Wekiwa Springs State Park, Day #1

For the very first time, we are camping at Wekiwa Springs State Park in central Florida. From what we saw on the way into the campground, it appears to be a beautiful park. We arrived around 3PM, and during the process of getting me set up, Gary discovered a problem with the coaxial cable between my TV and my antenna. We are a stone's throw away from Orlando and a bunch of TV stations, yet there was no reception. A broken fitting on the end of the cable was the culprit. Luckily, we had a spare cable onboard, and the fix was an easy one. It was too late in the day for Gary to go out of the campground and take pictures, but he took a few within our camping loop. Check out that HUGE R/V. Have you ever seen anything like that? Gary and I never have. He talked with the owners, and found out that it was a former Austrian military vehicle that they converted into a camper. This thing makes a Hummer look as small as a Fiat 500. The gas mileage must be horrendous! Directly across the street from us, is a nice couple that pulls their 32ft. trailer with none other than a 1974 Oldsmobile Cutlass with a 350 V-8. Now there's something you don't see everyday. And speaking of something you don't see everyday, there was a bald eagle in a very tall pine tree in the campsite next to ours. He was a BIG boy! Of all the birds that Gary has taken pictures of, this was the one and only bald eagle. So there you have it, a day of firsts here at Wekiwa Springs. With this much excitement on day one, I can't wait to see what happens on day two and three!

A Taste Of Sebastian Inlet State Park

Gary's been a busy boy lately. Of our four days here at Sebastian Inlet, he spent two full days antique shopping. There have been periods of fog and even a little rain, but an equal amount of sunshine and blue skies. As usual, when Gary was here at the park, he took a LOT of pictures. I'm posting a few for your viewing pleasure. This should give you an idea of what the park is like. There is a bridge that connects the two main parts of the park. It provided the overhead view for some of the pictures you see here. Fishing from the north and south jettys is very popular for those that don't have boats. Surfing is popular here too. There were only a handful of surfers here during the week, but there were dozens on Saturday. By chance, on our first day here, Gary came across a photo shoot that was taking place for Ron Jon Surf Shop. That was pretty cool. As for me, I've hung out here in our shady campsite, and enjoyed the distant sounds of the waves crashing on the beach. It's been a mellow four days for sure. I'm sad to say we have to leave here in just a few short hours. We're going to a place called Wekiwa Springs. We've never been there before, but I'm sure it's as pretty as most all of the Florida State Parks are. I'll check in from there.

Campsite #36 At Sebastian Inlet State Park

We are now at Sebastian Inlet State Park in Melbourne Beach, FL. We were here in March, and stayed in campsite #10. It was a decent campsite, but like most of the campsites here, there was absolutely no shade or privacy. During our visit, Gary looked around the park at other campsites, and liked the looks of campsite #36. It is one of the few that has a good shade tree, plus the privacy that we enjoy. This is a difficult park to get into, and Gary made reservations immediately, in order to get in and get campsite #36 before somebody else booked it. So, nearly nine months after our first visit, we're back. We've got it literally made in the shade. This is a GREAT campsite. It isn't waterfront, like the one we had before, but we will take the shade and privacy instead. There's woods to my left, and woods behind me. It's a clear view to the campsite to my right, but that's okay. At least it's a decent distance away. And a benefit for Gary is that the restroom is directly across the street. That's the gray building in one of the pictures. It was 81 degrees today, but a nice breeze and the shade tree kept me cool. I was tired after the long drive south on the interstate, so I took a nap while Gary went out taking pictures within the park. I'll share some of those with you next time, but for now, I thought I'd show you what our campsite looks like. If you're planning to camp here, campsite #36 is definitely TOASTER approved. People's Court is on, so I gotta go. It's my favorite judge show. I'll post again soon. We are here for four nights. Bye!

Bye Bye Paynes Prairie, Hello St. Augustine (and other news)

