The Worst Camping Weekend EVER

Our first round of camping for the season most definitely had it's highs and lows. We had SO much fun at Reed Bingham State Park in Adel Georgia, and we followed that up with more fun at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park in Micanopy Florida. Then disaster struck. Our next stop was at Tomoka State Park in Ormond Beach Florida. As I told you in my last post, Tomoka is a BAD place to camp. I described the issues with the park already, so I won't go into that again. It rained for two of our four days at the park. Gary is normally attending the Turkey Rod Run car show at the Daytona International Speedway during the days it was raining, but obviously, that didn't happen this year. He went antique shopping, and hung out with me watching movies. He even drove all the way home to St. Augustine and back (about 60 miles each way) to check on the house, do laundry, and unload his many purchases to have more room inside of Dodge. The sun finally came out on Saturday, and Gary was excited to finally be going to the car show. He turned on the iPod for me, so I could listen to tunes while he was gone, and left early to head to the speedway so he could get a good parking spot. While Dodge and Gary sat at a traffic light at the corner of Nova Road and International Speedway Boulevard, a distracted kid in a black 2016 Dodge Charger slammed into the left rear corner of poor old Dodge. The speed limit on Nova Road is 45mph. The police estimated the Charger's speed at 45 to 50mph. He never hit the brakes, so Dodge (and Gary) took the full force of the impact. I know I'm EXTREMELY lucky for not being there with my buddies, or I would likely be dead right now. I'm not nearly as well built or tough as Dodge is. I guess Gary is pretty tough too. That must have been a BIG hit for him as well, and a day and a half after the accident (as I write this), he is still feeling okay, at least so far. Somehow, Dodge survived. Unlike the car that hit him, Dodge was able to drive away from the accident. He even towed me home today. Other than looking bad, he's acting like he's not even hurt. Gary and I are VERY worried about our favorite camping buddy. At this point, we don't know what will happen with the insurance claim. We are fearing the worst with Dodge being 25 years old. There is no replacing him. It just wouldn't be the same with me being towed by anyone but Dodge. We have ALWAYS been together, from the day he towed me home for the first time, and through ever single camping trip since. We'll know more soon about Dodge's fate, and it remains to be seen if Gary will start feeling the effects of the crash. I'm depressed and worried sick for both of my camping pals. I hate uncertainty, and this is the most uncertainty that I have EVER felt in my 45 years of travel trailer life. I'll let you know as soon as I find out more. If you'd keep my buddies in your thoughts and prayers, I would certainly appreciate it. THANK YOU!!!

Tomoka State Park: AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!

Once upon a time, Tomoka State Park in Ormond Beach Florida was probably a decent place to camp. Those days are over. Simply because of location, we have camped there quite a few times, but enough is enough. Tomoka itself would be pretty nice if they would do something about the roads throughout the park. They are HORRIBLE, and they continue to degrade year by year. When the weather is good, the roads are EXTREMELY dusty. When it rains, like it did on our most recent visit, the giant craters in the roads fill with nasty water. The craters are so big in a lot of places that there's no such thing as avoiding them. They are nearly the full width of the road. In all weather conditions, the roads in Tomoka are filled with potholes and washboard type ripples. They are not only uncomfortable to drive on, but brutal on your vehicle and trailer's suspension systems. When we first started going to Tomoka during the Turkey Rod Run car show a few years ago, the campground was packed with classic cars and street rods that appeared at the show during the day, and made the campground their home at night. This year, Gary only spotted two show cars on his travels through the campground, and there were MANY empty campsites. We can totally understand why people with high-dollar classic cars no longer stay at Tomoka. Why would anybody want to subject their beautiful cars to the awful roads in the park? Our complaints over the years have gone unanswered. The powers that be at the park apparently prefer the "natural" element of unpaved roads over asphalt. That's fine, but the least they could do is fill the holes and grade the roads so they will drain. They continue to do nothing, and the campers are getting wise. Fewer and fewer people who have camped at Tomoka in the past make a return trip. We tried our best to get into nearby Gamble Rogers State Park this year for our visit to the area, but no campsites were available. We were lucky enough to stay there in 2015 and 2016, and it is REALLY nice. Gary has already told me that if we can't get into Gamble Rogers for Thanksgiving weekend in 2018, that we won't camp at all, and he will commute to the car show from home. Believe me, I'm going to mark the calendar for the first day that reservations can be made, and I'll be hounding him to book us a campsite ASAP. One thing for sure is that we will NEVER EVER go back to Tomoka, and I HIGHLY suggest that none of our camping friends go there either. I am usually sad to leave a campground, but the best part of our stay at Tomoka this year is captured in the last picture I've included, the one where we are heading HOME.

A Brief Stopover At Paynes Prairie

Hi Y'all. We had some SERIOUS fun at Reed Bingham State Park in Georgia. Gary attended the car show in nearby Moultrie, and I relaxed at the campsite, watched TV, enjoyed the sights, sounds, and smells that only campers know about. I also became good buddies with a couple of very friendly squirrels that most definitely gained some weight while we were there. They ate up two full bags of peanuts. WOWZA!!! The time flew by quickly as it always does when you're having fun, and our four night stay came to an end. No worries though. That was just the beginning of our trip, and we have now made our way back into Florida and down into our favorite inland Florida State Park, Paynes Prairie Preserve. We come here at least once a year. This will be a brief stay of only two nights. It's our "in-between car shows" layover spot. We will head to Daytona next, but more about that in a future posting. As usual, we are in campsite number 18. It's small, but just right for a little guy like me. They've done some work to the campsites since we were here last. Some fill dirt has been added, the old dead tree stump that served no purpose is gone, and they moved the fire pit from the back of the site to where the dead tree trunk used to be. I do believe this site is even nicer now than it's always been, and I didn't think that was possible. It's REALLY dark here at night, and SUPER quiet. Add that to the nice cool temperatures we are having right now, and it's easy to sleep peacefully through the night. And at $18 per night, it's the best deal that Florida State Parks has to offer. We absolutely LOVE this place. Always have. Gary is out antique shopping today, so while he is gone, I thought I'd catch up on my blog and surprise him when he gets back. It's overcast today, and a bit gloomy looking, but I'm all smiles. Nothing can get me down, especially when I'm doing what I love best. I'm hoping some squirrels come to visit. There weren't many peanuts left after those little porkers in Georgia ate so much, but I have a partial bag in reserve, and I asked Gary to buy some more while he's out. Well, it's time for People's Court, so I'm going to get off this computer and check out what Judge Marilyn has in store for her litigants today. Nice chatting with you all. I'll write again from Daytona.

