My GREAT Idea

We left Reed Bingham State Park this morning (Monday), and headed south on I-75 into Florida. There was no hurry to get anywhere, because we had no definite place to be for tonight. Our camping reservation at Gamble Rogers State Park in Flagler Beach was made for Tuesday through Saturday, with Monday being designated as a travel day. Gary's plan was to spend the night wherever we felt like, in a rest stop or a Wal-Mart parking lot somewhere along the way. Not that there's anything wrong with staying at either of those possibilities in a pinch, but I was hoping to get a really good night's sleep. In order to do that, we would need a quieter place than either a rest stop or a Wal-Mart parking lot could provide. I started thinking of parks along our route, and Paynes Prairie popped into my head. It's only a mile or so off I-75 at exit 374 in the town of Micanopy. That would be PERFECT! I mentioned it to Gary, and he thought that was a GREAT idea. He called ahead, thinking that getting a campsite on a Monday would be no problem at all. What he didn't think about was the influx of the snowbirds into Florida this time of year. The camping snowbirds generally take up ALL of the campsites at every park in the state. However, we lucked out, and there was just one available campsite at Paynes Prairie, campsite #11. We have stayed in various campsites here over the years, and we have our favorites. We have never stayed in this campsite before, and never really considered it, but it's actually pretty good. It's the only campsite on a cut-through road in the middle of the camping loop. There's a trailer pretty close to us on my left side, but there's nobody within sight of us on my door side. It's pretty secluded, and best of all, it's SUPER quiet. This sure beats roughing it with no power or water in a noisy place. Gary enjoyed his hot shower on this 40 degree night, and I got to watch TV. It was well worth the $18 price tag. We're off to Gamble Rogers in the morning, but not before we enjoy this fabulous night in our favorite Florida State Park. Goodnight, everybody!