I was such a slacker while we were camping. Whoops...let me correct that. I'm a slacker ALL the time, but most of you know that. I was having such a good time, I just couldn't find the time to post anything. Well, we're home now, so let me get you all caught up on the latest happenings of St. Augustine's ONLY talking trailer and his bestest friend. After five days in campsite #18, we made our move over to Campsite #42 on Friday. It's one of our favorite campsites, but it's not quite as private as campsite #18 is. There weren't as many squirrels there either, and you know how much I count on squirrels for entertainment. Anyway, Gary and I were perfectly content there. Out of fifty campsites, there were less than twenty that were occupied on each of our first five nights. Things changed on Friday and Saturday, and almost ALL of the campsites were filled. That's typical on weekends. Gary went antique shopping in the little nearby town of Micanopy on Friday. He wasn't gone long, and he didn't buy anything. He went out again on Saturday morning, heading south towards the town of McIntosh. He stopped at a place that had antiques, a flea market, and an auction house. He previewed the auction, and decided to stay and bid on a few things. He was there for hours, and came back to the campsite with a box of tools, two pairs of brand new truck mirrors, and a Sears sewing machine in it's case. Guess what he paid for all of that stuff? Would you believe $7.41 including tax and bidder's fees? Yep, that's what he paid. I saw the receipt. He says he's going to learn how to sew so he can make some curtains for me and my trailer relatives. I'll believe that when I see it, but getting a working sewing machine with it's attachments and case for a whopping $2, was just too hard to pass up. Heck, it's worth that for scrap metal! On Saturday evening, Gary went to a presentation about alligators that was conducted by one of the park rangers. It wasn't far to walk to it, but he was running late and decided to drive. He didn't come back to the campsite for about three hours. I was getting worried about him. I knew the presentation wouldn't last long, but where was Gary? As I said, he was running behind, and when he got over to the amphitheatre, he locked his keys in the van. Can you believe it? The locksmith for AAA was slammed, and it took him a LONG time to get to the park. But, he finally got there and saved the day. It's hard to believe we were at Paynes Prairie for a whole week. The time FLEW by. Sunday morning arrived, and it was reluctantly time to hitch up and go home. It was sad driving out of those park gates, but I know we will be back soon. It was an uneventful ride home, and it didn't take very long to get here. Gary wasted no time unloading me and the van, and began doing laundry immediately. I've been sitting out in the yard since we got here. It's a sunny day and I'm actually pretty hot. When is winter going to be here? We will only be here for a couple of days, and then we head out for another round of camping. It's always fun to have something to look forward to. Oh, there's something VERY important that I keep forgetting to tell you about. As you know, Gary had eyelid surgery to remove some skin cancer almost six weeks ago. The day before we left on this trip, the eye surgeon opened his eye up. It's still healing, but it looks REALLY good, all things considered. The pic I posted was taken when we got home today. He's wearing his sunglasses in public less and less, and is feeling much better. He enjoyed this trip much more than the previous one when he only had the use of one eye. So, that's the latest news from here at the Green Acres Garage. Until next time....See Ya!

As Seen Along The La Chua Trail

As many times as we have been here to Paynes Prairie, there is one trail that Gary has never been on. It's called the La Chua trail, and to access it, you have to drive approximately 15 miles north of the main entrance to the park and campground. Paynes Prairie is a BIG place, 22,000 acres to be exact, and it's REALLY spread out. Trailers aren't allowed on the trail (it's for foot traffic only, and I obviously don't have feet), so I stayed behind and enjoyed the peaceful campground, while Gary went exploring. Between his love of antique shopping and other interests, I am left alone a lot. I'm good with that. Of the two of us, I am the true camper in the family. Gary always comes back with exciting stories, interesting purchases, or great pictures. After seeing the La Chua trail pictures, I don't think I would want to go on it, even if I could. There is a lot of wildlife, and some look pretty scary. The warning signs alone are enough to keep me away. I guess it's relatively safe, or they wouldn't let people on the trail at all. Common sense is a definite requirement. Gary posted 174 pictures from the trail on his Facebook page. I borrowed a handful of them to post here for my readers. There were LOTS of bird and alligator pictures, and even a few of some sweet little squirrels. I think you'll get the idea (like I did) of what the trail is like by the photos I've included here. The trail is three miles round trip. It ends at an observation deck that overlooks the prairie. Gary saw everything from innocent little butterflies, to horrendously large and intimidating alligators. There was even a snake. YIKES!!! I'm glad that Gary has a decent little camera that allows him to zoom in on these creatures from a distance. I'm pretty adventurous, but he does some things that I wouldn't even consider. He's a little "out there", but that's one of the things that makes him the coolest owner I've ever had. Well, enough of my babbling. Check out the pictures and you'll see that the La Chua trail is not for the faint of heart. That last picture pretty much says it all. Enjoy!