Back To The Land Of Cotton

Welcome to the latest edition of my blog. I'm coming to you today from Reed Bingham State Park in Adel, Georgia, and I am SO happy to be here. It was touch and go for awhile as to whether or not I would be able to come along on this trip with my buddies Gary and Dodge. As you know, I had frame surgery just two days before we were scheduled to leave home, but I healed quickly and was able to make it. I think the soothing bath that Gary gave me just before we left was the most helpful thing in making me feel better. I hadn't had a bath in MANY months, and I was REALLY disgusting. But, now I'm not ashamed of being seen in public. I didn't get polished, but I still look pretty doggone good, if I do say so myself. Gary also repainted my tongue, painted the bare spots on my frame where the surgery occurred, and re-routed some of my wiring. It was a quick fix-up, but I'm pleased with the results. We had a uneventful journey to get here, and that is often the best kind. We slept for a couple of hours at a rest stop out on I-10 in Florida, then cruised on up into Georgia and into the park mid-morning. We're once again in our favorite campsite here, which is campsite number 1. Squirrels love to hang out in the oak tree that shades me, and you KNOW how much I love squirrels. It sure is great to be camping again. There's nothing like the smell of campfires and the softly filtered sun on my skin. We're here for four nights, and then we move on. Internet connectivity has been an issue so far on this trip, but I'll write when I can. We're having fun. I hope you all are too. Have a good one!

Lots To Tell, And So Little Time

FINALLY, it's almost time to start our camping season. As you can probably imagine, I am BEYOND excited. This is what I was put on this Earth to do. There's always a ton of things to be done before we hit the road, and unfortunately, I'm not much help in that department. For Gary, the weeks leading up to our departure time is chaotic to say the least. Basically, it's the storm before the calm. He can finally relax whenever we get to wherever we are going, but there's always a bunch of VERY long days to get through first. This year, a few things cropped up with me that don't normally need attention. My tongue jack broke during our final camping trip last spring, so that needed to be replaced. Gary decided to tackle the job of replacing it himself. With the aid of a reciprocating saw and an angle grinder, he removed the old jack. It was surprisingly painless. I thought for sure it was going to hurt, but I didn't feel a thing. NICE!!! Nothing ever goes perfectly smoothly though. The new jack had some issues right out of the box. The mounting plate was welded on at a crooked angle from the factory. Gary had purchased two of these jacks awhile back, and they both have the same problems. This weird angle made the jack lean to the left when it was put into position on my tongue. It looked ridiculous even to me, and I'm not a perfectionist like Gary is. So, an assortment of washers and a large nut was used to shim the jack into being straight. That left an unsightly gap under it, which required a bunch of caulk to eliminate. Since these pics were taken, the jack has a base coat of red paint on it. It will get a second coat when my entire tongue gets a fresh coat of Rustoleum Safety Red paint. I need some touching up after a couple of years of being on the road. There are lots of nicks and chips. After working on the jack, my bearings got checked and repacked with fresh grease. While everything was apart, Gary decided to adjust my torsion axle to give me a couple of extra inches of ride height. Doing this also positions my tires and wheels a little bit further out of my wheel wells, and that makes removing my tires and wheels easier. That has always been a problem, and it's a job that Gary always dreads. A 1 x 3 stick was cut at 27", which is the diameter of my tires. A 1" hole (my spindle diameter) was cut in the center of the stick. Gary used the stick to aid in the adjustment height of the torsion axle. It saved a lot of time. The old guy still occasionally comes up up with a good idea. Ha-Ha!!! My brakes were adjusted, and my tires and wheels went back on. Mission accomplished. Just when everything was going so well, Gary spotted a crack at the front of my door side frame rail, right in the area where my tongue is attached. UH-OH!!! Upon further inspection, he found out that the left side was cracked in the same place. DOUBLE UH-OH!!! Armed with iPhone pictures of the areas, Gary went by the shop that has always done the welding and fabrication for anything that broke around around here. They no longer do any fabrication work, and although there wasn't much of that needed to repair my frame rails, they refused to do the job. They referred Gary to Barry over at Bear Welding & Fabrication. This morning, I left the Green Acres Garage for the first time in months, and headed over to get fixed up. Barry and his buddy Mike were AWESOME to work with. Mike got me set up on a slab just outside their shop, and Barry fabbed up a couple of pieces of heavy gauge steel plate, and welded them to my cracked frame rails. The whole "operation" was almost as painless as when Gary removed my tongue jack. AMAZING!!! From now on, Barry and Mike will get ALL of our welding and fabrication work. They had me repaired in a matter of minutes, and their price was EXTREMELY reasonable. If it hadn't have been for them, I probably wouldn't be going camping anytime soon. So thanks SO much, Bear Welding. You've made me a VERY HAPPY CAMPER!!! Barring disaster, we'll be on our way to our first stop of the season soon, and I'll be chatting with you from there. Have a GREAT day, everyone. Bye for now!