is the biggie.  They tore out most of the plants/trees and put little baby trees in (just re opened in October).   Okay I can see planting oaks, but c'mon the next 20 years is going to be alot of sun, not mention now you realize how close the neighbors are!

After talking about it at length to one of the rangers, it became apparent that none of the staff was too pleased with how it all turned out.  Sure I get that some of it had to happen, but after the raping of the Pine Grove campground post Wilma, I had hoped they wouldn't butcher it as much.....sigh.  Yes I know the Pines were invasive exotics and had to go, but man there is no shade anymore....*more on that later!)

So we had a Friday and Saturday nig

ht at the park.  I had to work all day, so I sent the girls ahead to establish the beach head.  They arrived around 4 and took the kayak out for a spin on the Loxahatchee River.  They found this recently chomped on fish (still trying to identify) trying to swim with only half a body.  From what I can see in the pic, the bite radius doesn't match a gator, so I'm assuming a small shark as it's a brackish estuary.

 I got off work and was able to get on the road by about 6:30ish.   Tourist traffic and Friday rush hour still in full force, the hour drive took a bit longer and I got to the park at about 7:45 and the campsite about 8PM.   One nice thing about the motorhome, is back it in, attach plug and water and your in business.  As the coach was packed in travel mode, some rearranging of things commenced and dinner was cooked up in short order.  Fish Tacos and some cold beer while stoking up the camp fire.

Fairly uneventful night, it was clear with great stars (but the light pollution for nearby urban centers and our neighbors with LED lit motorhomes detracted a bit).  Tired from a long day, I was happy to tend the fire for a bit, enjoy a cocktail, and relax.

As we ere only 40 miles from the house, Lucy had to teach her Saturday classes, so she was up and at them early and left by 8:30.  I regret not taking her offer to drop us off upstream with the kayak, where we could have paddled down the river back to our site (or pretty close to it) as it's about a 4-5 hour paddle downstream.   Nope, I got up and finished waxing the Pineapple as I had gotten about 80% done during the week.  There was fleeting shade on the side I needed to finish so I made haste and go on it.  I figure all told it took about 9-10 hours to clean and compound the finish.  The paint is 16 years old and showing it's age, but each polishing makes it nicer and it's still presentable....

I got done with waxing and put all my stuff away as it had been a week long project to finish.  Boy I thought my station wagon and Caddy were big.....Anyway it's good for a few months (been  a year since I did it last!)  My daughter finally woke up and we got ready for a paddle in the kayak.  We got down to the river and paddled for about 2 hours.  We went upstream which was a little more work, especially when the river bent and the wind was against us.   I originally wanted to make to Trapper Nelson's which was quite a bit upstream (last time I rented a skiff and it was about 20 min).  It would have taken a few hours to get up there I'm sure so we paddled for awhile and then let the river bring us back.  Sorry, I didn't bring a camera for this... We came back and stopped on a little beach and watched the fish fry and juveniles in the water and I got see several Southern Puffers.  They were abundant in the salty brackish water I grew up around in Ft. Lauderdale, but haven't seen one in decades...

We headed back to the campsite and I went to shower while my daughter started lunch.  As per my plan, Lucy returned while I was at the shower and they were making Paninis on the griddle.  They were delicious and I enjoyed them, then retired to the coach to take a nap as we were going to do a 5PM ranger walk.   Well we ended up instead chasing a Scrub Jay coin that you could get from the rangers if you filled out this questionnaire and took at least 3 of 6 photo ops they outlined.  That led us onto a nice 30-45 minute bike ride through the pine woods to find an osprey nest.

There were babies in it and if you look real close in the wider shot, one of the parents in on a branch low and to the right of the tree.  There was also a 100 mile foot race going on and the trail we took was part of the race track.   We saw a few racers and they looked pretty tired!

As the girls were devoured by no-see-ums the night before we opted out of the ranger river walk (where they got chewed up) and headed back to the campsite.  I started the fire for dinner and enjoyed the sunset through the trees.  I did get a good shot of the motorhome before it got real dark....and of our dinner too.

Dinner was chicken, sliced taters, and Couscous with a side salad and Pinot Grigio.  It was a little cloudier than the previous night, so more campfire and relaxing.  We finished up with a card game and snacks in the coach.

Sunday morning breakfast was pancakes and bacon, followed by a bike ride over to the nature center.  We took the long way and looked at some of the other equipment in the park....

Then off to the nature center where my daughter talked the ranger into letting the Red Rat snake out for a 'stroll'

We headed back and broke down the camp and were off the site by noon.  On the way out, I decided to stop at the dump station to flush the tanks if the line wasn't long.  I got there and there was no one in line!  I pulled up got busy hooking up the drain.  Just as I was pulling the levers to release the waste, I looked over and saw smoke and then fire by the bathhouse about 200 ft away.

I ran over to see if I could help and realized that everyone's hoses were too short, so I ran back to the coach and grabbed mine and ran back.  The wind was a solid 20-25 and was whipping the flames up pretty quickly.  Within 2-3 minutes the blaze had grown and was threatening the bath house and one of the RVs.

 The first pic is the fire moving away, the second you can see the water from my hose at the bottom and fire is coming at me.  I wetted down the dried grass to slow it down from reaching a campsite and also a nice little tree (think it is a Simpson Stopper) that you see in the pic with the Park fire wagon.

All told about 20 campers rushed over with hoses and we were able to have it well in hand by the time the park and local FD arrived.  They dragged out the big hose and soaked it all down.

As soon as my spot was out, I got my hose and reeled it up and went back to the dump station where others were now waiting.  Here are the aftermath pics.

This area was torched in under 5-8 minutes!   The rangers were very thankful as they said if we hadn't helped, it would have been alot worse as the wind was so strong.

When I bought the coach it had just rolled 100K and I got it with 770 miles showing.   On the way home I broke the 3K mark of ownership...  I finished the day with a fresh filter and oil change, greased all the fittings and getting her ready for a trip to Orlando next weekend.

She'll be getting her fuel tanks dropped, cleaned, sealed and new ethanol resistant lines installed.  May have some other work done as well, stay tuned!