Otter Springs to Griffin Lake State Park, Fruitland, Florida

Otter Springs was a nice little camp, with the emphasis on "little." Our site was spacious, but the lane getting there was narrow and we brushed tree limbs all the way back to our site. We couldn't turn into our site because of trees, so we got out and walked to see where we needed to go. Surprisingly, if we had driven to the end of the lane, there was NO turnaround. Hmph! Good thing we hadn't tried that. And there were RV's parked at the end, so we would have had to back up to get out. As it was there was a fairly large site we could drive through which we did and came into our site from the other direction, which is what we needed to do to have our hookups on the correct side. Too many park managers do not understand camping nor the dynamics of big rigs. While it looks like you could turn right into the site, it's not likely you can turn 40 feet of motorhome into the site. But we got in and hooked up and spent the night. We just hoped that the guy who rented the site next to us didn't come in before we left because we had to back out across his site to get out.

So we got on the road about 9:30 this morning, not in a big hurry because we didn't have far to go. Griffin Lake State Park is off of 27 south of the Villages and is a very nice park, albeit a little rustic. I take back everything I said about Otter Springs park because this place is sooooo much worse. If we were in MinnieMee, we would be fine. I don't know why parks can't just say, NO BIG RIGS! I would not be offended. Instead, I am a little miffed when they tell me "no problem" and the narrow road has sharp turns and overhanging branches that scrape and brush the sides of the coach. It is a hammock! And the one lane road is one way, so once you start, you are committed. We finally found our site, which is definitely long and adequate, except the approach is a 90 degree turn with no swing room and . . . you guess it. . . trees and low overhanging limbs. At this point, we unhooked the toad. I had driven us in and we then switched and I guided Terry into the site. That was a piece of cake but he complemented me on getting him in there. We work well that way and I can usually look at the site and know what needs to be done. And getting out won't be much of a problem because our pull through site faces straight out to the entrance road. I will probably go ahead in the truck, however, because the entrance road is about a lane and a half and two-way. Grrrrrr. Smaller rigs. . . no problem. . . big rigs. . . problem-o. But we will be here two days and we will get out.

We will probably do some exploring tomorrow. Today we are tired and will probably hang out the evening here. There is a bear in the camp, so we have removed everything from the car that is suspect. To walk the dogs at night, I think we will drive them up to an open area and walk them. We really are in the "hammock" and we wouldn't be able to tell if a bear was lurking.

When we leave here we will be heading to Wickham Park in Melbourne, Florida. Anxious to get there and spend the week with Brandon, Megan, Brynlee, and Jax!

PS: A quick walk around our camp this morning revealed bear tracks! Not 40 feet from our rig! Oops! Thanks goodness we were diligent with the precautions yesterday.

Till next time. . .

Dale