This year my birthday was on a Thursday but I was able to snag Fri/Sat night at the prairie . As you know it's one of my top three parks in FL as it is a chance to really disconnect from that hectic grind.
This trip made it a little difficult as my real world issues dogged me all weekend, but more on that as we go.
I started my birthday week last Saturday by smoking a brisket. It was delish and I followed on the next day by smoking a bunch of sausage. My daughter and her boyfriend came over on Tuesday and we had meat fest. It was nice..... Thursday (my BD) I spent prepping the coach, test drive, and packing so I could bolt quickly on Friday.
I knew FL was under drought conditions and a quick call to the park confirmed the obvious. NO CAMPFIRES.. But they said we could use charcoal or propane to cook. So we opted for Hardwood Charcoal, which worked out pretty well.
I rolled !4K on the way out. Not sure if it is 114Kor 214K as I am the 6th owner of the coach. I ended up getting to work a little later than I wanted, so I decided to burn 2 hrs of vacation time to get out early. All good plans...... Left work at 1:15 and hoped to leave by 2. Ended up rolling out at 3PM. Used a half hour going to the auto parts store for more power steering fluid....
Friday afternoon leaving the metroplex at 3 is usually the last minute you can avoid the madness. Not today, 2 accidents with lane closures made it a crawl to West Palm. Construction at the Beeline and Blue Heron added another 10-15 min ugh. Stopped at Sirum's GMC on the way our to say hi to my buddy Mike. Typical, he asked the question, 'How is she running?' Purring like a kitten, best running vehicle in my fleet! 15 min later leaving town I have an unwelcome vibration. It goes away mostly at certain speeds, so I keep on as I'm 30 min from the park entrance. Above is a pic of the backside of rain as the storm pulled out of the park.
But wait, I mentioned drought! Yep, first rain in almost 2 months or more. Didn't last long, but all the critters were HAPPY. Tons of birds and deer feasting on the puddles as I drove in. Road was wash boarded so it was idle speed to the campground. I made it, got set up and called my buddy Ian who was on the way down from Winter Haven to meet me. To my delight he was already in the park and was there about 6 min later.
I helped him put up his tent and we got going with cocktails and shortly thereafter lit the coals and cooked a wonderful shrimp dinner. For dessert we had cigars and Cafecito Rum. Excellent pairing. We went off to bed shortly before midnight. I was in bed less than 5 minutes and it POURED rain. How long, I do not know as it was the perfect lullaby.
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