Hunting For Trailer Parts

Whenever we go on camping trips, Gary always searches around whatever area we are in for antique stores and R/V or mobile home surplus and salvage places. The antique stores are pretty plentiful, but finding anything for vintage travel trailers is pretty unusual. Our current camping trip has been an exception to the rule. As I mentioned in a previous post, Gary spent a whole day in the automotive flea market section of the gigantic Turkey Run car show inside Daytona International Speedway, while we were camping at Tomoka State Park. It was there that he found a pair of vintage Yankee Turnflex taillights, just like the ones that were used on a lot of the Serro Scotty travel trailers. I have those same taillights on me. Later in the day at Daytona, he came across a pair of Pathfinder taillights. They were commonly used on lots of other vintage trailers. Still on the hunt that day, Gary found a couple of taillight lenses for the Yankee Turnflex taillights. One was red, and one was amber. He really didn't need the amber one, but for twenty-five cents, he couldn't pass it up. He got super great deals on everything at Daytona, and was pleased that he found anything at all for travel trailers at a car show. Since we've been camping here at Paynes Prairie, Gary took an afternoon drive about forty miles north to a salvage yard that he has been to in the past. He wasn't expecting to find anything good, but was pleasantly surprised once again. He returned to the campground with a new Bargman L-100 door lock, a well used L-200 door lock, three L-100/L-200 door lock repair kits, and three new red side marker lights. Needless to say, he was EXSTATIC about his finds. The door locks and repair kits are no longer being made, and they sell for BIG BUCKS on eBay. Gary got these for a GREAT price. Me and my brother Scotty will never have to worry about not having good working door locks, since Gary has found several surplus stashes of locks and parts in the past year. SWEET!!! The search will definitely go on as we travel from place to place. It's all part of the fun. And when Gary's happy, I'm happy.

Once Again, It's Paynes Prairie

We had a great time at Tomoka State Park, but leaving wasn't as depressing as it is when I know that our next stop is home. On this trip, Tomoka was just the beginning. Our next stop was Paynes Prairie, our favorite Florida State Park. Unlike a few weeks ago when we were here for only three days, this time we were staying for a whole week. WOO-HOO!!! We were booked into campsite #42 for the entire week, but when we got here, there was a problem. Whoever that was camping in #42 before us, had a mechanical issue with their Ford F-250, and couldn't tow their trailer out of the campsite. So, we switched over to another of our favorite campsites, #18. No problem. Unfortunately, campsite #18 is booked for our final two nights here, and we will have to move over to #42, but we don't care. As long as we're at Paynes Prairie, Gary and I are a pair of happy campers. This is our fourth night here already. Time really does fly when you're having fun. I would have posted sooner, but I've been busy watching the squirrels, watching TV, and catching some sleep. This place is so quiet, sleeping comes easy. The weather has been perfect. Gary hasn't complained once, and you know how vocal he can be when it's too hot. He's been antique shopping, trailer parts hunting, and today he walked a three mile trail that he has never been on before. I'll go through Gary's pictures, pick out some good ones, and will post again soon.

Our Camping Neighbors At Tomoka State Park

On Thanksgiving Day, the sweet rumbling exhaust of a couple of cars caught my attention. A few seconds later, a red '37 Ford street rod, and a '67 Chevy Nova wagon came into view, and parked in the empty campsite across the street from ours. They are GORGEOUS cars. Obviously, they were there to be part of the Daytona Turkey Run car show that Gary always attends. Gary struck up a conversation with the owners of the cars. The Ford is owned by Roger and Corinne, and they were there to set up camp in the space next to ours with their 24ft. 1966 Airstream. The Chevy is owned by their friends, Gene and Chris. Gene and Chris were camping at the local KOA, but came by to have Thanksgiving dinner with Roger and Corinne. Are you with me so far? Roger took a look at me, and said that his wife would love to see me too. A few minutes later, Corinne and Chris (soon to be joined by Roger and Gene) came over to check me out, and were VERY complimentary. That always makes me feel good. Gary went over later to check out the Airstream. He said it was REALLY nice, and from what I could see, he was right. For once, I wasn't the oldest trailer in the campground, but in looking around the place, Gary says I was still the smallest. I'm usually one or the other or both. Oddly, Gary took all these pictures, and never took a single one of Roger and Corinne, or Gene and Chris. He's slipping in his old age. During the evenings, our neighbors had some sort of projection system that cast a canopy of tiny blue lights into the trees around and above the Airstream. It was SO cool! It actually looked like a million tiny stars. People from around the campground came by to see the light show. Gary asked Corinne about it, because it's something I'm sure he will want to buy. The unit is called Bliss Lights, and it was a present from Corinne's Mom who bought it on QVC. I have an idea that Gary will be doing some shopping at QVC in the near future. It was one of the most awesome things we have ever seen while camping. We hope to run into our newest camping pals again next year, and if we do, I'll be sure to remind Gary to take pictures of the owners, and not just their shiny toys. I hope I'm not as forgetful as he is when I get old!