December 31, 2009 by steve.

One last RV/Camping entry for 2009. The weekend before Christmas, we took the motor home to Lake Kissimmee State Park near Lake Wales, Florida. This was the next to last place we camped in the fifth-wheel back in December of 2006, and it is located in a fairly isolated part of Central Florida, so it is a pleasant place to wander to for the weekend.

The campground is a typical state park campground, lots of good sized sites, with most being fairly roomy so that you don’t have to get to know your neighbors too well. There is water and 30 amp service with dump station on site. The road in to and in the campground is paved, but the sites are dirt. One of the great things about this park is that there are a number of lovely old live oaks throughout the campground. You do not have to try hard to get a site with a great big old tree behind it. If you have kids the best thing about this is that it gives you a great natural play set located in your site.

This is a big park, it is over two miles from the front gate to the campground, and a bit further back to the day use area. The day use area has a boat ramp, and a couple of floating docks so that you can tie up your boats if you wish. The canal from the boat launch to the lake usually has a couple of good size gators hanging around, we only saw one on this trip, but on past trips to the park we’ve seen half a dozen big gators drop into the water when boats were coming back to the ramp. There is other wildlife that roams the park including deer and wild turkeys. As noted, this park is in the middle of nowhere, cell service is intermittent to non-existence. There is also an 1870s Cow Camp at this park. It is staffed with a re-enactor that plays the role of a Cracker Cow Boy and will talk to you about cows without ears, cattle drives and the “current” President “Useless S Grant” In the couple of trips that we’ve made here, I’ve only seen the volunteer break character once, for the most part they are pretty good about behaving like they are in the 1870s. Pictures of our trip are on flickr.

This wrapped up our trips for the year. We spent a total of 42 nights in the motor home this year, bringing us to a total of 117 nights in the RV since we acquired it in April of 2007. We’ll try and top that next year.

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December 16, 2009 by steve.

I am terribly behind in writing the blog post. It is December and almost time to make the last camping trip of the year and I’m just now getting around to writing about Thanksgiving. The CurbCrusher gang headed just a short way up the road to Ocala and the Silver River State Park for the holiday. To make this holiday a family affair, we met Grandma and Grandpa CurbCrusher at the park, and spent from Wednesday through Sunday lounging around and enjoying each others company.

Silver River is located adjacent to the Silver Springs attraction, which is one of Florida’s original theme parks. The source of the Silver River is the springs after which the attraction is named, and it flows down through the park. There is a canoe launch ramp in the park, about a half mile hike from the parking lot, and the park rents canoes. The river is fairly wide at this point, and looks to be a pleasant canoe trip. We didn’t partake of the canoing, but apparently one can put in at the park, and then paddle right into the middle of the Silver Springs attraction. as long as you don’t set foot on the land around the springs, you are welcome to paddle and swim in them. We might just have to try that on the next trip. The park also has a number of hiking and biking trails, which we availed ourselves of on a couple of occasions during the weekend.

Continuing the tradition from last year, Mr. CurbCrusher rose early and ran the Ocala YMCA Turkey Trot. This was a pleasant 5K (3.1 miles) through parts of Ocala, with something that I’m not used to seeing in Orlando, a hill right as you finished the first mile. Unlike 2008, the temperature was more pleasantly in the 50s, still cold, but not like the 30’s. My new goal for each Thanksgiving is to start it with a Turkey Trot.

The campground is fairly large with approximately 60 gravel spaces (I took pictures of most of the sites here) and many of them are pull-thrus. The pull-thru sites are fairly large (long and wide) with lots of room to park and set up. The utilities (water and electricity) are nicely located in the middle of the site, so that you shouldn’t have to use extra hoses or extension cords. The back-in sites are fairly wide also, so it shouldn’t be a problem for most folks to find a spot that they can fit. The bathhouses are fairly new, and appeared clean on our visit, they are at the back of the loops and we were at the front, so we didn’t visit often. The dump station is a two-holer so it makes for a more expedited exit on the way out.

We had a great weekend camping, and you can find the few photos we took on our flickr account.

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